Black Dreams, Futures, & Mutual Support
As part of our commitment to build a stronger, more cohesive Level Ground community, we’ve launched a new project to foster a shared language and raise our collective consciousness together. Twice a year, Level Ground will work with a partner to curate a themed media syllabus of podcasts, articles, films, books, etc. To get the most out of The Syllabus experience, become a Level Ground member today!
An important companion piece to SKEW, this first Syllabus was curated by Turay (they/he) and Lauren (he/she/they) to intentionally deepen and expand what you’ll experience through this year’s magazine. As you delve into the theme Black Dreams, Futures & Mutual Support, we hope you will allow The Syllabus to broaden the scope of your awareness in everyday life and leave you satisfyingly full with a piqued appetite for investigative introspection.
1. DREAMWEAVERS: In / Conversation - Carrie Mae Weems and Terence Nance (Video, 11:36 min)
2. Tricia Hersey, a testimony on liberation theology and rest as inheritance (Article)
3. Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination by Robin D.G. Kelley (Book, 195 pages, PDF)
“A powerful book. . . . Robin D. G. Kelley produces histories of black rad- icalism and visions of the future that defy convention and expectation.”
4. The Afro-Digital Migration: Global Blackness and Amapiano in Post Apartheid South Africa by DJ Lynnée Denise (Musical Essay, DJ set, 1 hr)
5. The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto (Artist talk) based on this text.
6. Moses Sumney - Also Also Also And And And (Music Video)
7. Reflections in Real Time - Kilo Kish (Album)
8. Korra, a testimony on Black Girlhood (Essay)
“…historically, we were seldom invited to participate in the discourse, even when we were its topic.”
9. African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo by Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau (Book, 150 pages, PDF)
10. Kamasi Washington Hub-Tones (Music Video, Artist Talk, 2:25 min)
11. BIPOC Adult Industry Collective (Community Collective)
BIPOC Adult Industry Collective Wellness Wednesday (Ongoing Weekly Event)
We are a resource for education and support services to make the adult entertainment industry a safe space for everyone who chooses this labor. At BIPOC Adult Industry Collective, wellbeing is at the forefront of what we’re working together towards. Our programs and activities are designed to be a catalyst that helps community members reach their goals and fulfill their potential. Learn more about the positive impact we have on bipoc-collective.org and join us in bringing about positive change.
12. Ah-Mer-Ah-Su - 7-15-13 (Orchestral Version) (Music Video)
13. The Grapevine: Violence Against Black Trans Women (Community Conversation, 1hr 14 min)
14. So After We Abolish Prisons and Policing...Then What?: A Black Feminist Dialogue (Panel discussion, 1hr 33min)
15. A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography by Dr. Mireille Miller-Young (Book, for purchase, $30)
A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of Black women's sexuality in the porn industry. It is based on Mireille Miller-Young's extensive archival research and her interviews with dozens of women who have worked in the adult entertainment industry since the 1980s. The women share their thoughts about desire and eroticism, Black women's sexuality and representation, and ambition and the need to make ends meet. Miller-Young documents their interventions into the complicated history of Black women's sexuality, looking at individual choices, however small—a costume, a gesture, an improvised line—as small acts of resistance, of what she calls "illicit eroticism." Building on the work of other Black feminist theorists, and contributing to the field of sex work studies, she seeks to expand discussion of Black women's sexuality to include their eroticism and desires, as well as their participation and representation in the adult entertainment industry. Miller-Young wants the voices of Black women sex workers heard, and the decisions they make, albeit often within material and industrial constraints, recognized as their own.
16. Harriet's Apothecary (Community Collective)
Black Resilience in the Face of Bullshit Wellness Plan (Wellness Exercise)
Ancestor Mantras for Courage in the Face of Fear (Wellness Tool)
Harriet’s Apothecary is an intergenerational, healing village led by the brilliance and wisdom of Black Cis Women, Queer and Trans healers, artists, health professionals, magicians, activists and ancestors. Our village, founded by Harriet Tubman and Adaku Utah on April 6 2014, is committed to co-creating accessible, affordable, liberatory, all-body loving, all-gender honoring, community healing spaces that recognize, inspire, and deepen the healing genius of people who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of color and the allies that love us.