Poetry as a Practice of Spiritual (Un)Belonging: An Exploratory Workshop
Publication information:
Abstract
Belonging is both a social condition and a spiritual experience. For many, spirituality is formed not only through inclusion in traditions and communities, but also through experiences of exclusion, exile, harm, or partial belonging. Across cultures and histories, poetry has served as a refuge for voices negotiating these tensions by offering a way to articulate spiritual meaning when the language of well-established traditions falls short. This workshop invites participants to explore poetry as a practice of (un)belonging, one that can hold a space for contradicting experiences: longing, apathy, reverence, rejection, (in)completion, satisfaction, and doubt. It is intended for everyone, regardless of your familiarity with poetry or writing poetry.
Presenter Biographies
Ana Reisens and Matilde Carbajo are lecturers at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) (Barcelona, Spain), where they teach creativity (Ana) and history of gender and sexuality (Matilde). Ana is a poet, PhD, and lecturer at UPF. Her dissertation, "Stories Crossing Borders", explores how Spanish literature reached the United States as both translations and film adaptations. She is interested in creativity studies, art therapy, and the transformative power of stories. Matilde is a postdoc researcher for the European Research Council at UPF. Her dissertation, titled "Healways in the Mariana Islands", explores Spanish colonialism in the Pacific with a focus on healing and spirituality. She is interested in poetry and creative writing as a means of making sense of the world.