How might we take up Hortense Spillers’s invitation to think gender and race in 2026?
<p>In this episode, Caroline Fowler is joined by former Clark/Oakley Humanities Fellow Darius Bost to unpack the enduring impact of Hortense Spillers’s 1987 landmark essay “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe.” The conversation situates the essay within its historical context, including its critique of the Moynihan Report and its intervention in Black feminist and Black Studies discourse. They also reflect on why the essay continues to be widely cited—yet sometimes insufficiently understood—within art history and beyond. The episode considers how Spillers’s ideas open up possibilities for reimagining visual culture, embodiment, and Black queer futures today.</p>
Host: Caroline Fowler
Guests: Darius Bost
Musicians: Diego Mongue
Contributors: Noelle Derksen, Shawnette Smalls
Sound Editor: CJ DeGennaro
Subjects: Hortense Spillers
Research and Academic Program, Clark Art Institute
Part of: Iconoclast Art History