Liberation and Contagion in the Music of MIA

In this week's episode, guest Ronak Kapadia discusses his article "Sonic Contagions: Bird Flu, Bandung, and the Queer Cartographies of MIA" which analyzes the work of Sri Lankan diasporic musician, producer, and designer Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam (a.k.a. MIA). MIA's music offers an opening to explore the unlikely intimacies between the diverse histories and political agendas of social movements and radical uprisings across the globe. Kapadia argues that prioritizing the sonic realm in MIA's work makes available alternative utopian possibilities, offering other ways of hearing and conceptualizing queer collectivity, belonging, and pleasure in the midst of the devastation wrought by security panics and constant warfare.

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