How to find belonging (w/ Hanif Abdurraqib)

How to Be a Better Human

Nov 17, 2025•33 min

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Episode description

Where do you belong and what does community mean to you? These are the central questions Chris asks poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib while visiting Hanif’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Hanif is a poet and essayist of many notable works such as They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Fortune for Your Disaster, and A Little Devil in America, among others. Hanif joins Chris to share his love for the city Columbus, what it means to be cared for by community members, and how spending time with others can show you how to love them better.

This episode is part of a series of bonus videos from "How to Be a Better Human." You can watch the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel and the extended interview on the TED Audio Collective YouTube Channel.

Watch

Hanif shows Chris and Sarah his hometown: https://youtu.be/xGJe_eRw2Ao

Extended interview with Chris: https://youtu.be/hl-5PGuwEBg

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Guest:

Hanif Abdurraqib (Instagram: @nifmuhammad | https://www.abdurraqib.com/)

Sarah Kay (Instagram: @kaysarahsera | https://kaysarahsera.com/)

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy (https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL)

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