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Ephemera from the End of the World
Topics: Black Geographies
, Historical Geography
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Keywords: Black geographies, Black ecologies, Historical geography Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract Day: Monday Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) Room: Virtual 58
Authors:
Darius Scott, Dartmouth College
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Abstract
Conditions have demanded Black cultural material regularly depict, and at times brandish, imagined scenes of apocalyptic ruin. In many cases, total demise represents the end of oppressive confinement, anti-black violence, and more mundane encounters with death. Presently, unmitigated climate crises seem to call for renewed interest in 20th century creative expressions, such as Sun Ra's, announcing and claiming to speak from a time beyond the end. On the other hand, the precariousness of Black life and space has long rendered imminent demise, from certain points of view, likely and familiar. In conversation with recent work on Black Ecologies and ongoing consideration of normalized state-inflicted death, this presentation will offer reflection on historical and creative Black expressions of the world’s end. An aim will be briefly imagining worsening ecological crises from the historical perspective of Black creative work already intimately concerned with environmental death.