Jenna Hanchey
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jennahanchey.bsky.social
Jenna Hanchey
@jennahanchey.bsky.social
1.9K followers 780 following 800 posts
"Badass fairy." BSFA nominated fiction. Ignyte & BF nominated narration. Collage artist. Podcast host. Poetry ed. Prof of Rhetoric & Critical/Cultural Studies. Writing on decolonial dreamwork & African SF & land & kinship. she/her. https://jennahanchey.com
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jennahanchey.bsky.social
I'm particularly caught by how long we've been dreaming post-work futures, only to have them systemically denied. Eg, while collaging this week I found this piece from **1979** --

"By now, we were supposed to be living amid automated abundance--but these scenes don't seem to be around..."
A magazine article in a bound collection titled "Whatever became of the predicted effortless world?" The subtitle continues, "By now, we were supposed to be living amid automated abundance--but these scenes don't seem to be around." The accompanying image is a photograph of a woman dancing with a large boxy metal robot.
November 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Hooking readers with the first sentence -- pass it on!

Here's my 2025 story, "Among the Beginnings Scattered Across the Kitchen Floor" in @iftheresanyoneleft.bsky.social

www.iftheresanyoneleft.com/stories/jenn...
Black text on white background, reading: Among the Beginnings Scattered Across the Kitchen Floor Jenna Hanchey From: If There's Anyone Left, Volume 5 I have nowhere to put my beginnings
November 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Aw thanks for asking! I've spent the past few years turning to collaging in times of overwhelming grief or fear or pain, when I couldn't form words of my own. I didn't realize they might speak to others, too -- so I was really excited when Worlds of Possibility published "After" as a collage poem ✨
A collage poem on a white paper background. The images are sepia-toned. The primary background image is a full moon rising over a snowy mountain, with other collaged planets and stars bordering it. The words across the pictures read: after. all speak up. rampaging CHANGING THE WORLD HAPPILY, WE Think outside the box. Beyond Your Dreams Give in to spontaneous creativity desire you'll get caught up in the mystique and magic TAKE CARE be a softie Psssssst..... --it's far from over
November 8, 2025 at 3:43 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Oh hai Seattle 👋🏻
Morning view of the Seattle skyline arising over a sundial set in the ground, with the water flowing in between. Taken from Gas Works Park.
August 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
I'll be at WorldCon this week!

Can't wait to see / meet / hug / laugh with / dance with / sing with / burn down colonialism and fascism with y'all! 🔥💕✨
Jenna Hanchey's bio and WorldCon schedule! Including: Friday 1:30pm - What a Disaster Saturday 1:30pm - An Academic, a Scientist, and a Writer Walk into a Bar Sunday 9am - A READING AHH (please come!)
August 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
This means you can get my book for 30% off through July 4 with the code LASA25 👀

www.dukeupress.edu/the-center-c...
The cover image of Jenna N. Hanchey's The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO. The book shows a shattered image of a young Tanzanian girl's back as she gazes out over a forested lake at sunset.
May 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Mark your calendars!
Next Tuesday come listen to me, @thesuiway.bsky.social, and @dracopoullos.bsky.social read on @spacecowboybooks.bsky.social Flash Science Fiction night!

Register here: eventbrite.com/e/1287873417059
A poster with a hazy purple background reading "Space Cowboy Books Flash Science Fiction Night Online Reading" at the top. Below are author photos of Jenna Hanchey, A.D. Sui, and Phoenix Alexander along with their names. The event information is printed below: eventbrite.com/e/1287873417059 Tuesday April 29th 2025 6pm PT www.spacecowboybooks.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:38 AM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Hey Austin folks, heading to your neck of the woods this week! Looking forward to talking about my second monograph, Decolonial Dreamwork: Africanfuturism and Imagination Beyond Development, and engaging with everyone's work ✨
Poster for the Sequels Symposium at UT Austin, April 10-11. The image is red, green, and blue circles abstractly forming an audience gathered around a bright white light center stage. April 10 Jenna Hanchey and Emily Bloom are the keynote speakers from 7-9pm and April 11 there are graduate student panels from 10am-4pm.
April 8, 2025 at 12:57 AM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the final review, Michael Lechuga asks us to consider how the book's concept of "liquid agency" might help us rebuild together post-collapse through deeper relations with land.

