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 provided.
Certificate for Continued Education Credits available, issued by The Salome Institute
Dr. Ayana Jamieson returns for session two of Writing Ourselves Through the Apocalypse with Octavia E. Butler, a three-session seminar focused on the practice of journaling the contemporary personal and collective experience through the works of speculative fiction author Octavia E. Butler.
Participants joining us in session two will have access to the recording of our first gathering on the course website. No new participants will be able to register after session two.
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 with community, with short readings and highlights from Butler's own research and journals.
Seminar participants will be encouraged, like Lauren Oya Olamina, to journal in response to writing prompts as we discuss how to write 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.
Readings will be provided to all who register.
Recordings are available. For maximum accessibility, we record all sessions. For the sake of confidentiality, recordings can never be downloaded. Recordings are not available to anyone who does not register and will expire at the end of 2021. Recording of session one is immediately available to anyone who registers for the seminar before session two.
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 work 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. The recording of session one is immediately available upon registration.