Speculative Relations Unboxing!

Unboxing ASMR

Hi hello, hi, hi, hi,

I had seen a few people with the book already, but finally my author copies arrived! I wanted to share the unboxing video, which a friend described as ASMR. Unboxing ASMR. I’m into it.

The wait for author copies is a tough one. I’m so grateful to have the physical book now, and to be able to see other people with it, too. I’ve had friends and comrades send me pictures of their own unboxing, and I’m so grateful for those too. What a joy. Truly.

And another major announcement: I’ll be doing a book launch/conversation at MoMA on October 7, alongside two brilliant superstars: Leanne Simpson and Candice Hopkins. If you’re going to be in the city, save the date. It is going to be really good! That program copy is as follows:

How do we relate to the world around us? How do we dream new worlds to life? How do we resist in times of upheaval? In his new book Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair, Joseph M. Pierce (Cherokee Nation citizen) draws on Cherokee thinking, Indigenous queer theory, and contemporary Native American art to illuminate the creative principles and practices that breathe life into Indigenous thought and practice. In her recently released Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead, writer, scholar, musician, and artist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg) explores water as a catalyst for radical transformation, offering regenerative methods for understanding history, community, and the worlds we inhabit.

Join us for a special evening celebrating the release of these two volumes with the authors and esteemed curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation). Together, they will discuss contemporary Native American art and the relational paradigms of Indigenous communities, including how these paradigms develop political and artistic sovereignty while helping us imagine new worlds. The program will be followed by a book signing of Pierce’s Speculative Relations (2025) and Simpson’s Theory of Water (2025).

That’s it for now. :)