Exercises week 4¶

Practical exercise¶

In this session, we are going to make a few groups (three or four, depending on the number of participants). Each of this group is asked to create a group identity, including (but not limited to) narratives, rituals, ways of being-in-the-world.

Start to write a short (creation) story that’s part of your world/community in legible handwriting of around 300 words, containing a clear plot: introduction – conflict/climax – resolution/end. So set up a situation. Introduce a conflict, build up the dramatic tension until it reaches a high point or climax, and then release the tension and resolve the conflict (or turn into a tragic downfall).

After this creational phase, the groups are invited to investigate how they relate to each other – as if they were on a voyage of discovery and came across other cultures.

The meeting of Cortés and Montezuma is shown in this image from a Tlaxcalan mural. The mural was completed by 1560, nearly 40 years after the Spanish conquest. Cortés’ interpreter, a Native American woman known as Malinche or Doña Marina, stands behind him.

Textual exercises¶

Part 1: Reading

Read the chapter Skywoman Falling from the book *Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. We have provided a pdf that you can download here (or here in Dutch 🇳🇱).

Again, read the text closely and critically. As you go, process the text: annotate by jotting down questions or comments in the margins, underlining important points, circling keywords, and marking places you may want to revisit. Feel free to underline, scribble, or doodle.

The processed text will be part of your exercises book.

Part 2: Writing

Finish the creation story that was part of the practical exercise. You can do this in group, but please deliver it on an individual basis.