Writing Memory, Trauma, and the Intimate: A Workshop

A Kahn Institute Short-Term Project

Tuesday, May 5, 5–8 p.m. 
Wednesday, May 6, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Organizing Fellows

Richa Nagar, Study of Women, Gender & Sexuality
Efadul Huq, Environmental Science & Policy

Project Description

In a spirit of genuine exchange, experimentation, and connection, we invite colleagues—writers, scholars, artists, and practitioners—who seek to work across boundaries and build knowledges in ways that resist easy categorization; we invite those who are interested in trying new forms, asking difficult questions, and making meaning(s) in collaboration and conversation.

In this workshop, we want to explore together how we engage memory, trauma, and the intimate in our creative and epistemic lives, not only as personal experiences, but as ethical and political questions. How do we care for what we find worthy of remembering and grieving? How do we write pain, loss, and survival in relation with the human and more than human? What modes of expression help us think differently about hope, hopelessness, and what lingers in intimate life?

By “the intimate,” we mean more than “private.” We are interested in how our bodies, relationships, communities, and everyday practices co-constitute larger worlds that we see as global or even planetary. We hope to reflect on how memory and trauma shape and are shaped by our relationships with one another and with the places and ecologies that hold us.

Above all, we envision a space that feels generous, curious, and collaborative, where participants can share work-in-progress, take risks in content and expression, experiment with new approaches, and imagine fresh ways of thinking and creating together.

Statements of Interest are due Wednesday, April 1. Fellows will be notified by Thursday, April 9, and must confirm their attendance by Thursday, April 23.