A selection of texts that influence the Kingdom of Slovenalia
with notes from dramaturg Rachel Perzynski and curator Kevin Sparrow
Adams, Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat. Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
In this text, Adams explores the overlaps between feminist thought and vegetarianism, and the specific ways that the ways that we refer to meat, its production, and its proliferation as a commodity runs parallel to gender-based exploitation and violence. We find the language of the absent referent (the disappearing of the living being into a consumable product) to be of particular interest to this work. (Kevin Sparrow)
Felix Ibarra, Kristina. “Recipes for a Post-Colonial Kitchen: Maize/Recetas para una cocina poscolonial: el maíz.” Sixty Inches from Center, 27 Nov. 2019, sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/recipes-for-a-post-colonial-kitchen-maize-recetas-para-una-cocina-poscolonial-el-maiz
In this essay, Kristina Felix Ibarra explores the history of maize and its roots in Mexican culture and cuisine. When colonizers separated the maize plant from its origins and teachings, they were faced with malnutrition. The key to humanity’s survival is not exploitation, but rather a deep understanding of nature and the wisdom of our ancestors. (Rachel Perzynski)
Harvie, David and Keir Milburn. “On the uses of fairy dust: Contagion, sorcery, and the crafting of other worlds.” Culture and Organization, 2016, doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2015.1118636
A core myth of a capitalist society is that it is natural and unchangeable. Authors Harvie and Keir propose challenging this notion by utilizing counter-myths and spouts of virality in anti-capitalist strategies. We must imagine beyond the realm of what is “natural” when devising new systems or else we risk falling back into the old way of being. (Rachel Perzynski)
Laenui, Poka. “Processes of Decolonization." Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Edited by Marie Battiste, UBC Press, 2000.
Based on his experiences as a native of Hawai’i, Poka Laenui argues that colonization and decolonization are more social processes than they are political ones. Laenui outlines five stages of decolonization: rediscovery and recovery, mourning, dreaming, commitment, and action. Because the Kingdom of Slovenalia is an enactment of colonialism, it is up to its inhabitants and visitors to decide how far they are willing to go to challenge the established order of the land. (Rachel Perzynski)
Pignarre, Philippe, and Isabelle Stengers. Capitalist Sorcery: Breaking the Spell. Translated by Andrew Goffey, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
In this book-length essay, Pignarre and Stengers look at the sorceror’s quality to “capture” people in thrall that capitalism exerts. In the Kingdom of Slovenalia, we find the quality of “sounders of the depths,” as the authors describe themselves, in the character of Captain Crocker. We find the capture of sorcery embodied (and disembodied) in the spectral figure of King Corn, who hangs over this kingdom even when unseen. (Kevin Sparrow)
Rankine, Claudia, and Beth Loffreda. “On Whiteness and the Racial Imaginary.” Literary Hub, 9 Apr. 2015, lithub.com/on-whiteness-and-the-racial-imaginary
This selection from The Racial Imaginary by Rankine and Loffreda offers a practical understanding for how white creators often mischaracterize a racial/ethnic “other” in their language, and even more problematically, enforce their right to write about others’ experiences from outside those experiences.
This type of uncritical thinking is grounded in the history of literature, as even our earliest written stories in Western civilization contain distorted depictions of “the other,” illustrated in the Kingdom of Slovenalia through the enslaved African woman who becomes a central figure in the Italian fairy tale “The Three Citrons.” (Kevin Sparrow)
Tunc, Tanfer Emin. “Less Sugar, More Warships: Food as American Propaganda in the First World War.” War in History, vol. 19, no. 2, 2012, pp. 193-216, jstor.org/stable/26098429
During World War I, American war propaganda experienced an influx of food iconography and messaging. Under the direction of Herbert Hoover, The United States Food Administration used food posters and grassroots campaigns that targeted U.S. housewives to alter the diet of the nation. Food conservation and preservation became patriotic duties and home gardens were sown with the seeds of victory. Many of the posters were recycled for WWII, and now you can see some of the very same posters on display in Slaughterland! (Rachel Perzynski)
And click the video below to start a playlist of research that informed the making of
The Kingdom of Slovenalia: Virtual Tour