Jordan Taliha McDonald is an essayist, critic, cultural worker, and (sometimes) poet. She is a Ph.D. student in English at Harvard University studying Black literature(s), rhetorical practices, and visual cultures in the Americas. Her academic work takes a particular interest in how narratives of betrayal and disloyalty are theorized under conditions of slavery and state violence. Her academic work has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Beinecke Scholarship, and the Ford Foundation.
Her public writing and cultural criticism have appeared in New York Magazine , The Believer , Artsy , Vulture , Africa is a Country, The Offing , and more . She is the co-host of Lose Your Sister podcast. Her newsletter, “East Coast Lit(erary) Thot” can be read here .
If you ask her nicely, Jordan will explain to you why Aretha Franklin’s 2018 assessment, “great gowns, beautiful gowns,” is the most succinct cultural criticism of the 21st century.