7/8
Screenshot of the first page of Michael Lechuga's review of Jenna Hanchey's The Center Cannot Hold. In it, he describes how the book "asks whether cracks, fractures, fissures, or other undoings in the world around us might present opportunities to delink from our colonial subjectivities and imagine new possibilities for building kinship networks"
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the fourth review, Megan Morrissey looks to the book's applicability to teaching. She says, "The way Hanchey’s discussion flows around and between haunted reflexivity...and the role of relationality, seep into my pedagogical and critical practice in ways I continue to consider."

6/8
Screenshot of the first page of Megan Morrissey's review of Jenna Hanchey's The Center Cannot Hold, describing how the work was used in her graduate class on worldmaking.
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the third review, Godfried Asante writes "The uniqueness of this book lies in not just unpacking the collapse and ruination but the often overlooked rewards. Basically, what emerges after the collapse? What decolonial possibilities exist in such moments of collapse and disorientation?"

5/8
Screenshot of the first page of Godfried Asante's review of Jenna Hanchey's book, The Center Cannot Hold. He writes "The uniqueness of this book lies in not just unpacking the collapse and ruination but the often overlooked rewards. Basically, what emerges after the collapse? What decolonial possibilities exist in such moments of collapse and disorientation?"
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the second review, Kundai Chirindo contextualizes the work within interdisciplinary literature, arguing it's "unequivocal in its commitment to advancing the rhetorical stakes of development studies" in ways that are far past due.

4/8
Screenshot of the first page of Kundai Chirindo's review of The Center Cannot Hold, featuring his arguments that the book is well-poised to explain how rhetorical studies is necessary to decolonial critiques of development.
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the first review, Liahnna Stanley writes "Hanchey’s interdisciplinary text emerges as a welcome contribution that promises significant use and value for scholars...[and] also serves as a valuable resource for non-academic activists, educators, and professionals."

3/8
Screenshot from Liahnna Stanley's review of Jenna Hanchey's book The Center Cannot Hold. Stanley writes that the book "poses a paradigmatic challenge to the very foundations of rhetoric and communication scholarship that remains deeply invested in securing global systems of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and anti-Black white supremacy"
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
After the End of THE World

I wrote this response to the 5 amazing scholars who reviewed my book for QJS in 2024, but the resonance in its release today is potent. I hope the reviews--& the book itself--provide some avenues for hope, resistance, and continued solidarity in decolonial struggle.

1/8
The first four paragraphs of Jenna Hanchey's response to the reviews of her book. It's titled "After the end of THE world" and makes the case that "The end of the world is only ever the end of a world. And anything that claims A world as THE world needs to be ended." She writes that we need to "continuously root out the ways that coloniality attempts to settle...if we are going to break open a purported idea of THE world to cultivate other possible worlds in its ruins."
April 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Last day of the sale! Pick up a copy of my book for $13.50 with the code FLASH50

"A true work of unlearning for relearning! Erudite, lucid, profound, this book successfully shakes the foundations of Western messianism."

www.dukeupress.edu/the-center-c...
The cover of Jenna N. Hanchey's book, The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO." The image is a fractured picture of a young Tanzanian girl with her back.toward the camera silhouetted against the setting sun, looking out over water surrounded by trees.
March 26, 2025 at 2:07 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Hey there ICFA goers!

Come hear me and @jabartlesauthor.bsky.social say smart things tomorrow!
Screenshot of the ICFA program highlighting the session "Haunted By Burnout and the Return of Spirits of the Earth and Karmic Forces" (I know, they struggled titling this panel, huh?). It's Thursday March 20 at 10:30am and includes me (Jenna) talking about Liquid Organizing in Africanfuturism
March 19, 2025 at 2:54 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Coming soon!
I'm honored to have my book, The Center Cannot Hold, reviewed by 5 amazing scholars in the next issue of Quarterly Journal of Speech. Huge thanks to Liahnna Stanley, Kundai Chirindo, Godfried Asante, Megan Morrissey, and Michael Lechuga for engaging with my work!
Sneak peek here...
Screenshot of text from Quarterly Journal of Speech written by Jenna N. Hanchey and introducing the book review forum where five scholars will review her book, The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO. The reviews are written by Liahnna Stanley, Kundai Chirindo, Godfried Asante, Michael Lechuga, and Megan Morrissey.
February 24, 2025 at 4:53 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Annnnd here's a collage I made recently. I make them for inspiration and put them on my front door ✨
A collage of text, gem photographs, and images of the moon on top of a background of a green aurora borealis over snow-capped mountains
February 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Comm folks planning to go to WSCA, if you do one thing at the conference may I suggest going to the BDS Organizing preconference? Registration is open now!
Flyer for "Centering the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS in University Human Rights Efforts" preconference registration at the Western States Communication Association Convention, including a QR code to the registration link. Flyer for "Centering the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS in University Human Rights Efforts" preconference registration at the Western States Communication Association Convention, including a QR code to the registration link.
January 15, 2025 at 7:14 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, what's your energy going into 2025?

