In Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, Robin D. G. Kelley writes: “Poetry…is not what we simply recognize as the formal ‘poem,’ but a revolt: a scream in the night, an emancipation of language and old ways of thinking.” In this workshop, we will explore the relationship between poetry and social imagination. We will use dreams to access a mode of thinking that does not concede to the realism of the present, that seeks to shatter the captivity of bodies and imaginations. The workshop will consist of writing exercises (feel free to bring your dreams!) and discussions of texts and film clips shared by the instructor.
Abolitionist Poetics and the Practice of Dreaming — Master Class with Jackie Wang
Jackie Wang
Jackie Wang is s a student of the dream state, black studies scholar, prison abolitionist, poet, filmmaker, performer, trauma monster, and PhD candidate at Harvard University in African and African American Studies. She is the author of Carceral Capitalism (Semiotexte / MIT Press), a number of punk zines including On Being Hard Femme, and a collection of dream poems titled Tiny Spelunker of the Oneiro-Womb (Capricious). In her most recent work she has been researching the bail bonds industry and the history of risk assessment in criminal justice. Find her @LoneberryWang and Loneberry.tumblr.com.