We are writing to invite you to be present at the Unbecoming Modern congress.

Unbecoming Modernity is a student led congress continuing the work of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective, an intergenerational group of educators and lifelong learners who have been grappling with questions of the violence enacted in and through the modern habit of being. As a collective, we seek to better understand and render visible the violence [on bodies, on land, on minds] that constitutes modernity, and which continues to sustain its functioning in the present. The project is a weekend-long gathering held on UBC campus, involving both embodied exercises and critical conversations exploring the possibility of a decolonial future.

One  purpose of Unbecoming Modernity is to create space for vulnerable conversation aimed towards making visible and unlearningwhere and how our commitment to modernity naturalizes unsustainable ways of living that continue to treat the land as a resource for extraction and marginalizes Indigenous, racialized and queer peoples. Elders and facilitators will host embodied workshops to open up exiled capacities and empathic relations to deepen our capacities to relate beyond modernity. This event is multidisciplinary, and we will be engaging in conversation, movement, song and dance–all various approaches to becoming aware and unlearning.

Date: November 16 and 17, from 10-6pm

Location: UBC’s Wood Processing Center, Room FSC 2916, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Unceded Musqueam Traditional Territory

Lunch & midday snacks (gluten free and vegan) will be offered.

Please RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/unbecoming-modern-tickets-80308150841

We acknowledge that this event will take place on the unceded territories of the Musqueam peoples. Please, if you can, be here on Coast Salish territories with us for the weekend.

Attached to this email is an Audio File invitation to this work.

Accessibility info:

Please refrain from wearing scents. Some herbs, including but not limited to Sage and Palo may be brought into the space for burning. Animals are welcome.

There is an elevator in the building, and our congress is located on the second floor. There is an accessible entrance located on the south side of the building on Thunderbird Crescent across from the Thunderbird Residences. This entrance is level and accessible and has a power door. Please see UBC Wayfinding for more details. (LINK)

Bathrooms are gendered and wheelchair accessible.

Please circulate this to those you know who may be interested in sharing space!

With gratitude,

The Unbecoming Modernity Youth Collective