Built out of conversations with the public and encompassing work by scientists, artists, and philosophers, this podcast explores how dreaming serves as an integral psychological process that helps us work through the struggles we face in our waking lives. The show takes its title from Sigmund Freud, who described dreams as the “guardians of sleep and not its disturbers.”
Season 2, now in production, investigates the history of how and why dreams were devalued in Western society, as well as contemporary Indigenous methods for attending the knowledge offered in these experiences. Produced in partnership with the Museum of London (UK) and the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London,Season 1 of The Guardians of Sleep investigated how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the dream-life of people living in the British capital.
The Guardians of Sleep is written and hosted by Sharon Sliwinski, edited by Erin MacIndoe Sproule, with original music prodcued by Andrew Braun
In this episode, host Sharon Sliwinski speaks with Edward McGushin, Professor of Philosophy at Stonehill College, about how dreaming became devalued during the Age of Reason. McGushin discusses the influence of René Descartes’s philosophy as well as the French historian, Michel Foucault, who revived the importance of dream life in his own late work.
Read MoreIn the first episode of Season 2, Abigail Echo-Hawk, an international leader in Indigenous public health research and the decolonization of data, speaks with Sofia Locklear about how her influential work on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls was inspired by a dream.
Read MoreThe second season of The Guardians of Sleep delves into the colonial history that devalued dream life and highlights contemporary Indigenous methods for attending the knowledge offered in these experiences. Guests include Abigail Echo-Hawk, Edward McGushin, Lewis Williams, Kite and Alisha B. Wormsley, among others.
Read MoreIn this final episode of our first season, we present some of our concluding thoughts about how dreaming served as a mental resource during the Covid-19 pandemic. Topics include how dreams return us to early childhood memories, how they draw on shared cultural material, and symbolically shape new experiences.
Read MoreIn this episode we hear from Ruby who dreams of aliens and tunnels as a way to represent her experience of the pandemic. The focus also turns to the interaction between Ruby and her interviewer: What kind of listening is required to attune to a stranger’s dream life? How is the skill of listening to the other intertwined with the ability to listen to oneself? And what new kinds of conversation can be made from this form of attunement?
Read MoreIn this episode we hear from Pinny, a documentary filmmaker, and her 9-year-old daughter, Iris. Mother and daughter share the ability to lucid dream.
Read MoreIn this episode we hear from Peter, a retired commodities trader who has an interest in the neuroscience of dreaming.
Read MoreIn this episode we hear from Kavita, a self-described free-spirit, born and raised in London. In one of her dreams, she visits a funeral for a Black man and spots Princess Diana in a garden.
Read MoreIn this episode we hear from Dr. Ishani Rao, a London-based doctor who has been working on the COVID wards since March of 2020.
Read MoreIn partnership with the Museum of London (UK) and the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, the first season of The Guardians of Sleep investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the dream-life of people living in the British capital.
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