FROM AN SDS MEMBER! -- Rana El Kadi, Ph.D. (she/her) Research Associate, School of Disability Studies <https://www.ryerson.ca/disability-studies/> , Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) Co-founder and Curator, Emergent Futures CoLab <https://www.urgentemergent.org/> Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Treaty Lands of the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee and Dish with One Spoon Wampum For the latest in disability arts and culture, visit Creative Users Projects <http://creativeusers.net/> ******************************************************************************************************************* Subject: Invitation to attend Emergent Futures CoLab's session on Crip Futurities and World-making in Disability Arts (May 28) ---------- Join us for Emergent Futures CoLab's (EFC) for its 6th "Talking Uncertainty" session entitled "Misfits in the World: Crip Futurities and World-making in Disability Arts!" Speakers: Dr. Eliza Chandler (School of Disability Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University) Dr. Carla Rice (Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice / Department of Family Relations & Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph) Lisa East (School of Disability Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University) Discussant: Dr. Rana El Kadi (School of Disability Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University) Date and time: Saturday May 28, 2022, 1 – 2:30 pm EST This talk will draw on the speakers’ ongoing participation in Deaf, disability, and mad arts, specifically in North America (Turtle Island), while referring to their paper entitled “Misfits in the World: Responding to Cultural Breaks Through Disability Arts” (Chandler, Rice, East, and El Kadi). The speakers will introduce and explore the concept of “crip cultural practices,” that is, arts and cultural practices which centre disabled people and their anti-assimilationist politics. They will invite us to consider how, in its beginning, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a cultural disruptor that challenged us all to think about how we gather together in arts and culture. The speakers will provide a few key examples of “crip cultural practices” to outline how arts and cultural organizations in Canada have adjusted their practices in response to COVID-19 public health measures. The talk will be followed by a discussion led by EFC co-founder Dr. Rana El Kadi, where EFC members will explore how arts and cultural organizations may transform their pandemic practices into crip cultural practices by seeking out "crip wisdom" (Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 2016) from disabled artists and curators. We will contextualize the speakers’ work within the discourse of "crip futurity" (Alison Kafer 2013), the disruptive, future-oriented politics of disability arts (Sean Lee 2020), and the iterative praxis of "critical access" (Aimi Hamraie 2017). We will discuss: a) how anti-assimilationist politics and cultural practices can help build a new world, or return to old worlds, that centre disability and difference; and b) the ethical and practical complexities of “cripping” our research methodologies and gesturing towards decolonization while collaborating with disability community members with intersectional identities and conflicting access needs. About: Emergent Futures CoLab (EFC) is a laboratory for transdisciplinary experimentation and collaborative future-making. Our goal is to mobilize knowledge and build activist solidarities that transcend scholarly and artistic boundaries. This includes mapping out future-oriented practices, methodologies, tactics and modes-of-being adapted by individuals and communities around the world. Event format and access: Read more about the talk here: https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/misfitsintheworld All our talks are recorded and published as podcasts on the EFC website: www.urgentemergent.org <http://www.urgentemergent.org/> Become an EFC member (by filling out this short form) if you would like to attend and participate live in this free event: https://www.urgentemergent.org/join-us Once you register, we will send you an access copy of the speakers' presentation. We will have Zoom captions on for the duration of the talk, and the speakers will provide visual descriptions. If you have any other access needs, please let us know by Thursday May 19, 2022, and we will try our best to accommodate. Please email Rana El Kadi at curator@urgentemergent.org <mailto:curator@urgentemergent.org> if you have any questions. Poster design: Designed by EFC Designer Kaustubh Khare, the image in the attached poster is based on a photo by Michelle Peek Photography capturing Erin Ball’s performance in Crip Shorts at the Cripping the Arts symposium (courtesy of Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology & Access to Life, Re•Vision: The Centre for Art & Social Justice at the University of Guelph). Image description of the poster: This image is a poster for the upcoming EFC talk. It includes a summary of the text in the event description in black font against a pale yellow background. In the top half of the page, underneath the title “Talking Uncertainty #06,” there is a black and white illustration of a woman with a ponytail. She is wearing a black leotard, while leaning on the handlebar of a wheelchair that is facing away from her. One of her prosthetic legs is standing firmly on the floor and another is raised up behind her back in a graceful dance pose.