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Dr. Jennifer DeClue: The Conjure Work of Black Feminist Avant-Garde Cinema

March 30, 2023 @
12:00 p.m.
- 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time
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Join Dr. Jennifer DeClue as we watch the short film “Happy Birthday, Marsha,” followed by a discussion of her new book, “Visitation: The Conjure Work of Black Feminist Avant-Garde Cinema.” Free lunch will be provided, as available.

Jennifer DeClue is an associate professor of the study of women and gender at Smith College, where she has been teaching since 2015. A queer studies scholar specializing in black feminism, queer of color critique, film studies, popular culture, and the avant-garde, she earned her doctorate in American studies and ethnicity from the University of Southern California. Her work has been published in the critical anthologies: “No Tea No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies,” “Sisters in the Life: A History of Out African American Lesbian Media-Making,” and “Spectatorship: Shifting Theories of Gender, Sexuality, and Media.” She has published articles on Black queer theory and popular culture in Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black InternationalTransgender Studies Quarterly; and GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Her current book project, “Visitation: The Conjure Work of Black Feminist Avant-Garde Cinema,” analyzes short films made by black women filmmakers who, through their engagement with archival documents and avant-garde cinematic techniques, conjure new ways of seeing black womanhood.