Here We Are Academy
Photo: Manette Ingenegeren
Here We Are Academy is an experimental education program conceived with and led by We Are Here, the first large scale organization of refugees in limbo in the Netherlands. Here We Are Academy is realized on the occasion of the Unstated (or, Living Without Approval) project in collaboration with Campus in Camps, a program for learning based within four Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank. Whilst the We Are Here Academy is an educational initiative offering university-level courses for undocumented individuals, inviting experts or academics to teach, Here We Are Academy instead gives the members of We Are Here the position of teachers. This series of workshops and public events taught by the refugees considers the question of representation within art and politics with regards to their struggle. The series considers the need for a new lexicon to sustain the current struggle, and thus engages in developing a new collective dictionary. The series is held at BAK on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, with Wednesday and Thursday being hosted by We Are Here in the Vluchtmaat building in Amsterdam.
Here We Are Academy is held in collaboration with the Learning Place, BAK’s school for art and politics, with a limited amount of additional places reserved for the public. Lectures on each day of the Here We Are Academy are public.
Here We Are Academy runs from 12.00 til 20.00 daily from 5–9 April 2016, and includes a collective lunch and dinner. Attendance is free of charge but must be registered in advance.
Structure:
The curriculum is divided in two parts:
- Lectures with discussion in plenary settings (open to the public).
- Workgroups: several groups that each work on a specific subject during the whole week.
- At the beginning of each day there is a plenary lecture given by one of the We Are Here teachers, Campus in Camps, sometimes accompanied by an artist/academic/expert.
- On day one students choose one of the work groups and stay in this work group during the week.
- At the end of the day progress of each work group will be presented during dinner.
- On the last day, each work group presents their results in a public session at BAK.
Schedule every day:
12.00–13.00 Lunch
13.00–13.45 Lecture Here We Are
13.45–14.15 Discussion
14.15–14.30 Break
14.30–18.00 Work groups 1–5 work on their action
18.30–20.00 Dinner and presenting progress of work groups.
Topics lectures:
Day 1: Introduction Dutch Asylum policy and the discouragement policies and We Are Here by Suleiman & Hashim
Day 2: Survival by Salim & Teferi
Day 3: The right to be political by Yonas, Nasir & John
Day 4: Representation in image and art by Osman, Khalid & Shyamika
Day 5: Vocabularies by Isshaq & Diego from Campus in Camps
(Supporting team for media and workshops and organization: Abdi, Fahad, Hashim, Mohamed, Mohamed, Sambuca and Halim)
Work Groups:
Each work group subject corresponds with the subject of a lecture and will be led by the teachers giving that specific lecture
NOTE: Day 2 & 3 take place in the Vluchtmaat (building next to Bouwmaat XL), Joan Muyskenweg 32 5 minutes walking from Metrostation Overamstel
