Robin James, associate professor of philosophy, had the work “Resilience and Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism and Neoliberalism” published by Zero Books. Recently, James was interviewed by Dave O’Brien for the New Books in Critical Theory website.
James notes in the podcast she uses music, particularly popular music, to “do philosophy.” She added music was a way for her to think through political questions related to gender/social inequality and value/philosophical concepts.
According to Amazom.com, “Resilience is the new, neoliberal feminine ideal: real women overcome all the objectification and silencing that impeded their foremothers. Resilience discourse incites noisy damage, like screams, so that it can be recycled for a profit. It turns the crises posed by avant-garde noise, feminist critique and black aesthetics into opportunities for strengthening the vitality of multi-racial white supremacist patriarchy (MRWaSP). Reading contemporary pop music – Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Calvin Harris – with and against political philosophers like Michel Foucault, feminists like Patricia Hill Collins and media theorists like Steven Shaviro, ‘Resilience & Melancholy’ shows how resilience discourse manifests in both pop music and in feminist politics.”