This week, in the spirit of Halloween, we’re re-releasing an episode from our first season of Material Girls: Goblin Mode x the Abject with guest expert McKayla Coyle.
As you may remember, in 2022, Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year was the term “goblin mode.” For anyone who was very online during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, this term probably sounds super familiar and relatable. Going Goblin Mode became a kind of shorthand for our more feral tendencies during an incredibly isolating time. In this episode, we were joined by McKayla Coyle, author of Goblin Mode: How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck. Together we dig into the term that took twitter by storm in 2022 - and Hannah offers us some theory about 'the abject,' a concept from Bulgarian-French feminist philosopher Julia Kristeva. We discuss the racialized and ableist construction of bodies and boundaries — and how that framework can help us understand the radical potential of going 'goblin mode.'
We’ll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode and in two weeks, we’ll continue this season with a new, regular-format episode all about Godzilla!
Until then, happy listening sweet Goblins.
For More McKayla Coyle
How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck.
Mothman Is My Boyfriend: Ten Tales of Cryptid Love and Lust
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To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode!
Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.
*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both.
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