A boutique institute of curated learning experiences.
Our
mission
The Delvion Institute is an intimate intellectual boutique dedicated to learning as a relational and ethical practice. We offer carefully curated seminars that bring together small cohorts of participants for close reading, conversation, and reflection on some of the most urgent questions of our time about belonging, love, identity, ethics, and the futures we are making together. We also offer fully customized one-on-one learning experiences, allowing participants to engage deeply with ideas and texts in a way that is tailored to their own curiosities and intellectual journey.
What is The Delvion Institute?
Our skills are in curation. We excel at crafting personalized learning environments that allow for dedicated curiosity, intellectual exploration, and learner autonomy.
If you’ve always wanted to learn more about a subject, want to fight against the intellectual deadening of your 9-5 office job, or want to learn the histories and intellectual approaches that were intentionally excluded from mainstream education settings, we will help you find a path forward. The Delvion Institute is a boutique institute of curated learning experiences, meaning we design each offering with care, intention, and depth rather than scale or standardization. This may take the form of participating in a small-cohort seminar, getting a personalized syllabus tailored to your needs and interests, or building a uniquely curated 1-on-1 learning experience with us. However you choose to begin, The Delvion Institute offers the interdisciplinary depth and care to meet your intellectual curiosity where it is and help it grow.
Let us make you an intellectual map to take you from where you are to where you want to go.
Upcoming Seminars
Our one-on-one learning experiences are fully tailored to your intellectual curiosity and goals. In private sessions, you engage deeply with ideas, texts, and questions that matter most to you, guided by a mentor who helps you think critically, reflect ethically, and connect concepts across disciplines. These sessions are flexible, immersive, and designed to cultivate insight, clarity, and a meaningful, personal engagement with knowledge.
To begin, participants pay a small deposit, which covers a 30-minute consultation with a professor. During this call, we’ll discuss your interests, explore your learning goals, and design a personalized plan for your study sessions.
This intimate virtual seminar invites a small cohort of participants to engage deeply with the work of various women writers, exploring power, intimacy, history, and belonging. Together, we’ll read across genres, cultures, and time periods to examine how women have written against their own erasure, using language to name what has been historically silenced.
This is a trans-inclusive seminar, in which the very definition of “woman” will be contested, interrogated, and reimagined throughout our discussions.
Guided by two PhD-level instructors, Dr. Mary Byrne and Dr. Peyton Del Toro, participants will move slowly and thoughtfully through selected texts in an intimate, discussion-based setting. Together, we will practice close reading, collective meaning-making, and the pleasure of thinking alongside others who are hungry for depth and nuance.
Virtual Seminars
Wednesdays, 6–9pm EST
4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30
Enrollment is limited to maintain the intimacy and rigor of discussion.
Authoritarianism. Fascism. White supremacy. Anti-gender movements. Nativism. Or maybe more broadly: the far right. Whatever you’ve heard it called, right-wing political movements pose an urgent threat to democracy and civil rights. This course offers a clear, accessible introduction to the contemporary far right in the United States, helping participants understand where these movements come from, what they believe, and how they shape our lives.
This six-week course is organized around four contemporary case studies that illustrate how right-wing movements have gained influence and reshaped American politics.
Anti-Trans Movements: explore how gender diversity has been framed as a social threat; examine recent legislation targeting trans youth.
Anti-Immigrant Movements: examine how narratives of invasion, crime, and national security are used to justify restrictive immigration laws and expanded policing.
“Culture Wars” in Education: trace contemporary battles over curriculum, book bans, parental rights, and Christianity in schools. Explore how the far-right seeks to shape the education system into a weapon to reproduce right-wing political beliefs.
Disinformation and Media Ecosystems: examine right-wing media ecosystems, exploring how disinformation circulates and shapes public opinion.
Abortion Access and Reproductive Politics: examine contemporary threats to reproductive freedom through exploration of fetal personhood legislation, threats to IVF and other reproductive technologies, and criminalization of women who miscarry
Responding to the Right: explore strategies for responding to—and resisting—right wing movements
Through each case study, we will particular attention to two dynamics. First, we will consider that right-wing narratives rarely arrive by saying “hello, we are here to oppress you and take away your rights.” Instead, they claim that they are providing necessary protection—of women, children, families, or the nation itself—that is necessary to create a safe society.
Second, we will center the recurring unwillingness of the mainstream political establishment to take right-wing movements at their word when they articulate authoritarian goals. For years, for instance, the promise to overturn Roe v. Wade and restrict abortion access was dismissed as an unrealistic campaign talking point—even as legal infrastructure was being built to make it possible. Across each case study, participants will examine how this pattern of minimization and disbelief has enabled right-wing movements to advance their agendas, often catching institutions and the public unprepared when even the most clearly stated goals are realized.
Virtual Seminars: Dates will be set collaboratively according to everyone’s schedules. Seminar takes place in March/April.
Anti-Trans Movements
Immigration, ICE, and the Police State
Educational Politics and Privatization
Disinformation and Media Ecosystems
Abortion Access and Reproductive Politics
Responding to the Right
Enrollment is limited to maintain the intimacy and rigor of discussion. Dates are flexible; these are here as placeholders. When we are fully enrolled, we will work with participants to find the best available date.