“In a very real sense, every writing as revision makes the discovery all over again.” – Hortense Spillers in “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: A New American Grammar Book” -1987
“Your mama is queer as hell.”- Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines -2016
It’s been almost 30 years since Hortense Spillers offered a radical inquiry into “the condition of the mother” in her 1987 essay, and 354 years since “the condition of the mother” became the legal definition of enslaved status in the United States. The murder of Korryn Gaines two days ago and the shooting of the child she held in her arms comment equally clearly on the “condition” of black mothers in relationship to the state.
Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines draws on definitions of mothering from Hortense Spillers, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, June Jordan and Alice Walker in an attempt to use the same rupture in the meaning of “mother” that made slavery possible to reveal a queer potential in the ongoing gender-transcending criminalized work of affirming, causing, keeping, nurturing and protecting black life.
This seminar is for thinkers who want to work deeply with the implications and possibilities of mothering in this moment in the context of the intervention Spillers made (and is still making.) We will use close reading and poetic engagement with Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe, discussion, collective writing and other forms of community accountable critical engagement to deepen our praxis and revolutionize our mothering.
Or in other words…
“This space, which is a temporary space, which we must leave, for the sake of future travelers and our own necks, is a sacred dedicated space. Libation for the named and the nameless. This is for black women who made and broke narrative. The quiet, the quarrelling, the queer. This is where. This is what. This is how.” – Alexis Pauline Gumbs in the opening note to Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity
FAQs
Who can participate in this seminar?
Anyone who is thinking about/living blackness, anti-blackness, mothering and the state and who is willing to read the essay by Spillers and an excerpt of Revolutionary Mothering in advance, and who can respect the accountable facilitation of a black feminist love evangelist.
Will you write me a letter of invitation so I can get reimbursed by my school or workplace?
Of course. (I call it DIY reparations.) Just tell me what you need.
What if I sign up and then change my mind or my plans change?
The registration fee is non-refundable. If you don’t show up your fee will be a donation to the ongoing work of Brilliance Remastered (alexispauline.com/brillianceremastered) and Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind (blackfeministmind.wordpress.com). So you can’t lose.