Environmental Humanities Colloquium: “On Black Breath”

 

Kimberly Bain, an assistant professor of English language and literatures at the University of British Columbia, presented “On Black Breath” via Zoom.

Bain located breathing within the histories, theories and philosophies of Blackness and anti-Black racial capitalism in the United States. She discussed how we can attend to the ways breathlessness has been a defining factor of Blackness, not just in moments of spectacular death, but in the everyday lived experience of Black people. And how we can do so without reducing the lives of George Floyd, Eric Garner and the many named and unnamed Black persons to their moment of death as they gasped “I Can’t Breathe.”

Bain was the second speaker in the fall 2021 Environmental Humanities and Social Transformation Colloquium sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).

Environmental Humanities Colloquium: “On Black Breath”

Publish Date

October 6, 2021

Presenter(s)

Kimberly Bain

Link to Video

https://youtu.be/SPXRSwg0Vyo

Video Length

01:26:05

 

Kimberly Bain, an assistant professor of English language and literatures at the University of British Columbia, presented “On Black Breath” via Zoom.

Bain located breathing within the histories, theories and philosophies of Blackness and anti-Black racial capitalism in the United States. She discussed how we can attend to the ways breathlessness has been a defining factor of Blackness, not just in moments of spectacular death, but in the everyday lived experience of Black people. And how we can do so without reducing the lives of George Floyd, Eric Garner and the many named and unnamed Black persons to their moment of death as they gasped “I Can’t Breathe.”

Bain was the second speaker in the fall 2021 Environmental Humanities and Social Transformation Colloquium sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).