Juan Meneses | Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination
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dissentum.bsky.social
Juan Meneses | Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination
@dissentum.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.7K following 930 posts
Global + postcolonial + comp lit, theory; occasional translator. Assoc. prof. Not on xitter. Views/prons: his. Books: Resisting Dialogue: Modern Fiction and the Future of Dissent/Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination (ed.) both @uminnpress.bsky.social
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dissentum.bsky.social
I can go first. Below is my own contribution to the idea of close reading, which I invoke in Resisting Dialogue: Modern Fiction and the Future of Dissent as connected to political literacy (pages 25-26 from the Introduction).
Passage from the book Resisting Dialogue: Modern Fiction and the Future of Dissent (pages 25 and 26) describing the importance of close reading literature for political and civic reasons
November 19, 2025 at 12:04 AM
dissentum.bsky.social
Did you write a book/article *not* primarily about close reading but in which you discuss it for the purpose of your argument? Post a pic of the passage here👇!

Seeking to collect instances of theories, framings, working definitions, etc. of close reading as they apply to your specific argument.
Cartoon of a cat reading intently a book titled "How to buy new books & pretend like it was an accident"
November 18, 2025 at 9:45 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
That's great. In my lit courses I often have students who move on to law school, and I tell them there's a huge overlap between our disciplines. Close reading is probably our last tool. If I may add this, I wrote this in my 2019 book Resisting Dialogue: Modern Fiction and the Future of Dissent
Passage from the book Resisting Dialogue: Modern Fiction and the Future of Dissent (pages 25 and 26) describing the importance of close reading literature for political and civic reasons
November 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Kudos to illustrator Nathan Daniels who made a wordless reference to the famous Banksy artwork auction in this Guardian story about a soccer player's price tag expectations that works on so many levels, not just about the direction soccer is going
Illustration that references Banksy's artwork auction where the work is shredded just as the auctioneer's gavel goes down but with the portrait of soccer player Florian Wirtz
October 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
I remember the time when students would be taught different types of rhetorical fallacies, how to identify them, how to avoid them, and how to rebut them
Post with the following text: "If you hate ai, congrats you now understand racists. The parallels are deep. 'But Al isn't human; alive; doesn't have a soul' Yeah, that's what people have been saying about other races since the beginning of time."
September 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
New article by me, "The Failure of Climate Dialogue: Why Global South Voices Must Be Climate Talk Leaders" (Public Humanities), where I engage with Bakhtin, Fanon, @naomiaklein.bsky.social + others to argue COP talks need to be reformed, and offer pointers as to how dialogue should be re-envisioned.
Title page of the article "The Failure of Climate Dialogue: Why Global South Voices Must Be Climate Talk Leaders" by Juan Meneses published in the journal Public Humanities. It also contains contact information and the article's abstract, which reads as follows: "This article argues that, as they are currently designed, UN climate talks fail to address the environmental catastrophe they aim to address. While dialogue is the primary means through which the world’s population can get together, discuss the scope and nature of the problem, and put appropriate measures into action, these talks are, year after year, employed as a way to create the illusion that democratic decision-making occurs. As a result, these kinds of events can only succeed in entrenching positions, exacerbating the impasse at which we currently find ourselves. This, in turn, solidifies the notion that we indeed need to engage in a dialogue about climate change, thus perpetuating a never-ending cycle that protects, under the veneer of planetary engagement, the continuation of capitalist business as usual. The article, therefore, proposes that a dialogic path to finding a solution to the climate catastrophe can only be successful if climate talks are rethought, placing at the helm voices from the most affected populations in the Global South. Otherwise, these talks will continue to fail in making a significant change that ensures the possibility of an environmentally just and viable future for the planet." Keywords: climate change; climate talks; dialogue; environmentalism; Global South.
August 4, 2025 at 10:00 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Me and my book project
Comic characters Calvin and Hobbes on a trolley bounding downhill on a trolley
July 19, 2025 at 4:24 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Table of contents for Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination!
