NeMLA 2023 Seminar: Resistant Resiliences: Mad, Neurodivergent, Disabled, Queer, Trans Performances

In la paperson’s A Third University is Possible, they name the “decolonial desires that already inhabit and repurpose the academic machinery”, one that is rooted in neoliberalism and colonialism (sec.Introduction). Recognizing that “[c]olonial schools have a tradition of harboring spaces of anticolonial resistance”, they go on to ask “[h]ow can colonial schools become disloyal to colonialism?” for, “[a]ccording to wa Thiong’o, the decolonial is always already amid the colonial” (la paperson, sec.Introduction). As educators and scholars who encompass an array of identities such as Mad, Neurodivergent, Disabled, queer, trans, and non-binary, and who are also white settlers with educational, class, English-language, and citizenship privileges; we envision this creative session as illuminating the creative forms of Mad, Neurodivergent, Disabled, queer, trans, and non-binary resilience that act as anti-colonial resistance to the harm of the neoliberal university. We embark on this project of active disloyalty to ableism, sanism, cisheteropatriarchy, racism, anti-Blackness, misogynoir, xenophobia, and all oppressive systems that coalesce to seize bodyminds (Price), police deviance, and enforce normativity. By centering resilience and resistance as an act of decolonial desire, this creative session invites presenters to circulate all artistic genres (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, video, performance, etc.) that imagine into worlds of possibility and transformation. We seek works that draw on the themes of love (Thom), joy (Jones), pleasure (brown), care (Malatino; Piepzna-Samarasinha), neuroqueer world-building (Walker; Yergeau), dreaming (Sharman), and haunting (Gordon) recognizing that Mad, Neurodivergent, Disabled, queer, trans, and non-binary epistemologies and ontologies are powerfully resistant mechanisms in academia.

In addition to presenting/performing our works, this creative session invites networking across universities and dialogue with audience participants, addressing the question: how does our collective performance (re)imagine the conference as a site of care, resilience, and resistance?

Presenters will have the opportunity to perform their creative works or speak to their artistic methodologies as Mad, Neurodivergent, Disabled, queer, trans, and non-binary scholars at the end of the session.

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be submitted directly on the NeMLA website by September 30, 2022: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/19854 (direct link to this panel).