Tertulia – Katherine Thorsteinson on Orange is the New Black Face: Economies of Enjoyment and the Formalist Killjoy [video]

As part of this fall’s Tertulia’s pop culture edition, Katherine Thorsteinston delivered a talk, “Orange is the New Black Face: Economies of Enjoyment and the Formalist Killjoy,” on Nov. 17 that is now available for viewing here:

For centuries we have been inundated with images of anti-Black violence. In Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America, Dr. Saidiya Hartman demonstrates how such images constitute just one element of the “economy of enjoyment” upon which transatlantic slavery and its afterlife have been founded. Might Dr. Sara Ahmed’s wilful figure of the “feminist killjoy” offer the blueprint for a form of spectatorship that interrupts this economy of enjoyment? In this talk, Katherine Thorsteinson pursues this possibility through a close reading of the failed comedic relief in the final two episodes of Orange is the New Black’s season four.

Katherine Thorsteinson focuses on contemporary theories of sexuality, gender, race, and ecology as they arise in 20th-21st century television, film, and fiction. She received her doctorate at Cornell University where she focused on American Literature, Media Studies, and Cultural Theory. Her current book project Forms of Disposability: Agency, Ontology, Ethics observes how our current ethico-political crises are increasingly determined according to a rubric of “disposability.” In 2019, Dr. Thorsteinson joined the English Department at St. Thomas University as an Assistant Professor of Media Studies.

What is a tertulia? A tertulia can be described as a kind of philosophy café where participants talk about big thinkers, artists and ideas. This winter and spring, Tertulias Fredericton has put together a series on activists and social movements that have shaped our lives and allowed us to imagine a better future.

Upcoming Tertulia – Sabine LeBel on Superheroes

Tertulias Fredericton is supported by the NB Media Co-op, publisher of videos of the Tertulia talks, and Milda’s Pizzas.

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