Writing for Revolution: Writing Workshop [Online]
Full Tuition: $320 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Kagunda | 5 Weeks | Thursdays | January 18 - February 15 | 5:00 - 7:00 PM ET | ONLINE
What is the role of the artist in any given moment caught between the historical strands of colonialism, exploitative debt systems, mass incarceration, and, as bell hooks named, the "White-Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy"?
An answer to this question that resonates as deeply and as richly as it did when it first was spoken is that "the role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible." This quote by Toni Cade Bambara is carried on with different words by Assata Shakur who, years later, said, "this is the 21st century and we need to redefine revolution…." Later in this piece Shakur adds, "the revolution is sexy."
We exist in a moment of juxtaposition where the narratives of White-Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy are being unveiled and we have the opportunity to resist systemic oppression from every front. This offers writers and storytellers a unique opportunity to imagine worlds outside the systems we are stuck in, and to name the material demands of freedom by accessing both the collective exhaustion and the collective imagination of our time.
This particular course will specifically cover the work of the imagination in feeding revolution and resistance against systems of domination. We will be reading one autobiography, Assata, by Assata Shakur, and one novel, Bitter, by Akwaeke Emezi. We will also interact with musicians such as Bob Marley, NoName, Hugh Masekela; we will engage with Youtube content such as the Andrewism channel; and we will aim to write at least one short story, three to five poems, or one creative essay with the call of the revolution in the background which we will workshop in the last two weeks of class.
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Recordings may be provided upon request for missed classes.
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Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
Asynchronous Auditing: Classes are discussion-based and designed to be taken synchronously. However, we do offer an asynchronous audit option for most online classes if you need to follow along at your own pace. You must choose the audit option to receive all course recordings; please do not register using a scholarship if you do not plan to attend the majority of class sessions as you will not receive the recording materials to follow along. We do not automatically offer scholarships for auditors, but if you need one, you may request one by filling out this form.