Siblings of the Yam: Drop-in Sessions - Fall/Winter 2026

Discuss some of the major themes in radical black feminist thought and theory in Siblings of the Yam!
About this Event

While we welcome interest from many communities, this study group is intentionally centered on those whose lives are most directly shaped by the histories, conditions, and questions explored in radical Black feminist thought.

Because these sessions are capped at 15 participants, we ask that allies honor this intention and allow this space to remain centered on those it was created for.

About Siblings of the Yam

This study group is designed to introduce you to some of the major themes in radical black feminist thought and theory. Just as importantly, we will examine black feminism as a lived practice—a way to live differently, to care for each other, and to begin creating new worlds every single day. This study group is not simply a “class” or a “club,” but a participatory space where we can move slowly, connect, and learn together. We’ll approach learning as a method of transformation, paying special attention to how the ideas we encounter can change the way we interact with each other and the world around us.

Examining classic and contemporary texts, art, and doing embodied exercises, we will explore black feminist theory as the product of a radical lineage and critical formation that puts race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, spirituality, and more into conversation with each other.

We will grapple with some of the major ways that black feminism has shifted our understanding of identity, social movements, history, empire, and culture. In particular, the study group will trace the insights of black feminists regarding the various impacts of “the afterlife” (the continuing effects) of colonialism and trans-Atlantic slavery, as well as abolition as a philosophy that can address these issues and set us free.

Find more information here.

Schedule

Session I: Locating Black Feminism

Sunday, October 18

What, exactly, are black feminism's distinguishing features? And where did it originate from? Who practices black feminism? Who is black feminism for? Is there a proper way to be a black feminist? These questions are central to this study, and, this week, we will attempt to start the conversation. As a group, we will gather some of the key concepts and ideas that will give us a general idea of black feminism traditions in all its forms: intellectual, theoretical, creative, political, spiritual, and emotional.

For this session, I ask that you bring a photo or object that represents something meaningful in shaping your understanding of Black feminism.

Session II: Intersections and Coalitions

Sunday, November 15

The importance of intersectionality cannot be understated. One of the most prominent features in black feminist intellectual traditions, intersectionality has found a home in most of our vocabularies. But, despite its popularity and significance, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what “intersectionality” is and what it says about power. Is it a framework, a practice, a theory? Are “intersections” really the best metaphor we can use to describe how race, gender, class, and other structures collaborate in shaping our lives? And what type of politics does a commitment to intersectionality invite us to do?

Session III: Abolition & Black Futurity

Sunday, December 13

Drawing from freedom fighters who struggled for their communities’ liberation and called for an immediate end to slavery, abolition describes an ongoing project to completely destroy oppressive structures, systems, and institutions such as prisons. What type of frameworks, practices, and ways of thinking does abolition require? How can we critique and establish alternatives to the conditions assumed to be natural?

We’ll underscore the need for radical systematic change and try our own hand at dreaming up other worlds. Attuning ourselves to an abolitionist frequency, we’ll take up the concepts black feminists use to imagine, establish, and live in the future now.

Session IV: “Where is the Love?:” Practicing an Ethics of Care

Sunday, January 17

How can we shift our ideas of care from an individual chore to a collective responsibility? What does it mean to love oneself in a deeply anti-black, ableist, capitalist, sexist, colonial (the list goes on) world?

This week is about love as a theory of justice and care as its form of practice. We’ll ask: How can black feminist love-politics and an ethics of care shape and structure our movements? Who typically gets access to care and who is expected to perform care labor? How have Black disabled and queer/trans folks kept entire communities alive?

Through these questions, we’ll create a working theory of love and care together, and, in the process, concoct softer, more responsible forms of solidarity and connection.

Agenda

🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Optional Open Study:

Info: A time to read ahead (if you so please), get settled in, chat, etc.

🕑: 12:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Study Group Session