Event: Becoming Otherwise ft. Foluke Taylor and Robert Downes
Another Arrangement of the Possible
Wednesday, March 12. 6pm GMT / 2pm ET / 11am PDT.
Join us for a dialogic seminar and open discussion with Foluke Taylor and Robert Downes as we explore becoming otherwise and other "arrangements of the possible" (Hartman). What does this world ask of us to become right now? What have we been forced into becoming, and what else might we become; what otherwise worlds might we bring about?
Foluke Taylor is (among many things) a therapist and author of How the Hiding Seek (2018) and Unruly Therapeutic: Black Feminist Writings and Practices in Living Room (2023), engaging in creative writing and Black feminisms to explore poetics and abolitionist possibilities within therapeutic practice. She is also co-founder of Protect Black Women—a Community Interest Company that provides access to low-cost counselling and other support for Black women.
Robert Downes is (among many things) a psychotherapist, supervisor, teacher and student engaged in critical praxis around queer theory, black studies, critical theory, intersectional feminisms, relational psychoanalysis alongside the spiritual teachings and practices of the Diamond Approach. Robert's published works include Listening in Colour: Creating a Meeting Place with Young People (2002), Reimagining the Space for a Therapeutic Curriculum – a Sketch, (2021), and Queer Shame: notes on becoming an all-embracing mind (2022).
The event will be one hour of interview with Robert and Foluke, followed by one hour of open forum for all attendees to enter into conversation. The former half will be recorded and eventually released.
Robert and Foluke have kindly offered a variety of materials for us to engage with ahead of the event:
Re-imagining the Space and Context for a Therapeutic Curriculum – A Sketch by Foluke Taylor & Robert Downes.
the world-builders write back - what does it mean to be a friend to, and defend, Black Feminist Space? - Foluke Taylor.
Complicating the White Therapist - Robert Downes
Unruly Therapeutic: Black Feminist Writings and Practices in Living Room by Foluke Taylor.
Queer Shame: notes on becoming an all-embracing mind by Robert Downes in Queering Psychotherapy Ed. by Chance Czyzselska.
Otherwise - a website resource for ‘wake work’.