The fourth seminar in the series Freedom of Speech: A Curriculum for Studies into Darkness explores the particular ways in which we use language — dialects, registers of speaking, non-verbal speech — in relation to the knowledge we produce for imagined publics, as well as its impacts and, ultimately, how we convey our ideas.

A group of artists who think profoundly about these issues will be joined by anthropologists and language specialists, as well as educators, art historians and Indigenous scholars to contend with myriad related questions including: Do we imagine a particular person or a group when we formulate speech? Is this choice conscious? What might this reveal about us? What does the actual language we use to communicate convey? Is it a native tongue or in translation? Does it take up the languages of theory, or of daily speech? What does a silent position mean? What role does the refusal to speak play in the right to free speech?

The evening begins with “Brighter Than the Brightest Star I’ve Ever Seen,” a special performance by Kite (Suzanne Kite), Oglala Lakota composer and performance and visual artist. It will be followed by a discussion among Kite, writer and art historian Aruna D’Souza, artist and educator Kameelah Janan Rasheed, anthropologist Stefania Pandolfo, Mojave poet, language activist, and educator Natalie Diaz, and Ross Perlin, Co-Director of the Endangered Language Alliance. Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich will moderate, and seminar participants will be asked to reflect on the readings provided as well as contribute to the discussion.

Brighter Than the Brightest Star I’ve Ever Seen
Performance by Suzanne Kite

Participants
Natalie Diaz: Mojave poet, Language Activist, and Educator
Aruna D’Souza: Writer and Art Historian
Suzanne Kite: Oglala Lakota Performance, Visual Artist, and Composer
Stefania Pandolfo: Professor and Director of the UC Berkeley Medical Anthropology Program on Critical Studies in Medicine, Science, and the Body
Ross Perlin: Writer and Linguist; Co-Director, Endangered Language Alliance, New York
Kameelah Janan Rasheed: Artist, Writer, and Educator

Moderators
Carin Kuoni: Director/Chief Curator, Vera List Center for Art and Politics
Laura Raicovich: Independent Curator and Writer

The seminar series Freedom of Speech. A Curriculum for Studies into Darkness is organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics as part of the center’s 2018–2020 curatorial focus If Art Is Politics. It is directed by Carin Kuoni, Director/Chief Curator, Vera List Center, and Laura Raicovich with a critical contribution by Gabriela López Dena. Partner organizations for the seminars are ARTICLE 19; the National Coalition Against Censorship; New York Peace Institute; and Weeksville Heritage Center.

Say It Like You Mean It: On Translation, Communication, Languages is the fourth in a series of seminars, dedicated to Freedom of Speech:

Seminar 1: Mapping the Territory
Monday, November 12, 2018
Partner organization: The National Coalition Against Censorship

Seminar 2: Feminist Manifestos
Monday, December 3, 2018

Seminar 3: Pervasive and Personal: Observations on Free Speech Online
Monday, February 11, 2019
Partner organization: ARTICLE 19

Seminar 4: Say It Like You Mean It: On Translation, Communication, Languages
Monday, March 11, 2019

Seminar 5: A Time for Seditious Speech
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Partner organization: Weeksville Heritage Center

Seminar 6: Going Towards the Heat: Speaking Across Difference
Monday, June 10, 2019
Partner organization: New York Peace Institute

Closing Convening
Friday & Saturday, September 20 & 21, 2019