Inquiring into Red/Red Inquiring

Abstract

This layered account of an inquiry into ‘red’ emerged out of a collective biography workshop. In the middle of the Wiltshire countryside, an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars gathered together to write and make other things and marks on paper that asked questions of, and into, the spaces between words, people, things and their environments. We did not set out to workshop or write into or paint ‘red’ but, rather, it was red that slipped in, uninvited, and painted and wrote us. Red arose as a blush or a stain seeping amongst us that became referenced obliquely by material objects, metaphors and fairytales. The stain spread, became noticeable through our weekend together and beyond it, creating another (bright red artery) vein of connection to write with

‘Working on a rocky shore’: Micro-moments of positive affect in academic work

“…Collective biography workshops have occurred in many locations, often off site, and over extended periods of time with people who already know each other well, who may be working with similar theoretical ideas, and they have incorporated arts and drama methods alongside writing (Davies and Gannon, 2009;Gale et al, 2013;.…”

“…Collective biography has previously examined joy through memories of everyday experience. Joyful assemblages of girlhood were examined by Gannon et al (2013), and the production of joy in the mundane practices of academic work was examined by Kern et al (2014). in academia, positioning joy as a 'constitutive force' in academia, and they determine to 'follow joy around in order to learn where it comes from, what it does, and how it keeps us here.'…”

Working at the Wonder: Collaborative Writing as Method of Inquiry

“…K: We might ask what does it mean to bring moss or concrete to the writing table and start from there, as we did in a recent collaborative writing project with Susanne Gannon and other colleagues (Gale, Gallant, et al, 2013)?…”

Remembering Sue: Last Writes

“…You’re here in the sound of your voice; its dry, deliberate wit. You’re here in the circle in this room, like you were 5 or 6 years ago, writing and making red with us all (Gale et al, 2013). 6 You’re here in other ways, other ways I have forgotten: here in the missed opportunities, the moments we didn’t linger, the time we didn’t get.…”