What is “negative” about political negativity?: On Halberstam, Joy Division, and Grace Jones (London’s Burning #3)
So, I’m working on several projects related to the use of music in contemporary queer theory. You all know I’ve been thinking about the role of punk in the futurity/relationality debates, and I’ve written before on the Halberstam/Edelman exhange on…
Follow me on Twitter
I’ve had a twitter account for ages, but I’ve finally decided to actually use it. I’m limiting my feed to blog-related topics: it’s more or less the aphorism division of its-her-factory. There’s a link on the left hand side of…
Rest In Peace, Polly Styrene
X-Ray Spex singer Polly Styrene died today. So sad. And so soon after Ari Up!
My New Article on Ranciere and Hip Hop
Check out my new article in Transformations special issue on Jacques Ranciere, “These.Are.The Breaks:Rethinking Disagreement through Hip Hop“. Here’s the intro: The idea of the “break” is central to both Jacques Rancière’s theory of disagreement and to hip hop aesthetics….
Oh Bondage, Up Yours!: Rihanna’s “S&M”
When I first heard Rihanna’s “S&M” track on the radio, I was unsure how I felt about hearing a black woman say “Sticks and stones can break my bones/But chains and whips excite me.” Sure, this is about BDSM, but,…
Born This Way: The Birth of Little Monsters From The Spirit Of Music
In my previous post about Gaga’s BTW, I argued that the song’s ultimate position on identity—whether sexuality is genetic/biologically determined, or socially constructed—was hard to determine. There was a tension between the general spirit of the “born this way” rhetoric…
Good Girl Gone Melisma: the racial politics of Avril Lavigne’s “What the Hell”
Avril Lavigne’s newish single “What the Hell” offers us a quick, clearly defined lesson about racial signifiers in American pop music. It all has to do with the one little arpeggiated melisma in the chorus of an otherwise vocally minimalist…
Deconstructing “Born This Way”
Some prefatory remarks: (1) I really, really wanted to like Gaga’s new single. (2) Musically, it’s a pretty fun dance pop track; I’m sure it will make its way in to my workout playlists. In fact, I prefer the music…
How to subvert biopower? (on Foucault, Butler, and subversive repetition)
Monday night in my Critical Race Theory class, we were discussing the second half of Foucault’s Society Must Be Defended. Here, he argues that 20th (and, I think there are good reasons for also claiming 21st) century State racism/racist discourse…
This Is A Cold War, Society Must Be Defended: Janelle Monae as Reader of Foucault
Yesterday, I was prepping both a talk on Janelle Monae, and a class on Foucault’s Society Must Be Defended, when I realized that Monae’s “Cold War” single is more or less a condensed, poetic version of Foucaut’s concept of politics…
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