Understanding Power and Alienation, and Reclaiming Memory

In this opening session we will explore how power operates within the dominant cultural paradigm along lines of domination, or power-over. We will look at the roots of that in ancient history, and how it became synonymous with a masculine power, patriarchy, and therefore men. We will explore how this form of power has permeated human relationship and society, and how it enables oppressive hierarchies and colonial relationships to continue. We will also look at other forms of power: forms based around partnership, power-with rather than power-over; the roots of these in ancient land based and indigenous societies; and how these forms of power became synonymous with feminine power, and therefore women. We will interrogate how women (and non-men) have been alienated from power and erased from collective memory historically, and what reclamation/restoration looks like. In this session we will discuss the politics of memory, restoring narrative justice, rewriting history, and how we can begin building cultural power.