The Practice of Witness/Writing Resistance

Catalog description

To witness is to see as much as it is to be seen, to listen, to hold, and to be held. In this class we will consider the practice/praxis of witness as, poet Ross Gay reminds us, a “generative act” that “makes the world.” Over the course of this semester we will critically examine the ways in which writers bear witness to both manifestations of brutality as well as beauty as an act of resistance. Expect to write, read and listen across genre, disciplines and forms. Selected works will include, but are not limited to, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Anna Akhmatova, James Baldwin, Natalie Diaz, Naja Marie Aidt and Dave Chappelle.