Visitation

“Jennifer DeClue’s original study centers the ‘shifting ground of many pasts . . . where the embodied and disembodied meet.’ Visitation honors Black feminist artists whose avant garde films are revealed to be conjure work. A transformative, vital work.” - Jennifer DeVere Brody, Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, Stanford University

“Jennifer DeClue’s Visitation powerfully and imaginatively turns to the works of Black women filmmakers to point to the alternative archives that their films produce, archives that counter the histories that are recorded and solemnized in official repositories. This is a must-read text for all of us.” - Roderick A. Ferguson, Yale University

"The book foregrounds important scholarly contributions to the vanguard studies of cinema and experimental media installations. . . . DeClue’s Black feminist critical perspective—rendering occluded Queer and feminine archival voices through an avant-garde mode—situates a critical charge to continue in this vanguard scholarship through a methodology of tenderness that bespeaks the closing pages of her book. Her work imparts that there is often more to be reckoned with in revisiting archives and revealing singular testimonies, cultural ethics, and marginal voices that continue to resound despite attempts of historical exclusion." - M. Sellers Johnson, International Journal of Communication

"Anyone who aligns themselves with Black feminist theory will find this book useful in enacting that theory and exploring how it interacts with avantgarde film. DeClue’s holistic approach to cinematic analysis suggests new opportunities of study within film and media studies that expand their object of analysis. . . . [G]raduate students and others with a vested interest in avantgarde art, film, Black feminism, and archives of resistance will find this book a worthwhile read that contributes to their understanding of their field." - Marley Duncan, Women's Studies