About Louisa Hann

My primary interests revolve around the (sometimes disparate) fields of queer theatre and performance art, the political economy of theatre, cultural materialism, and Marxist theory. I am also interested in how the medical humanities intersect with questions of political economy and have published work on the memorialisation of HIV/AIDS on the contemporary stage and the use of documentary theatre as a neoliberal harm reduction tool. I'm currently working on a monograph for Liverpool University Press about HIV/AIDS theatre, activism, and community, and am interested in exploring new ways to connect with scholars in related fields.

Louisa Hann recently attained a PhD in English and American studies from the University of Manchester, specialising in the political economy of HIV/AIDS theatres.

NBN Episodes hosted by Louisa:

Yanis Varoufakis, "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism" (Melville House, 2023)

February 26, 2024

Technofeudalism

Yanis Varoufakis
Hosted by Louisa Hann

In Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism (Melville House, 2023), Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead and a new economic era has begun. …

Alberto Toscano, "Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis" (Verso, 2023)

January 31, 2024

Late Fascism

Alberto Toscano
Hosted by Louisa Hann

In a world shaken by ecological, economic and political crises, the forces of authoritarianism and reaction seem to have the upper hand. How should we…

Astra Taylor, "The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart" (House of Anansi Press, 2023)

November 28, 2023

The Age of Insecurity

Astra Taylor
Hosted by Louisa Hann
Listen:

These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially stressed and emotionally overwhelmed. The status quo isn’t working for anyone, even those who …

Sita Balani, "Deadly and Slick: Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race" (Verso, 2023)

May 5, 2023

Deadly and Slick

Sita Balani
Hosted by Louisa Hann

If race is increasingly understood to be socially constructed, why does it continue to seem like a physiological reality? In Deadly and Slick: Sexual …

Mathias Thaler, "No Other Planet: Utopian Visions for a Climate-changed World" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

December 10, 2022

No Other Planet

Mathias Thaler
Hosted by Louisa Hann

Visions of utopia – some hopeful, others fearful – have become increasingly prevalent in recent times. In No Other Planet: Utopian Visions for a Clima…

Josh Bowsher, "The Informational Logic of Human Rights" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)

October 19, 2022

The Informational Logic of Human Rights

Josh Bowsher
Hosted by Louisa Hann

What happens to the cultural politics of human rights when atrocities are rendered calculable, abuses are transformed into data, and victims become ve…

Alex Williams and Jeremy Gilbert, "Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back)" (Verso, 2022)

September 29, 2022

Hegemony Now

Alex Williams and Jeremy Gilbert
Hosted by Louisa Hann

Today power is in the hands of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. How do we understand this transformation in power? And what can we do about it? We can…

Leslie Kern, "Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies" (Verso, 2022)

August 31, 2022

Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies

Leslie Kern
Hosted by Louisa Hann

What does gentrification look like? Can we even agree that it is a process that replaces one community with another? It is a question of class? Or of …

Ben Davis, "Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis and Cultural Strategy" (Haymarket Books, 2022)

July 6, 2022

Art in the After-Culture

Ben Davis
Hosted by Louisa Hann

It is a scary and disorienting time for art, as it is a scary and disorienting time in general. Aesthetic experience is both overshadowed by the spect…

Eve Ng, "Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)

May 11, 2022

Cancel Culture

Eve Ng
Hosted by Louisa Hann

Eve Ng’s new book Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), examines the phenomenon of "cancel culture" from a critical media st…

Mary Louise Pratt, "Planetary Longings" (Duke UP, 2022)

April 27, 2022

Planetary Longings

Mary Louise Pratt
Hosted by Louisa Hann

In Planetary Longings (Duke UP, 2022), eminent cultural theorist Mary Louise Pratt posits that the last decade of the twentieth century and the first …

Tina Sikka, "Sex, Consent and Justice: A New Feminist Framework" (Edinburgh UP, 2021)

March 7, 2022

Sex, Consent and Justice

Tina Sikka
Hosted by Louisa Hann

Increasingly fraught debates about sex, consent, feminism, justice, law, and gender relations have taken centre stage in academic, journalistic and so…

Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill, "Confidence Culture" (Duke UP, 2022)

January 21, 2022

Confidence Culture

Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill
Hosted by Louisa Hann

In Confidence Culture (Duke UP, 2022), Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill argue that imperatives directed at women to “love your body” and “believe in your…

Bogdan Popa, "De-Centering Queer Theory: Communist Sexuality in the Flow During and After the Cold War" (Manchester UP, 2021)

December 17, 2021

De-Centering Queer Theory

Bogdan Popa
Hosted by Louisa Hann

Bogdan Popa’s De-Centering Queer Theory: Communist Sexuality in the Flow During and After the Cold War (Manchester University Press, 2021) seeks to re…