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Watch our webinar launching Shapeless Shapes LIVE here on here:
The wonderful Professor Jacqueline Bhabha of @HarvardFxb opens by commenting on how timely it is in an era of #Covid_19 to be thinking about how we can get the message out about discrimination and exclusion to as wide an audience as possible, which is what #ShapelessShapes does
Enjoy a taster of the book with this 90-second animation...! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=9CNC1akf3lA&feature=emb_logo
You can download #ShapelessShapes from our website here https://www.institutesi.org/year-of-action-resources/shapeless-shapes
@byhannakim explains the origins of the idea for #ShapelessShapes: “It upset me to learn that millions of people are suffering in the shadows because they lack a nationality. I’d never heard about the issue before and got thinking about how I would explain it to friends & family”
@byhannakim constructed a world of shapes, to visualise countries and citizens, then to visualise #statelessness as a 'shapeless shape' - challenging the notion that a stateless person is invisible and also conveying that statelessness can be resolved
@Amal_deC explains how the sequence of images in #ShapelessShapes exposes how citizenship is used as a weapon to exclude people and #statelessness in turn allows them to then be treated as sub-human
#ShapelessShapes contributes to amplifying the voices of stateless people because we need to counter the pens and swords of the powerful shapes with megaphones for stateless people and activists - explains @Amal_deC as he talks about his pride in this publication
Ekaterina from @UnitedStateless talks about her own experience of #statelessness and how the book shows you that it is shapes that commit an act against other shapes, so we are reminded that discrimination is something that is 'done' to people, not just something that 'happens'
Importantly, #ShapelessShapes also contains a message of hope, which is so important for stateless people who are trying to navigate their situation and collaborate to achieve change - explains Ekaterina from @UnitedStateless
@Amal_deC says that working together with @byhannakim on #ShapelessShapes meant producing something better than either could have alone, but also for Amal, a chance to get a better understanding of the issue of #statelessness itself, by breaking it down in this way
"Statelessness is a global issue and collaborating with other organisations, especially those also led by stateless activists is going to be a crucial element of success, here in the US and elsewhere" according to @UnitedStateless activist Ekaterina
Ekaterina also referred to research on #statelessness in the US which has helped to expose the extent of the issue. Interested to know more? You can access the report by @CMSnewyork here https://cmsny.org/publications/stateless-in-the-united-states/ @UnitedStateless
There's been fantastic energy among activists and NGOs working on #statelessness over the past few years - now is the time to take this forward together in a way that allows stateless people to be leading the movement - explains @Amal_deC, reflecting on what's next for activism
#Statelessness is a different and a unique plight from what (the rest of) migrant communities are facing and this must be much more widely recognised and understood - adds @UnitedStateless member Ekaterina. The specific challenges we face as stateless people need to be known
A huge thank you to Prof. Bhabha of @HarvardFxb, @byhannakim, and Ekaterina of @UnitedStateless for collaborating with us on this webinar!
#ShapelessShapes can be downloaded from our website, but if you'd prefer a hard copy... you can also order it here https://www.amazon.com/Shapeless-Shapes-Amal-Chickera/dp/9082836645
#ShapelessShapes can be downloaded from our website, but if you'd prefer a hard copy... you can also order it here https://www.amazon.com/Shapeless-Shapes-Amal-Chickera/dp/9082836645
