Ruth Negga interviewed by Emma Dabiri for the 'Black Irish Lives' issue of the Irish Times

[qaladriel]

What a fantastic interview. One of the best celebrity interviews I've read. Ruth Negga and @EmmaDabiri talking Audre Lorde, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Dubois and there's even some Foucault. No fluff, all https://t.co/WvLBs9nUxV
- Theresa O'Keefe (@Theresa_OKeefe) July 4, 2020

Emma Dabiri, author of 'Don't Touch My Hair' interviewed actress Ruth

Comments

[kaiserschmarrn]

For a second I was afraid Ruth would turn out to be a Foucault fan. Thankfully the reference doesn't come from her. He was a major creep and I wish intellectuals would stop relying on him so much. Very interesting interview overall though.

[justbolognese]

Oh no is Foucault cancelled ?!
jk, I guess you mean the 1977 petition? It's baffling how like 80% of intellectuals of that time were like "oh come on let us have sex with kids". I don't understand why it's such a prevalent thing in French intellectual circles. And I say is not was.

[kaiserschmarrn]

Yeah he was definitely not the only one, actually I side-eye all the French intellectuals from that time who signed that petition. But Foucault did more than signing it, he was really out there doing radio interviews where he argued that child rape is okay. And it's extra sinister considering his well-known libertine stance on sexual sadomachism. It's not like when people quote him, those are insightful quotes either, I have yet to hear one presentation in academia where a random quote from him isn't just shoehorned in for the sake of it because it supposedly sounds deep instead of just daft.

Idk I have a lot of feelings about tweets like the first one in this post that namedrop him as if it's a cool thing. Especially next to writers like Dubois, Lorde and Douglass.

[justbolognese]

Yeah, it was certainly sexual liberties pushed to its extreme, and the fact that the debate rages on (I supposed you've heard about the book about Matzneff and the book about him? People still liked in 2020 to discuss it as if it's normal, which is probably why Polanski and co aren't ever going away)
I can't talk about whether or not it's deep or daft, I'm an idiot who has never read anything of his ahah

[kaiserschmarrn]

Yes, the whole Matzneff scandal at the beginning of the year really brought this back to my attention! I sort of knew about it beforehand but didn't quite realize how deep it all went and how this is still a debate in France. Ever since reading articles about that a few months ago, I can't get it out of my head...

I'll say one thing for Foucault, a lot of what he says sounds true and that's why it's so appealing and in very specific contexts, I think it's fine to refer to his writing, but often it's just done because he wrote about elusive concepts like power with such an assertiveness that you can use it to prop up whatever you want to argue. But yeah basically I just wish people would stop treating him like some sort of enlightened poster boy.

[kaiserschmarrn]

Perfect strategy tbh.