Reviews of Black Iconoclasm (2024) Published in Journal of Black Studies, Cultural Studies, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, & Prose Studies

“Black Iconoclasm is, at its core, a love letter to Blackness’ potential and kinetic energy. […] The practice of Black iconoclasm rejects either/or practices of trading in Blackness that often ask us to side with one or another scholar, to accept one or another conceptual rendering, to embrace one or another school of thought; instead, Athanasopoulos’ work demonstrates productive ways for slowing down, taking care, and spending time with what, why, and how we simultaneously understand Blackness on systematic, conceptual, and pragmatic levels.”

-Alexis McGee, Journal of Black Studies

“Black Iconoclasm is a book for those that wish to trouble the approach of understanding media texts as all good or all bad. Across seven chapters and three interludes, Athanasopoulos engages media artifacts that span from well-known films like Judas and the Black Messiah and Black Panther to murals meant to support Black Lives Matter (BLM). When engaging each text, Athanasopoulos approaches them with a care and depth of historicity that could contribute to any research project hoping to provide historical evidence around the texts. Alongside the impressive historicism of the project Athanasopoulos shows a willingness to see the possibility that comes from unsettling the taken for granted.”

-Darrian Carroll, Rhetoric Society Quarterly

“Athanasopoulos proves to be a deft and refreshing reader of the Martiniquan scholar [Frantz Fanon] throughout his chapters, but also because of his decision to include a three-part fictional short story titled “Black Icarus” interspersed throughout his chapters, which echoes Fanon’s engagement with Ancient Greek tragedy in his plays. The short story is a provocative supplement to this academic text. The open nature of what I found to be a parable-like text provides interesting possibilities for interpretation, in the spirit of radical invention. That is, where Athanasopoulos’s academic writing offers pristine lucidity, including this creative element adds an element of productive opacity to this research project.”

-Mell Rivera Díaz, Prose Studies

“By weaving together insights from Black studies, cultural theory, media studies, and rhetorical analysis, Black Iconoclasm speaks to a diverse audience of scholars and practitioners. Its case studies – spanning interpersonal communication, cinema, and visual art – demonstrate the versatility of Black iconoclasm as both a theoretical lens and a practical methodology. These analyses are not only rigorous but also deeply attuned to the lived textures and expressions of Black radical thought. For practitioners, Athanasopoulos’s work provides critical tools to recognize and navigate the tensions between radical visions for racial justice and the increasingly persistent institutional constraints that shape everyday practices, illuminating pathways for reflective and strategic engagement in activist, educational, and creative spaces.”

-Sklyer Meeks, Cultural Studies