Putting Down the Master's Tools
Donation protected
Hello communities!
I'm taking my liberatory literature and work to a very important gathering of LGBT/queer folks (and allies) in Puerto Rico. I will be doing a workshop/skillshare entitled "Putting Down the Master's Tools: Using Our Words, Stories and Art to Queer Social Justice" and representing my brown, trans* experience on a panel about race, racialization, and queer sexuality.
The University of Puerto Rico- Mayaguez is graciously organizing and funding the free event but has little to no funding for the presenters. I believe that the work I'm presenting is very important as it is designed to not only create dialogue but also to incite us to action toward ways that we can use our art and skills to heal ourselves and each other from both internal and external oppression (racism, homophobia,etc.)
The Gathering
This is the 5th year of the "¿Del otro la'o? Coloquio de sexualidades queer". The gathering is an initiative formed by a group of students, professors and community members to create space for international dialogue on queer/LGBT themes and experiences.
Click HERE for the program.
Putting Down the Master's Tools
We must own our stories. Our truths. Our history.
Writing and telling our stories as queer and transgender folks is a powerful form of healing. Those of us at the intersections of marginalized identities (such as transgender and brown or queer and disabled) are regularly invisibilized and, many times, voiceless. Writing and sharing our stories can help us to find our Voice, reclaim our histories and heal from years of silence and internalization of racism and trans/homophobia. Writing can be a form of healing and an active and valid form of resistance to continued colonization (the white heteropatriarchy).
Through writing and the sharing of our stories and histories we can decolonize our minds, spaces and communities. Some of us may write to heal ourselves individually and may find our writings resonate with and inspire our communities. After personal healing we can then work collectively toward liberation from society’s expectations and assumptions.
Reclaiming our histories and legacies is the root of self-determination. Once we band together as an autonomous body and discover our innate power to collectively organize, share our stories, histories, visions, hopes and aspirations, we are no longer are satisfied with dangling carrots that do not grant autonomy or sovereignty- such as programming by non-profits and government organizations that put us in the roles of victim for service.
My writing focuses on themes of: decolonization, resistance, reclamation, healing, sovereignty, liberation, self-determination, simultaneity of oppression and intersectionality, as well as organizing across issues and for various forms of social justice: economic, food, environmental, racial, gender, LGBT/queer, and immigrant rights.
In this performative intervention I will engage participants through storytelling and the sharing of pieces documenting my experience as a genderqueer organizer of color in multiple social justice movements in California, New York and Texas.
I will engage participants in a larger conversation about race, gender, class, sexuality and Voice through reflections on my writings and art. I will read pieces from Notes from an Afro-Genderqueer 1 and 2, show a 5 minute film “Survivin’”- a cinepoem about survival as a brown, genderqueer; and read poems addressing gender, race, and sexuality.
We will address questions such as: “ What does it mean to be a visionary organizer? What is our responsibility to our community as artists/writers? How can we honor all parts of us/ all of our identities (queer/trans, womyn, people of color) through our art? How can respect those who came before us in this tradition and carry it on?
I will challenge participants to reflect on their own experiences and to think of ways that they can use their own knowledge, past experiences and positionality to heal themselves and transform their communities through writing or another art form.
In engaging participants with my writing and sharing about my motivation to write the content I write on philosophactivist, queer herbalism, and other social media outlets and in discussing how I came to write Notes from an Afro-Genderqueer and my other work the aim is to demystify the process of “becoming” a writer, an organizer, or an artivist. It will encourage participants to use their words and art to speak about their experience and the experience of their communities and also contribute to the collective healing of their communities and reclamation of our histories. Writing and storytelling are effective tools for recognizing our innate power, reclaiming our stories and roots, and healing our communities. Together in this workshop we will learn how to put down the master’s tools and recognize and utilize our own tools toward his house’s dismantlement and our healing and collective liberation.
My offer to YOU
In exchange for your gracious love offerings, I will provide access to my writings and online access to a presentation especially made for you after the colloquium. That's right! You'll get access to the stories, writings, and information shared in Puerto Rico without the hassle of buying a ticket to the 'isla del encanto'. Please provide your e-mail address so I can email the writings you purchase. *printed versions available through etsy shop here.
Please be a co-visionary and support the centering of queer and trans experiences and skillsharing! If you aren't able to donate, please spread the word!
For more information on:
The coloquium
¿Del otro la'o?
