Antigone and the Power of Protest — Watch Episode 9 of Prof. Ato Quayson’s Vlog

The ninth episode of Professor Ato Quayson’s vlog Critic.Reading.Writing is up!

In this 40-minute episode, Quayson analyzes the relationship between “Polis, Oikos and Necropolitics” in Antigone by Sophocles.

Professor Quayson connects Antigone’s mission to bury her brother at the cost of her own life to a long historical tradition of protesting the power of the State to dictate how its people may live and die.

Quayson likens Antigone to the man who stood before the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989 and to Nelson Mandela in his “I Am Prepared to Die” speech at the Rivonia Trial in 1964. These contemporary comparisons dare viewers to question where one might find Antigone in the spirit of protest in 2020. He concludes,

In the exercise of an ethical belief…people, political figures, or individuals have declared themselves prepared to lose their lives in pursuit of something much bigger. They are martyrs to an ethical standpoint higher than any that the State can declare.

Click below to watch!

Critic.Reading.Writing with Ato Quayson is the show for book-lovers hungry for meaningful conversations about books.

New episodes of Critic.Reading.Writing with Ato Quayson will be posted every Friday.

In order not to miss out on any updates, follow Prof. Quayson on Instagram @critic.reading.writing  and subscribe to the channel on YouTube!