Black Soil

Abstract This article turns to the minor Black matter of soil to map a provisional theory of Black alchemy. Black alchemy names an erotic and ethical orientation toward the Dead and dead matter. Sifting the metonymic, metaphysical, and material properties between (Black fleshly) matter and (earthly) matters, the article argues for an attention to the erotic relations among Blackness, soil, and Dead (matter). These relations disrupt and refuse the circuits of racial capitalism that establish both Black bodies and soil as sites of resource depletion and commodification. Turning to the syncretic knowledge system of Obeah and tinctures of grave dirt, cachexia africana and histories of dirt eating, and the 2019 performance and installation Dirt Eater by Kiyan Williams, the article asks, What are the practices of those who have collectively lived the end of the world and therefore are already dreaming the messy, dirty end of this one?