Acts of Liberation is a platform through which founding director Dr. Asantewa Sunni-Ali uses literacy, radical self-reflection, research, cultural immersion, performing and visual arts to empower, educate, and engage disenfranchised communities.
Browse this page for vital resources including research projects, educational materials, seminars, classes, workshops and conference presentations concerning community improvement and development, youth empowerment and current culturally-relevant events.
acts of liberation youth empowerment - Fulani institute of academics and arts
In 2017, Dr. Asantewa Sunni-Ali founded the Fulani Institute of Academics and Arts (FIAA), an academic, arts, and cultural enrichment institute for youth between the ages of 6-17.
The FIAA Mission:
To use cultural and academic enrichment to critically and creatively empower youth to be social change agents in their communities and beyond.
The FIAA Vision:
1) To co-create space for young people to be affirmed in themselves so that they are prepared to work effectively in their own best interests.
2) To offer training and teaching experience for professionals who are preparing for careers in culturally relevant education.
Fulani Institute participants are provided opportunities to build new and hone existent talents and explore theatre arts as an instrument for education, community dialogue and celebration of Pan-African culture.
For more information about the Fulani Institute visit: https://www.kent.edu/afs/news/fulani-institute-fall-2019-0
acts of liberation workshops, PRESENTATIONs & interviews
Acts of Liberation and Self-Care when the Revolution is Live, Chicago, Illinois
The 2018 Association for Theater in HIgher Education Conference theme was Theatres of Revolution: Performance, Pedagogy, and Protest. It focused on revolution, resistance, and protest, and the multiple ways these ideas – and the actions that spring from them – impact theatre in higher education.
My workshop, Acts of Liberation and Self-Care when the Revolution is Live
explored the power of grounding ourselves in the notion that revolution is, and must be, now and always. It included hands-on activities to explore identity outside of matrices of oppression and devise scripts for daily performances of healing and liberation.
Acts of Liberation Movement Based Empowerment Workshops - Belize, Central America
Through these workshops participants engaged in discussion and critical reflection of their lived experiences in order to explore visions for future pathways to manifesting liberation for themselves and their communities.
Liberation Logues - Performance at the University Of The West Indies Cave Hill, Barbados
In November 2018, I wrote and directed Sisters Outside, with Bridges for Backs, Still Searching for our Gardens, which is the first devised performance of The Liberation 'Logues, a collection of collaboratively devised monologues that explore, celebrate, and chronicle diverse liberation journeys. Sisters Outside is a critically creative praxis that engages and pays homage to the anti-colonial work of feminists/womanists of color, including, but not limited to, Audre Lorde, Clenora Hudson-Weems, bell hooks, Cherrie Moraga, Gloria Anzaldua, Patricia Hill Collins, Marimba Ani and Alice Walker. The performance comprises self-composed monologues and spoken-word poetry as millennial/twenty-first century responses to and extensions of global feminist and womanist thought that emphasizes the agency and value of the human being. Under my directorship, two Kent State University students joined me in performing Sisters Outside at the University of West Indies’ Global Feminisms and the Anti-Colonial Project Conference in Barbados. Through this performance we cultivated space for critical reflection, heightened awareness and inspiration to enact positive change.
"Liberation 101" Workshop, Black Youth Leadership Development Institute, St. Simon's Island, GA.
The Black Youth Leadership Development Institute’s mission is to reconnect African American youth to their legacy as change agents who are able to facilitate their own transformation and that of their communities and nation. Their primary objective is to implement an effective training program that builds capacity and relevant skills, and innovative and culturally competent models to develop confident, capable and civic-minded youth leaders for the future.
Empower ATL: 2020 Conversations, Livestream
I served as a panelist and co-curator of Empower ATL: 2020 Conversations. The live roundtable featured panelists from education, media, banking, and mental health communities to engage in an interactive conversation about the many issues facing families in the wake of COVID-19 including homeschooling, COVID testing, finances, mental health, racial justice and Black liberation.
African Ancestry's The Ritual Series, Live Stream
This live-streamed discussion on Rituals and Rites of Passage was facilitated by African Ancestry’s president and co-founder, Dr. Gina Paige. Watch the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=287648165685538
"Acts of Liberation and Seedz of Revolution" Black Power Media Remix Morning Show Interview w/ Dr. Asantewa Sunni-Ali
Black Power Media (BPM) is a Black-radical independent media project that seeks to challenge the narrative about Black politics and the Black condition. Click the link to watch the full interview.
acts of liberation Research Projects
Black Seed
Seedz of Revolution
Seedz of Revolution
Black Seed examines and documents the ways in which young people of African descent experience, perform, and create liberation for themselves and their communities.
Black Seed endeavors to:
1) reframe pessimistic narratives of Black childhood and Black children to narratives of optimism, resilience, and empowerment;
2) expand dominant nar
Black Seed examines and documents the ways in which young people of African descent experience, perform, and create liberation for themselves and their communities.
Black Seed endeavors to:
1) reframe pessimistic narratives of Black childhood and Black children to narratives of optimism, resilience, and empowerment;
2) expand dominant narratives of
Black nationalist and liberation movements
to include young people;
3) document and share revolutionary practices and strategies as tools for constructing a liberated future for African descended and other oppressed populations; and
4) critically engage youth in participatory action research and artistic creation.
Seedz of Revolution
Seedz of Revolution
Seedz of Revolution
Seedz of Revolution is a film documentary series and visual iteration of critical questions, concepts, and findings from Black Seed.
Seedz refers to young people engaged in struggle for liberation. Seedz can be anyone aged twenty-one and younger as well as offspring (of any age) of revolutionaries.
Revolution refers to:
1) an ev
Seedz of Revolution is a film documentary series and visual iteration of critical questions, concepts, and findings from Black Seed.
Seedz refers to young people engaged in struggle for liberation. Seedz can be anyone aged twenty-one and younger as well as offspring (of any age) of revolutionaries.
Revolution refers to:
1) an ever-evolving and continuous process of dismantling oppressive systems;
2) a positive transformation of individual lives, communities, and societies; and
3) a strive towards equity as it relates to gender, class, race, age, religion, and sexuality.