S3, E2 The Death of Sovereignty

Zora's Daughters

Ding dong! In this week's episode, Alyssa and Brendane are talking about sovereignty, non-sovereignty, and the death of the sovereign Queen Elizabeth II to ask whether it's possible (and desirable!) to leave the past behind while creating our collective future.

(CW: rape, sexual assault 1:05:00- 1:16:00)

What's the Word? Sovereignty. Defined as autonomy, freedom from external control, sovereignty is typically considered a positive. Brendane and Alyssa unpack the ways the concept is also rooted in power and domination.

What We're Reading. Non-Sovereign Futures: French Caribbean Politics in the Wake of Disenchantment by Yarimar Bonilla. Bonilla examines how contemporary activists in Guadeloupe imagine and contest the limits of postcolonial sovereignty, challenging us rethink our received ideas about freedom, independence, nationalism, and revolution, and our commitment to sovereignty itself.

What In The World?! In this segment, we discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth II and why Alyssa has complicated feelings about it; why turning to past values (that never existed) is evidence of crisis; the problem with Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play, Bridgerton, and The Courtship; and whether you can really have love under racial or patriarchal domination.

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Discussed In This Episode

Non-Sovereign Futures: French Caribbean Politics in the Wake of Disenchantment (Yarimar Bonilla, 2015)
Life and Debt (Stephanie Black, 2001)
"The Sovereignty of Critique" (Audra Simpson, 2020)
"Unsettling Sovereignty" (Yarimar Bonilla, 2017)
"The Dissolution of the Myth of Sovereignty in the Caribbean" (Linden Lewis, 2012)
"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (Adrienne Rich, 1980)

Season 1, Episode 6: Deathcraft Country
Season 1, Episode 2: Ain't I A Woman? (Where we discuss Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe)

Syllabus for ZD 301 is available here!

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Transcript will be available on our website here.