Title page for book titled Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, edited by Juan Meneses, published by the University of Minnesota Press Table of contents (essays 1-5) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: Acknowledgments / Introduction: Sensing the Postpolitical, Juan Meneses / 1. The Infrastructural Aesthetic: Materialist Politics in Karen Tei Yamashita’s I Hotel, Christopher Breu / 2. Irrational Exuberance: The Politics of Start-up Futurism, Sherryl Vint / 3. Un violador en tu camino: Reimagining the Political through Mediated Feminist Street Performance, Jacquelyn Arcy and Allison Page / 4. Thinking Jacques Rancière with Ursula K. Le Guin: Aesthetics and Politics in a Postpolitical Age, Robert P. Marzec / 5. Wayward Possibilities: Errant Black Women and the Intimacies of Freedom, Matthew Scully Table of contents (essays 6-8 + Afterword) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: 6. False Specters of the Political: Revisitation, Digital Documentary Vernacular, and the Postpolitical after January 6, Stephen Charbonneau / 7. Dissensus, Refusal, Participatory Music: Negation and Rupture in Crowd in C, Eric Lemmon / 8. A Haunted Present: Postpolitics, Nuclear Waste, and the Colonization of the Future, Juan Meneses / Afterword: Between Two Endings, or Prolegomena for Another End, Erik Swyngedouw / Contributors / Index
June 24, 2025 at 1:10 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Publication day! Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, shepherded by the inimitable @lpennywark.bsky.social, is officially out in the world with @uminnpress.bsky.social! Also, the press has a $10 deal on paperbacks using CODE MN93820 you don't want to miss! www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
A human hand holding a copy of the book Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, edited by Juan Meneses, against a backdrop of blue and purple hydrangeas
June 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Finally got to hold with my own hands. Extremely happy how it came together. Dream roster of contributors.

Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, ed. Juan Meneses (@uminnpress.bsky.social). Out June 24. Preorder: www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918...
A hand holding the book Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination against a background of yellow, orange, and red wild flowers
June 9, 2025 at 3:04 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Table of contents for the (very!) forthcoming Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, coming out in June with @uminnpress.bsky.social!
Title page for book titled Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, edited by Juan Meneses, published by the University of Minnesota Press Table of contents (essays 1-5) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: Acknowledgments / Introduction: Sensing the Postpolitical, Juan Meneses / 1. The Infrastructural Aesthetic: Materialist Politics in Karen Tei Yamashita’s I Hotel, Christopher Breu / 2. Irrational Exuberance: The Politics of Start-up Futurism, Sherryl Vint / 3. Un violador en tu camino: Reimagining the Political through Mediated Feminist Street Performance, Jacquelyn Arcy and Allison Page / 4. Thinking Jacques Rancière with Ursula K. Le Guin: Aesthetics and Politics in a Postpolitical Age, Robert P. Marzec / 5. Wayward Possibilities: Errant Black Women and the Intimacies of Freedom, Matthew Scully Table of contents (essays 6-8 + Afterword) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: 6. False Specters of the Political: Revisitation, Digital Documentary Vernacular, and the Postpolitical after January 6, Stephen Charbonneau / 7. Dissensus, Refusal, Participatory Music: Negation and Rupture in Crowd in C, Eric Lemmon / 8. A Haunted Present: Postpolitics, Nuclear Waste, and the Colonization of the Future, Juan Meneses / Afterword: Between Two Endings, or Prolegomena for Another End, Erik Swyngedouw / Contributors / Index
May 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
💫
Screen grab of notification that says "David Harvey followed you back"
May 5, 2025 at 10:53 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Get 30% OFF of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination www.upress.umn.edu/978151791918... (preorder! book officially out in June!) using the code MNSAH25 when you check out or FOLLOWING THIS LINK www.upress.umn.edu/sah25/
Cover of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, a new book from the University of Minnesota Press edited by Juan Meneses
May 2, 2025 at 1:36 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
"Is this a fully automated champagne communism"?
Original image of "Is this a..." meme
April 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
You can now pre-order Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination with a limited 30% DISCOUNT thanks to the good people of @uminnpress.bsky.social. Go to z.umn.edu/a8wm + use code MN92480. Also, please feel free to repost/disseminate! We want this book to reach as many audiences as we wrote it for!
