Monstrous Intimacies at 15
About this Event
Monstrous Intimacies at 15
“Monstrous Intimacies at 15” is a June 2026 in-person colloquium taking place in Toronto, Ontario and celebrating the 15-year anniversary of Christina Sharpe’s first monograph, Monstrous Intimacies: Making Post-Slavery Subjects (2010). Bringing together junior and senior scholars to discuss the conceptual and intellectual legacies of the eponymous work, the colloquium will take place from Monday, June 22, 2026 to Wednesday, June 24, 2026 and consist of panels and artistic contributions. Now is an important time to return to Sharpe’s early work as it anticipated multiple threads in contemporary Black critical theory—including its focus on psychoanalysis as a method for theorising antiblackness. But, and perhaps more importantly, Monstrous Intimacies provides conceptual tools for apprehending our current state of escalating racial violence, especially with its grounding questions concerning the structures of national belonging, the antiblackness of intimacy, and the (im)possibilities of non-violent relation.
Day 1 - June 22, 2026
🕑: 09:45 AM - 10:30 AM
Welcome
Info: Opening remarks by the Monstrous Intimacies at 15 organizers.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Panel 1 - Scopophilic Relations
Host: Chair: Kevin Ah-Sen, McGill University
Info: Panelists: Rinaldo Walcott, University at Buffalo; Amber Musser, CUNY Graduate Center; Erich Kessel Jr., New York University; Milka Njoroge, Simon Fraser University
🕑: 12:30 AM - 01:30 PM
Lunch
Info: Lunch will be provided in JHB 100B.
🕑: 01:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Panel 2 - Monstrous Mediation
Host: Chair: Bianca Beauchemin, York University
Info: Panelists: Jon Jon Moore Palacios, Organizer, UNFORM; Canisia Lubrin, University of Guelph; Yasmine Espert, York University; Ola Mohammed, York University
🕑: 03:30 PM - 03:45 PM
Break
Info: Refreshments will be provided in JHB 100B
🕑: 03:45 PM - 05:45 PM
Panel 3 - (Re)turning to the Continent
Host: Chair: Océane Nyela, York University
Info: Panelists: Sara-Maria Sorentino, University of Alabama; Evelyn Amponsah, University of Toronto; Franco Barchiesi, Ohio State University; Grace Ngugi, Harvard University
Day 2 - June 23, 2026
🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Panel 4 - Repetition, and Difference in Play
Host: Chair: Eve Haque, York University
Info: Panelists: æryka jourdaine hollis o’neill, University of Toronto; Jaye Austin Williams, University of California, Riverside; Mlondi Zondi, University of Southern California
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Lunch
Info: Lunch will be provided in JHB 100B
🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Panel 5 - Sublimating (Anti-)Blackness
Host: Chair: Jan Anderson, Trent University
Info: Panelists: Amaryah Shaye Armstrong, Virginia Tech; I. Augustus Durham, University of Toronto; Keguro Macharia, Independent Scholar; Jared Sexton, University of California, Irvine
🕑: 03:00 PM - 03:15 PM
Break
Info: Refreshments will be provided in JHB 100B
Panel 6 - Whither Black Studies?
Host: Chair: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Duke University
Info: Panelists: Tapji Garba, York University; Saidiya Hartman, Columbia University; Amber Rose Johnson, McGill University; Calvin Warren, Emory University
🕑: 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Event
Info: Join us at a Monstrous Intimacies at 15 co-sponsored poetry night.
Location: Capsule Artist Resources (1213 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON).
*Masks mandatory
Day 3 - June 24, 2026
🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Panel 7 - Negativity and the Political
Host: Chair: Matthew Molinaro, University of Toronto
Info: Panelists: Tyrone S. Palmer, Wesleyan University; Tea Troutman, Scalawag Magazine; Maandeeq Mohamed, University of Toronto; Kevin Rigby, Jr. , University of Illinois
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Lunch
Info: Lunch will be provided in JHB 100B.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Panel 8 - Sadomasochism of Everyday Black Life
Host: Chair: Anisha Sankar, York University
Info: Panelists: Chloé Samala Faux, Wesleyan University; John Gillespie Jr., University of California, Irvine; Jordan Mulkey, Brown University; Bobby Benedicto, McGill University
🕑: 03:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Break
Info: Refreshments will be provided in JHB 100B.
🕑: 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Closing Event
Info: Closing remarks followed by a fireside chat with Tiana Reid and Christina Sharpe.
🕑: 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Reception
Info: Join us for a final reception.
Location TBD.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 0.00
