Phil Lind Initiative: Pop Politics Student Reviews
The 2024 Phil Lind Initiative series “Pop Politics” delved into meaningful global issues through conversations with artists whose careers live in the intersection of pop culture and political impact, highlighting the role of pop culture in shaping our understanding of American politics.
SPPGA Assoc. Prof. Erin Baines noted an alignment between the topics of the speakers and her Gender Peace and Security course, welcoming her students to attend and write reviews on these talks. In this post we have collected a small sample of the many astute and thoughtful reflections of the students who attended Phil Lind Initiative talks featuring Sasha Velour, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Jia Tolentino.
Renowned drag queen and visual artist Sasha Velour’s talk on gendered structural violence was praised for challenging notions of diversity in policy-making. One student noted:
“Good policy making de-centers location of oppression in patriarchy or culture, and draws interconnections between colonialism, slavery, war, genocide and displacement to gendered structural violence. These practices are similar to what Sasha called to be ‘empathy and tolerance which are threatening to affluent and powerful people’ but through this, we can ‘reject these supposed ideas and limits on our bodies’. This was perhaps my favourite part of Sasha’s talk, her call to reject in unison, to work together to create new norms, while breaking down old ones.” – Kristen Badame
Based on his personal experiences as a Vietnamese child refugee, novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen spoke earnestly about harmful war narratives. See two students’ thoughts below:
“He challenged the audience to think through the concept of narrative scarcity, that is, how certain groups of people – such as refugees who come to the United States or Canada seeking asylum – are assigned to single narratives of ‘one trauma.’ In this, they are permitted in popular culture, academia, and literary expression, to speak to this single narrative, but are expected to play the part of a grateful refugee and “upstanding” citizen. Implicit within that, however, is the expectation that they never critique or come to understand the true source of their displacement: the violence of American imperialism.” — Alida Oegema Thomas
“When Nguyen highlighted the peril of narrative scarcity and ‘plummetude’ and the consequences of othering linguistic constructs, the audience was left contemplating the implications of intentional ignorance and complicity. He left the audience with a lesson on the moral imperative of speaking out against injustice in all its forms for all its victims in solidarity with the ‘human animals’ of today’s propagandized narratives.” — Mahnan Omar
Journalist Jia Tolentino offered a novel exploration of the interactions between economic structure and pop politics. Students shared their thoughts below:
“At the heart of Tolentino’s talk was a critique of Hollywood’s portrayal of wealth and success. She noted that mainstream media predominantly showcases the lives of the rich, perpetuating a false narrative that often sidelines the harsh realities faced by many Americans. This selective representation, according to her, contributes to a societal blindness towards the struggles of the middle and upper classes. (…) A particularly striking aspect of Tolentino’s talk was (the) concept of (delegated enjoyment). She suggested that instead of actively seeking to dismantle the structures that uphold extreme wealth, society often indulges in vicarious experiences through the media.” – Chaimae Chouiekh
“Tolentino’s call was for a renaissance of representation – a plea to bring the narratives of poverty and the working class back into the spotlight. It was a call for a new storytelling, one that acknowledges the multiplicity of experiences and the richness of lives lived beyond the glare of wealth.” — Bismah Mughal