Class 10 - Place-making, movement, and lines of flight
Welcome Back
In this session, we’re going to look more closely at place as a network of forces, as something that is made and remade as we — and other beings too — go about our lives.
Discussion
- What places does Michelle Kuo evoke in her writing?
- How does she do this?
- What does she pay attention to?
On Place
We’re going to be thinking about places not just as static containers for experience, but as dynamic networks of forces, lines of flight, tangles of relationships, escape routes. In his amazing book: Lines, A Brief History (Routledge 2007), anthropologist a Tim Ingold asks how we inhabit the world. And ht talks about inhabiting the world as a kind of wayfaring. Here’s a quote:
The experience of habitation cannot be comprehended within the terms of the conventional opposition between the settler and the nomad, since this opposition is itself founded on the contrary principle of occupation. Settlers occupy places; nomads fail to do so. Wayfarers, however, are not failed or reluctant occupants but successful inhabitants. They may indeed be widely travelled, moving from place to place – often over considerable distances – and contributing through these movements to the ongoing formation of each of the places through which they pass. Wayfaring, in short, is neither placeless nor place-bound but place-making. (p. 101)
This may sound abstract. But this is a really good starting point for writers. Instead of thinking about the places we are writing about as inert containers for our human dramas, we can ask about how our experience of place is made. It’s a dynamic process.
As a writer of nonfiction, you move through particular places — taking in the world as you do so. And this is what you need to give your reader: a similar experience of wayfaring through this world — noticing things, trying to understand things, having glimpses of things not yet understood.
As a writer, think about taking your reader on a journey through somewhere that may be unfamiliar to them. Let them sense the strangeness, the uniqueness, the specificity of this world.
Places
I’m going to get you started today on your second mini-assignment. This is about places and journeys.
- Choose a journey that is familiar to you and that you can make on foot. It may be just a short walk to the shops. It may be the route you take to your favourite coffee shop. It may be the path to a relative’s house. It may be a track through the forest.
- Make some notes on this journey, thinking about some of the following:
- What things on this walk tell you about the social context of this walk? (What kinds of houses are there? Buildings? Cars? What people do you see? Are they in groups? Are they young or old? What about gender? Are there friends of yours? Relatives? If so, who are they?)
- What things tell you about the historical context? (Old buildings? Remnants of the past? Closed-up shops? Signs?)
- What things tell you about the political context? (Posters? Slogans on the walls? Police or military checkpoints?)
- What things tell you about the religious context? (Religious buildings? Religious figures? Nat houses? Temples? Sounds?)
- What about the ecological context? (Trees, plants, flowers? What species? Fruit? Animals?)
- What are the things on this journey that you feel a connection with? (Particular places? A particular tree? A temple where you always stop? A bench where you like to sit? A stray cat whom you like to greet?)
I’m going to get you to make notes for 15 minutes, and then to share these in groups.
It’s important not to start writing too early. You need to explore this journey in more detail first.
Breakout groups
Take turns to talk about your places to your fellow writers. When each writer has presented, the other participants are to ask them any questions they are not clear on, or any details they want expanding on.
Assignment Briefing 2: A Short Walk…
Your second mini-assignment is to write a vivid, compelling nonfiction piece about this short journey. Take the reader on a journey in 300-500 words.
For this exercise, try writing mainly in the PRESENT TENSE. This may help you make the writing more immediate, though you can change tenses back and forth if it feels appropriate, or give up on the present tense entirely if you find it restrictive.
Once you have drafted the piece, edit it at least three times (preferably more). When editing, keep your reader in mind, and think about how you can bring out the sense of being there as vividly as possible for your reader.
Once you have done, upload to the assignments tab as a Word document. Please use Times New Roman, 12 pt text size, and either 1.5 or double-spacing. Put your name at the top, and a title if you like (not included in the word count). Your overall word count is 300-500 words.
Homework
There’s no reading this week. Your homework is to complete the mini-assignment.