Join Phanuel Antwi in conversation with Daniel Coleman about his new book, On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace.

Ranging from the terrifying embrace of the slave ship’s hold to the racist encoding of “cuddly” toys, On Cuddling is a unique combination of essay and poetry that contends with the way racial violence is enacted through intimacy.

Informed by Black feminist and queer poetics, Phanuel Antwi focuses his lens on the suffering of Black people at the hands of state violence and racial capitalism. As radical movements grow to advance Black liberation, so too must our ways of understanding how racial capitalism embraces us all. Antwi turns to cuddling, an act we imagine as devoid of violence, and explores it as a tense transfer point of power.

This event is free but pre-registration is recommended.

Phanuel Antwi is Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies. He is an artist, teacher and organizer concerned with race, poetics, movements, intimacy and struggle. He is a curator, activist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia.

Daniel Coleman is Professor of English & Cultural Studies at McMaster University. He has long been fascinated by the poetic power of narrative arts to generate a sense of place and community, critical social engagement and mindfulness, and especially wonder.

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