What can sports tell us about our relationship to power and resistance? In this audio short, I reflect upon my experience at the Final between Spain and England at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sydney, Australia and explore how women athletes confront and challenge deeply entrenched gender inequities on and off the playing field.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
What does it mean to run while Black? Writers such as Mitchell S. Jackson and Alison Mariella Désir encourage us to reflect upon the intersection between race, running, and embodiment. As a Black runner and Sport Studies scholar, I am also deeply interested in this relationship. In this audio short, I bring listeners with me to a 5K race held on Juneteenth and examine the relationship between running, historical memory, racial trauma, and social action.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
El chupacabra is an urban legend sourced from Puerto Rico that has been rumored to roam the island since the 1970s. But upon further inspection of these legends, where does el chupacabra actually come from? When was he first conceived in the Puerto Rican cultural imaginary? This audio short examines the lore of el chupacabra and interprets its symbolism amidst a fraught historical narrative. Written & edited by May Santiago Audio recordings & sound design by May Santiago Opening audio is “Goatsucker” by The Killers, courtesy of Gordy, The Victims Fanclub & Island Records. Bomba audio in Loíza, Puerto Rico from April 27, 2021 courtesy of Taino Vision LLC. Archival audio of Madelyne Tolentino’s interview with Carmen Jovet courtesy of Borinken TV.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
Prosthetic memories are a form of public memory built in public sites. In this audio short, the old abandoned cinemas and their histories & ghosts are explored through the idea of prosthetic memories. What stories have been told in these abandoned buildings? What stories do they tell now? Written & edited by May Santiago Audio recordings & sound design by May Santiago Archival audio of Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894) courtesy of Edision Film Archive via Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Archival audio of Jack’s Joke (1913) courtesy of Edison Film Archive via Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Archival audio of “Aloma” from Aloma of the South Seas (1926) courtesy of Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Archival audio of Universal Newsreel Volume 27, Release 550 (1954) courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD. Archival audio of Atom for the Americas (1967) courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD. Archival audio of Universal Newsreel Volume 40, Release 59 (1967) courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD. Archival audio of La revolución nacionalista (1950) courtesy of Edgardo Huertas. Archival audio of “Sara” performed by Quinteto Borinquen from August 3, 1916 courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings & Arhoolie Records.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
Environmental Design, House Music, and Queer Kinship defines environmental design then defines kinship as a familial relationship that is outside of the traditional family structure. Queer kinship is a practice and formation that is primarily a survival and care work framework. The short discusses the many Black LGBTQ owned bars and lounges that have been shuttered over the years and the implications of legislation on Black LGBTQ public culture. The house music was a generous gift from DJ Boomer’s playlist, “Keep This Fire Burning.”
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
Gentrification and Queer Time was written as a response to the senseless murder of O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay dancer who was fatally stabbed in Brooklyn, New York’s Midwood neighborhood. This short introduces gentrification as a shift in the land costs and a shift in demographics. Queer time is introduced as a non-traditional time-system that is realized and appropriated by queer people for their survival at time. Gentrification and Queer Time uses sounds from The Shrine, which is a music venue in Harlem, New York.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
This episode summarizes and reflects on the presence of gay populations in postsocialist Chinese society, especially in the two well-known films Lan Yu and East Palace, West Palace.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
Combining a review of Xie Jin’s Two Stage Sisters and a reflection on personal history, this episode attempts to introduce the presence of lesbianism in socialist and postsocialist Chinese society.
Material Type: Lecture, Reading
