I’m Feeling Myself: The Black Female Body as Its Own Utopia

Audre Lorde described sensuality as an immense, untapped power within each of us “that lies in a deeply female plane.” What would that power, generated by a Black woman’s body, look like? By focusing solely on the poetry, art, and music of Black women, we explore the Black female body as its own utopia. Weekly readings include Lorde, Jordan, hooks, Morrison, and Dove, alongside the artwork of Mickalene Thomas and Wangechi Mutu, and the music videos of Rihanna, Janet Jackson, and Beyoncé. By re-centering the western gaze on the Black feminine erotic, we discover a poetics of the impolite body.