Kamp Krystal Killjoy
"Doing Feminism/Making Media"
Kamp Krystal Killjoy is a podcast project/feminist pedagogy that grows from the intersection where radical queer feminist theory meets activism, through media AND Sara Ahmed's feminist “killjoy” who works to interrupt the happiness narrative spun by male dominance/patriarchy.
to kill joy, is to open a life, to make room for
life, to make room for possibility, for chance
(Ahmed, 2010, p. 20).
Within the current U.S. context of moral panics around queerness (drag is dangerous!), race (woke teachers are poisoning your kids with CRT!), white supremacist nationalism (build the wall!), the assault on women’s and reproductive rights (the overturning of Roe), the banning of gender affirming care, among others, Kamp Krystal Killjoy uses the feminist method of storytelling and standpoint epistemology to (re)imagine these power relations through the classic slasher film genre. The podcast episodes act as powerful allegories for the myriad systemic oppressions which define this moment in global history. Teachers of feminism are encouraged to include Kamp Krystal Killjoy in their syllabi, and to tap into the companion course materials/kurriculum for powerful in class discussions/assignments.
In Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks (2015) drives home the importance of producing feminist theory/practice in ways that are accessible, exciting, and relevant to people’s lives. The feminist theory/practice that emerges through Kamp Krystal Killjoy does just that. The lens of pop culture/slasher films brings new life (or death) to feminist theory/practice and offers a novel entry point into feminism for young people.
I'm Kristin Comeforo, AKA Zombee, The Grim Teacher
(They/Them) (PhD, Rutgers University) (Associate Professor of Communication, University of Hartford)
I am a passionate, queer, feminist teacher, scholar, and activist using my full academic year sabbatical to weave these threads into an even tighter fabric of my feminist life.
Over the past few years I have increasingly brought my teaching and research into conversation with activism. Students in my "Systems of Oppression" class develop critical consciousness around racism, sexism, etc... and engage in social justice strategies on campus as their final project. For this effort, I was awarded the Donald W. Davis University Interdisciplinary Studies Award (2022). My most recent scholarly work is a book chapter about a performance piece I created from three "pandemic narratives" to talk back to mainstream discourses. I also presented this work as a Humanities Center Fellow on our campus in the spring of 2024.
Killjoy activism is also about how we create and share
resources... Sometimes we create a spectacle
(Ahmed, 2023, p. 231)
In 2018 I started #UndeadAction on campus, which encourages people to dress as zombies on Halloween to increase awareness and action around climate crisis. I've been ZomBieber, and Zombee (see below). I'm also the Grim Teacher, who oversees the "graveyard of poor administrative decisions" - a collection of tombstones that call out the cutting of programs, faculty retirement and health savings account funds and the instituting of "shared Deans" across multiple colleges within our University. These examples, among others, contributed to my winning an MLK Beloved Community award in 2024.
