Science and technology are progressing with unprecedented speed. The discovery of DNA and the invention of the personal computer in the twentieth century were like dreams that came true. Still, even such ground-breaking advancements seem petty in comparison to what can be achieved today; more and better on a day-to-day basis. The world has changed radically, signaling a need for redefining the human and its position in the world. Such is the goal of the Perspectives on the Non-Human in Litera...

In the following conversation with Christine Zumello in the spring of 2023, Robert Mann discusses his role as an important art intermediary in the US and worldwide.Robert Mann is a major American gallerist who specializes in photography.He has run a world-renowned gallery in New York City since 1985

The economic and social dimensions of the Mexico-U.S. border make up a topic frequently discussed within the field of North American Studies. Such studies typically concern the exploitative labor and immigration policies of the United States, which negatively shape the experiences of Mexican laborers crossing the border in search of better wages and work opportunities. Such research, however, often overlooks the power of cultural products such as film to comment upon these topics. As the following analysis of the Mexican film Sleep Dealer (2008) illustrates, film and, more specifically, cyberpunk cinema act as important vehicles through which complex commentaries on the socioeconomic conditions of the Mexico-U.S. border may be developed and presented.

A Regarded Self: Caribbean Womanhood and the Ethics of Disorderly Being is the second book in Glover's repertoire, both of which deal with Caribbean literature.Her specialization in the Caribbean and post-colonialism establishes her expertise in the subject, and her previous publications position her preeminence in the field.The first major segment of the book is titled "Self-Love" and focuses on Tituba of Maryse Cond's I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem; specifically, this chapter dissects Tituba's insistent question "Is there a song for me?A song for Tituba?" (53) and the radical self-Kaiama L. Glover, A Regarded Self: Caribbean Womanhood and the Ethics of Diso...

From the outset, Marsh is explicit that his book is decidedly not a work of literary interpretation, but rather “a political reading” of Pound’s sources for the Washington Cantos (Marsh 1). It is now widely accepted that Pound’s political program is objectionable in nearly all its particulars, yet Marsh carefully asserts that his principles may still be redeemable. Pound, at his best, was an individualist, a campaigner against oppressive and unrepresentative government, an opponent to capital...

In the five years that have passed since the infamous Harvey Weinstein case, which started the #MeToo movement, it has become clear that this scandal not only sparked social changes, but also caused a shift in academic discourse. Although initiated in 2006, the movement was brought into the limelight after the New York Times exposed Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and harassment allegations and brought forth questions of consent and bodily autonomy, and agency. The latter also serves as a commo...

The twenty-first century has seen the biggest breakthrough as regards the production and distribution of audiovisual culture. Slow cinema and serials—in particular those coming to us via streaming platforms as full seasons to binge-watch—are a special case of such a breakthrough for they offer us a new dynamics of experiencing culture; dynamics that relies on a meticulous orchestration of boredom to stimulate our creative participation in culture. This article will demonstrate, on the basis of selected Mubi, HBO, and Netflix productions, how the clever playing out of (serial) boredom can affect viewers’ mental, emotional, and even physical capacity and how important it is for a more effective perception of the twenty-first-century—digital—reality to be able to actively manage our “boredom-activated” culture compass.

The paper deals with John Weir’s 1989 novel The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket through the lens of boredom studies. Weir portrays the anxieties brought by an era that is usually associated with excitement, innovation, movement, and development through a character that does not move. Set in 1980s New York against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis, the novel portrays a young gay man who, as a reaction to the epidemic, is overcome by numbness. By highlighting the most relevant aspects of the novel and the tension between anxiety and paralysis, this paper shows the relationship between boredom and trauma in Weir’s response to AIDS.

Structural racism in the United States has been normalized by those who have profited and continue to profit from it in a variety of ways. Intentionally or not, structural racism has been deeply integrated into the system on economic, political, social, and cultural levels to such an extent that eliminating structural racism in the U.S. would require dramatic, yet vitally necessary changes in the system itself. Dayna Bowen Matthew’s Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America is a...