Terrain and Text 003

terrain and text is a series of reading group discussions hosted by Farida Rady where we engage with various lines of geographic thought. Collectively, we traverse a range of texts bound together by a critical spatial approach. Topics include legal geographies, power and state formation, land politics and migration, urban rights and resistance, and creative praxis. Pre-reading is highly encouraged, and discussions will be casual and informal.

The third session of terrain and text focuses on abolition geography and considers “freedom as a place,” as Ruth Wilson Gilmore teaches us. We will take a closer look at the spatial and geographic applications of an abolitionist framework. What does abolition look like in practice, on the ground? Why are declarations of “innocence” counter-intuitive to the project of abolition? What do we mean when we say abolition is presence, not absence? Rather than focusing exclusively on Pr*son abolition, we will follow Gilmore’s lead and discuss how people make freedom and imagine home against the gears of racial capitalism and imperialism on multiple scales and fronts. The text will be emailed to registrants ahead of the session, and a few printed copies will be available.

When: Tuesday, October 21st. Doors open at 6:00PM, discussion begins at 6:30PM sharp, and ends by 8:30PM. 

Where: BAAA! // SHEEEP,  300 Campbell Drive, Unit 114,. 

Access: Unit 114 is located on the ground floor, with a wheelchair-accessible laneway entrance (west of Campbell Avenue before Symington, access from Dupont).The main building entrance and the bathrooms, which are gendered, are not wheelchair accessible. Fruit and small snacks will be provided, and you are welcome to bring snacks (there is a fridge and a microwave). The laneway door will remain open to allow for air ventilation. 

If you have any questions, please email Farida at [email protected].

Based between Cairo, Toronto, and Abu Dhabi, Farida Rady is an artist, writer, and researcher currently pursuing a PhD in urban geography at York University. Farida explores questions of urban governance, housing justice, migrations, memory, and the poetics of place. Through various research/creation practices, including counter-mapping, alternative photography, and legal analyses, Farida prioritizes embodied and sited pedagogy and collaborative learning processes. Find Farida on a long walk, or swimming in the nearest body of water. 

SHEEEP.school is not really a sheep, not really a school, but a collective working to expand how we learn & engage spatial practice. We develop collaborative art, design and educational projects with communities and grassroots organizations through critical spatial practice, collective creation and by learning together.

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