Join us on the Common Notions YouTube for a very special livestream.

The Captive Maternal and Family Abolition: Envisioning Revolutionary Care
Joy James and M. E. O’Brien in dialogue, with Lara Sheehi

Monday, November 18th at 5 PM Eastern

Joy James and M. E. O’Brien will be in dialogue, moderated with Lara Sheehi, to explore care, abolition, and revolutionary struggle. In their respective research, all three have grappled with the place of maternal love, caretaking, and interdependent nurturing possible through collective insurrection against white supremacy and capitalism.


Joy James explores this through the Captive Maternal in Black rebellion, maroon sites of revolutionary love. M. E. O’Brien grapples with family abolition through what she calls “insurgent social reproduction,” the revolutionary horizons of abundant care that emerge in collective mass rebellion. Lara Sheehi draws on the decolonial potential of psychoanalysis, in Palestine and around the world. They will explore the intersections and tensions of their work, seeking to illuminate the love made possible only through abolitionist revolution.