Facebook
my writing
www.afrogenderqueer.com
My Shop
Etsy
My Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/afrogq
I'm taking my liberatory literature and work to a very important gathering of LGBT/queer folks (and allies) in Puerto Rico. I will be doing a workshop/skillshare entitled "Putting Down the Master's Tools: Using Our Words, Stories and Art to Queer Social Justice" and representing my brown, trans* experience on a panel about race, racialization, and queer sexuality.
The University of Puerto Rico- Mayaguez is graciously organizing and funding the free event but has little to no funding for the presenters. I believe that the work I'm presenting is very important as it is designed to not only create dialogue but also to incite us to action toward ways that we can use our art and skills to heal ourselves and each other from both internal and external oppression (racism, homophobia,etc.)
The Gathering
This is the 5th year of the "¿Del otro la'o? Coloquio de sexualidades queer". The gathering is an initiative formed by a group of students, professors and community members to create space for international dialogue on queer/LGBT themes and experiences.
Click HERE for the program.
Putting Down the Master's Tools
We must own our stories. Our truths. Our history.
Writing and telling our stories as queer and transgender folks is a powerful form of healing. Those of us at the intersections of marginalized identities (such as transgender and brown or queer and disabled) are regularly invisibilized and, many times, voiceless. Writing and sharing our stories can help us to find our Voice, reclaim our histories and heal from years of silence and internalization of racism and trans/homophobia. Writing can be a form of healing and an active and valid form of resistance to continued colonization (the white heteropatriarchy).
Through writing and the sharing of our stories and histories we can decolonize our minds, spaces and communities. Some of us may write to heal ourselves individually and may find our writings resonate with and inspire our communities. After personal healing we can then work collectively toward liberation from society’s expectations and assumptions.
Reclaiming our histories and legacies is the root of self-determination. Once we band together as an autonomous body and discover our innate power to collectively organize, share our stories, histories, visions, hopes and aspirations, we are no longer are satisfied with dangling carrots that do not grant autonomy or sovereignty- such as programming by non-profits and government organizations that put us in the roles of victim for service.
My writing focuses on themes of: decolonization, resistance, reclamation, healing, sovereignty, liberation, self-determination, simultaneity of oppression and intersectionality, as well as organizing across issues and for various forms of social justice: economic, food, environmental, racial, gender, LGBT/queer, and immigrant rights.
In this performative intervention I will engage participants through storytelling and the sharing of pieces documenting my experience as a genderqueer organizer of color in multiple social justice movements in California, New York and Texas.
I will engage participants in a larger conversation about race, gender, class, sexuality and Voice through reflections on my writings and art. I will read pieces from Notes from an Afro-Genderqueer 1 and 2, show a 5 minute film “Survivin’”- a cinepoem about survival as a brown, genderqueer; and read poems addressing gender, race, and sexuality.
We will address questions such as: “ What does it mean to be a visionary organizer? What is our responsibility to our community as artists/writers? How can we honor all parts of us/ all of our identities (queer/trans, womyn, people of color) through our art? How can respect those who came before us in this tradition and carry it on?
I will challenge participants to reflect on their own experiences and to think of ways that they can use their own knowledge, past experiences and positionality to heal themselves and transform their communities through writing or another art form.
In engaging participants with my writing and sharing about my motivation to write the content I write on philosophactivist, queer herbalism, and other social media outlets and in discussing how I came to write Notes from an Afro-Genderqueer and my other work the aim is to demystify the process of “becoming” a writer, an organizer, or an artivist. It will encourage participants to use their words and art to speak about their experience and the experience of their communities and also contribute to the collective healing of their communities and reclamation of our histories. Writing and storytelling are effective tools for recognizing our innate power, reclaiming our stories and roots, and healing our communities. Together in this workshop we will learn how to put down the master’s tools and recognize and utilize our own tools toward his house’s dismantlement and our healing and collective liberation.
My offer to YOU
In exchange for your gracious love offerings, I will provide access to my writings and online access to a presentation especially made for you after the colloquium. That's right! You'll get access to the stories, writings, and information shared in Puerto Rico without the hassle of buying a ticket to the 'isla del encanto'. Please provide your e-mail address so I can email the writings you purchase. *printed versions available through etsy shop here.
Please be a co-visionary and support the centering of queer and trans experiences and skillsharing! If you aren't able to donate, please spread the word!
For more information on:
The coloquium
¿Del otro la'o?
my writing
www.afrogenderqueer.com
My Shop
Etsy
My Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/afrogq
Organizer
Toi Scott
Organizer
Austin, TX
