In this article, our Research Associate and Curator Mūthoni Mwangi, talks about a fellowship that expanded her view of the accessible and interactive ways available for organising and presenting research and exposed her to play as a method of intellectual inquiry and world-building.
As an early career researcher living in and writing about the Global South, I have found that “universal” “academic” forms of inquiry do not meet the needs of our decolonial scholarship. Existing in this gap where one must reflect and write about their experience without the tools or with limited tools to honestly grapple with our colonial histories and the neo-colonial presents, I have found that gatherings offer some reprieve by providing an environment to think together. I have found these gatherings through workshops and fellowships that invite multidisciplinary artists to learn and make together. The nnawiri fellowship was one such experience for me.
On the week of January 29th to February 2nd, I attended the inaugural nnawiri fellowship by The Nawi collective. The Nawi Collective are a group of African women who believe that ‘the economic systems and policies guiding our countries, and the global economy, are anti-poor, anti-labor, anti-women, anti-joy, anti-beauty, anti-sustainability and therefore fundamentally, at odds with life. [They] are a collective helping to build a community of African women researchers, writers, artists, healers and dreamers committed to analysing, giving language to, changing the language of, and influencing the policies guiding, our macroeconomic systems.’(‘The Nawi Manifesto’ – Agazit Abate)
According to the Barnard Zine Library, “A zine, short for fanzine, is a DIY (do-it-yourself) sub-culture self-publication, usually made on paper and reproduced with a photocopier or printer. Zine creators are often motivated by a desire to share knowledge or experience with people in marginalised or otherwise less-empowered communities.” Zines can act as a tool for mediation and reflection on our colonial histories and neo-colonial macroeconomic presents, the workshop allowed us to explore and represent our thoughts and realities in a playful manner. The low pressure and DIY nature of zines creates an open field to play within and imagine new worlds. The playful nature of zines, to me, opens up endless avenues to organising and presenting research in more accessible and interactive ways.
For me, creating zines as the primary output of the fellowship, served as a reminder and affirmation of ideas that I have been experimenting with. It took me back to the idea of play as research methodology, the importance of community archiving and communal memory practices and the importance of the artist in inviting scholarly inquiry into our shared oppressions.
It also reminded me of my duty to move in accordance with the common feminist maxim “the personal is political” and called me back into the awareness that my research and lived experiences are inherently political and thus can cause large scale cultural and political change through community organising. Overall, the most important lesson I learned was the primacy of gathering to co-create a methodology in world-building and dreaming our decolonial worlds into existence. Agazit Abate put it best in the text “In a time not so far away.” when she said,
When the first people greeted each other, they asked, “ Is your heart at ease?” and the response was always, “ Only if your heart is at ease.” Their fidelity was to each other, their wellness co-dependent
They lived with the earth and abided by its universal law – all harvest is mutual. (pg.4)
The members of the gathering were central to creating a safe space to confront difficult topics and play together. Skillfully bringing multidisciplinary artists who provided multiple perspectives on shared realities, nnawiri managed to give us room to center co-dreaming as an (anti) academic method of knowledge production. Rooting ourselves in the spirit of camaraderie, we learnt to be patient and intentional in our co-creation. Kabi Kimari put it best, “The truth is the truth even if one of us forgets‘ ‘ reminding us that where we are going we cannot (afford) to go alone, we cannot afford self-isolation, community is our most potent charm.
In the end, as a researcher interested in experimental anti-colonial approaches to research, this fellowship allowed me to gather with fellow dreamers and world-builders and engage in play as a method of intellectual inquiry and world building. Nerima called it “Trafficking in the imaginary.” As a zine-maker, this fellowship allowed me to explore new skills within the craft and expand my network of zine-makers. It was also an opportunity for me to assist in sharing the ‘gospel of zine making'(as I call it). I am particularly interested in zine -making because of its radical and abolitionist roots. Zine-making is important to me because it is a low-cost mode of self-publishing and information sharing.
In the end, the week-long fellowship was a refreshing and revitalising experience where I was able to engage and collaborate with fellow revolutionary dreamers and explore artistic interventions to the social and economic issues that we face in the Global South. It also allowed me to make meaningful friendships and collaborations. It expanded my web of the co-conspirators I rely on in my academic inquiry. Which is to say, I made some cool friends to think with!
Other Guiding Quotes from “In a time not so far away.”
The Oath of Care
“ like beauty is to life
And life to Beauty
Like soil is to plants
And plants to soil
Like kisses are to lovers
An lovers to kisses
You are to me
And I to you
We, the people
The labourers of love.”
(pg.12)
Honey dripping dreams/ We eat together
Staying cool in the breeze / climbing in the trees
We play together/staying cool in the breeze
Honey dripping dreams/ dripping dreams
Feeling ease
(pg.18)
The people want the vision to be as mundane as breathing, for the spectacular to be the norm. So they work in solidarity to be one among many
(pg.23)