This talk will broach ongoing debates in queer studies over the validity of reparative reading practices, through a discussion of the recent film restoration of Shirley Clarke's 1967 film "Portrait of Jason." Arguing neither for nor against reparation, the talk will look to the writings of Deleuze and Bergson on cinema, memory and duration in order to propose a queer ontology of the archive in which the recovered gesture is 'neither true nor false, yet fabulous.'

Tavia Nyong’o writes, researches and teaches critical black studies, queer studies, cultural theory, and cultural history. His first book, The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory (Minnesota, 2009), won the Errol Hill Award for best book in African American theatre and performance studies. Nyong’o has published articles on punk, disco, viral media, the African diaspora, film, and performance art. He is the co-editor of Social Text.