Queer Ecologies: Thinking with Breath and Bread

Queer Relationality: Thinking with Breath and Bread

This combined lecture and workshop will investigate the pandemic surge in sourdough baking through the lens of queer theory. What can we learn about longings for connection by paying close attention to the living and breathing of microorganisms, and humans’ care in keeping microbes alive? Drawing from her recent work on queer ecologies and queer affect, Soderling will outline how thinking with breath and breathing can be helpful for social justice purposes—especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and when “I Can’t Breathe” became a rallying cry for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Dr. Soderling will also lead participants through making sourdough bread, an organism that is in and of itself alive with breath. We will end with eating sourdough bread and drinking kombucha, thinking collectively about the queerness of fermentation and the possibilities this practice opens up for feminist, queer, and racial justice. Participants are encouraged to bring sourdough, yogurt, scobys, and other cultures to share and swap.