Foreseeing the Unseen+Cultural Criticism as Divination Workshop

​What if we could use cultural criticism as a tool to predict political and social trends before they happen? Could we have foreseen and preemptively organized against the intensification of military aggression in Venezuela, Cuba, and the Middle East, for example, if we critically attuned our ears to the subterranean frequencies of Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl performance? Or maybe the aesthetics of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, released in 2022, could have tipped listeners to an eventual draft? In this workshop, Dr. zuri arman and Amina Ross collaboratively imagine what such a practice of cultural divination might entail from the perspective of the critic and artist. In the process, prospective cultural diviners will be offered a “wayward”introduction to Jamaican writer, philosopher, and playwright Sylvia Wynter’s radical theory of aesthetics. Through an explosive combination of lecture, imaginative exercises, and thought experiments participants will leave with asolid foundation for a critical-spiritual practice they can continue to refinewith the initial resources provided by arman and Ross. These resources are of particular use to artists seeking to interrogate the ground of their own practice, cultural critics seeking to sharpen their pen, and anyone generally interested in improving the cultural sight of their “inner eyes” during a time of heightened political mystification.

​Readings will be sent out two weeks before workshop.