Reading Group: Black Feminism(s) x Palestine

A twice-monthly online reading and discussion group curated and facilitated by Action Research collective (artists and researchers Izdihar Afyouni and melissandre varin) as part of the programme for the Except for Palestine: New Pedagogies for Art and Activism project, curated by Izdihar Afyouni.

This reading group is only open to BIPoC participants. Please register to join before October 18 here

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These sessions invite participants to engage in decolonial feminist approaches to solidarity and activism and seek to create a space where concepts of decolonial feminism, anti-imperialism and anti-racism are encountered in a way that overcomes the theory-praxis divide.

Each session will be loosely structured as a text and topic introduction followed by a seminar discussion. PDF chapters from selected texts will be made available for free for participants ahead of the sessions. A supplementary reading list will be provided for participants to act as a theoretical foundation for the topics discussed. Participants are encouraged but not expected to read the supplementary texts. The discussion group can only be attended by POC, however, the texts discussed will be made available online for others to access.

The texts discussed will include chapters by Angela Davis, Noura Erakat, Marc Lamont Hill, Francoise Verges, Sayak Valencia and Judith Butler.

This reading group is happening as an extension of the Except for Palestine project, curated by Izdihar Afyouni.

This reading group is only open to BIPoC participants. Register to here join

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Izdihar Afyouni is a Palestinian-Jordanian visual artist, writer and curator. Her current work is concerned with exploring syncretic approaches to critiquing biopolitics through art-making, activism and magick. She is the curator of the regularly updated free online resource Palestine Is Still The Issue which encompasses critical theory, history, fiction and graphic novels on issues pertaining to Palestine, seminal Black revolutionary texts, Black feminist texts and abolitionist texts. izdiharafyouni.com IG: @fvckthepost

melissandre varin is an artist and curator. Making from an Afro and Caribbean diasporic context, melissandre add layers of complexity using a situated Black feminism. They currently work on B.O.O.K (Building Our Own Knowledge) a healing (library, art, rest) station supported by Coventry Biennial, prepare transnational afrofeminist performances, are the curator of Open Call part of Studies in Theatre and Performance and are a Coventry Artspace Advisory Group member. IG: @vmelissandre

This project will be undertaken in collaboration with Building.Our.Own.Knowledge (B.O.O.K) is a co-created space for finding, making, and sharing experiences and knowledge emanating from Black beings in particular. Beings from different roots/routes are welcome to co-create a nomadic sacred space by sharing experiences, practices, and resources in intentional ways.

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