Note: Halfway through this, I inexplicably started calling Anansi the Spider Asanti. I know and always have known that it is Anansi. I blame sleep deprivation. 

This episode is a review and discussion of the role of Mami Wata and Anansi the Spider in the Sundance award-winning horror film, Nanny . I also discuss Wangechi Mutu's mermaid artwork and the role of African spirituality and folklore in film.

Art and Media Referenced:

Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny

Wangechi Mutu, "Killing you Softly" & "If We Live Through It, She'll Carry us Back" in Nguva na Nyoka

T-Shirt:

Society of Fat Mermaids

Lipstick:

NaChé

My Mermaid Research:

https://www.jalondradavis.com/engaged-scholar-1

Other Works Cited:

Henry Drewal, Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and its Diasporas

Jalondra A. Davis, Butler's Monsters: "The Grotesque and the Black Female Body in Octavia Butler's Dawn"

Other Mentions and Shoutouts:

Myshell Tabu

Nicole Sconiers

Scam Goddess Podcast

This episode ties some of my reflections to the mermaidy aspects of the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever to Rivers Solomon's novel The Deep. I connect what I call the 'crossing merfolk' narrative in Solomon's novel to the film's reimagining of Atlantis through the history of conquest and colonization. I don't think I give away the end or any major twists but this discussion may contain some spoilers for Wakanda Forever.

My Research on Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mermaids

My Review of Skin of the Sea in Los Angeles Review of Books (In this I define and discuss the crossing merfolk concept referenced in this episode)

Caveats and corrections: I forgot to address the fact that the Talokani people in Wakanda forever are not mermaids in the sense that they don't have fishtails, they have human form. This is also true of some of the stories that I study in my own work. I use the term merfolk broadly to describe humanoid or human-hybrid beings that live primarily in water. I would argue that the film intentionally references mermaid lore in relationship to Talokan through the dolphin kick motion (with feet together, mimicking a fin) that most of them use to swim, different characters calling Namor a merman or fishman, and their use of a siren-like call.

Primary Texts Mentioned:

Ryan Coogler's Black Panther and Wakanda Forever

clpping's "The Deep"

Rivers Solomon's The Deep

Drexciya's The Quest

Parliament Funkadelic's Motor  Booty Affair

Sun Ra's Atlantis

Azalea Banks' Atlantis

Critical and Secondary Sources Mentioned, Referenced, or for Further Reading:

Nili Blanck,"The Mesoamerican influences behind Namor from Black Panther 'Wakanda Forever'

This American Life Feature-Afrofuturism

Nettrice Gaskins, "Deep Sea Dwellers; Drexciya and the Sonic Third Space"

Justin Burton, "Azalea Banks, Seapunk, and Atlantis: An Embattled Humanist Mixtape"

Joshua Bennet's On Being Property Myself ("The Shark" chapter)

M. Jacqui Alexander's Pedagogies of the Crossing

This episode is about race and fantasy more broadly. I use my thoughts on Episode 7 of Dance of the Dragons, "Driftwood" and the Freeform mermaid show Siren to think (and rant) out loud about race, settler colonialism, casting, and fantasy fandoms. This is a different one so hope that folks enjoy. We'll be back more to mermaids in the next one!

My Research on Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mermaids

My Review of Skin of the Sea in Los Angeles Review of Books

Caveats and corrections: My comments on Dance of Dragons are meant only to talk about Aemond as a character and not about the actor who plays him. I know the difference between fantasy characters and real life children. The Sharma sisters on season 2 of Bridgerton are Indian-British. I identified them as Southeast Asian but I like to use the most specific descriptors of identity and nationality when known.

Terms Used:

settler colonialism: a form of colonization in which the incoming settlers seek to not only control and extract resources from a colony but displace and replace the original inhabitants of the land

Media Mentions:

Game of Thrones

Dance of Dragons

Bridgerton

Hamilton

Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1998) (There were earlier film versions of the musical)

Siren

Shoutouts:

Black Girl Nerds

Book Mentions:

Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms

Rivers Solomon's The Deep

N.K. Jemison's The Stone Sky , Book 3 of The Broken Earth Trilogy

Natasha Bowen's Skin of the Sea

In this episode I talk about my personal mermaiding journey, the mermaid lore that inspires my mersona, and what my platform is all about.

Cover Art:

Photo by Natasha Gumbs Art

My Mermaid Research:

Link to All Publications

Article that most addresses topics in this episode (African Indigenous Religions, Mami Wata): Crossing Merfolk Narratives of the Sacred. The bibliography also has a lot of sources that you can check out!

Other Sources Referenced and Cited:

Ytasha Womack, Afrofuturism, The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture

Lesley Braun, "Tales from the Congo River: Catching Mami Wata"

Multiple Authors/Unknown, One Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights

Christina Baccchilega & Marie Alohalani Brown, editors, The Penguin Book of Mermaids, "The Legend of Melusina"

Texts Mentioned:

Beyonce, Lemonade

Freeform, Siren

Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon's Arms

Mermaid Shoutouts:

April Kalen Campbell (My pole teacher who introduced me to mermaiding)

Mermaid Che Monique

The Caribbean Pearl

Merman Maui

Carrie Wata

Indigo Siren

Other Business Shoutouts:

Conrad Cooper, Swim To Me (My swim teacher!)

This first episode introduces me, my work, and why I am starting the Merwomanist Podcast right now. 

My Mermaid Research:

www.jalondradavis.com/engaged-scholar-1

Cover Art:

Mami Melusine by Salt Drift Mermaids

Creators Cited:

On Twitter:

DatWitchBitch @Darealbigfine1

@ArieTheHeretic

Mermaid Books and Media Mentioned: 

Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D. San Souci and Brian Pinkney

"No Ordinary Love" by Sade

Drexciya

Parliament Funkadelic "Motor Booty Affair"

Clipping "The Deep"

Rivers Solomon The Deep

Nalo Hopkinson The New Moon's Arms

Ellen Gallagher The Watery Ecstatic

Dive Group Mentioned:

Diving With a Purpose

Fashion:

Earrings by Iona Perris Seashell Queen