Haunting the Obedient Tongue: Hybridity as Anti-Colonial Praxis - Feb 2025

Deleuze and Guattari tell us that “language is made not to be believed but to be obeyed, and to compel obedience.” But Glissant reminds us that “imagination changes mentalities, however slowly it may go about this.” How can we as writers working in English, a linguistic colonial weapon, not fall prey to this obedience? What role does our imagination, the slow expansion of the limits of our work, play in building an anti-colonial praxis? In this all-genres course, we will explore how the combination of text with visual elements (such as photographs, drawings, painting, collage, and digital art) help us deconstruct language’s power and reconfigure it—misconfigure it, if you will—to shape our work through an anti-colonial lens. Visual elements will help us further push the boundaries of meaning-making and traditional legibility (ie. white-centric critical lenses for literature) to reach a place of unknowing and wonder that will show us a different way to create, process, and produce art. This is a generative course. Prompts will be based off short readings from Don Mee Choi, Renee Gladman, Esteban Valdés, and others. You will need to bring visual materials to use during class. No previous experience is necessary.

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Details: Haunting the Obedient Tongue: Hybridity as Anti-Colonial Praxis with Nicole Arocho Hernández takes place Monday, February 24, March 3, and March 10 from 6:30-8:30pm remotely online via Zoom.

Prerequisite: None

Genre: Multigenre

Level: All levels

Format: Workshop

Location: This class takes place remotely online via Zoom.

Size: Limited to 12 participants.

Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by December 16.

Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.