It was in the spirit of Lorde\u2019s call to action that Malek Yalaoui, Harleen Bhogal, and Dona Nham initiated the community-based project Sisters in Motion (SiM) in Montr\u00e9al in 2016.2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 2 <\/a> - \u201cSistersInMotion MTL,\u201d Facebook group, accessible online; Dragonroot Media, \u201cThere\u2019s a Short Distance Between a Spell and a Poem: An Interview with Sisters in Motion,\u201d interview, Soundcloud<\/em>, published in 2016, 35:39, accessible online.<\/span> They launched the initiative in light of the underrepresentation of QTBIPOC women in art and spoken-word spaces, with the end goal of creating a forum for sensibilities and voices too often silenced by the forces that structure societies and reproduce the same injustices from generation to generation. In a spirit of Black, Chicana, and decolonial feminism, SiM has since presented many spoken-word events, screenings, and workshops focused on writing, performance, self-love, and empowerment rooted in the ethics and politics of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2018, SiM organized a workshop with Jamaican artist and teacher d\u2019bi.young anitafrika3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - See the artist\u2019s website: dbiyounganitafrika.com.<\/span> that I was able to participate in. Embracing an approach to art-making explicitly committed to fighting oppression and injustice in all their forms, d\u2019bi.young anitafrika has over time developed a praxis that ritualizes acts of emancipation in a Black, queer and feminist decolonial perspective. d\u2019bi.young anitafrika\u2019s varied approaches to critical pedagogy and art-making (dub poetry, performance, theatre, and others) all speak to the intrinsic connection between their philosophy and active practices of emancipation inspired by Afro-Jamaican knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The workshop took place on the third floor of a building on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, in Montr\u00e9al, in a sparsely furnished and well-lit loft. Other than a dozen low seats arranged in a circle, a Buddha statue, and a few plants, the room was bare. On my arrival, several participants were already eating and chatting together. One of the organizers welcomed me and showed me where to put my belongings. I got something to drink and began to observe what was going on in the space: some participants seemed to know each other, while others appeared to be meeting for the first time. A discussion was underway on the influence of the weather on memory and emotion. One woman was saying how rain had a calming effect on her, as it reminded her of her childhood in the Rockies. Her voice was soft and somewhat restrained. This was my first workshop exclusively for QTBIPOC-identifying women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal of this several-hour workshop, led by d\u2019bi.young anitafrika, was to initiate participants in the Anitafrika Method.4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - For more on this method, also known as SORPLUSI (Self-knowledge, Orality, Rhythm, Political content and context, Language, Urgency, Sacredness, and Integrity), see \u201cThe Anitafrika Method\u201d on the artist\u2019s website: anitafrika.wixsite.com\/anitafrikmethod.<\/span> Based on dub poetry teachings5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 5 <\/a> - As d\u2019bi.young anitafrika states, \u201cDubpoetry is rooted in oral storytelling traditions that were brought to the americas by afrikan peoples. the main elements of dub as taught to me by my mother are (1) language<\/em>, (2) politics<\/em>, (3) music<\/em>, and (4) performance<\/em>\u201d (emphasis in original). d\u2019bi.young anitafrika, \u201cr\/evolution begins within,\u201d Canadian Theatre Review<\/em> 150 (Spring 2012): 27.<\/span> handed down by their mother, poet Anita Stewart, the method is composed of nine basic principles: self-knowledge, politics, orality, language, rhythm, urgency, sacredness, integrity, and experience. Each principle can be explored through the physical, emotional, mental, creative, sharing, spiritual, community, energy-based, or earthly body, using techniques such as meditation, writing, movement, and discussion. d\u2019bi.young anitafrika developed this method in light of the devastating effects of oppression on the overall health of BIPOC women, and their limited access to care. It has since been used in academic, artistic, community-based, and other contexts. The method\u2019s main purpose is to offer a holistic framework that allows for a space of empowerment in which the ultimate goal is individual and collective healing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n What struck me as most important about the method was not so much its content but its mode of transmission, what it opens up, and the vibrations it triggers in the self and in others. How the method is shared implies a space of listening and resonance from which transformation can take place, if we open ourselves up to it and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. On the question of vulnerability, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the deeply holistic dimension at work here, which encourages a fully embodied presence, and the QTBIPOC exclusivity of the space, which, I believe, influences what can and can\u2019t be articulated in these workshops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For some participants, the Anitafrika Method becomes a form of healing from systemic violence. For others, it fuels a practice of self-care in constant evolution and renewal. Like all learned techniques, usage varies according to needs. It should also be noted that, in this context, the idea of self-care does not refer to a generic and disembodied self but to a self in constant connection and relation with the world around it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n For my own part, what stayed most with me from this shared experience was the sense of a desire for life, a new path toward reclaiming vulnerability from the dispossession and numbness engendered by silence. Although each story makes real the different ways that systems of oppression interact with each other and affect our bodies, these stories are recounted primarily through sensations and feelings rather than via critical thought. This process involves a certain amount of discomfort. But what can this process tell us, particularly in a place where nothing could previously be told? It says, I am not the only one to suffer, and to resist. In reality, the pain that one assumes to be individual is collective. In opening up a space for this realization, the Anitafrika Method invites us to embrace a force that resides beyond the self. Transforming silence into speech and action requires real, bodily experiences that involve being with others, and being there for others: I am because you\/we <\/em>are<\/em>.6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 6 <\/a> - An expression used by the artist originating in a definition of the Zulu word Ubuntu<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Translated from the French by Simon Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/106_DO_Boyadjian_dbi-young-anitafrika_diagram20220822-scaled.jpg\")
Photo : courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n