Autotheory: An Intertextual Writing Workshop [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $380 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Lindsey Andrews | 7 Weeks | Sundays | April 14 - May 26 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM ET | IN PERSON, 719 N Mangum St., Durham, NC
In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks famously writes: “I came to theory because I was hurting.” hooks says she “saw in theory then a location for healing.” For many of us, reading theory, philosophy, and memoirs can be a way of finding language for our felt and embodied experiences. Autotheory is a genre that mixes memoir with theory, philosophy, and critical writing. It offers a way for us to engage deeply and thoughtfully with the texts that inspire us by creating our own intertexts.
Recently, the term “autotheory” was made popular by Maggie Nelson, author of Bluets and The Argonauts, but the genre has its roots in earlier feminist writings, especially Black feminist writing, and has myriad manifestations. For three weeks, we’ll examine examples and antecedents and develop our own writing that explores our lives in relation to theory and philosophy. Doing so will help us both understand more about the theory we read and about ourselves. And then we’ll take a couple weeks for 1-on-1 meetings and group co-writing before coming back to workshop with the group in our final two weeks.
Ideally you will bring interest in particular philosophical works or ideas with you that you want to explore. We will work together on understanding the texts you bring to the table, and help each other write with them in order to create our own autotheory works. If you are already working on writing that blends life writing and theory and want to dive deeper or share pieces of what you’re working on, even better! We will develop and refine up to ~20 pages of writing, which may either be a stand-alone essay or portion of a longer work. Workshops will happen in breakout groups; the instructor will work with you in a one-on-one meeting and in at least one group workshop dedicated to your writing.
This is an advanced workshop that is best suited to parcipants who have had previous workshop experience with Night School Bar or in another setting.
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity.
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.