
In these troubling times, subverted by violently oppressive systems of all kinds, an ever more frightening future doomed by fascism and climate catastrophe; personal and precarious uncertainties in everyday life; and – additionally – the constant confrontation with (our own) disheartening (academic) analyses of the (worst) state of the world, it is difficult
not to lose hope. The modern mantra of “staying with the trouble” (Haraway 2016) is easier said than done.
But what if we go about our business “bitching and glitching” (Maalsen 2022; Russell 2020) from the edges of cities and concepts together, creating common spaces of exchange and communal solace? What if the panic translates into a playlist of mindful practices and methods, teachings, critical citations? Into a process of (un-)learning? What if a syllabus, a study group, is composed of a symphony of shout-outs, references, loving footnotes, becomes “a mixtape for revolution” (Goffe 2021; McKittrick 2021)?
The DiskursDisco invites you to come together, try, have a ball! Let’s embrace callbacks for papers, creative sabotage, and slowness – talkin’ about a carevolution (Chapman 1988)! Let’s celebrate (colleague-)friendships, fierce collectivity, collaboration that defies any destructive and capitalist competitiveness. Let’s be vulnerable together. Let’s grief. Let’s dream again. Let’s make our thoughts sway. Let’s put the disco back into discourse! The times they are a turn(ing) table.
Re:Mixing Methods and turn(ing) tables invites you to regular exchanges of interdisciplinary – fiercely undisciplinary maybe – inspirations, messy method ‘mixtaping’, and real talk about processes, positionality, and the personal political. In the challenging circumstances we live and work in, the very first workshop of the DiskursDisco series wants to offer a common (virtual?) space to experiment with tools, skills, and (unfinished) ideas we usually ban to “some other time”. Here, neglected approaches, unconventional topics, projects near to our heart take center stage instead of dying in a drawer or on endless to-do-lists. Scratching, streaming, sculpturing, scrolling, strolling – what is the next track on your research journey?
Bring a method! No matter if it’s zine making, desk research hacks, ethnographic endeavors, tweeting tricks, taking a stance; if it’s care-ful interviewing and co-creation or DJ-ing with disciplines – anything goes! Being aware that our schedules are tight, time and resources precious, and care work more important, the only limitation for this format is not to have more work with it than you want. It’s about your already existing and exceptional expertise, your usual go-tos, your favorites or things you otherwise don’t dare to try. No draft papers, just a low-key (lightning) introduction. We’ll go sample your method together, try it out, get our hands dirty. Building a collective toolbox,
“a killjoy survival kit” (Ahmed 2017: 17), this could be a trial-and-error situation or an ongoing dialogue. Hopefully, it’ll be a magic method medley.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, Sara (2017): Living a feminist life. Durham: Duke University Press.
Chapman, Tracey (1988): Talkin’ Bout a Revolution. Tracey ChapmanElektra/Asylum Records.
Goffe, Tao Leigh (2021): To Read bell hooks Was to Love Her. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/bell-hooks-booksessays-to-read.html [last accessed 03.04.2022].
Haraway, Donna Jeanne (2016): Staying with the trouble: making kin in the Chthulucene. Experimental futures: technological lives, scientific arts, anthropological voicesDurham: Duke University Press.
Maalsen, Sophia (2022): Hacking as a minor approach that prefigures future cities: feminist approaches beyond the hegemony
of the smart city.
McKittrick, Katherine (2021): Dear Science and Other Stories. Durham; London: Duke University Press.
Russell, Legacy (2020): Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. London/ New York: Verso Books.