Scholars explore race, media, and visual culture May 10–11, 2022

“Rethinking Popular Performance: a Symposium on Race, Media, and Visual Culture,” a virtual two-day interdisciplinary event, will explore how scholars are engaging Black-feminist and queer-of-color critique to interpret popular TV, film, media, and performance. Discussions will consider how principles of Black-feminist and queer-of-color critique can continue to support equity and inclusion at the University of Oregon. The symposium will include academic panels, an artists’ showcase, and guest speakers. 

Guest speakers include E. Patrick Johnson and Shoniqua Roach. E. Patrick Johnson is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Johnson codified the field of Black queer studies in the groundbreaking anthology Black Queer Studies (2005). Johnson’s talk will center on his monograph Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women (2019). Honeypot combines Black feminist critique, storytelling, and performance in an exploration of Black queer women’s histories in the American South. 

Shoniqua Roach is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University. She has published widely in interdisciplinary feminist journals including Signs and differences. Roach’s current book project provisionally titled Black Sexual Sanctuaries, explores the possibilities for black women’s sexual citizenship and erotic freedom within overlooked or dismissed domains such as privacy and domesticity.  

UO faculty will engage in interdisciplinary dialogue with guest speakers and the broader community. Dayna Chatman is Assistant Professor of media and intersectionality in School of Journalism and Communication. Examining the television industry, social media, and fandom, Chatman’s scholarship utilizes interdisciplinary methods from Black feminist media studies. Priscilla Peña Ovalle is Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and Chair of Cinema Studies. Ovalle’s work bridges sound studies, performance studies, and Latinx studies. Ovalle is author of Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom (2011) and is currently working on a book project on hair performance that models how Black feminist methodologies can ethically inform critical analysis across racial and ethnic categories.

The symposium, cosponsored by the OHC’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, is free and open to the public. For more information go to symposium2022.wordpress.com