Feminist Text and Textile Practices

What is a feminist practice? How can texts and
textiles inform it? Drawing on literature,
creative writing, critical theory, visual
arts/crafts, and feminist theory, we will explore
how texts and textiles have been interwoven in the
formation of feminized subjects and have been
challenged and repurposed by feminist movements,
and how these different artistic practices
communicate with each other. Collectives and
authors will be invited, such as sewing circles
working in the Latin American tradition of
denouncing state violence through enduring fabric
arts.

We will engage in weekly discussion on different
feminist readings, both literary and critical, and
visual arts and crafts which engage fabrics or
feminist discourse. We will look at text pieces
that engage language as a textile, how a book can
be woven, how words can be threaded, how a textile
can engage a language. As a group, we will reflect
and discuss about the elements that make up a
feminist practice. Students will write an essay
that engages a text(ile) feminist practice ,
homework that engages reflections or prompts, an
oral presentation about an artist not discussed in
class, and a final collaborative project that
involves creative work related to the class.