J Finley - Department of Africana Studies, Pomona College

This is John Drabinski and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, graduate students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.

Today’s conversation is with J Finley, who teaches in the Department of Africana Studies at Pomona College. In addition to scholarly and public facing articles, she is author of Sass: Black Women’s Humor and Humanity, published in 2024 by University of North Carolina Press. In this conversation, we discuss comedy and its politics, the relationship between intellectual life and political work, and the transformative work of Black Studies education.

What is The Black Studies Podcast?

The Black Studies Podcast is a Mellon grant sponsored series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, late doctoral students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.