“Words Walking Without Masters”: Conversations on the Creative-Theoretical is a symposium that seeks to both activate and advance the creative-theoretical framework as a critical area of creative intellectual praxis.
Under the guidance of Professor Carole Boyce Davies, along with our sponsors at Cornell University, the participating scholars, artists, and activists, whose work spans multiple disciplines and modalities, will explore the creative-theoretical through the following panel themes: “Making the Revolution Irresistible”: Literature as Activism; “Poetry is Not a Luxury”: Necessary Lyricism; “We Move Between Worlds”: Black Feminist Geographies; “Words Made Flesh”: Black Textualities and Being; “The Science of the Word”: Rhythms Between Nature and Narrative; “The Undercommons”: Institutional Intentionality and Creative Theorizing; and Creative-Theoretical Methodologies.
The creative-theoretical refuses the assertion that theory isn’t generative and that creative work isn’t critical. It is a diasporic conversation, one that has been carried across Black intellectual thought for generations. Thus, for us, the creative-theoretical is horizontal and subterranean, a reading across space and time, and an inherent recognition that our prevailing methods of knowing are insufficient for approaching the depths of Black being.
“Words Walking Without Masters” aims to transcend conventional presentation forms to encourage deeper and more engaged conversations about presenters’ works as well as horizontal dialogues between established artists and scholars and graduate student interlocutors. This Kitchen Table series, named in honor of Barbara Smith and the Kitchen Table Women of Color Press, will feature a celebration of Barbara Smith, who will be in attendance for this momentous occasion.
For more information about the symposium schedule and speaker details, please visit
our website.
THURSDAY // APRIL 21, 2022
10:00-10:15 a.m. Welcome Remarks
10:15-10:30 a.m. Ceremonial Opening
10:30-11:15 a.m. Honoring Barbara Smith (Carole Boyce Davies, Barbara Smith, Shacoya Kidwell, and Jehan Roberson)
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Alexis Pauline Gumbs Keynote
12:15-1:00 p.m. Lunch Break
1:00-2:00 p.m. PANEL | “Words Walking Without Masters”: Liberatory Potential of the Creative-Theoretical
2:00-2:20 p.m. Break
2:20-3:20 p.m. PANEL | “Poetry is Not a Luxury”: Necessary Lyricism
3:20-3:40 p.m. PORCH PROVOCATION: Mackenzie Berry
3:40-4:40 p.m. PANEL | “Words Made Flesh”: Black Textualities and Being
4:40-5:00 p.m. PORCH PROVOCATION: Mariah Thompson
5:00-6:00 p.m. PANEL | Creative-Theoretical Methodologies Pt. I
FRIDAY // APRIL 22, 2022
9:00-9:15 a.m. Welcome Remarks
9:15-9:30 a.m. PORCH PROVOCATION: Esther Heller
9:30-10:30 a.m. Edwidge Danticat Keynote
10:30-11:00 a.m. Kitchen Table Report Back
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Lunch Break
12:00-1:00 p.m. PANEL | “We Move Between Worlds”: Black Feminist Geographies
1:00-1:20 p.m. Break
1:20-2:20 p.m. PANEL | “The Science of the Word”: Rhythms Between Nature and Narrative
2:20-2:40 p.m. PORCH PROVOCATION: Alyiah Gonzales and Chanté Morris
2:40-3:40 p.m. PANEL | “The Undercommons”: Institutional Intentionality and Creative-Theorizing
3:40-4:00 p.m. PORCH PROVOCATION: Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire
4:00-5:00 p.m. PANEL | Creative-Theoretical Methodologies Pt. II
5:00-5:15 p.m. Closing Remarks
