62. Frank Wilderson with Anastacia Renee: Afro-Pessimism And Modern Slavery

In The Moment podcast

In this week’s interview, correspondent Anastacia Renee talks with Author Frank B. Wilderson III about Afro-pessimism—an intellectual movement that theorizes blackness through the lens of perpetual slavery. Wilderson contends that Black struggles cannot be conflated with the experiences of any other oppressed group. Rather than interpreting slavery through a Marxist framework of class oppression,

He asserts that the social construct of slavery—as seen through pervasive, anti-black subjugation and violence—is hardly a relic of the past, but an almost necessary force in modern civilization. Wilderson illustrates the theories of Afro-pessimism through his own lived experience, echoing the works of powerful civil rights advocates through a combination of groundbreaking philosophy and striking personal memoir. Get an insider’s look and stay in the know about what’s going on in this moment at Town Hall Seattle.

Frank B. Wilderson III is the professor and chair of African American studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid. Visit Frank's website for scholarly articles and more information about Afropessimism: https://www.frankbwildersoniii.com/

Anastacia Renee is a multigenre writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist and Deep End Podcast co-host. She is a 2020 Arc Fellow(4Culture) recipient of the 2018 James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award for Washington Artist (Literary), Seattle Civic Poet (2017-2019), Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House (2015-2017), and Jack Straw Curator (2020). Renee has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Jack Straw, Ragdale, Mineral School, Hypatia in the Woods and The New Orleans Writers Residency. Anastacia-Renee's work has been published in, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Spirited Stone, Foglifter, Cascadia Magazine, Pinwheel, The Fight and the Fiddle, Glow, The A-Line, Ms. Magazine and many more. Visit Anastacia's website: https://www.anastacia-renee.com/

Buy The Book Afropessimism: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9781631496141

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