Bad Bunny’s “Baticano”

by | Aug 21, 2026

Why Teach “Baticano” as a Monster Text? Bad Bunny released “Baticano” on Halloween (October 31, 2023) as part of his album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. Directed by Stillz and featuring Steve Buscemi, the black-and-white video stages an overt gothic homage: Bad...

Waste Not a Phantasmic Pedagogy

by | Aug 21, 2026

Monsters are bodies tumbled into bodies; the art of telling monstrosity requires stories tumbled into stories. (Swanson et al. 2017, M10)   Introduction In this short article I introduce a common piece of caregiver and children’s folklore in Japan, the...

“Against life as we know it”

by | Aug 16, 2026

Werewolves can be seen as ableist portrayals of disability, as their monstrosity/disability is a punishment, something to fear, or fix. I, a multiply disabled person, have always been fascinated by monsters and the ways I see myself represented in their stories. Like...

We Are All Monsters Here

by | Aug 15, 2026

This essay introduces an undergraduate honors course that approaches monsters as products of monstrification, a discursive act of interpellation. Students move from analyzing to creating and inhabiting monsters, and the monsters they produce reveal concerns about...

Flashy, Friendly, Ferocious

by | Aug 15, 2026

This article examines monsters and mythical creatures as protective identity tools—symbolic forms that individuals use to explore, project, and construct ideas of safety, strength, and self-definition—as seen through a practice-based case study at the Philadelphia...