somatic semantics 121
weekly conversations on late stage capitalism, myths of meritocracy, and pharmacopornographic bonds
hi hello,
welcome to the one hundred and twenty-first issue of somatic semantics.
the clap back manifest(o) winter 2026 journey begins today and i am grateful for everyone who found their way to this practice as well as those who carried us to it.
week 01 of our journey corresponds with the following words from a spell i shared in somatic semantics 119:
“i want to know where you are — your cosmic, geopolitical and somatic coordinates, the temperature of your waters, the cadence of your tides, the texture of your compost, of your soil, what it lays to rest and what it (re)births
i want to know how you got here — who and what carries you through time/space and shapes your notions of presence”
as we land in our shared time/space my heart swells with gratitude for writer, art historian and independent curator nazik dakkach, who created the vessel through which this practice was birthed.
8 years ago, nazik invited me to develop yes, and… also, my first curatorial/writing residency. throughout yes, and… also, i began to wonder what i could assert about myself with both certainty and specificity. during this time, i developed the first iteration of the clap back manifest(o) — feeling through the convergence of place, need, desire and possibility, how it colours my language, asking myself what i am reaching for and where i am going with each utterance. the trust, care and curiosity nazik offered me through this invitation are still present in my soma. thank you nazik.
i am particularly grateful that nazik saw and nurtured the seed of a curatorial and linguistic practice in the clap back, a space to collectively process pop culture phenomena that i have been stewarding since 2015. this space and the (pop) cultural dialogue that flows through it informs the entirety of my practice.
clap back with me (?)
this winter the clap back is hosting a watch club for season 4 of hbo/bbc’s industry.
come thru and talk yo shit one week after the latest episode airs and a few hours before the next one drops as we unpack the steamy chaos of this drama-filled, number-crunching, backstabbing, heart-racing series while reflecting on late stage capitalism, myths of meritocracy, and pharmacopornographic1 bonds.
our first conversation is happening this sunday (january 18) at 17:30 est! bring your hot takes as we unpack the season 4 premiere!
the clap back: industry watch club
where
zoom
with auto-captioning
when
sundays
17:30 to 19:00 [est]
from january 18 to march 8, 2026
the club
weekly conversations on late stage capitalism, myths of meritocracy, and pharmacopornographic bonds – as we collectively process each episode of industry’s fourth season
who is this for?
anyone who wants to connect the dots between pop culture, history, sociopolitics, and embodied knowledge
the clap back
the clap back is a space to collectively process pop culture phenomena.
this public discussion series addresses questions of (in)visibility to complicate our understandings of representation. each conversation highlights individual and collective roles in the (re)production of popular narratives.
since the clap back’s inception in november 2015, we have discussed (homo)nationalism, misogynoir2, islamophobia, racial capitalism3, libidinal economy4, irl vs. url subjectivity, shame, cringe, virtue signalling, and more.
see you sunday at 17:30 est ! (?)
i leave you with erykah badu’s get munny:
with love + light,
nènè
in testo junkie: sex, drugs, and biopolitics in the pharmacopornographic era (2008) paul b. preciado states: "in pharmacopornographic capitalism, the force of work reveals its actual substratum: orgasmic force, or potentia gaudendi. current capitalism tries to put to work the potentia gaudendi in whatever form in which it exists, whether this be in its pharmacological form (a consumable molecule and material agency that will operate within the body of the person who is digesting it), as a pornographic representation (a semiotechnical sign that can be converted into numeric data or transferred into digital, televisual, or telephonic media), or as a sexual service (a live pharmacopornographic entity whose orgasmic force and emotional volume are put in service to a consumer during a specified time, according to a more or less formal contract of sale of sexual services)."
misogynoir is a term coined by black feminist scholar moya bailey in her 2018 dissertation. it refers to the “hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against black women” which results from the convergence of anti-black racism and misogyny.
the notion of racial capitalism, as a globally structuring economic system, was developed by cedric j. robinson in his 1983 book, black marxism: the making of the black radical tradition.
libidinal economy is the title of a 1974 book in which french philosopher jean-françois lyotard states economies are driven by libidinal energies that permeate all somatic, social and political structures.