The Hopeful Reader

In today’s episode the hopeful readers are on tour - well, at our local park - such that the two of us have become multiple in connection with nature (there’s some birdsong in the background lol). Whilst neoliberal capitalism has co-opted mindfulness in lieu of systemic change, we explore how the work of queer theorists and ecofeminists might enable us to re-orientate our approach to mindfulness, enabling us to realise our response-ability to the (natural, wild and feral) world that constitutes our very becoming.

Is fandom culture a way to politically and ethically refuse normative attachments - a way to opt out of the mainstream? In this episode we neuroqueer the idea of ‘obsession’ and discuss what ‘parasocial’ relationships even are at a time in which algorithms are always already dis/organising social life. Inspired by the Japanese novel Idol, Burning by Rin Usami and a recent Black Mirror episode, this one (predictably) gets a bit existential…

In a society that ascribes inherent value to productivity, it’s easy to overlook the potentially harmful structures we are actually (re)producing through our labour. In this episode we explore the cult of productivity - life under capitalism - through a neuroqueer lens. We question how the individualistic nature of self-discipline that surrounds productivity interacts with acts of solidarity and mutual aid, and how we might build futures that are more welcoming of queer community building. You can also look forward to some hot takes on mindfulness and slow living, as well as some very un/serious yapping towards the end of the episode…References:Choi, M.A. (2021). The power of slowness: Governmentalities of Olle walking in South Korea. Transactions of the IBG. 47 (2). Pp. 562-576.Cook, E. (2016). (Dis)Connections and silence: experiences of family and part-time work in Japan. Japanese Studies. DOI:10.1080/10371397.2016.1215228Gregg, M. (2018) Counterproductive: Time management in the knowledge economy. London: Duke University Press.Kafer, A. (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana: Indiana University Press.Lorde, A. (1988) A burst of light. New York: Firebrand books.Manning, E. (2016). The Minor Gesture. London: Duke University Press. 

Leaning into our film bro personas, in this episode we use the latest Joker movie to explore how dissociation - the cultivation of numbness, or splitting of subjectivity - might be considered a subtle form of resistance whilst inhabiting hostile environments. Is our refusal to be affected by oppressive structures a revolutionary act of self-preservation? Or does cultivated numbness prevent us from mobilising towards radical change? Ultimately…why is everyone hating on the new Joker film? References: Aitken, S. in Anderson et al. (2022) Encountering Berlant part one: Concepts otherwise. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12494Awkward-Rich, C. (2022). The Terrible We: Thinking with trans maladjustment. Durham: Duke University Press. Berlant, L. (2022). The Inconvenience of Other People. Durham: Duke University Press. Bissell, D. (2021). The Anaesthetic Politics of Being Unaffected: Embodying Insecure Digital Platform Labour. The Anaesthetic Politics of Being Unaffected: Embodying Insecure Digital Platform Labour - Bissell - 2022 - Antipode - Wiley Online LibraryMalatino, H. (2022). Side Affects: On being trans and feeling bad. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Turner, C. (2024). The transgender space invader: Out of time and out of affect. European Journal of Cultural Studies.

In the age of the algorithm, social media platforms and machine learning technologies are now defining, and perpetually updating, aesthetic ideals and beauty standards. In this episode, we discuss how beauty culture is entangled with the digital technologies that have become so pervasive in everyday life. How does ‘algorithmic oppression’ play into the creation and maintenance of beauty standards, and how does it feel to exist as cyborg, changeling bodies within all of this? Inspired by various works of fiction and drawing upon critical theory, we explore how we might hack and resist the affordances of these technologies through embodying and embracing glitches, and in ways that gesture towards queer and non-binary becoming. Atlanta, E. (2024) Pixel Flesh: How toxic beauty culture harms women. London: Headline Publishing Group. Awad, M. (2023) Rouge. New York: Scribner Publishing. Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: New York University Press Russell, L. (2020) Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. London: Verso Books. Sender, K. & Shaw, A. (2017) Queer Technologies: Affordances, Affect, Ambivalence. London: RoutledgeTa-Wei, C. (1995 [2021]) The Membranes: a novel. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Zuboff, S. (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. London: Profile Books Ltd. Zwick, D. & Knott, J. D. (2009) “Manufacturing Customers: The database as new means of production.” Journal of Consumer Culture, 9(2).

Happy Halloween, hopeful readers! In this episode, we bring all the spooky vibes with a little monster mash up…From Frankenstein and witches to a jellyfish communist revolution, we explore what the figure of the ‘monster’ tells us about the exclusionary, anthropocentric category of the human, as well as how the affective circulation of fear works to maintain hierarchical boundaries and binaries. Can we be hopeful little monsters in a world that sometimes feels monstrous? References: Ahmed, S. (2014) The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chollet, M. (2022) In defence of witches: Why women are still on trial. London: Picador. Enriquez, M. (2009). The dangers of smoking in bed. London: Granta books. Greenaway, J. (2024) Capitalism, A Horror Story:Gothic marxism and the dark side of the imagination. London: Repeater Books. Halberstam, J. (1995) Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monstrosity. London: Duke University Press. Musharbash, Y. (2023) Monsters and Crises, a seminar.Nordmarken, S. (2013) Becoming ever more monstrous: feeling transgender in-betweenness. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(1). Preciado, P. B. (2021) Can the monster speak? London: Fitzcarraldo editions. Rumfitt, A. (2023) Brainwyrms. Cipher Press. Shelley, M. (1818) Frankenstein. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth editions. Stryker, S. (1994 [2024]) My words to Victor Frankenstein above the village of Chamounix: Performing transgender rage. Durham: Duke University Press.  Tsing, A., Bubandt, N., Gan, E. & Swanson, H. (2017) Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene.  Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Wynter, S. (2001). Towards the sociogenic principle: Fanon, Identity, the Puzzle of Conscious Experience, and What it is like to be Black. in A. Gomez-Moriana and M. Duran-Cogan (eds.). National Identities and Sociopolitical Changes in Latin America. New York: RoutledgeWynter, S. (2007). Human Being as Noun? Or Being Human as Praxis? Towards the Autopoetic Turn/Overturn: A Manifesto.

Can writing - the fixing and rendering static of our experiences - ever be queer? I mean, sure...but why is (queer) writer’s block still so all consuming? In this episode we dip our toes into queer theory’s subjectivity debate before discussing how we might expand the ‘I’ in personal narrative in ways that problematise normative modes of writing about our ‘own’ experiences. Inspired by feminist new materialism and Deleuzian assemblage theory, this episode grapples with the possibility (or, perhaps, necessity) of queer writing as resistance. References: Barad, K. (2007) Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of meaning and matter. Durham: Duke University Press. Barker, M.J. (2020). ‘On Queer Writing’ Available at: https://www.rewriting-the-rules.com/self/on-queer-writing/Berlant, L. (2022) On the Inconvenience of Other People. Durham: Duke University Press. Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1980) A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Fassin, D. (2014) ‘True Life, Real Lives: Revisiting the Boundaries between ethnography and fiction’ American Ethnologist. 41(1) Febos, M. (2022) Body Work: The radical power of personal narrative. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Lorde, A. (2007) Sister Outsider. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. Available online: https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/11881_Chapter_5.pdfRuti, M. (2017) The ethics of opting out: Queer theory’s defiant subjects. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Wilson, E. in Ryan, K. (ed). (2022). So long as you write: women on writing. Dear Damsels. Winterson, J. (1992) Oranges are not the only fruit. London: Vintage Books.