identity

Ep. 72 – Miguel de Beistegui, The Government of Desire

Back from a hiatus in western Massachusetts, B joins John and special guest co-host Alyssa Ruth Mazer to discuss Miguel de Beistegui’s book The Government of Desire: A Genealogy of the Liberal Subject. What is a liberal subject and how does desire open up its discourses and genealogy and governmentalities? Did Beistegui try to out-Foucault…Foucault, the book’s stated intellectual inspiration? The team attempts a reparative reading of the Introduction, Conclusion and Beistegui’s chapters on recognition. But these three self-professed genealogists hit a snag. Critiquing the murky depths of desire and recognition requires more than what the Western canon provides! What happened to queer theory? Is there feminism at all? Could Black and Indigenous theories of personhood have made a more prominent appearance? Is there a “true” kind of resistance? With so much to discuss, you can’t not desire tuning in!

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 or Spotify. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. RSS feed here. Patreon here. Thanks to Bad Infinity for the intro music, “Post Digital,” from their album FutureCommons; always already thanks to B for the outro music. For the mp3 of the episode click here.

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Interview: Kai M. Green on Transracialism – Epistemic Unruliness 21

Join James as he talks with activist-scholar-artist Kai M. Green about the transracial question as presented in his June 2015 The Feminist Wire article. Published on the heels of Rachel Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner’s dual emergence into news headlines, Green’s article joined social media and academic debates as to the extent to which we should think these two issues of gender and racial identity together. The conversation reignited in May 2017 after feminist philosophy journal Hypatia published an article on the topic, followed with many sharply critical responses. James and Kai return to these mucky waters, and wade in with the intention of clarifying some of the stakes involved in this conversation. Kai explains his understanding of trans* as a concept, shares some thoughts on the field of transgender studies, and sketches out his work with the BYP100 (Black Youth Project) as a pursuit of transformative justice.

Support us on Patreon to help us upgrade our recording equipment. 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. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion for the intro music, to Bad Infinity for music throughout the episode, and to B for the outro music. Get the mp3 of the episode here.

 

Neoliberal imaginaries and electoral failures: or, what the hell happened last week?- AAP After Dark 2

In a new installment of our occasional series, Always Already Podcast After Dark, James, Emily, John, and B tackle the elephant in political imaginary: Donald Trump and the 2016 election. What the hell happened last week? The team embarks on a critique of American neoliberal ethos and the rising nativism of Trump’s campaign, not to mention his future presidency. How do we understand this in relation to neoliberalism, whiteness, and identity politics? What does it even mean to ‘explain’ Trump’s election?

What is to be done? Are there ways out of the “blame game” for a Left politics that resituates organizing and safety to spur movements in light of Trump’s racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and Islamophobic sensibilities? Perhaps we need to revisit Marx and to rethink what it means to organize under the banner of intersectionality. Perhaps the discourse on neoliberalism needs to be tempered by a renewed effort to reduce our capitalist penchants–meaning, let’s act on our theoretical inclincations. Our discussion also ranges to talk about fascism, the affects of surprise and shock, Clinton, feminism, and more. Listen for a rousing debate that brings critical theory to bear on our everyday political lives in the age of Trump.

Please support us on Patreon to help with recording equipment. Triple thanks to patrons Matthew R and Matthew S, double thanks to Steve and Angel, and thanks to Bunnie and Lieke.

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. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion and to B for the music. Get the mp3 of the episode here.

 

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PAUL BEATY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES, on thestar.com

PAUL BEATY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES, via thestar.com

Ep. 4 – Ernesto Laclau’s Emancipation(s); Part 2 of Amy Schiller interview on philanthropy and neoliberalism

Join B, John, and guest-host Emily Crandall in a (sign)nificant conversation about Universalism, Particularism, and the Question of Identity and Why Do Empty Signifiers Matter to Politics? by Ernesto Laclau on political identities, universals, particulars, and the role of empty signifiers in democratic politics. The group analyzes the relationship between the universal and particular, where identity comes from, agency and subjectivity, and what it would mean to use Laclau to think about gender identities. At points contentious, but always reflective, the group takes on multiple methods of interpreting these two chapters from Emancipation(s) –whether it be rejection of Laclau’s dismissal of post-modernism’s embrace of pure particulars, or B putting on a pouty face about Lacanianism and semiotics.

The episode also includes Part 2 of John’s interview with Amy Schiller on her recent pieces, discussing philanthropy, neoliberalism, and time-traveling with Luce Irigaray. We give advice on revise-and-resubmits to academic journals and work through B’s promising but tricky dating life.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Advice questions to submit? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Like our Facebook page. Download the mp3 here. RSS feed here. This episode’s music by B Aultman.

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