Language for Living with Dr Zoe Chitare

Епизоди

• 
  EPISODE 2 When the Law Only Sees Part of You: Citizens, Subjects and Partial Legal Subjectivity 11.08.2026 23мин

  Episode 2: Citizen, Subject and Partial Legal SubjectivityIn this episode of Language for Living, I explore Mahmood Mamdani’s Citizen and Subject alongside Oliver Phillips’ concept of partial legal subjectivity.We look at how colonial law did more than distribute rights unequally — it created different kinds of legal and political subjects. From the distinction between citizen and subject, to the gendered operation of customary law, I ask what it means to be recognised by law, but only partially.I also connect these ideas to my own research on rural women, land, customary authority and constitutionalism in South Africa, and consider why formal equality does not necessarily produce substantive legal agency.At the heart of the episode is a simple question:What happens when you are formally included, but the institution still only recognises part of you?In this episodeLegal subjectivity and what it means to be recognised as a legal personMahmood Mamdani’s distinction between the citizen and the subjectColonial indirect rule and customary authorityOliver Phillips and the concept of partial legal subjectivityGender, customary law and unequal legal agencyThe gap between formal citizenship and substantive powerRural women, land and constitutionalism in South AfricaFurther reading 📚John L. Comaroff, ‘The Discourse of Rights in Colonial South Africa: Subjectivity, Sovereignty, Modernity’ in Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns (eds), Identities, Politics, and Rights (University of Michigan Press 1995) 193–236.Oliver Phillips, ‘Constituting the Global Gay: Issues of Individual Subjectivity and Sexuality in Southern Africa’ in Carl Stychin and Didi Herman (eds), Sexuality in the Legal Arena (Athlone Press 2000) 17–34.Oliver Phillips, ‘(Dis)Continuities of Custom in Zimbabwe and South Africa: The Implications for Gendered and Sexual Rights’ (2004) 7(2) Health and Human Rights 82–113.Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton University Press 1996).Language for Living with Dr Zoe Chitare gives language to the invisible rules, structures and ideas that shape our everyday lives.
• 
  Ep 1 The Problem with Outsourcing Value 04.08.2026 24мин

  Why do we so often measure our worth through other people’s approval?In the first full episode of Language for Living, I explore what happens when we outsource our value to qualifications, relationships, achievements, or public recognition—and why this leaves us vulnerable to losing ourselves.This podcast isn’t about telling you what to think. It’s about giving you the concepts, language, and tools to think more clearly about your own life and the world around you.If you’ve ever felt that something shaped your experience but couldn’t quite put it into words, this podcast is for you.In this episode:* Why we outsource value* Intrinsic vs. extrinsic worth* The language we use to understand ourselves* Why concepts can change the way we see the world* What to expect from Language for Living🌱 Language for Living with Dr. Zoe Chitare brings socio-legal, philosophical, and social ideas out of academia and into everyday life; giving language to lived experience.If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who might find it helpful.For collaboration and conversation: drzoechitare@gmail.com
• 
  Trailer: Welcome to Language for Living 31.07.2026 2мин

  What if the hardest part of an experience isn’t living through it but not having the words to describe it? Join Dr. Zoe Chitare as she explores law, society, identity, power and everyday life, and follow the show so you never miss an episode.YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok @drzoechitare
• 
  Ep3 When a Constitution Outlives Its Values: Women, the Home and Article 41.2 18.08.2026 16мин

  What happens when a constitution outlives some of the values of the society that created it?In this episode of Language for Living, I explore Article 41.2 of the Irish Constitution, often referred to as the “woman in the home” provision ,and the ideas about women, motherhood, care and family that shaped its drafting in 1937.I look at Éamon de Valera, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and Fr John Charles McQuaid, later Archbishop of Dublin, before turning to the bigger constitutional questions: What is a constitution actually for? How much should the intentions of its drafters matter? And should constitutions be understood as fixed texts or living documents?Finally, I return to Ireland’s 2024 Care referendum and ask what we can — and importantly, what we cannot — conclude from the public’s overwhelming rejection of the proposed replacement for Article 41.2.At the heart of the episode is a question: what should we do when the words of a constitution remain the same, but the society living under them changes?Further reading 📚Laura Cahillane, ‘Revisiting Article 41.2’ (2017) 40 Dublin University Law Journal. For the history, interpretation and continued controversy surrounding the “woman in the home” provision.Houses of the Oireachtas Library & Research Service, Article 41.2 of the Constitution: Women in the Home (L&RS Note, 27 June 2018). A particularly useful overview of the origins of Article 41.2, its interpretation and the history of proposals to amend it.Maria Luddy, ‘A “Sinister and Retrogressive” Proposal: Irish Women’s Opposition to the 1937 Draft Constitution’ (2005) 15 Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 175–195. For the contemporary opposition of Irish women, including Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, to the treatment of women in the draft Constitution.Finola Kennedy, ‘Two Priests, the Family and the Irish Constitution’ (1998) 87(348) Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 353–364. For the influence of Catholic thinking and Fr John Charles McQuaid on the constitutional treatment of the family.Gerard Hogan, The Origins of the Irish Constitution 1928–1941 (Royal Irish Academy 2012). For the wider drafting history of Bunreacht na hÉireann, including de Valera and the political, legal and religious actors involved in its creation.McGee v Attorney General [1974] IR 284. A landmark Irish constitutional case relevant to the idea that constitutional interpretation cannot simply remain frozen in the conditions that existed when the Constitution was adopted.An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Electoral Commission), Referendums on Family and Care (2024). For the official explanation of the proposed constitutional amendments and the outcome of the two referendums held on 8 March 2024.An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Electoral Commission), Family & Care Referendums Voter Survey Report (National Election and Democracy Study 2025). For the post-referendum research into how and why people voted as they did — particularly useful for understanding why a No vote cannot simply be treated as an endorsement of the existing Article 41.2.Language for Living with Dr Zoe Chitare gives language to the ideas, structures and invisible rules that shape our everyday lives.