$18.04
“Santiman” means “feelings,” or “sentiment” in Haitian Creole. Santiman is my fifth poetry book coming March 2021. “Santiman” is a collection of poetry that hopes to elevate understandings of epistemic justice. It’s a piece that reminds readers that theories start in our bodies, therefore, we all have the power to be theory creators and knowledge innovators. Our senses, critical analytics, beloved creative thinkers, romantic partners and ancestors have all left us important tools that can help us move through the world with more awareness. As we make decisions, tell stories and author new ways of knowing and being, we extend knowledge beyond ourselves – but we must also begin with ourselves. What moments, experiences and people guide us to questions that keep us reading, writing, creating and questioning? This book tells the story of my ancestor’s gifts, lessons from liberation literature, lessons gleamed from donald’s stark dystopia as well as visceral moments that were inspired by theory but only came alive through experience. Santiman reminds us that our feelings, unique positionalities and ancestral connections add distinctive value to our curiosities and the ways we see the world. Our feelings, bodily sensations, intergenerational memories and intuition can guide us to new understandings. We don’t need to be situated in the ivory tower to develop theories, some of us are knee deep in it, others of us find our most helpful theories are deeply situated within us, our memories rituals and habits. Our theories can be deeply personal or generalizable but we must start by interrogating if another, more humanizing, inclusive and reflexive science is possible.