A three-day multi-species gathering amidst the systemic failures of our time. An ecology of fugitive practices listening at the cracks ; a carnival performed as mbari: a ritual of decay.

Convened by Bayo Akomolafe, as part of his 2024 W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship, alongside many Co-Conspirators.

Where: Racebrook Lodge and select venues in and around Great Barrington, MA
When: Tuesday, August 6 (from 1 PM) to Thursday, August 8 (closing at 4 PM)
Registration is required. (Wednesday’s Town Hall will be simulcast online for those who cannot attend in person.)

Event Description

Based at an impromptu village brought to life around the grounds of Racebrook Lodge, Vunja will be a panoply of song, discussion, ritual, and hands-on activities. This family-friendly gathering unfolds over three days, including:

• Tuesday the 6th | A carnival of activity and offerings, marked by a Welcome Ceremony for our collective arrival, and capped by an evening of storytelling, star gazing, and firelight. Includes Welcome dinner under a tent.

• Wednesday the 7th | “Down By the Riverside:” A Town Hall at Saint James Place. Featuring critical explorations of agency, power, and longing in our politically charged moment including nine stellar scholar-activists convened by Bayo Akomolafe. Includes dinner afterward at Race Brook.

• Thursday the 8th |  Multiple activities seeding a vocation of ‘making sanctuary’ amidst a time of failures, including a somatic workshop, before coming together in a Closing Ceremony and departure. Includes a Farewell lunch.

“Vunja! A Gathering of the Seeds” is a practice beyond solutions, beyond hope, beyond justice, beyond resolution — at the bewildering edges of a world that is always in excess of itself.