| Describe your primary research or scholarship, and tell us what is most exciting about your current project. My research centers on how the politics of time and memory function to enable and contest white supremacy, colonialism, and racial inequality. My new book, Segregated Time, explores how time is weaponized, how experiences of time (or temporality) are racialized, and how racial segregation is a temporal—and not just spatial—phenomenon. What intrigues and disturbs me about segregated time is how it radiates across such a range of political experiences; from racial others forced “do time” in a carceral society, to migration across geographic borders that are also temporal, to the disappearance of Indigenous peoples raced as backward or supposedly “behind the times,” as well as the ways in which racial capitalism codes non-whites as indebted—and forced to live on borrowed time. Share a best practice or tip for successful teaching or mentoring. I strongly believe in student-centered teaching; the best scholarship emerges from the questions we are most passionate about pursuing. It is important to listen carefully to students as they seek out what quickens their intellectual pulse. Asking Socratic questions is key: what do you think is at stake politically and theoretically? What does your inquiry promise to illuminate? Why does this matter to you and why should it matter to others? What do you like to do outside of work? I am naturally drawn to water, so I love all kinds of watersports and generally being outside hiking, camping, and traveling. Lately, I have become increasingly involved in grassroots organizations working to protect aquaculture, preserve greenspace, and contest environmental racism. When I can’t be outdoors, I enjoy playing guitar, live music, and cooking for friends and family. |
PJ Brendese featured in JHU Arts & Sciences Weekly
