Black Box Speaker Series Featuring Alumna Dr. Selamawit Terrefe

Department: Culture and Theory

Date and Time: March 3, 2021 | 10:30 AM-12:30 PM

Event Location: Zoom

Event Details


The Ph.D. Program in Culture and Theory presents the Black Box Speaker Series with our first installment featuring Dr. Selamawit Terrefe.

Register for the event via Zoom here.
https://uci.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2x62q15SRuqz8xll6y3n7g

ABOUT THE SERIES:
THE SUMMER OF 2020 MARKED A WATERSHED MOVEMENT FOR STREET MOBILIZATION AGAINST POLICE, POLICE BRUTALITY, AND IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES. IN ADDITION, WE FOUND OURSELVES CAUGHT BETWEEN THE PANDEMIC AND THE MURDERS OF BREONNA TAYLOR, AHMAUD ARBERV, GEORGE FLOYD, TONI MCDADE BY THE STATE AND ITS DEPUTIES, THE ERUPTION OF STREET ACTIONS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AND THE INSURRECTION AT OUR NATION’S CAPITAL ON JANUARY 6. THE BLACK BOX SPEAKER SERIES AIM IS TO CRITICALLY ENGAGE THE RELATION BETWEEN INSURRECTION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSIDERING THE PSYCHOPOLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF INSURRECTION.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
SELAMAWIT D. TERREFE IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AT TULANE UNIVERSITY WHERE SHE ALSO HOLDS AFFILIATIONS WITH THE AFRICANA STUDIES PROGRAM AND THE STONE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES. BROADLY SPEAKING, TERREFE’S WORK EXAMINES THE EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE ON THE PSYCHIC LIFE OF BLACK PEOPLE; HENCE, HER RESEARCH QUESTIONS FOCUS ON RADICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, THEORIES, AND CREATIVE PRACTICES ENGAGED BY BLACK DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES IN THE WAKE OF CONTINUED RACIAL ANIMUS.

ABOUT THE FACULTY RESPONDENT:
SANDRA HARVEY IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AT UCI. PROFESSOR HARVEY RESEARCHES THE PRODUCTION OF RACE AND GENDER THROUGH SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGIES ORIGINATING IN COLONIALISM AND CHATTEL SLAVERY. PROFESSOR HARVEY'S ADDITIONAL RESEARCH ENGAGES FEMINIST REPRESENTATIONS OF BLACKNESS IN CARIBBEAN (CUBAN AND PUERTO RICAN) MODERN AND CONCEPTUAL ART.

ABOUT THE STUDENT RESPONDENT:
ROY CHERIAN'S RESEARCH TRACES THE EMERGENCE OF RACE AND THE BIOMEDICAL WITH REGARD TO THE HISTORICO-MATERIAL AND PSYCHO-POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF COLONIZATION AND ENSLAVEMENT. MORE PRECISELY, BY INTERROGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANTI-BLACKNESS AND THE SECULAR, ROY'S RESEARCH POSES THE QUESTION OF HOW BLACK FLESH FUNCTIONS AS AN ESSENTIAL SITE FOR THE PRODUCTION AND REFINEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE PRAXIS CRITICAL TO THE FUNCTIONING OF BIOPOLITICAL STATES AND THE SELF-FASHIONING OF ITS SECULAR CITIZENS AND SUBJECTS.