Skip to content
1981

Conversations Between Borders: Cyclical Thinking and Alternative Worlds

image of Conversations Between Borders: Cyclical Thinking and Alternative Worlds

In this chapter I discuss a so-called community arts project that I instigated in 2019, and that ended up being something quite different to what I had intended it to be. I began by meeting weekly with a group of mothers and female carers at my children's primary school in West London, with the aim of making a piece of theatre about our shared experience of the school gate. Ultimately, I chose not to make a single work to commemorate our encounters, but instead began to think about what it might mean to honour our lively discussions as they happened, with all the laughter and confessions, songs and tears, silences, and acts of listening that they entailed. Hailing from fourteen different countries, with different cultural beliefs, worldviews, and family values, we found common ground while celebrating what made us distinct. What took place raised a series of complex and interesting questions for me, which I begin to address here. I enact a methodology of circular thinking as I do this, rounding back on my experience again and again while I seek to make sense of it and why it was important.

Keywords: Community ; Feminist listening ; Fred Moten ; Iterative Practice ; Karen Barad ; Laura Harris ; Luce Irigaray ; Story-listening ; Story-telling ; Study

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barad, Karen (2007), Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham, London: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bishop Claire (2012), Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, London: Verso Books.133
  3. Bourriaud, Nicolas (2002), Relational Aesthetics, Paris: Les Presses du Reel.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Brown, Wendy (1995), States of Injury, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Crawley, Ashon (2017), Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility, New York: Fordham University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Dean, Jodi (1996), Solidarity of Strangers: Feminism after Identity Politics, Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Federici, Silvia (2010), ‘Feminism and the politics of the commons’, in C. Hughes , S. Peace , and K. Van Meter (eds), Uses of a Whirlwind: Movement, Movements, and Contemporary Radical Currents in the United States, Oakland: AK Press, http://wealthofthecommons.org/essay/feminism-and-politics-commons. Accessed 27 April 2020 .
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Harney, Stefano and Moten, Fred (2013), The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Harris, Laura (2018), Experiments in Exile: C. L. R. James, Hélio Oiticica, and the Aesthetic Sociality of Blackness, New York: Fordham University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Helguera, Pablo (2011), Education for Socially Engaged Art: Materials and Techniques Handbook, Mexico City: Jorge Pinto Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hunter, Mary Ann (2008), ‘Cultivating the art of safe space’, Research in Drama Education, 13:1, 5–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Irigaray, Luce and Green, Mary (eds) (2008), Luce Irigaray: Teaching, London, New York: Continuum.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Jordan, June (2003), Some of Us Did Not Die, New York: Basic Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Kester, Grant (2004), Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art, Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Lorde, Audre (1984), Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Trumansburg: Crossing Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Matarasso, Francois (2019), A Restless Art: How Participation Won, and Why It Matters, Lisbon and London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Muñoz, José Esteban (2009), Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Nash, Jennifer Christine (2013), ‘Practicing love: Black feminism, love-politics, and post-intersectionality’, Meridians: A Journal of Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 11:2, pp. 1–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Nash, Jennifer Christine (2019), Black Feminism Reimagined after Intersectionality, London: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Nikolić, Mirko and Skinner, Sam (2019), ‘Community’, Philosophy Today (New Concepts for Materialism), 63:4, pp. 815–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2018), The End of the Cognitive Empire: The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South, Durham: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Smith, Ali (2019), Spring: A Novel, London: Penguin Random House.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Weeks, Kathi (2011), The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries, Durham: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Barad, Karen (2007), Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham, London: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bishop Claire (2012), Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, London: Verso Books.133
  3. Bourriaud, Nicolas (2002), Relational Aesthetics, Paris: Les Presses du Reel.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Brown, Wendy (1995), States of Injury, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Crawley, Ashon (2017), Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility, New York: Fordham University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Dean, Jodi (1996), Solidarity of Strangers: Feminism after Identity Politics, Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Federici, Silvia (2010), ‘Feminism and the politics of the commons’, in C. Hughes , S. Peace , and K. Van Meter (eds), Uses of a Whirlwind: Movement, Movements, and Contemporary Radical Currents in the United States, Oakland: AK Press, http://wealthofthecommons.org/essay/feminism-and-politics-commons. Accessed 27 April 2020 .
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Harney, Stefano and Moten, Fred (2013), The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Harris, Laura (2018), Experiments in Exile: C. L. R. James, Hélio Oiticica, and the Aesthetic Sociality of Blackness, New York: Fordham University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Helguera, Pablo (2011), Education for Socially Engaged Art: Materials and Techniques Handbook, Mexico City: Jorge Pinto Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hunter, Mary Ann (2008), ‘Cultivating the art of safe space’, Research in Drama Education, 13:1, 5–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Irigaray, Luce and Green, Mary (eds) (2008), Luce Irigaray: Teaching, London, New York: Continuum.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Jordan, June (2003), Some of Us Did Not Die, New York: Basic Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Kester, Grant (2004), Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art, Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Lorde, Audre (1984), Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Trumansburg: Crossing Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Matarasso, Francois (2019), A Restless Art: How Participation Won, and Why It Matters, Lisbon and London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Muñoz, José Esteban (2009), Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Nash, Jennifer Christine (2013), ‘Practicing love: Black feminism, love-politics, and post-intersectionality’, Meridians: A Journal of Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 11:2, pp. 1–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Nash, Jennifer Christine (2019), Black Feminism Reimagined after Intersectionality, London: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Nikolić, Mirko and Skinner, Sam (2019), ‘Community’, Philosophy Today (New Concepts for Materialism), 63:4, pp. 815–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2018), The End of the Cognitive Empire: The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South, Durham: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Smith, Ali (2019), Spring: A Novel, London: Penguin Random House.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Weeks, Kathi (2011), The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries, Durham: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]

  • From This Site

    /content/books/9781789388879.c07
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
/content/books/9781789388879.c07
dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
-contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
10
5
Chapter
content/books/9781789388879
Book
false
en
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test