Writing Ourselves Through the Apocalypse with Octavia E. Butler
with Ayana Jamieson, Ph.D.
a Three Session Seminar
3 Sundays: September 26th, October 24th, & November 14th
10am - 12pm PDT / 1pm-3pm EDT
Sessions will be hosted online + Recordings will be provided for two-week access.
Certificate for Continued Education Credits available, issued by The Salome Institute
Dr. Ayana Jamieson returns to The Salome Institute for Writing Ourselves Through the Apocalypse, a three-session seminar focused on in-depth engagement with contemporary lived experience through writing and the works of Octavia E. Butler.
Parable of the Sower, one of Butler's most well-known books, takes place just a few years from now, in 2024. It features a protagonist named Lauren Oya Olamina who, born in 2009, would now be twelve.
Lauren suffers from hyper-empathy syndrome, which causes her to experience the pain, and less often the pleasure, of others. In Butler’s Parable, Lauren writes journal entries and verses that help her to articulate what she is observing. She documents herself and her loved ones. She writes what it’s like to live in a world full of drugs, disease, drought, and uncertainty.
In this seminar, we will revisit Butler's depictions of apocalypse, hope, and planning for a future in community, with short readings and highlights from Butler's own research.
Seminar participants will be encouraged, like Lauren Oya Olamina, to journal in response to writing prompts as we discuss how to document ourselves today toward more equitable and sustainable futures.
You need not have read Butler's books to participate. An accessible reading list will be provided, and there will be space for reading aloud in sessions as well.
A few important notes on the structure for this three-part seminar:
Registrants will have access to a community page. In order to provide space for group engagement between sessions, we’ve created a password-protected community page for discussion and sharing.
An accessible reading list will be provided to all who register.
Recordings will last for two weeks. For maximum accessibility as well as confidentiality, we record all sessions but set the videos to expire after two weeks. Recordings can never be downloaded.
Ayana Jamieson, Ph.D.
About Ayana Jamieson, Ph.D.
Ayana Jamieson, is an organizer, educator, and founder of The Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, a global community committed to highlighting Octavia Butler’s life and work, as well as creating new works inspired by Butler’s legacy. The Legacy Network grew out of Ayana’s research for her doctoral research in Depth Psychology on Butler’s life. Her dissertation is entitled, “‘Certainty of the Flesh’: A Biomythographical Reading of Octavia E. Butler’s Fictions.” She teaches ethnic studies courses at California State University Polytechnic, Pomona.
Register:
Scholarships & Discounts: It is important to us that this material be accessible. If finances would prevent you from joining us, please send an email with a short note. We would love for you to be able to join.
Online Attendance: Links for Zoom sessions will be made available to all registrants via email at least one day prior to the first session.
CEU: Participants can earn 6 CEs — Continued Education Credit hours — for this seminar. Please review this page on Continued Education Credits.
Recordings: Sessions will be recorded for those registrants unable to attend live. In order to protect confidentiality, recordings will expire two weeks after each gathering.