Programmed with sociologist Akwugo Emejulu, Fugitive Feminism is a five-day convening of artists, activists and academics focusing on the subject of contemporary Black feminist politics.

Running from: Wed 18 - Sun 22 Jul.

Whose interests, experiences and perspectives are contained in the dominant conceptions of gender? What possibilities are created when Black women abandon gender? This five-day meeting of artists, activists and academics examine the impossibility of Black women’s claims to womanhood and the new spaces that are created by a politics of refusal.

Historically, Black feminism has identified that social stratifications such as race, gender, class, age, sexuality, disability and legal status do not exist separately from each other, but are interwoven. Inspired by the work of Black radical theorists such as Hortense Spillers, Saidiya Hartman, Christina Sharpe and Tina Campt, this convening takes as its starting point the proposition that gender is an antagonism for Black women because gender is constructed and reproduced in ways that can only name the experiences of certain kinds of women. Rather than seeking inclusion in gender relations that cannot account for Black women’s myriad experiences, Fugitive Feminism refuses the category of gender altogether, instead embracing a transgressive category of the fugitive – one who flees domination and joins with others to collectively construct a new liberation politics. Generating conversations across the diaspora and across generations, Fugitive Feminism brings together a range of thinkers and practitioners for a series of talks, film, performance and workshops.

Participants include: Yomi Adegoke, Ama Josephine Budge, BBZ, The Batty Mama, Cressida Djambov, Akwugo Emejulu, Amandine Gay, Rita Gayle, Goldsnap, Saidiya Hartman, Azeezat Johnson, Layla-Roxanne Hill, Kiyémis, Gail Lewis, Magic Clit, Victoria Nambi, Fania Noël (Mwasi), Francesca Sobande, Hortense Spillers, Nydia A. Swaby, Selina Thompson, Shatema Threadcraft, Rianna Walcott

Programme:

Wednesday 18 July, 18:30
Speak Up + Q&A with Kiyémis
Political documentary featuring French women of African descent speaking about womanhood, discrimination and what it means to belong.

Thursday 19 July, 18:30
Towards a Fugitive Feminism
Akwugo Emejulu draws from Black radical theory and presents a talk on the impossibility of claiming ‘womanhood’ and its implications.

Friday 20 July, 19:00
Selina Thompson: live reading of salt.
Artist and performer Selina Thompson presents a reading of salt. accompanied by a live drawing by Cressida Djambov.

Friday 20 July, 21:00
Flee the Scene
Club night celebrating women, QTIPOC, nonbinary people and femmes of all genders.

Saturday 21 July, 11:30
Organising Fugitive Feminism
Yomi Adegoke leads a panel discussion on Black women collectives and organising with activists from Glasgow, Paris and London.

Saturday 21 July, 14:00
Shatema Threadcraft on Fugitive Feminism
Shatema Threadcraft responds to ‘fugitive feminism’ and draws from her work in African American political thought.

Saturday 21 July, 16:00
Round Table on Fugitivity

Sunday 22 July, 13:00
The Politics of Pleasure Workshop
Workshop and social space aimed at Black and mixed race women exploring sexual and non-sexual pleasure, creativity and community.

Sunday 22 July, 16:00
Womanhood While Black: Subversive Subjects, Sublime Possibilities
Victoria Nambi selects a programme of short films exploring the subversive, sensual and sublime possibilities for Black womanhood. In their own distinctive and indelible way, each short ennobles the interiority and persistent humanity of their subjects.

* The Politics of Pleasure Installation is open from 19 – 22 July

Book tickets, here.