Exploring Identity and (Dis)belonging through the Personal Essay

Applications for this jointly sponsored General Theological Seminary/Collegeville Institute workshop were due Sunday, December 4, 2022. We are no longer accepting applications because the application deadline has passed.

Phillip Lopate once wrote: “At the core of the personal essay is the supposition that there is a certain unity to human experience.”

In this workshop, we will explore issues of identity, home, and belonging through engaging the visual arts and the genre of the personal essay. Though we write from our own lives, there is always a way to open our work so that readers can locate themselves within a shared human experience.

Identity, belonging, and home, are necessary topics for public discussion. As writers and thinkers how do we listen to, and tell more truthful and expansive stories that permit room difference? How can the visual arts, creative nonfiction and the personal essay be a vehicle for necessary stories of belonging, home and identity? How can reading the narratives of others help us better understand and engage these issues for ourselves and a wider community?

This workshop will explore these questions by introducing participants to select works of art and to traditional and modern personal essays. Students will read selections from writers spanning historical times periods, nations and cultures (ie, James Baldwin, George Orwell, Ta-nehisi Coates, Dina Nayeri). Students will practice the art of nonfiction and the personal essay, writing from experience in ways that invite understanding with their readers.

Enuma Okoro is a writer, editor, speaker and cultural curator. She is an arts and culture columnist for the Financial Times, and is an award-winning author of four non-fiction books. She writes, speaks and teaches about art, culture and contemplative living, and the power of narratives. Her TED talk focused on stereotypes of global women and the power of cultural collisions. Born in New York City, Enuma is a Nigerian-American raised in four countries on three continents. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School of which she is the former Director for the Center for Theological Writing.

The program is limited to 9 participants and will be held at the General Theological Seminary located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, New York.

Transportation to and from the workshop facility are the responsibility of participants. The Collegeville Institute will cover all workshop fees, and room and board. Participants are expected to stay the full length of the workshop.

Some advance reading and/or writing may be required in preparation for the workshop.

Who May Apply?

• Anyone who is interested in exploring issues of identity and disbelonging.
• This workshop is available to people who identify as women.

Application Process:

Applications for this jointly sponsored General Theological Seminary/Collegeville Institute workshop were due Sunday, December 4, 2022. We are no longer accepting applications because the application deadline has passed.