Listen "Getting to Connection "
Episode Synopsis
Kim Samuel, author of On Belonging: Finding Connection in an Age of Isolation, helps us explore how our conversation, as well as the structures and systems we live in, create connection.
Beyond the multifaceted ways belonging may be built in our lives, Kim proposes why we all have a right to it. On the flipside, we look at who is feeling socially isolated today and why... spoliler alert: it`s not your fault! Finally, just a heads up, we also consider toilets and singing giraffes.
Kim Samuel is the founder of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, she is a fellow at the Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford, and she has worked on the ground with initiatives from South Africa and Mozambique, to the Special Olympics and the Indigenous on Vancouver Island.
Kim is inspired by… Parzival, the well-known thirteenth century Grail Quest, which highlights the key of compassion; philosopher and poet Wendell Berry’s What are People for? which questions value in a world of mechanization; and the Friendship Bench installation where grandmother figures nurture the younger generation on designated benches — initiated by Dixon Chibanda in Zimbabwe and now adopted worldwide.
Beyond the multifaceted ways belonging may be built in our lives, Kim proposes why we all have a right to it. On the flipside, we look at who is feeling socially isolated today and why... spoliler alert: it`s not your fault! Finally, just a heads up, we also consider toilets and singing giraffes.
Kim Samuel is the founder of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, she is a fellow at the Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford, and she has worked on the ground with initiatives from South Africa and Mozambique, to the Special Olympics and the Indigenous on Vancouver Island.
Kim is inspired by… Parzival, the well-known thirteenth century Grail Quest, which highlights the key of compassion; philosopher and poet Wendell Berry’s What are People for? which questions value in a world of mechanization; and the Friendship Bench installation where grandmother figures nurture the younger generation on designated benches — initiated by Dixon Chibanda in Zimbabwe and now adopted worldwide.
More episodes of the podcast Flow: better conversation in a complex world
The Hidden Power of Silence in Conversation
23/11/2025
Conversations with Old Friends
04/10/2025
How LLMs Are Changing our Talk, video
30/08/2025
LLMs Are Hurting Our Talk and Relationships
30/08/2025
Haïti: dialogues de l’espoir
04/08/2025
Grudges to Happiness: Mastering Self-Talk
31/05/2025
Conversations for Change in our World
30/03/2025
The Sounds of Language
12/02/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.