About Brittney Edmonds

I'm an Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies at UW-Madison. I specialize in 20th and 21st century African American Literature and Culture with a special interest in Black Humor Studies.

Brittney Edmonds is an Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies at UW-Madison. I specialize in 20th and 21st century African American Literature and Culture with a special interest in Black Humor Studies. Read more about my work at brittneymichelleedmonds.com.

Brittney's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Brittney:

Jafari S. Allen, "There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life" (Duke UP, 2022)

December 25, 2023

There's a Disco Ball Between Us

Jafari S. Allen
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In There's a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life (Duke UP, 2022), Jafari S. Allen offers a sweeping and lively ethnographic and intellec…

Russ Castronovo, "American Insecurity and the Origins of Vulnerability" (Princeton UP, 2023)

November 30, 2023

American Insecurity and the Origins of Vulnerability

Russ Castronovo
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
Listen:

An incisive critique that examines the origins of contemporary American ideas about surveillance, terrorism, and white supremacy. For more than three…

Evie Shockley, "Suddenly We" (Wesleyan UP, 2023)

May 1, 2023

Suddenly We

Evie Shockley
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In her new poetry collection Suddenly We (Wesleyan UP, 2023), Evie Shockley mobilizes visual art, sound, and multilayered language to chart routes tow…

Tina Post, "Deadpan: The Aesthetics of Black Inexpression" (NYU Press, 2023)

April 12, 2023

Deadpan

Tina Post
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

Explores expressionlessness, inscrutability, and emotional withholding in Black cultural production. Arguing that inexpression is a gesture that acq…

Jill Jarvis, "Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony" (Duke UP, 2021)

March 26, 2023

Decolonizing Memory

Jill Jarvis
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony (Duke UP, 2021), Jill Jarvis examines the crucial role that writers and artists have pla…

Gregory Smithsimon, "Liberty Road: Black Middle-Class Suburbs and the Battle Between Civil Rights and Neoliberalism" (NYU Press, 2022)

December 16, 2022

Liberty Road

Gregory Smithsimon
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

Half of Black Americans who live in the one hundred largest metropolitan areas are now living in suburbs, not cities. In Liberty Road: Black Middle-Cl…

Bruce Robbins, "Criticism and Politics: A Polemical Introduction" (Stanford UP, 2022)

October 11, 2022

Criticism and Politics

Bruce Robbins
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

What is criticism for? Over the past few decades, violent disagreements over that question in the academy have burst into the news media. These confli…

Autumn Womack, "The Matter of Black Living: The Aesthetic Experiment of Racial Data, 1880-1930" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

August 22, 2022

The Matter of Black Living

Autumn Womack
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

As the nineteenth century came to a close and questions concerning the future of African American life reached a fever pitch, many social scientists a…

Simone White, "Or, on Being the Other Woman" (Duke UP, 2022)

August 11, 2022

Or, on Being the Other Woman

Simone White
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In or, on being the other woman (Duke UP, 2022), Simone White considers the dynamics of contemporary black feminist life. Throughout this book-length …

Hawa Allan, "Insurrection: Rebellion, Civil Rights, and the Paradoxical State of Black Citizenship" (Norton, 2022)

July 29, 2022

Insurrection

Hawa Allan
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

The little-known and under-studied 1807 Insurrection Act was passed to give the president the ability to deploy federal military forces to fend off la…

Jed Esty, "The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at Its Limits" (Stanford Briefs, 2022)

July 13, 2022

The Future of Decline

Jed Esty
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

As the US becomes a second-place nation, can it shed the superpower nostalgia that still haunts the UK? The debate over the US's fading hegemony has r…

Elisabeth R. Anker, "Ugly Freedoms" (Duke UP, 2022)

July 4, 2022

Ugly Freedoms

Elisabeth R. Anker
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In Ugly Freedoms (Duke UP, 2022), Elisabeth R. Anker reckons with the complex legacy of freedom offered by liberal American democracy, outlining how t…

Andy Hines, "Outside Literary Studies: Black Criticism and the University" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

June 6, 2022

Outside Literary Studies

Andy Hines
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

This striking contribution to Black literary studies examines the practices of Black writers in the mid-twentieth century to revise our understanding …

Irvin J. Hunt, "Dreaming the Present: Time, Aesthetics, and the Black Cooperative Movement" (UNC Press, 2022)

June 2, 2022

Dreaming the Present

Irvin J. Hunt
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In their darkest hours over the course of the twentieth century, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ella Baker, George Schuyler, and Fannie Lou Hamer gathered hundreds…

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else)" (Haymarket, 2022)

May 5, 2022

Elite Capture

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

“Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media, both online …

Joseph Darda, "The Strange Career of Racial Liberalism" (Stanford UP, 2022)

April 21, 2022

The Strange Career of Racial Liberalism

Joseph Darda
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

What if, Joseph Darda asks, our desire to solve racism--with science, civil rights, antiracist literature, integration, and color blindness--has entre…

Brandon J. Manning, "Played Out: The Race Man in 21st Century Satire" (Rutgers UP, 2022)

April 12, 2022

Played Out

Brandon J. Manning
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In this episode, Dr. Brandon J. Manning talks about his most recent book, Played Out: The Race Man in 21st Century Satire (Rutgers UP, 2022). Here's a…

Mark Christian Thompson, "Phenomenal Blackness: Black Power, Philosophy, and Theory" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

March 4, 2022

Phenomenal Blackness

Mark Christian Thompson
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

Mark Christian Thompson's book, Phenomenal Blackness: Black Power, Philosophy, and Theory (University of Chicago Press, 2022) examines the changing in…

Sarah Jane Cervenak, "Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life" (Duke UP, 2021)

January 21, 2022

Black Gathering

Sarah Jane Cervenak
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life (Duke UP, 2021), Dr. Sarah Jane Cervenak engages with Black artists and writers who create alternative …

Elizabeth McHenry, "To Make Negro Literature: Writing, Literary Practice, and African American Authorship" (Duke UP, 2020)

December 15, 2021

To Make Negro Literature

Elizabeth McHenry
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In To Make Negro Literature: Writing, Literary Practice, and African American Authorship (Duke UP 2021), Elizabeth McHenry locates a hidden chapter in…

Habiba Ibrahim, "Black Age: Oceanic Lifespans and the Time of Black Life" (NYU Press, 2021)

November 3, 2021

Black Age

Habiba Ibrahim
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

Although more than fifty years apart, the murders of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin share a commonality: Black children are not seen as children. Time…

Erica R. Edwards, "The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire" (NYU Press, 2021)

October 14, 2021

The Other Side of Terror

Erica R. Edwards
Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

Dr. Erica R. Edwards's The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire (New York University, 2021) reveals the troubling intimacy b…