This event will take the shape of a series of poetic rituals and personal storytellings in the form of Ha’mneshi (translated from Farsi as “sitting together”) and in collaboration between Morehshin Allahyari, selected guests, and audience members.

We will use the story of Huma (حمة) as the point of departure: a jinn known in various Middle Eastern myths to bring fever and heat into the human body. Together, we will summon her power as an opening for sharing personal stories and collective methodologies written and devised during the pandemic beyond the borders of the Global North. We will call on ‘survival justice’ as the framework to re-figure, unfold, and re-consider the popular phrase: “we are all in this together.” Like Erik Swyngedouw says in his: Apocalypse Now! essay, “the apocalypse is combined and uneven. And it is within this reality that political choices have to be made and sides taken.” How have the already existing issues around economics, race, class, and access influenced and changed our experiences of the pandemic? What have we learned from these moments and how might we use these learnings as lessons for speculating and moving towards a more just, aware, and kind future?

This event is free and open to the public. Watch the event live on Asia Society’s Facebook and YouTube page. No registration required.