Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Publication Title

Howard Journal of Communications

Keywords

Afro-pessimism, memory

Abstract

Scholars of public memory have long recognized the importance of popular culture as a site in America’s memory infrastructure. In this paper we seek to contribute to this bourgeoning scholarship by advancing an analysis of the way the Amazon Prime series Them strategically remembers the traumatic violence of America’s racial past. Through its skillful use of allegory and the Black horror genre, Them offers an Afro-pessimistic rebuke of America’s post-racial fantasy. Ultimately, we argue that popular culture remains a crucial site for the politics of memory, especially given the growing threat of censorship of America’s racial history in education as evidenced by Florida’s 2022 Stop W.O.K.E. Act.

Funding Source

This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Taylor & Francis.

DOI

10.1080/10646175.2024.2326214

Comments

First published in Howard Journal of Communications (2024). https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2024.2326214.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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