Collective residencies / FEMINISMS / Olot
SAMEENA AZHAR
From Tuesday, 7 November 2017 to Monday, 20 November 2017
Bio
Sameena Azhar is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Berkeley and Masters degrees in Social Work and Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania. She works as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for the Village of Niles with monolingual Hindi/Urdu-speaking immigrants. She is a Minority Fellow for the Council on Social Work Education and a Dissertation Writing Fellow for the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Chicago. She has more than a decade of clinical and research experience in the fields of HIV, mental health, and substance abuse. She plays jazz piano and adores the town of Bodega Bay in northern California.
Project
She will spend most of her time at Faber working on her dissertation research, which pertains to HIV stigma, gender and depression for cisgender women and hijra/transgender women in Hyderabad, south India. She also plans to hold a biweekly working group for feminist English-speaking writers at the Faber residency. Each session will focus exclusively on the work of one contributor and will offer a supportive feminist space to be able to discuss and improve one’s craft. The main purpose of the group will be to support feminists in presenting their own work and offering constructive feedback to others.
Faber: A place to reconnect with your work and rekindle your inspiration!
I had the pleasure of participating in the Faber residency on Feminisms in November 2017. The experience was exactly what I needed to be able to focus on my writing. Everyone at Faber is amazing. The residency brought together an incredibly diverse group of scholars, writers and journalists. I met poets, Catalan literary scholars, philosophers, sociologists, and cultural anthropologists. Faber takes care of all the necessities, so you can focus on your writing. They provide a lavish breakfast and dinner, ample writing space in both your room and throughout the hotel, and several opportunities to meet and network with other people interested in your substantive area. During my stay, I presented at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in the Department of History of Sciences. It was a fabulous opportunity to meet other scholars working on issues related to the framing of medical issues throughout the history of science. I am in the last throws of completing a PhD in Social Work at the University of Chicago and during my time here, I was able to revise multiple chapters of my dissertation. Back in Chicago, I work as a clinical social worker, so this time away from home also provided me the peace and quiet I needed to regain clarity of thought. Waking up to the beautiful background of the breathtaking Pyrenees is such a delight. There are several nearby trails to explore for leisurely walks, including Parc Nou, Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa (La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park), and Volcà Montascopa. The sunsets alone made this trip truly memorable. The coordinators of the program, Francesc Serés and Gavina Freixa, take great care to accommodate the residents at every turn. One of my last days at Faber was spent having lunch at the director´s beautiful home in the city center of Olot. I will not forget this trip. Thank you for the wonderful memories of Catalunya, Faber!
