The Guerrilla Theory Manifesto (Fall 2024) + Indigenous Technology Open Studio Series
Notes from a Grassroots MFA in Social Practice / Curiosity Stewardship / Presentism
A couple of weeks ago I decided to embark on a mission to craft a grassroots MFA (fine arts degree) for myself, and the generosity of response that followed gave me the push I needed to concretize it with more rigor. As it stands, my grassroots MFA is in Social Practice, Curiosity Stewardship, and Presentism. I had the honor of kicking off my grassroots classes with a visit to Kenturah Davis’ studio, followed by a field trip to Adee Roberson’s studio (I highly highly recommend digging into both of their work if you are not yet familiar!)
As the first self-directed assignment for the Social Practice track of my grassroots MFA, I will be facilitating a 5-week open studio series from September 21st to October 19th. The sessions will be a mix of hybrid lecture, workshop & citational freestyle where I’ll be walking through the foundations of my ongoing grassroots thesis research practice around the theme of Indigenous Technologies (session overviews are below). The series will be taking place on Zoom, from 12PM - 1PM PST (3PM-4PM EST).
Guerrilla theory is a framework I’ve been working within for the past five years, but thinking more concretely about what this guerrilla MFA would look like led to drafting the skeleton of a Guerrilla Theory Manifesto – a set of relationally-inspired guidelines for my own journey these next 9 months, but also one that I hope can feel inviting to other people as a reference for their own grassroots-study endeavors.
“The word ‘manifesto’ means to bring out into the open and to make manifest. Manifestos emerge at really significant moments, where there’s this need for rapid change and a lot of questioning is taking place.” – Zoe Ryan
Having witnessed the global implosion of institutional higher learning in Spring 2024, with university ‘leadership’ unleashing militarism upon its students from New York to Tokyo – revealing the façade of said institutions as enclaves of liberatory development – the following manifesto is an attempt to make manifest blueprints of learning that are fugitive of allegiances to empire. Guerrilla Theory is best understood as an every-day counter-intervention rooted in an ethos of radical love: a verb, ethic, and revolutionary mindset that demands the liberation of all. The term ‘radical’ in ‘Radical Love’, as used above, refers to the word’s definitions as they apply in mathematics and gardening – ‘to pull from the root’.
The Guerrilla Theory Manifesto
Fall 2024
Conversation is the highest mode of speculation.
There is no shame in not knowing, only in wanting to know and choosing not to ask – even this shame is easily reconciled.
Curiosity is the ultimate compass.
Recalibrating the compass of our curiosity is a life-long journey.
Discipline demands kinship, not solitude: Learn from love. Learn with love. Learn to love.
Mutual Gentle Accountability > Punishment: Ask the people you love if they have remembered to tend to the things that they love today, and every day.
Research is a ceremony to get closer to the mystery, not a strategy towards mastery.
Notes: “Mutual Gentle Accountability” is a phrase/framework that was introduced to me in 2019 by Calamity Jordan, as part of their course at our Radical Love Consciousness community space in Brooklyn. The last point in the manifesto was drafted by Olivia M. Ross (also known as @cyberdoula)
As the first self-directed assignment for the Social Practice track of my grassroots MFA, I will be facilitating a 5-week open studio series from September 21st to October 19th. The sessions will be a mix of hybrid lecture, workshop & citational freestyle where I’ll be walking through the foundations of my ongoing (grassroots thesis) research practice around the theme of Indigenous Technologies. The series will be taking place on Zoom, from 12PM - 1PM PST (3PM-4PM EST).
Below are the descriptions for each installation:
Divination and Computer Science - September 21st
Using Olu Longe’s 1983 Lecture at the University of Ibadan: “Ifa Divination and Computer Science” as a departure point, this session maps out my investigations on how indigenous rituals have informed the development of algorithmic culture.
Monsoon Winds and Oceanic Memory - September 28th
In her 2017 video essay Deep Down Tidal, artist Tabita Rezaire outlined how modern internet infrastructure has been shaped by colonial shipping routes, which were in turn sculpted by monsoon wind currents. Building atop that thread, this session constellates the various artists, projects and initiatives who anchor my deep dives into techno-oceanic wisdom.
Radical Love as Technology - October 5th
According to the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism, Radical Love manifests inwardly as tenderness, and outwardly as justice. This session is an overview of my explorations around how this radical love emerges as technology — a purposeful, solution-oriented application of care — and invites participants to theorize what love-technologies could pave the way for a sustainable, mutually-assistive future.
Afropresentism: Embodied Ritual and Ancestral Cartography Pt. 1 - October 12th
How can we understand memory work as an exercise in mapping through, within, and beyond time? This session introduces “ancestral cartography” as an Afropresentist methodology and framework for embodied practice within the Age of Big Data.
Afropresentism: Embodied Ritual and Ancestral Cartography Pt. 2 - October 19th
The final installation in the Indigenous Technologies Incubator is a participatory workshop that invites attendees to develop a manifesto for their own ancestral cartography practice.
Part of my impetus behind concretizing the Social Practice pillar of my work comes from realizing that I work best when I have discursive hubs to share in. I’ve been continuing to add updates to the Data Healing Workbook, but have found myself stuck back in perfectionism limbo around sharing them. To help push past that (and also to respond to some folks who’ve expressed wanting a group context to dig into the reflections with), I’m also offering a 5-week Data Healing Working Group where we’ll be going through and completing some of the exercises in the workbook together.
If you sign up for the full 5 sessions of the open studios series, there will be an option at check-out to add the Data Healing sessions to your RSVP. If you’re only interested in the Data Healing sessions, you can select those on their own instead – this option comes with a downloadable version of the eBook included.
(A quick note on this: a couple folks brought to my attention that the PDF link to the eBook was malfunctioning - it should be fixed now, but feel free to reach out directly if you’re still having trouble accessing the PDF!)
My grassroots MFA is self-funded, so the above sessions are going to be ticketed, but as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if cost is prohibitive - I have a handful of coupon codes reserved. Priority will be given to folks outside of the US/Europe + Black indigenous participants!
I hope to see y’all in the coming weeks - please share this out with anyone else you think might be interested :)
Yours in Radical Love,
Neema
this is radically breathtaking and giving, all in one.. bless this self initiation.
Thank you for this framework of a Guerrilla MFA! Are the sessions live or also recorded?