multisyllabus

Dear Learner,

A syllabus is an open question.

It is a thought trail, an account of what you saw along the way of a research pursuit, skill acquisition, a kitchen read with relevance to a certain topic or question.

Unlike an academic essay, a syllabus is an open form of knowledge, not argumentative.

It is situated. Compiled by someone with a perspective and certain background experiences and environments that shape it.

(4) Zone Books. Haraway, Donna. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies 14, no. 3 (1988).

It is not programmatic: it does not force ideas and arguments. It does not evangelize.

It is a joy. The reading experience is often nonlinear and defies its intended temporality: a hop-scotch reading will elicit just as juicy results. A remix would add, not subtract.

A syllabus is tentacular, magnetizing connections, synthesis, resonance.

A syllabus embodies the idea of re-search: it guides you beyond what you already might look for.

It outlasts the Real classroom—digitally, physically, as the foundations for new thinkers—in memory.

A syllabus embodies: knowing less is knowing more.

None of these ideas are new or ours, for as long as we can remember them.

It’s impossible to say this in English, or written language, without built in problems: that I must (you)se “I,” that we must write in a linear fashion (that language functions this way), that this becomes fixed (for now) (as far as you know). How much can we resist argument and prescription in written language?

This is a work in process. A website is never Current, but reborn each time the link opens on a new device.

Love,
The Multisyllabi team

Multisyllabus is an online publication sharing knowledge through alternative, digital-native forms. We hope to challenge existing knowledge-producing structures by exploding the traditional form of the syllabus with interactive digital writing.

Masthead
Kim Brown
Ella Rosenblatt

On Positionality
Multisyllabus recognizes that the most important and difficult questions in life are not answerable in a simple way, or possible to answer at all. Therefore, we would like to acknowledge that we recognize the politics of sharing knowledge of any kind from any positionality and place—how visibility and incorporation of information involve power dynamics. We see platforms such as ours as accountable for the politics of sharing what they do. Given these values, we hope for this to be a platform of exchange rather than of appropriation or exploitation. We see all practice, including something so-called “published” as a work in progress, that is, continuous, ever-becoming, and imperfect. Please contact us with any questions or concerns regarding positionality and our content, and we will do our best to maintain the values here and in our mission statement.

Submission Guidelines:
Multisyllabi is an electronic publication of any creative work deemed a syllabus by its authors.

We do not adhere to a strict or academic definition of a “syllabus.” We hope you will think of it as a construct/constraint to prompt your own creativity, exploring your archives and research rabbit holes. Please see our Letter for more (indirect) details of what we would like you to rebel against. (The truth is, we would like you to think beyond what we have thought of ourselves, and of course, it’s not possible for us to write something we have never thought of here.)

Logistical:
We welcome
- work that can be hosted on the web without ruining the work itself
- work that involves coded interactions
- static work, dynamic work
- poetic work, academic work
- visual work, text work, everything in between
- the only constraint is some abstract idea of the syllabus ;)
- please be niche