Class Description
What is intercultural understanding and why should it matter to writers and creative writing instructors? Drawing inspiration from GrubStreet’s Access & Inclusion Instructor Guide, this seminar will delve into the lived implications of this question within the context of a creative writing workshop.
We will map some of the crucial places where craft intersects with questions of identity—the identity of the writer/student, the text and its intended audience, and the teacher—and with the social and cultural responsibility we all have to one another as artists. We will use “the premise for any meaningful encounter across differences in which all parties involved recognize and engage with each other’s complexities, specificity, and dignity” as the working definition of intercultural understanding (IU). We will discuss how IU can move the needle from “diversity” and good intentions to concretely designing and responding to a wide range of experiences in a way that truly creates an inclusive and accessible classroom environment.
The latter part of the seminar will be interactive: instructors are invited to reflect on and share one example of a piece of writing or discussion that you found particularly challenging in your classes, as well as specific creative texts or assignments you use and how they work (or fail to work) toward achieving IU. For participating instructors, please send your example to [email protected] by no later than 8pm on Monday, December 3rd.
NOTE: If your example is of a student’s work, please do not include the student’s name or any other identifying information to respect their privacy.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!