Dean Spade: On Liberating Our Relationships for a Better World

Lifelong activist and educator Dean Spade dares us to decide that our interpersonal actions are not separate from our politics of liberation and resistance. Many activist projects and resistance groups fall apart because people treat each other poorly, trying desperately to live out the cultural myths about dating and relationships that we are fed from an early age. How do we bring our best thinking about freedom and justice into step with our desires for healing and connection?

In this episode, Dean is joined by CIIS Anthropology and Social Change Associate Professor Targol Mesbah in a liberating conversation on how to combat cultural scripts and take our relationships into our own hands, better preparing us for the work of changing the world.

This episode was recorded during an in-person and live streamed event at California Institute of Integral Studies on February 28, 2025. 

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Tags: