SOMETHING AWKWARD (INVASIVE PLANTS:: coopted)

In these times of ongoing fascism and genocide - with their intensified sense of urgency, scarcity and fear - both university and activist spaces are increasingly inhospitable to counter-colonial forms of knowing - embodied, inspirited, non-human. 

With this public lecture series we experiment with something other-wise, something awkward. 

Beginning at Matariki 2025, we periodically gather around Whiro to respond to a call by Nigerian post-activist Bayo Akomolafe that the meta-crisis requires us to move not simply forward or backward.

Join us, our ancestors and the darkness as we co-host local speakers and other performers to instead help us collectively listen for/to/with THE AWKWARD:: …ancestors… grief… spirit… wonder… love… land(back)… invasive plants…

How does settler colonialism dismiss, distort, deport, detain, denigrate, demand - co-opt - these otherworldly wisdoms, and what might their awkward stance and dance suggest for our decolonial movements in Aotearoa and beyond?

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*This series is inspired by global ‘anti-university’ and ‘free university’ movements that seek to create public spaces for the radical potential of academia to be realised. 

*Matike Mai is a nationwide Indigenous-led movement for a Te Tiriti-based constitution - fuck yes!

*The Tīpuna Project is a community-based collective of Māori, Tauiwi of Colour & Pākehā activists, artists & academics experimenting with the decolonial possibilities of communing with ancestors.---