This material is an amended version of what was originally on the syllabus for this date — on the topic of a “Black gaze” that is also a reparative one (one that heals or repairs harm, violence, or injustice). I am asking you to view three super-short videos by Kahlil Joseph (all available on YouTube) and read a chapter from a book by Black feminist scholar Tina Campt, which explicitly discusses Joseph’s work (Tina Campt, _A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See_). I have reduced the amount of viewing and reading drastically in hopes that we can spend more time on the material and that the lighter load will be generative for us. You will find the embedded videos by Joseph first; then scroll all the way down to get to the downloadable pdf of the Campt chapter; then look for the 4 short discussion questions I invite us to start our discussion with. Pls. also bring your own thoughts, reactions, comments, questions, musings, of course!

Wildcat (7 mins.)

Alice Smith: Black Mary (5:30 mins.)

Until the Quiet Comes (4 mins.)

verse-two-from-tina-camptDownload

Tina Campt, “Verse Two: Black (Counter)gravity” (downloadable as a pdf)

notes-from-tina-campt-Download

Notes to Tina Campt (downloadable as a pdf)

Discussion questions:

  1. In her essay, Campt uses a lot of metaphoric terms, or she invites us to think about using critical/theoretical terms (some borrowed from other writers/thinkers) in new and potentially metaphoric ways. Explore the definitions that she gives for the key words in her metaphoric and critical lexicon: definitions of weather, fabulation, Black sociality, gravity, countergravity, refusal. Describe in your own words the impact of her writing style or her language.
  2. Why is she interested in gravity in particular in relation to Kahlil Joseph’s video work, Wildcat?
  3. What is unusual or unexpected about the figure of the Black cowboy, whether in general or as treated by Joseph in his work?
  4. Did you have a favorite moment or a moment that you found particularly striking or memorable in one of Joseph’s video works? What was it? (Be prepared to give timecode/the timestamp on the video.)