The Hutchins Center at Harvard University posted the recording of my conversation with J. Kameron Carter about my book Glissant and the Middle Passage: Philosophy, Beginning, Abyss.
Here it is, in case you want to listen in.
I loved the conversation. In particular, I liked how the discussion moved into what I think is my coming contributions to thinking philosophy in these contexts: what is philosophy, what objects carry philosophical claims and descriptions and insights, and what does intellectual, theoretical work look like when we shift geographies? It’s central to this book, a phenomenological question through and through, and shifting specific focus to talk about vernacular culture, everyday practices, and how figures like Hurston, Murray, and Ellison help us understand para-philosophy as theoretical work … this is what I care most about these days. Bessie Smith was a priestess, not an entertainer, as Murray reminds us. Jay was right to say this is poiesis in the richest, most complex sense. Happy to have a chance to discuss it, however briefly, in this conversation.
Endlessly thankful to Krishna Lewis and other folks at the old Du Bois Institute, now Hutchins Center, for giving me this conversation space. I appreciate it so much.