Spring 2022, CairoLab
Reading Feminism/Writing To Live
Course details
- Cycle
- Spring 2022, Cairo
- Length
- 12 sessions
- Format
- Hybrid
- Taught in
- English
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“these words they have egos and things to prove themselves, don’t they? we plant them & as they bloom we become intoxicated by their fragrance — so much so that reality shifts.” - Alok
About the course
Reading Feminism/Writing To Live explores the power of language, rhythm and imagination. It is both a Creative Writing lab and a close-reading course. We indulge in the words of novelists and poets, to conjure up energy and courage for our own writing endeavours. What do stories tell us about the state of the world? Maybe more importantly: can we survive, even alter, this state through writing words? In this course, we hone our appreciation of aesthetics, both through creating and consuming, consulting and advising (ourselves and each other). In writing poetry and prose, we imagine past and future, unravel taboo and power, and sometimes craft an escape through a fantastical feminist gate. The weekly readings serve as prompts which we will interrogate in class through creative writing exercises. If your brain was a place, what would it look like? If your ancestor gave you life advice, what would they say? Do you dare to put your every word on trial for its life, can you bear to pull out your tongue and read yourself against the silence? I invite you to adventure into dystopia, utopia, love, and hope by creating words and watching them become worlds.
Who teaches it
Amuna is a writer, filmmaker and Lover of the Arts. She studied International Relations and Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a special interest in decolonising processes and the politics of gender. In her art, Amuna explores the many ways through which we heal ourselves and others: ancestry, identity, pleasure activism, feminist spiritualities, and creative knowledge production. Amuna is the co-founder and Editor-In-Chief of Kandaka, a website that imagines feminist futures at the intersection of art, pleasure, and activism. She has published articles and poetry on Amaka Studio, Egyptian Streets, Skin Deep, Meeting of Minds, shado mag, Rosa Mag and sweetthangzine.
Course flow
Sessions without a date
- All Language Is CreatedAlok V Menon.
- Our Lives Are The ArtAlok V Menon.
- Our Natural State is WaterAlok V Menon.
- Your Silence Will Not Protect YouAudre Lorde.
- Poetry Is Not A LuxuryAudre Lorde.
- Writer’s BlockAlok V Menon.
- Have You Heard George’s Podcast: Writer’s BlockOptional.
- QUEENJanelle Monae and Erykah Badu.
- Poetry: How does it feel now?Akua Naru.
- No Easter Sunday for QueersKoleka Putuma.
- No Roses From My MouthStella Nyanzi.
- Radical RudenessStella Nyanzi.
- Homegoing (Excerpt)Yaa Gyasi.
- Daydreaming yourself into existenceAlok V Menon.
- SkinnedLesley Nneka Arimah.
- Friendship Is RomanceAlok V Menon.
- Sultana’s DreamRokeya Sakhawat Hossain.
- The God of Small Things (Except)Arundhati Roy.
- Mohini Can ScreamRadhika Jani.
- Falling in Love With Ideas of PeopleAlok V Menon.
- In Search of Our Mother’s GardenAlice Walker.
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