How can infrastructure be criminal? How does a road, a prison, a suburban neighbourhood or a dam become a perpetrator of violence and insecurity? Material Crimes answers these questions. Each episode investigates a different piece of infrastructure, tracing its global, colonial connections across time and space. The series shows us how physical sites of everyday life are linked to networks of private and public actors who profit from violence inflicted on spaces and communities on the margins. The series also shines a spotlight on the people-powered movements exposing and challenging the many crimes of infrastructure.
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3 (Coming Soon)
︎︎︎ About the Project
︎︎︎ Listening Station at Whitechapel Gallery
︎︎︎ A Guide to Making an Episode
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3 (Coming Soon)
︎︎︎ About the Project
︎︎︎ Listening Station at Whitechapel Gallery
︎︎︎ A Guide to Making an Episode
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Material Crimes is what happens when “true crime” meets academic research.
Like a detective, each episode follows the trail of a different infrastructural crime with its own particular history. But whether the focus is a detention centre, a railway or a mine, in the Israeli military-prison complex or along a military road in Georgia, the stories in these episodes are always connected to global histories of conquest, resource extraction, and profit-making.
As a whole, the podcast takes a deep dive into the infrastructural crimes that shape the lives of colonised, racialised and marginalised communities everywhere – and how they are mobilising for different, liberated futures.
Countless voices have gone into the making of this series. Every episode is told by a different narrator, each with a deeply personal connection to the infrastructural crime they describe. Across the series you’ll also hear from a host of academics and activists who help unravel the material crimes - and struggles for justice - covered in the series.
For a full list of citations, click for Season One, Season Two, and Season Three.
The project was shortlisted for the Grassroots Award by the British Audio Academy ARIA Awards in 2023.
Like a detective, each episode follows the trail of a different infrastructural crime with its own particular history. But whether the focus is a detention centre, a railway or a mine, in the Israeli military-prison complex or along a military road in Georgia, the stories in these episodes are always connected to global histories of conquest, resource extraction, and profit-making.
As a whole, the podcast takes a deep dive into the infrastructural crimes that shape the lives of colonised, racialised and marginalised communities everywhere – and how they are mobilising for different, liberated futures.
Countless voices have gone into the making of this series. Every episode is told by a different narrator, each with a deeply personal connection to the infrastructural crime they describe. Across the series you’ll also hear from a host of academics and activists who help unravel the material crimes - and struggles for justice - covered in the series.
For a full list of citations, click for Season One, Season Two, and Season Three.
The project was shortlisted for the Grassroots Award by the British Audio Academy ARIA Awards in 2023.
Behind the podcast:
Material Crimes is a labour of love and the outcome of a long-term collaboration between artists, academics and activists.
Maia Holtermann Entwistle (QMUL) and Sharri Plonski (QMUL) are the series’ co-creators and co-directors. They are both scholars of colonialism, infrastructure, race, and resistance, with a regional focus on the Middle East.
Season Three is mixed and sound designed by felix taylor and Carla Flores. Felix is a sound artist, composer and audio producer. He has worked across radio, film, installation and performance alongside partners like Audible, The Guardian Podcasts, BBC Radio 4, Somerset House, The ICA and London Museum. Carla is a musician and audio editor.
Visuals, website and installation are designed by Frederick Kannemeyer, a South African-trained architect and artist. His portfolio includes collaborations with architectural institutions, collectives and individuals on different research, curatorial and archival projects. Their focus range from traditional architecture to architectures of decoloniality, abolitionism, map-making and archive-building.
Nivi Manchanda (QMUL) provided production support and expertise to Season Three.
Past seasons were co-produced with Surviving Society Productions, an audio and digital resource contributing to the systemic change needed in education. Surviving Society Productions is directed by Chantelle J Lewis and executively produced by award-winning audio producer George ‘Adders’ Ofori-Addo.
Seasons One and Two were mixed by George Ofori-Addo. Season One also included contributions by Tissot Regis, a previous host of Surviving Society Productions, and Bronte Dow, an artist, sound engineer and filmmaker.
Contact/Social Media:
︎ materialcrimespodcast@gmail.com
︎ @materialcrimespodcast
︎ Material Crimes
Queen Mary University of London: www.qmul.ac.uk
The Independent Social Research Foundation: www.isrf.org
The Independent Social Research Foundation: www.isrf.org
Material Crimes is funded by The Independent Social Research Foundation, The Leverhulme Trust, Queen Mary University of London’s Department of Sociology, Politics and International Relations, .
Copyright © 2026 Material Crimes. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2026 Material Crimes. All Rights Reserved