New Books in Critical Theory Beenash Jafri, "Settler Attachments and Asian Diasporic Film" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)
Dec 23, 2025
Beenash Jafri, an associate professor at UC Davis and author of "Settler Attachments and Asian Diasporic Film", dives into the complexities of race, diaspora, and Indigeneity. She discusses her shift from social movements to film as a method to explore decolonial possibilities. Jafri highlights the appeal of the Asian cowboy figure and its implications for belonging. She emphasizes friendship as a form of political labor and examines contemporary films that portray diverse youth dynamics. Her work encourages a rethinking of solidarity through a queer lens.
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Multicultural Roots Shaped The Project
- Beenash Jafri traces her interest to Toronto's multicultural politics and early anti-racist organizing which complicated the idea of "people of color."
- She shifted from social movement analysis to film to access affects and desires shaping diasporic–Indigenous relations.
Film Reveals Hidden Settler Desires
- Jafri argues film offers speculative and affective access to lingering settler attachments that activism alone cannot reveal.
- Films operate as archives of the settler world, surfacing desires that reproduce colonial imaginaries.
Cowboy Symbolism Hides Indigenous Erasure
- The Asian cowboy figure symbolizes diasporic longing for national belonging while often erasing Indigenous presence.
- Jafri reads melancholia in cowboy art as a double loss: belonging to nationhood and loss of relationship with Indigenous peoples.