Fantastic Blackness

Fantastic Blackness with Shanté Paradigm Smalls•linktr.ee

Fantastic Blackness is an irregular podcast by Shanté Paradigm Smalls focused on Black Queer Trans art, politics, aesthetics, and news. Features interviews with artmakers, reviews of art shows, stage plays, books, film and television, and topical discussion.

Last refreshed: August 24th, 2025 at 1:12 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

The Dystopian Present

A special solo episode from Shanté Paradigm Smalls, The Dystopian Present , explores a new magazine-style format where the podcast covers several different topics.

Jul 04, 2024•44 min

In The Bleak Midwinter

Hosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o dig into why horror is trending in Black entertainment today. They discuss how horror, like comedy, allows space for the unsayable or the indelicate, and how Black horror can directly address the everyday horrors of racism and gender terrorism, heightened by and contrasted with more supernatural effects.

Apr 11, 2023•47 min

Hip Hop Heresies

Hosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o discuss Shanté's new book, Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City Thanks to our ace producer Alex van Gils and to NYU Press for the cover image of Hip Hop Heresies. Artwork by Qrky. Music in this episode by B.Q.E. “Understand/Overstand” and Blocka Beats, “Peace and Grow.” Peace Out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 18, 2022•1 hr

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins pt. 2

In this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three. Part 2 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Jan 15, 2022•51 min

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins pt. 1

In this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three. Part 1 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Oct 03, 2021•53 min

Spooky Pride

For the first episode of season two of Fantastic Blackness, hosts Tav and Shanté discuss Lovecraft Country , and what could have been (and may still be if picked up by another streaming service or network) on Season 2. For show notes, check out the substack: https://fantasticblackness.substack.com/p/spooky-pride-2021-hbos-lovecraft Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 13, 2021•59 min

Becoming Human

Hosts Shanté and Tav sit down with author Zakiyyah Iman Jackson to break down her new book: Becoming Black: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. You can find Professor Jackson's book on her website: https://www.zakiyyahimanjackson.com . Cover art contains artwork from the book's original cover art by Nandipha Mntambo, the piece is called Europa , from 2008. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Mar 21, 2021•1 hr 8 min

The Fire This Time

Hosts Shanté and Tav discuss things Black and Fantastic from within the COVID-19 pandemic and a heightened anti-Black racial pandemic. Our hosts reflect on academia, performative allyship, and share their pandemic playlists and reading lists. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 28, 2020•1 hr 10 min

Butler's Parable Series

Hosts Shanté and Tav welcome guest Jayna Brown (Media Studies, Pratt Institute) to discuss Octavia Butler’s Parable series and her forthcoming book, Black Utopias. Recorded via videoconferencing during COVID-19 quarantine. This episode's image contains original book cover artwork by John Jude Palencar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 05, 2020•1 hr 16 min

Watching Watchmen

Hosts Shanté and Tav discuss HBO’s recently completed Watchmen series and how it broke boundaries in its reckoning with legacies of racism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 11, 2020•1 hr 6 min

Black Fantasy

Hosts Shanté and Tavia discuss fantasy as genre being particularly relevant to Black folks—it includes and venerates oral traditions, myth, and folklore over or included alongside technology and hard science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 06, 2019•51 min

All About Janelle

In this debut episode, co-hosts Shanté and Tav introduce the themes of the podcast — which will consider race and speculation in all their manifestations — and breakdown the career to date of Janelle Monáe, a music icon of afrofuturism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 02, 2019•35 min

Hosted on Spotify for Creators (Anchor)

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