Call for applications: Black Feminist Summer School
A Black Feminist Summer School will take place in Amsterdam in July 2026. Speakers include artists, scholars, and activists. We welcome applications from students, early career scholars, and community organizers. Funding is partially provided by the Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS) and the Amsterdam Research Centre for Migration (ARC-M).
Full details below and @black_feminist_summer.
This Black Feminist Summer School creates space outside the university campus for collective theory building and in-depth reading that contextualises Black death and Black aliveness, as they shape Black experience on a global scale. Together, participants will wrestle with the complexities and possibilities that arise from Afro-pessimist and other Black Studies’ readings of Black death and Black exile from the human. At the same time, the insistences found in work that attends to Black life and the im/possibilities of Black aliveness will also orient our discussion and queries.
At root, this Black Feminist Summer School encourages participants to occupy and examine the tensions, rebellions, fatigue, fantasies, hopelessness, and potentialities that the theme of “Black Death/Black Aliveness” inspires us to contend with.
We welcome applications from students, early career scholars, activists, artists, and organisers who have particular interest, lived experience and politics grounded in Blackness.
Agenda: We will convene for five days to engage with invited speakers who work within or between the themes of Black death and Black aliveness as scholars, practitioners, and community intellectuals. In the mornings, the speaker will give a lecture, followed by a seminar where participants will have the opportunity to engage the speaker and each other in discussion and reflection. The afternoons are dedicated to cultural activities in Amsterdam (e.g. exhibitions, local archives, and performances).
Speakers (artists, activists, and scholars): Myriam Diatta, Yancé-Myah Antonio Harrison, Julian Isenia, Camille Sapara Barton, Annie Olaloku-Teriba, Jan Mendes.
Deadline for Applications: January 7, 2026 23.59 CET
Notification of Acceptance: February 4, 2026
Participation Fee: €300 (includes daily: lectures, cultural activities, lunch, coffee/tea)
Location: Amsterdam (specific locations TBA)
Scholarships: The Black Feminist Summer School provides 3 scholarships to cover course fees for Black trans women in the Netherlands. If you’d like to apply for one of these scholarships, please respond to the final question in the form.
Language: English is the main language for course activities and preparatory readings.
Accessibility: Please let us know your needs in the application form.
Travel and housing: Participants will be responsible for securing their own transport to and housing in Amsterdam. If you wish to team up with other participants for housing, please write to the summer school organisers. The organisers will share a list of recommended hostels and low-cost hotels in the Amsterdam area.
Please contact blackfeministsummerschool@outlook.com with any questions.