On Cuddling explores how racial violence is enacted through intimacy
On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace is a new collection of essays and poetry by professor, activist, and McMaster alumnus Phanuel Antwi
The On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace book launch will be held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Mar. 14 from 7-9:30 p.m.. This event is co-presented by the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Big Brother House and Pluto Press, with the support of local bookstore Epic Books.
Author Phanuel Antwi uses the concept of cuddling in essays and poems to explore the suffering of Black people at the hands of state violence and racial capitalism, as well as to address how racial violence occurs through intimacy.
Antwi is the Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies. He is a McMaster University alumnus and a current curator, activist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia.
He started writing this book during a peak of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 when there were massive protests against racial violence from police. In his book, Antwi recalled the killing of Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man who was choked to death by a police officer in 2014.
By connecting cuddling, an action that people typically enjoy, to racial violence and to the Black Lives Matter movement, he wanted to make people rethink what they may take for granted.
“A lot of folks would now pause to think about cuddling, not as an innocent practice, but also as a practice that can also be used as a weapon to actually end someone's life. And at the same time, it is also a practice that gives joy, ” said Antwi.
Antwi aims to portray cuddling as a philosophical idea that has different meanings depending on the situation while relating it back to issues that are important to him and wants to bring awareness to.
“It means a lot that I can use [cuddling] to have conversations with many people about Black lives, about something that really matters to me, which is, "How do we actually think about Black lives in a very robust way?"" explained Antwi.
It means a lot that I can use [cuddling] to have conversations with many people about Black lives, about something that really matters to me, which is, "How do we actually think about Black lives in a very robust way?"
Phanuel Antwi, On Cuddling, Author
Antwi hopes that his readers can feel like they are being cuddled after reading this book. Pre-registration is recommended for the event.
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