I TALK ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME

Join us on December 7 for a book talk on Camara Lundestad Joof’s I Talk about It All the Time, out now from University of Wisconsin Press! Translator Olivia Noble Gunn (Assistant Professor and Sverre Arestad Chair in Norwegian Studies, UW Seattle) and moderator Monica L. Miller (Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Barnard College) will be present in-person for a virtual talk with Joof, to discuss the Norwegian performance artist and playwright’s biting, lyrical memoir about her experiences as a queer Black Norwegian woman. This program is co-presented with the University of Washington – Scandinavian Studies Department. 

What does it mean to be Norwegian? Born in Bodø to Norwegian and Gambian parents, Joof’s daily encounters belie the myth of a colorblind contemporary Scandinavia. She wrestles with the fickle palimpsest of memory, demanding communion with her readers even as she recognizes her own exhaustion in the face of constantly being asked to educate others.

“I regularly decide to quit talking to white people about racism,” writes Joof. Such discussions often feel unproductive, the occasional spark of hope coming at enormous personal cost. But not talking about it is impossible, a betrayal of self. The book is a self-examination as well as societal indictment. It is an open challenge to readers, to hear her as she talks about it, all the time.

The speakers will discuss the story behind the writing of the memoir, and how Joof developed its themes in her recent playscripts for Norway’s National Theater.

“[Joof’s] collection of fragmented anecdotes is radical, candid, and unapologetic, documenting with introspection the experience of being Black in a white society in which macro- and microaggressions are ubiquitous. . . . Sharp, complex, and lingering, the memoir I Talk about It All the Time places its masterful compilation of devastating truths in the context of Scandinavian racism” (Foreword Reviews).

“This gemlike book relentlessly dramatizes the particularities of Norwegian racism. The power of Joof’s observations increases in proportion to their understated precision. Her gentle voice is wholly deceptive. She slices through the delusions, denials, and defensiveness that distinguish the unthinkable racism of Scandinavian society” (Paul Gilroy, English sociologist and cultural studies scholar).

Thanks to University of Wisconsin Press, University of Washington – Scandinavian Studies Department & NORLA.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Camara Lundestad Joof is the 2020–24 playwright in residence at Nationaltheatret (The National Theatre) in Oslo, Norway. Her works have also been staged in Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Germany. Recent plays include Samtaler med bror and De må føde oss eller pule oss for å elske oss.

Olivia Noble Gunn is an associate professor of Scandinavian studies and the Sverre Arestad Endowed Chair in Norwegian Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Empty Nurseries, Queer Occupants: Reproduction and the Future in Ibsen’s Late Plays.

Images (L-R): Olivia Noble Gunn; Camara Lundestad Joof (Photo by Maria Gossé); Book Jacket Courtesy University of Wisconsin Press; Monica L. Miller