Professor Therí Alyce Pickens is Full Professor of English at Bates College, and her newest book, Black Madness :: Mad Blackness, has done nothing short of set me alight. In it, she explores the relationship between Blackness and disability, showing how Black speculative and science fiction authors craft new worlds that reimagine the intersection of Blackness and madness. 

We spoke just before Christmas about her book, which led to a really enlightening conversation about analysing the spaces between what happens and what we can know; intersectionality; the trouble with allies; the multiple purposes of silence; and ghosting as a form of discipline.

And before we begin, I want to send a very special thank you to my friend and co-conspirator, Lazarus Lynch, for reimagining the Busy Being Black theme music, which makes its debut today.

About Professor Pickens

Professor Pickens is Full Professor of English at Bates College, specialising in African American, Arab American and disability literatures and theories. She is the author of two books: New Body Politics and Black Madness :: Mad Blackness. You can find more about Professor Pickens and her work at tpickens.org

About Busy Being Black

Busy Being Black is the podcast exploring how we live in the fullness of our queer Black lives. Thank you to our partners: UK Black Pride, BlackOut UK, The Tenth, Schools Out and to you the listeners. Remember this, your support doesn’t cost any money: retweets, ratings, reviews and shares all help so please keep the support coming. 

Thank you to our newest funding partner, myGwork – the LGBT+ business community.

Thank you to Lazarus Lynch – a queer Black musician and culinary mastermind based in New York City – for the triumphant and ancestral Busy Being Black theme music. The Busy Being Black theme music was mixed and mastered by Joshua Pleeter.

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Busy Being Black listeners have an exclusive discount at my favourite publisher, Pluto Press. Enter BUSY50 at checkout.

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