Purvi Shah

Arts, Culture & Society I: Practicing Liberation: The Work of Anti-Racism in Writing & Community

Saturday, December 7, 2024, 8:00 to 9:30 a.m

What happens when we don’t see writing as a solitary act? Viewing writing as a solo endeavor is one (Western) version of writing – a version that doesn’t account for the ancestors, history, social structures, communities, and/or manifold beings that led to the stories we know and the art we ourselves may create, especially if we identify as people of color.

In this seminar, we will examine how race shapes our stories as well as our processes of storytelling. Through somatic, interactive, and reflective activities, together we will discuss frameworks of storytelling as well as outline concrete steps for enabling our writing to engage race more responsibly as we strive to further justice. This seminar will help us raise questions, offer strategies to practice, and underscore community and our actions beyond writing as essential aspects to antiracist practice for our writing. Together we will discuss the practice of writing towards liberation and how we can connect our art to liberatory practices.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Chavez, Felicia Rose. “How to Build an Antiracist Workshop,” Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2021. https://lithub.com/how-to-build-an-antiracist-workshop/  

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “When Between the World and Me Faced a School Book Ban, Ta-Nehisi Coates Decided to Report It Out,” Vanity Fair, 24 Sept. 2024. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ta-nehisi-coates-the-message

Shah, Purvi. “to be true in deed to anti-racism values,” Proximity. 17 Feb. 2017. https://true.proximitymagazine.org/2017/02/17/purvishah/  

Talty, Morgan. “Burn,” Narrative. Web. https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/storiesweek-2017-2018/story-week/burn-morgan-talty