RASHUNDA TRAMBLE

BIO

Rashunda Tramble is a writer and tarot reader living in Zurich, Switzerland. She has a BA in Film and an MA in Creative Media Practice. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Tramble has worked in radio and television in the US, and marketing and communications (art, luxury and finance) in Europe.

WORKSHOP

Stranger in the Village: Baldwin, tarot and walking the Fool’s path in a very white land

In 1951, the African-American writer James Baldwin traveled to Leukerbad, Switzerland, a small village in the western part of the country, to convalesce after coming close to burnout. As the villagers had never seen a Black man before, both they and Baldwin faced a series of “unknowns” during his time there. Baldwin recounts his experiences in the essay “Stranger in the Village”, which was published in his book Notes of a Native Son in 1955.

Exactly 50 years later, I found myself in Switzerland, having some of the same experiences as Baldwin had with the “unknown”: being an “unknown” as an African-American woman in an extremely white country; and facing the “unknown”, Switzerland itself.

As a tarot reader who views life through the lens of divinatory practice, I will explore how the “Fool’s Journey” can be applied to my and Baldwin’s experiences as people of African descent in Switzerland facing the “unknown”, with the aim of giving the audience a framework to apply in their own lives as well.