Call for Applications: Collaborative Writing Circle

A Revolutionary Archive

We are pleased to open applications for the Collaborative Writing Circle on “A Revolutionary Archive,” organized by Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research. The online space is meant to help us collaborate for our July 2021 issue on the same theme. 

Overview of the Writing Circle

“I/we want archiving to be a praxis borne of sitting circles.” That much became clear to us after we held our first writing workshop at the end of 2019. Since then, and throughout 2020, our sitting circles and the ways we have known to come together were fragmented: the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis, explosions, reduced mobility, precarity, migration were all instrumentalized by systems of power to keep us isolated. When we extend towards each other, a sitting circle can come to life. We would like to sit on a virtual table to write our resistance as archive.

The writing circle will meet online on a weekly basis over the period of two months. During the first two meetings (April 10 and 17), we will alternate between discussions and writing time. The discussions will be a space of solidarity where we can go over our relationship with our writing as we navigate isolation and precarity, and collectively make space for our practice. We will therefore cover collaborative writing, writing as solidarity and connection, navigating languages and registers, politics of citation, making space for mistakes, writing as a struggle with/against disappearance, among other methods. The remaining six meetings (times and days to be decided jointly) will be an open space, moderated by Kohl, where we can collectively bring concerns to the table, discuss our processes, and take the time to write, rest, chat, and support each other.

Who can apply?

The authors who submitted their pieces for the Revolutionary Archive can apply, and so can those who would like to contribute to the issue but could not meet the submission deadline and are in need of collaborative writing spaces. We welcome applications from those who are working on other writing projects, but priority will be given to the first two groups.

The writing circle is open to those who position themselves at the margins of systems of oppression (women, trans, intersex, gender non-conforming individuals, people of color, migrants, refugees, people with disabilities, workers, students, independent scholars).

We accept applications in English, Arabic, or French.

On “A Revolutionary Archive”

Read the full call here. This writing circle welcomes articles, texts, collaborative projects, and art pieces that archive the ways we experienced the multiple crises of 2020 and the realities and conditions that led to it from an intersectional and queer framework. We are also interested in tracing back the history of the structures, institutions, and conditions that have the power to instigate crises of this magnitude. Finally, we would like to look critically at the alternatives that have been proposed by popular revolutions transnationally. 

Timeline:

- The deadline for filling an application is Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

- We will confirm your participation by Friday, April 2nd, 2021. While we would like to offer the space to all those who need it, we have to limit participation to 20.

- We will have two discussion meetings that alternate with writing time on Saturday, April 10, and Saturday, April 17.

- We will meet weekly (time and days to be decided collectively) until the beginning of June for the open moderated writing circle.

- We will finalize the projects until the end of June 2021, in preparation for Kohl’s issue 7.1 on A Revolutionary Archive.

In order to apply, please fill the following form. For inquiries and in case of technical issues, please write to workshops@kohljournal.press.