Sharmeen Khan

Anti-racism and Activist Media: Storytelling and Liberation

This workshop will be an overview of the ways anti-racist activists use alternative or activist media as part of their organizing. No matter the scope in size, this workshop will be a discussion as to why some activists use alternative media in their anti-racist activism. This workshop will introduce the historical and contemporary relevance of activist media in the current political context of new technologies and limited resources. The workshop will begin with a section on “Activist Media and Storytelling” where I will ask participants to share activist media projects they are part of and how it relates to or is incorporated into larger movements of activism. I will also bring historical and contemporary samples from around the world to demonstrate the role of activist media in anti-racist social movements. I will prioritize contemporary radical struggles such as Black Lives Matter, Idle No More, pipeline resistance and other indigenous sovereignty struggles. Through these examples, I will introduce the role of storytelling in political change. The second part of the workshop will be small group discussions of strategic ways various anti-racist movements can begin or strengthen already existing forms of anti-racist activist media. For this discussion I will bring in the questions of decolonization and counter-hegemony in storytelling. Finally, I will create an opportunity for participants to network and meet, possibly generate new ways of collaboration across communities. This includes ideas for new projects or ways to share projects amongst one another.