&Now 2019 Conference

Our communities are in need of rituals of healing. Rituals of justice. Rituals of art that liberate. And so, we will enact a ritual that engages diverse lineages of the feminine divine to explore power, mythmaking, diasporic and transnational inheritances, and creation in contemporary writing by women of color.

How can we engage shape-shifting as a lineage, a present possibility, and a tangible future? From re‑shaping origin stories to seeing monstrosity as divinity, we will co-create aesthetics of the feminine divine to foster attention, care, and value for ourselves and marginalized communities. We will explore craft, convergence, worldbuilding, and futurisms of the feminine divine towards liberation – including for communities of color, women, and non-binary folks.

Drawing from our own spiritual traditions, we will Investigate the feminine divine in Afro‑Diasporic, Christian, Hindu, and Korean shamanic cosmologies. Our improvisational ritual will uplift these spiritual lineages, intersecting them with literature, art, performance, and critical analysis by women of color, as well as liberation movements resisting colonialism, homophobia, misogyny, and racism. Centering women of color innovations in craft and sacred storytelling, we will embody how ritual (including art) makes meaning and compels us toward action – and justice. Furthermore, we will converge with the participants – inviting involvement, reflection, and dissonance. In so doing, our ritual convergence will embody coming together without dissolution, sharing voices without erasure or assimilation.

Through connecting our traditions, ancestral wisdoms, and art alongside audience participants, we will enact interdisciplinary practice, movement toward social justice, and embodied healing. Our convergent ritual will not show but do – and be.