Picture of the cover of the book Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, edited by Juan Meneses, accompanied by text that reads as follows: "GET 30% OFF by ordering at z.umn.edu/a8wm with code MN92480. Offer good through May 1. University of Minnesota Press. upress.umn.edu"
April 1, 2025 at 4:18 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
You can now pre-order Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination with a limited 30% DISCOUNT thanks to the good people of @uminnpress.bsky.social!

Also, please feel free to repost/disseminate! We want this book to reach as many audiences as we wrote it for!
Picture of the cover of the book Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination, edited by Juan Meneses, accompanied by text that reads as follows: "GET 30% OFF by ordering at z.umn.edu/a8wm with code MN92480. Offer good through May 1. University of Minnesota Press. upress.umn.edu"
February 27, 2025 at 5:53 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
19/ infrastucture, tech capitalism, the environment, computer-generated music, feminist viral videos, Saidiya Hartman's nonfiction celebrating the Black lives, the documentary Into Eternity on nuclear waste disposal, and so much more. Take a look at the table of contents.
Title page for book titled Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination Table of contents (essays 1-5) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: Acknowledgments / Introduction: Sensing the Postpolitical, Juan Meneses / 1. The Infrastructural Aesthetic: Materialist Politics in Karen Tei Yamashita’s I Hotel, Christopher Breu / 2. Irrational Exuberance: The Politics of Start-up Futurism, Sherryl Vint / 3. Un violador en tu camino: Reimagining the Political through Mediated Feminist Street Performance, Jacquelyn Arcy and Allison Page / 4. Thinking Jacques Rancière with Ursula K. Le Guin: Aesthetics and Politics in a Postpolitical Age, Robert P. Marzec / 5. Wayward Possibilities: Errant Black Women and the Intimacies of Freedom, Matthew Scully Table of contents (essays 6-5) of Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination: 6. False Specters of the Political: Revisitation, Digital Documentary Vernacular, and the Postpolitical after January 6, Stephen Charbonneau / 7. Dissensus, Refusal, Participatory Music: Negation and Rupture in Crowd in C, Eric Lemmon / 8. A Haunted Present: Postpolitics, Nuclear Waste, and the Colonization of the Future, Juan Meneses / Afterword: Between Two Endings, or Prolegomena for Another End, Erik Swyngedouw / Contributors / Index
February 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Currently reading proofs for Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination and I have a feeling you all are going to love this essay by Sherryl Vint
Title of Sherryl Vint's essay in Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination titled "Irrational Exuberance: The Politics of start-up Futurism"
February 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Currently reading proofs for Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination and I have a feeling all are going to love this essay by Sherryl Vint
Title of Sherryl Vint's essay in Postpolitics and the Aesthetic Imagination titled "Irrational Exuberance: The Politics of start-up Futurism"
February 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
"This is fine" cartoon with a speech balloon that says "So I wrote a book about fire"
February 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Also
"This is fine" cartoon with a speech balloon that says "So I wrote a book about fire"
February 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Great stuff at the MLA book exhibit: Damion Searls's The Philosophy of Translation from @yalepress.bsky.social
Damion Searls's The Philosophy of Translation
January 12, 2025 at 7:08 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Great stuff at the MLA book exhibit: Angela Naimou's edited volume Diaspora and Literary Studies from @cambridgeup.bsky.social
Angela Naimou's edited volume Diaspora and Literary Studies
January 12, 2025 at 7:01 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
Great stuff at the MLA book exhibit: @eve.gd's Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History from @stanfordpress.bsky.social
Martin Paul Eve's book Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History
January 12, 2025 at 6:59 PM
dissentum.bsky.social
This may be my last MLA for a while for a number of reasons (some bad, some neutral). I'll be exited to see people. I'll be doing this, if you're around:
Description of MLA 2025 description titled "Keywords, Questions, Concepts: Postcolonial Genres and Strategies": "Speakers address concepts that have not yet found purchase in postcolonial studies and commonly circulated keywords transposed into different aesthetic, political, and historical contexts: planning, critical irrealism, catachresis, unself, filth, protection, and nonalignment."
January 5, 2025 at 4:59 PM