Re/turning as slow methodology in affective writing encounters

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I have met with colleagues from UWC and UCT for some years now to talk, think and write together (and drink lots of coffee in between). For a long time this has been a space of respite and comfort - away from the tensions and conflicts at work. Started during student protest time, it has moved us into coffeeshop spaces, re-appropriating coffeeshops across the Southern Suburbs as spaces for reflection and engagement. I appreciated the honesty and vulnerability we committed ourselves to, in our sharing and writing. Writing for pleasure. Writing without a deadline, without a purpose. Writing together. But as academics do, eventually deadlines, products, purposes crept in, conference were attended, papers written. This video, created by my amazing colleague Niki Romano, is one product of our writing, which we will share at HECU this morning. Its bittersweet to watch it. Its a beautiful piece of art, affecting and affected, it takes me back to good times, but it also did something to us. Cementing us, putting us in context, linking us to a specific time and space. Disrupting and disruptive. Inviting an external gaze I am not sure we were ready for.


Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 23, 2021 at 1:33 AM

    This is beautiful. I am trying to get in touch with Niki Romano.

    ReplyDelete

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