Ep. 34 – Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts
01/05/16 • -1 min
Join Rachel, Emily, and B as they delve into Maggie Nelson‘s memoir The Argonauts. As they discuss the power of the memoir genre as a tool for thinking critically about social life, they explore its political potential. How can the memoir, like poetry and other ‘forms’ of writing, allow for the kinds of destabilizing ‘epistemic unruliness’ that familiar forms of academic discourses disallow? If the memoir is thinking, and thinking-politically, what kinds of everyday experiences can be politicized and theorized? Listen as they consider Nelson’s contemplations of the queerness of pregnancy; the function and status of canonical philosophers in the memoir; and the general problem/inadequacy of words.
Thanks to listener @angellemke for suggesting The Argonauts. Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion and to B for the music.
https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/ep34.mp3
Links!
- Maggie Nelson at CalArts and Wave Books
- The Argonauts at Graywolf Press
- Reviews of The Argonauts at the NY Times, NPR, and Salon
- “Writing as Performance: An Interview with Maggie Nelson”, a video from Superstition Review
- Catherine Opie exhibit archive at the Guggenheim
- What are Argonauts, you ask? PBS has an answer.
Join Rachel, Emily, and B as they delve into Maggie Nelson‘s memoir The Argonauts. As they discuss the power of the memoir genre as a tool for thinking critically about social life, they explore its political potential. How can the memoir, like poetry and other ‘forms’ of writing, allow for the kinds of destabilizing ‘epistemic unruliness’ that familiar forms of academic discourses disallow? If the memoir is thinking, and thinking-politically, what kinds of everyday experiences can be politicized and theorized? Listen as they consider Nelson’s contemplations of the queerness of pregnancy; the function and status of canonical philosophers in the memoir; and the general problem/inadequacy of words.
Thanks to listener @angellemke for suggesting The Argonauts. Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion and to B for the music.
https://alwaysalreadypodcast.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/ep34.mp3
Links!
- Maggie Nelson at CalArts and Wave Books
- The Argonauts at Graywolf Press
- Reviews of The Argonauts at the NY Times, NPR, and Salon
- “Writing as Performance: An Interview with Maggie Nelson”, a video from Superstition Review
- Catherine Opie exhibit archive at the Guggenheim
- What are Argonauts, you ask? PBS has an answer.
Next Episode
AAP After Dark 1: The Badness of Academia; Willow and Jaden Smith
Join James, John, and Emily for an extra special episode of Always Already “After Dark,” a potentially new series. This episode is “after dark” in two senses: 1) we recorded it dangerously near bedtime, and 2) we deviated from our usual format and content! The conversation takes up two broad topics, both of which are anchored in a series of short internet articles. In part 1, we tackle the amorphous and illusive “Academy,” and whether it is good or bad. We discuss academia’s forsaking of the affective body, the “public” with which it is engaged, how it engages with that public, our own understandings of the role the podcast plays in our academic lives, and the sheer volume of airquotes required to develop this episode description! (Okay, not that last part.) Part 2 grapples with the philosophy of Jaden and Willow Smith, their understanding of time, whether they are the Deleuzians of our day, the Afrofuturist art of Willow’s ARDIPITHECUS album cover, and the cosmologies of “New-Age” thinking. We know what you’re thinking: The Smith children are philosophers? Tune in to hear our take on their now (in?)famous interview with T Magazine.
Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion and to B for the music.
https://alwaysalreadypodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ad1.mp3
Links!
- Karen Kelsky, “Is The Academy Good“
- New Feminist Formations issue on “Institutional Feelings: Practicing Women’s Studies in the Corporate University”, including a roundtable featuring friend of the podcast/previous guest host Lindsey Whitmore
- James Mulholland, “Academics: Forget about Public Engagement, Stay in Your Ivory Towers”
- Slate Culture Gabfest podcast episode talking about Mulholland’s piece (at 39:30)
- Interview with Willow and Jaden Smith in T Magazine by Su Wu
- An anonymous philosophy prof interprets the Smiths, at Vice
- Jaden Smith models Louis Vuitton womenswear
- Jack Qu’emi Gutiérrez on Jaden Smith’s modelling and gender binaries, at Black Girl Dangerous
- Willow Smith’s ARDIPITHECUS on Spotify
- Willow explains the album title and origin to Fader
From the T Magazine interview: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/jaden-and-willow-smith-exclusive-joint-interview/
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