Creative Experiments in Making Worlds
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
The PhD on which the monograph and publications are to be based explores how what I term 'performative' (Butler 1997) encounters - participatory, fun, creative, collective events and actions that take place in everyday realms - mobilise new forms of collective socio-political life by creating new relationships between people. It ties to the ESRC's key research fields, 'Social Stability and Exclusion' and 'Work and Organisation'. This research is important for three reasons. It significantly contributes to and extends upon the still marginal yet important interdisciplinary literature on creativity and autonomous community and work organisation (Cresswell 1996; Chatterton and Pickerall 2006; Raunig 2007; Gibson-Graham 2006). The shifting landscapes of human relations in new work and socio-cultural environments, the changes in national and international geopolitics, and the possibilities for human mobility have changed how we consider our communities and networks, as Cresswell argues (2006). I show how creativity and desires for alternatives are key to building relationships and finding commonality across diverse social demographics, an area of key relevance for cultural geography. Secondly, policy, state and academic studies typically focus on private and state initiatives to better the conditions of students, low-income earners and migrants, rarely addressing the hopes and initiatives of these demographics; I examine how people inhabiting marginal demographics self-organise new living and working conditions. Thirdly, while participatory and non-representational methods of ethnography have been developed in geographical literature (Kinpaisby 2008; Thrift and Dewsbury 2000; Thrift 2004), these do not often intersect with lived social and political issues (Smith 2005). I extend such methods via participatory fieldwork, contributing original ways of bringing academic work and socio-political struggle into dialogue that compliments those already practiced by social scientists.
The PhD is organised around five contemporary German case studies: Berlin and Hamburg Umsonst, the Transnational Republic, Schleuser.net and Meine Akademie, which address common socio-political concerns. The first section on Berlin and Hamburg Umsonst looks at precariousness and uncertainty in life and labour. In this context I suggest that the reclamation of cultural resources and public amenities made inaccessible to low income earners such as pools, cinemas, art galleries and public transport through Umsonst's humorous and pleasurable actions build new self-determined communities and networks that can critically challenge privatisation and neoliberal policies. The second section investigates changes in citizenship, the nation-state and borders in the European Union. It addresses tensions in Germany around migration, human mobility and settlement through the examples of Schleuser.net, a non-reformist lobby organisation, and the micronation of the Transnational Republic. It demonstrates how these forms construct encounters of information exchange that make visible minor narratives and challenge xenophobia. The third section looks at the symbiosis of state and corporate interests in knowledge production. It explores how self-organised education initiatives such as free universities and classes run by Meine Akademie empower students and communities to share knowledges, skills and resources without economic mediation.
The primary outcomes of the fellowship award will be the dissemination of the PhD research through its conversion into a monograph and high profile journal articles, and its presentation to academic and non-academic audiences through conferences, workshops and Fellowship website. The feedback received from this dissemination process will help me to hone my future research directions; contact with groups both within and outside of institutions will also strengthen my skills and reputation as a social researcher and cultural geographer.
The PhD is organised around five contemporary German case studies: Berlin and Hamburg Umsonst, the Transnational Republic, Schleuser.net and Meine Akademie, which address common socio-political concerns. The first section on Berlin and Hamburg Umsonst looks at precariousness and uncertainty in life and labour. In this context I suggest that the reclamation of cultural resources and public amenities made inaccessible to low income earners such as pools, cinemas, art galleries and public transport through Umsonst's humorous and pleasurable actions build new self-determined communities and networks that can critically challenge privatisation and neoliberal policies. The second section investigates changes in citizenship, the nation-state and borders in the European Union. It addresses tensions in Germany around migration, human mobility and settlement through the examples of Schleuser.net, a non-reformist lobby organisation, and the micronation of the Transnational Republic. It demonstrates how these forms construct encounters of information exchange that make visible minor narratives and challenge xenophobia. The third section looks at the symbiosis of state and corporate interests in knowledge production. It explores how self-organised education initiatives such as free universities and classes run by Meine Akademie empower students and communities to share knowledges, skills and resources without economic mediation.
The primary outcomes of the fellowship award will be the dissemination of the PhD research through its conversion into a monograph and high profile journal articles, and its presentation to academic and non-academic audiences through conferences, workshops and Fellowship website. The feedback received from this dissemination process will help me to hone my future research directions; contact with groups both within and outside of institutions will also strengthen my skills and reputation as a social researcher and cultural geographer.
People |
ORCID iD |
Anja Kanngieser (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Kanngieser A
(2013)
Experimental Politics and the Making of Worlds
Kanngieser A
(2013)
Nanopolitics Handbook
Kanngieser A
(2013)
Introduction
in Parallax
Kanngieser A
(2014)
What is a research platform? Mapping methods, mobilities and subjectivities
in Media, Culture & Society
Kanngieser A
(2013)
Tracking and Tracing: Geographies of Logistical Governance and Labouring Bodies
in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Description | As the Fellowship was awarded for the publication of a monograph based on research arising from a PhD, the award was focused on making existing research accessible to a range of publics and developing my academic career. The grant developed ways to open dialogue between disciplines and audiences about the importance of creative and artistic methods for dealing with social and political issues around housing, work, migration and education. Through a combination of academic publications, academic and public workshops and public presentations I found that there is a lot of interest in finding different ways to engage communities to work together on common challenges. |
Exploitation Route | My findings are interdisciplinary, appealing to a range of scholars across the arts and humanities - this is seen in the breadth of publication and presentation forums in which the work has been presented. The findings can contribute to further understandings of how creative and artistic methods can be employed to help open lines of communication between diverse participants and audiences in times of social and political tension. As such they have relevance not only to academic cohorts, but also those working in social justice movements and in community and non-governmental organisations. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Other |
Description | The findings and outputs enabled by the award of the Post Doctoral Fellowship have been used for ameliorating the public outreach of my research and its key themes and furthering my academic career. The Fellowship consolidated research on the importance of collective community engagement in social and political organising, using creative methods. Following from the award I have been granted further funding for an ESRC Festival of Social Science public workshop, a British Academy/ Leverhulme Small Grant for developing a new method influenced by the findings of the Post Doctoral award and I have secured a permanent Lectureship post. The monograph arising from the award has been allocated as a core text for an MA course at a high ranking research university (Sociology Department Goldsmiths College); publications from the Fellowship have been cited in interdisciplinary monographs. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science |
Amount | £1,147 (GBP) |
Funding ID | Grant 212 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2013 |
End | 12/2013 |
Description | Protest Camps Network |
Organisation | Bournemouth University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Protest Camps Network was established by a group of researchers looking at the recent phenomenon of protest camps and the use of public space. From my research I contributed knowledge on creative forms of protest and organisation. I organised a one day public workshop funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Science. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners have contributed room space, advertising and marketing resources, and opportunities for international networking and idea exchange. |
Impact | 'Creating worlds together: A workshop on Experimentations and Protest Camps'. Public workshop. