“Sometimes a kiss can make you feel free.” This beautiful line by Prof GerShun Avilez (University of Maryland) was one of the many, many reasons I wanted to learn more about his book Black Queer Freedom. In addition to the freeing potential of queer kisses, GerShun talks about how literature can help us better understand the ways in which Black queer bodies are harmed every day. He also explains what memoirs of gender-nonconforming and trans people of colour can teach us about how history is written and how movement through institutions like hospitals or prisons is affected by race and sexuality. Along with brilliant reflections on spaces of injury and spaces of pleasure, GerShun shares examples of artworks and books from his past and present research and generally dazzles me with all his clever insights on Black queer spaces and history. A must listen!

https://www.facebook.com/gershun.avilez

https://english.umd.edu/directory/gershun-avilez

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Texts, concepts and people mentioned:

GerShun Avilez’ Black Queer Freedom (UP Illinois, 2020)
GerShun Avilez’ Radical Aesthetics & Modern Black Nationalism (UP Illinois, 2016)
Pat Parker
Toni Morrison’s Beloved
Adrian Piper’s Vanilla Nightmares
Afropressimism
Social death
Orlando Patterson
“Africana/Black Studies Colloquium: Book Launch: GerShun Avilez, BLACK QUEER FREEDOM”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZU4ABWpE0Q
“Left of Black with GerShun Avilez”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24XOQWLR264
Queer Geographies Postgraduate Reading Group (Twitter: @QueerGeogPGRG)
Makeda Silvera’s “Baby”
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Jackie Kay
Janet Mock
Saeed Jones’ How We Fight for Our Lives
LaVelle Ridley “Black Trans Narratives”
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14328383/queer-lit-lavelle
Robert Jones Jr’s The Prophets
Homo Sapiens Podcast
Black Lives Matter
https://blacklivesmatter.com/

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.How can literature help us understand more about racism and antiqueer violence?
2.GerShun mentions Adrian Piper working with a newspaper as the basis for her artwork. Can you think of other examples of everyday objects that show how “our cultural imaginary […] is rooted in ideas about race and sexuality in ways that are so ordinary that we don’t even fully see them anymore”?
3.What are spaces of injury and why are they an important category in GerShun’s research?
4.We speak about the “fleeting nature of privacy” in the lives of racial minorities, queer and gender-nonconforming people. Can you think of a book, series or film that reflects on that?
5.In which ways, does GerShun suggest, can studying Black queer memoirs and life writing help us understand the true nature of history – and its omissions?
6.What is the role of pleasure in GerShun’s work, or in your own experience of queer space?