Fantastic Blackness
11 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsFantastic Blackness is a bimonthly podcast by Tavia Nyong’o and Shanté Paradigm Smalls focused on Black Queer Trans art, politics, aesthetics, and news. Features interviews with artmakers, reviews of art shows, stage plays, books, film and television, and topical discussion.
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Episodes
In The Bleak Midwinter
April 11, 2023 23:25 - 47 minutes - 108 MBHosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o dig into why horror is trending in Black entertainment today. They discuss how horror, like comedy, allows space for the unsayable or the indelicate, and how Black horror can directly address the everyday horrors of racism and gender terrorism, heightened by and contrasted with more supernatural effects.
Hip Hop Heresies
April 18, 2022 02:10 - 1 hour - 55 MBHosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o discuss Shanté's new book, Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City Thanks to our ace producer Alex van Gils and to NYU Press for the cover image of Hip Hop Heresies. Artwork by Qrky. Music in this episode by B.Q.E. “Understand/Overstand” and Blocka Beats, “Peace and Grow.” Peace Out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins pt. 2
January 15, 2022 23:57 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three. Part 2 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins pt. 1
October 03, 2021 17:58 - 53 minutes - 48.9 MBIn this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three. Part 1 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Spooky Pride
July 13, 2021 14:56 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBFor the first episode of season two of Fantastic Blackness, hosts Tav and Shanté discuss Lovecraft Country, and what could have been (and may still be if picked up by another streaming service or network) on Season 2. For show notes, check out the substack: https://fantasticblackness.substack.com/p/spooky-pride-2021-hbos-lovecraft Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Becoming Human
March 21, 2021 16:58 - 1 hour - 62.5 MBHosts Shanté and Tav sit down with author Zakiyyah Iman Jackson to break down her new book: Becoming Black: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. You can find Professor Jackson's book on her website: https://www.zakiyyahimanjackson.com. Cover art contains artwork from the book's original cover art by Nandipha Mntambo, the piece is called Europa, from 2008. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Fire This Time
August 28, 2020 20:51 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBHosts Shanté and Tav discuss things Black and Fantastic from within the COVID-19 pandemic and a heightened anti-Black racial pandemic. Our hosts reflect on academia, performative allyship, and share their pandemic playlists and reading lists. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Butler's Parable Series
May 05, 2020 20:52 - 1 hour - 69.7 MBHosts Shanté and Tav welcome guest Jayna Brown (Media Studies, Pratt Institute) to discuss Octavia Butler’s Parable series and her forthcoming book, Black Utopias. Recorded via videoconferencing during COVID-19 quarantine. This episode's image contains original book cover artwork by John Jude Palencar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watching Watchmen
February 11, 2020 01:46 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBHosts Shanté and Tav discuss HBO’s recently completed Watchmen series and how it broke boundaries in its reckoning with legacies of racism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Black Fantasy
December 06, 2019 23:12 - 51 minutes - 47 MBHosts Shanté and Tavia discuss fantasy as genre being particularly relevant to Black folks—it includes and venerates oral traditions, myth, and folklore over or included alongside technology and hard science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
All About Janelle
October 02, 2019 14:22 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBIn this debut episode, co-hosts Shanté and Tav introduce the themes of the podcast — which will consider race and speculation in all their manifestations — and breakdown the career to date of Janelle Monáe, a music icon of afrofuturism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.