The Department of Gender Studies in conjunction with The Department of Disability Studies will be hosting a public lecture entitled 'Fleshing Out the Self: Notes on the Flesh'.
Speaker: Dr Shahd Alshammari
Venue: Room 116, Old Humanities Building (OH 116), University of Malta Msida Campus
Date: Thursday 9 November 2017
Time: 10:00 till 12:00
This lecture is a blend between readings from ‘Notes on the Flesh’ and a critical understanding of the work’s
purpose/function. I will draw on Arthur W. Frank’s ‘The Wounded Storyteller’ and illness narratives.
'Notes on the Flesh' aims to shed light onto marginalised voices, and I would like to bring it forward as it may be a new untrodden area for academics working with gender and writing, gender and disability. ‘Notes on the Flesh’ is a mix of stories, of voices, but mainly, it is about women. Women who love, women who are too weak to love, women who marry for society, women who never forget their first love, women who are afraid of men, women who fight against men, women who leave their lovers, women who fight for education, and women who can’t help but struggle to belong.
These women tell their stories and sometimes the men tell theirs. Love presents itself as a theme throughout, and the way it clashes with identity, society, and religion. These moments are sometimes nonfictional, sometimes made-up and unreal, and at others they are part of a biomythography, as Audre Lorde labels it. Lorde argued that bio mythography tells the story, and sometimes stories, of the individual, weaving together different genres and realities.
'Notes on the Flesh' aims to shed light onto marginalised voices, and I would like to bring it forward as it may be a new untrodden area for academics working with gender and writing, gender and disability. ‘Notes on the Flesh’ is a mix of stories, of voices, but mainly, it is about women. Women who love, women who are too weak to love, women who marry for society, women who never forget their first love, women who are afraid of men, women who fight against men, women who leave their lovers, women who fight for education, and women who can’t help but struggle to belong.
These women tell their stories and sometimes the men tell theirs. Love presents itself as a theme throughout, and the way it clashes with identity, society, and religion. These moments are sometimes nonfictional, sometimes made-up and unreal, and at others they are part of a biomythography, as Audre Lorde labels it. Lorde argued that bio mythography tells the story, and sometimes stories, of the individual, weaving together different genres and realities.
The general public is cordially invited to attend this public lecture.
For enquiries, contact Ms Marica Galea by phone on +356 2340 3956 or by sending an email to marica.galea@um.edu.mt.
Dr Shahd Alshammari holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kent in England. She currently teaches Literature and Women’s Studies in Kuwait. Her main research areas are Disability and Women’s Studies. Her work sheds light on the struggles facing those conflicted over cultural traditions, societal norms and modernity. She has published in academic and creative writing journals such as Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Pomona Valley Review and The Barefoot Review. ‘Notes on the Flesh’ is Dr Alshammari’s first collection of short stories.
