Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 342

Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn: Diasporic Archives vs. Colonial Archives

Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn, Black Atlas'Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn answers Léopold Lambert’s questions about the way she interprets or/and constructs various kinds of archives through her artistic work. The first part of the conversation addresses diasporic archives through her project The Making of an Archive (2014-now), which undertakes to digitize photographs from immigrant families in Canada and Sweden. They then proceed to interrogate the colonial archives in Jacqueline’s work following her 2015 residency in the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm that led to the exhibition Black Atlas (2016). Through phrases such as “How did the world came to Europe” or “You are here because they were there” (paraphrasing Stuart Hall), Jacqueline’s artwork interrogates colonialism’s relationality and, in the context of the museum, “turn[s] the ethnographic gaze back onto itself”.' -- The Funambulist Podcast 

Beyond Capitalism or Socialism: On Generalized Precarity and Subversive Pragmatism

'Theorist Albena Azmanova examines the dynamics of post-2008 precarity capitalism, the left's long failure to strike through capitalism's competitive production of profit, and explains why radical change for the precarious multitude is possible without a revolutionary break - but through subversive pragmatism. Azmanova is author of Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia from Columbia University Press.' -- This is Hell! 

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith's Poetry Road Trip Across America

'Pulitzer prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith spent a year traveling the country as U.S. poet laureate. Who did she meet — and what did she learn — about a nation that seems at odds with itself?'

Reginald Dwayne Betts Reads from 'Felon'

'Reginald Dwayne Betts discovered poetry while in solitary confinement, during a prison sentence for a carjacking that he committed when he was sixteen. He was tried and sentenced as an adult, and finished high school and began writing poetry while in prison. He went on to graduate from college, and then from Yale Law School, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. Connecticut contested his admission to the bar, on grounds of “character and fitness” requirements; Betts was eventually admitted, but he tells WNYC’s Kai Wright that the experience drove home the reality that “no matter how fast you run, you’re not going to outpace the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.” Betts reads a poem, which appears in his recent collection Felon , about trying to explain to his young son that he has served time in prison.' -- The New Yorker Radio Hour

A Landmark Study of Sexual Assault on Campus

'Jennifer S. Hirsch, professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia and co-director of the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) at Columbia, and Shamus Khan, chair of sociology at Columbia and co-head of the ethnographic team of SHIFT, join All Of It to discuss their new book, Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus.'
         
        

Rapper Killer Mike on the Political Issues that Matter to Him in 2020

'Michael Render, better known as Killer Mike , has been rapping for decades, coming up in the Atlanta music scene of the early 2000s alongside peers like Outkast and Goodie Mob. Today, he’s one half of the rap duo Run the Jewels. But activism has also been a central part of Mike’s life since he was a teenager. He told  The Takeaway, "It's not like I had a choice. My grandmother was active civically, my grandfather had strong social and political opinions even though he was a very working-class and pro-union guy. You know, so for me, there was never a time where it was not an option, where if you saw a problem as a member of the community you didn't try to aid and solve in it." The Takeaway spoke with Mike about the Democratic presidential candidates and how the party can appeal directly to black voters in the upcoming election.'

Why Martin Luther King, Jr. Was A "Master Television Producer"

'Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is often memorialized as a great public intellectual, orator, and civil rights leader. But the important skills that don't often make headlines — his mastery of political and media strategy — are some of the most important. The 1960s civil rights movement took place just as television news was coming into its own. Alexis Madrigal, staff writer for The Atlantic, says that many believe it was journalists who brought civil rights to the fore by broadcasting the horrors of segregation to a national audience. But this downplays how King meticulously planned his marches and events so that he controlled the broadcast narrative.' -- WNYC News
         
        

Faculty Bookwatch: Charles Piot: "The Fixer: Visa Lottery Chronicles"

'Duke Franklin Humanities Institute's Faculty Bookwatch featured Duke Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies Charles Piot and his recently published, The Fixer: Visa Lottery Chronicles. In this book, Professor Piot follows Kodjo Nicolas Batema, a visa-broker known as a "fixer" in the West African nation of Togo, as he helps his clients apply for the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery program. Through detailed and compelling stories, "The Fixer" illustrates the desire and savviness of migrants as they work to find what they hope will be a better life.' 

A Conversation Between Friends: Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and Sharon Harley

'A conversation with Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University and Sharon Harley, Associate Professor of African American Studies, University of Maryland. Moderated by Emily Owens, Assistant Professor of History, Brown University.' -- Brown University
 

Slick Rick: What's In My Bag?

'Slick Rick goes shopping at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles. The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick (30th Anniversary Edition) is available from Def Jam Recordings.' -- Amoeba