Engaging with our times

Dear friends,

I am writing to share some news at a moment of profound political and personal struggle. In the last months, as many of us navigated challenging realities, I have deepened my research into my doctoral topic, an exploration of feminist and queer decolonial poetics from the Arab world, with the help of writings by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Sara Ahmed, Sylvia Wynter and of course many Arab artists and intellectuals. You can listen to my talk on the topic, the last presentation at Goddard College before its shutdown, here. I wrote a related essay for a forthcoming theory anthology at Routledge - it will be published next year.

To further reflect on decolonial, feminist and queer texts and their application today, I am launching a reading group for global majority theorists, artists and writers that will meet once weekly. Email me to join.

I went back to Beirut this summer and connected with our roots, rhythms and landscapes - the sun, sea and mountains and violent eruptions that inspired Etel Adnan’s visionary work, which my dissertation engages with. I spent that time intensively reading for coursework with Dagwami Woubshet (on Black Aliveness), Jodi Dean (on Neo-Feudalism), Catherine Malabou (on Derrida’s Grammatology), and Achille Mbembe (on Apartheid); I am soon beginning courses with Kevin McLaughin (on Walter Benjamin) and Jack Halberstam (on Unworlding). There is a lot to think about.

I have also been interviewing experimental Arab artists for my project, archiving the audio recordings on my Hiya podcast, and video conversations on my Youtube.

I am now in Paris, excited about the brilliant Festival D’Automne program, a 6-hour Wajdi Mouawad play, the Présences Arabes exhibition that just ended, Simone Fattal’s presentation of her work alongside ancient Near Eastern objects at the Louvre, a Pharoah Sanders tribute, and many other cultural events. In so many beautiful ways, France is Arab and African. I am planning some artistic programs related to my research, which I hope to share in the next months.

Finally, I am thrilled to join the Brooklyn arts organization Recess as a member of the Advisory Circle, where we will focus on imagining abolitionist solutions for the cultural industry as it faces insurmountable crises.

I hope to share more reflections with you soon, in person or virtually.

With love,

Shirine