Ready to create better worlds in and through the ruination of the next apocalypse
Jenna is doing some light Furiosa cosplaying here, except girl has got some long blonde hair that would not do well in a post-apocalyptic desert. She's a white woman with her hair thrown over her right shoulder in a straight cascade. She's wearing grey pants and and a grey crop long sleeve shirt over a white tank. She has four brown belts criss-crossed over her, with one holding a pocket across her left shoulder. She has a serious look on her face and there's a beautiful houseplant behind her.
December 30, 2024 at 3:13 AM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
*ahem ahem*
This is just called *colonialism*

May I perhaps direct your attention to an article where I write about how disaster movies prime US white masculinity to, when neocolonial saviorism fails, simply revert to direct invasion and colonization?

jennahanchey.com/wp-content/u...
CNN headline reading "Trump is teasing US expansion into Panama, Greenland and Canada," with an accompanying image of Trump speaking at a microphone. Additional text says "President-elect Donald Trump appears to be entertaining an American territorial expansion that, if he's serious, would rival the Louisiana Purchase or the deal that netted Alaska from Russia."
December 28, 2024 at 4:58 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
"...an essential contribution to current discussions of decolonization. ...Hanchey’s unique perspective, presented through engaging and accessible writing, encourages readers to begin the difficult work of actively creating a more just and equitable decolonial future."

🙏🥰🥺😭
Text, reading in part: Hanchey concludes by emphasizing the capacity of alternative epistemologies to dismantle seemingly solid neocolonial structures and open up decolonial futures. Failure and destruction allow for new beginnings and transformative spaces where Indigenous knowledge, epistemologies, and relational connections can thrive, paving innovative pathways toward “the potential for an Africanfuturism of development.” She argues that decolonial dreamwork fosters bold imaginations and “radical futures,” asserting that “decolonial potential exists in the ruins.” ... The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO is an empowering and inspiring read relevant for audiences in rhetorical studies, critical cultural and media studies, international development studies, as well as for anyone who is seeking a deep engagement with the concept of reflexivity. Hanchey advocates for new ways of thinking and doing, urging a reevaluation of our perspectives, encouraging us to let go of preexisting knowledge, and recognizing aspects of problems we often overlook. The book’s theoretical and critical strength is enhanced by the inclusion of the author’s volunteer experiences, which expand on and shed light on valuable concepts, making it an essential contribution to current discussions of decolonization. In calling us to engage in decolonial dreamwork, Hanchey urges us to open our minds to the necessity of unlearning and relearning through reflexivity. She also highlights the need for imaginations that transcend hegemonic and solid structures and the ways Indigenous epistemologies and liquidity can transform and reshape the future of NGOs and academia. Hanchey’s unique perspective, presented through engaging and accessible writing, encourages readers to begin the difficult work of actively creating a more just and equitable decolonial future.
December 9, 2024 at 6:11 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
🙏🏼🦉✨
The sun begins to rise over Phoenix. The sky is light pink verging into grey clouds and then blue open space, over silhouettes of mountains in the distance. Sparkling city lights set the mid ground of the image, while a rocky mountain path with green shrubs to the left sets the foreground. On a rock outcropping in the middle of the image sits a great horned owl. If you zoom in, you can see it's facing looking directly toward the camera -- and thus the woman who's wielding it.
November 27, 2024 at 5:50 PM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
In the vein of @wiswell.bsky.social's "Today may be hard, so..." posts...

This week may be hard, so what's bringing y'all joy right now, however big or small?

For me it's that I found some film for my old Canon at the store!
A white hand holding a 3-pack of Fujifilm 400 for film cameras in what is apparently a Walmart that has come unstuck in time
November 27, 2024 at 12:25 AM
jennahanchey.bsky.social
@maryannemohanraj.bsky.social starting the con off 🔥 (like, seriously steamy) with her reading!
Mary Anne Mohanraj, a short brown woman with short hair and glasses, wearing a green shirt and dark grey cardigan, stands behind a table and reads from her book, The Stars Change
October 17, 2024 at 8:22 PM