A talk by Leila Taylor (Brooklyn Public Library) Chaired by Jeremy Dauber (Columbia University)

On Zoom

Co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Department of English, the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender, and the Institute for Research in African American Studies.

The house has long been an ideal locale for horror. The home is intended to be our primary space of security and control, a reflection of our identity and values. The single-family detached house, synonymous with family and domesticity, has long been considered the intrinsic domain of women. But what happens to the home when the traditional patriarchal family structure is challenged, and the predictable stability of the house becomes unreliable? In this talk, Leila Taylor, the author of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul, will look at supernatural spaces in film and literature, the image of the witch’s house, and how the home of the single, childless, autonomous woman became symbols of both enchantment and dread.

Watch the event recording here.