Workshop: Writing Our Identities With Ali Rahman
DETAILS:
April 16th - May 21st (six weeks)
Saturdays, 11 AM - 1 PM at Twelve Gates Arts (in-person)
Capped at 15 Participants
Workshop Description:
When I think about teaching writing, something I’ve done in some way, shape, or from for the past ten years, I know that I am also teaching thinking. Writing and thinking, after all, go hand-in-hand. Sometimes there is tension, with the thinking getting in the way of writing or the writing lacking substantive engagement with careful thinking. Sometimes they work by themselves, one operating freely without the judgmental gaze of the other. Ideally, they work in harmony, both knowing when to step forward and step back to achieve the most clearly expressed piece of work possible.
This workshop will encourage reflection on how the writing process is an embodiment of our everchanging identities, intellectual journeys, and the vast array of art (in various mediums) we have been exposed to throughout our lives. We will push each other to think and write critically while striving for a metacognitive understanding of ourselves and the way we express the complexity of our ideas on the page. By engaging with scholars (Peter Elbow, Gloria Anzaldua, Vershaun Young, Aja Martinez, etc.), fiction writers (Junot Diaz, Viet Thanh Nyugen, Ocatvia Butler, etc.) and critics (Pauline Kael, Wesley Morris, Roxanne Gay, etc.) we will take part in a complex web of thinking and writing about ourselves, art, and of course, the human condition.
Because this is a workshop, it will be driven by the needs and interests of its participants. While it requires no previous experience with writing (creative or otherwise), individuals will be encouraged to write constantly (poetry, short stories, personal essays, criticism, or anything else that speaks to them) and share their work with the class. Our hope is to leave the workshop with an eagerness to write more regularly in order to further our understanding of the world.
If you are a student or affiliated with a non-profit organization or need a discounted price of $50, please use the code ‘12g’ and list your affiliation on the next page, and bring your student-id for verification on the first day of class.
About the instructor:
Dr. Ali M. Rahman is a Lecturer in the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Ali completed his Ph.D. focusing on Islamic oral traditions and education in the digital age as well as his M.F.A. in which he worked on examining the second-generation immigrant experience. He has taught writing in the Middle East with refugee populations, the New York prison system, independent K-12 and boarding schools, and both public and private universities. His research and writing focus on digital writing, rhetoric, and pedagogy. He has written for the Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, Digital Humanities Quarterly, among other publications. He is currently working on two books: one scholarly exploring authority in online spaces and the search for knowledge in a neoliberal age, and one a pseudo-biographical novel exploring identity in the diaspora and complicated familial relationships.