Experiments in Text: Writing, Radical Pedagogy, and Social Change

"What if every communication, every encounter, were intimate? Imagine that. You have imagined being a new collectivist. Why not consider yourself one." 
     --from New Collectivists: Poetics of Intent

If we think that language arts and social change are somehow related, how might poetry model new ways of forming social relationships? How might artistic movements help re-imagine or apprehend social structures and in so doing, help to either undermine or recapitulate dominant forms of acculturation? In what ways might we uniquely model or contribute to the language and action of protest? By working on our own creative writing experiments, individually and collaboratively, we will be testing our understanding of what "creative writing" can come to mean in relation to radical pedagogy and social change. As part of the ongoing literary-politics series PRESS, visiting artists who will workshop with us during the quarter include Rachel Zolf and Eleni Stecoppolous. For more on these artists and collectives, visit David's public blog at  http://davidwolach.blogspot.com.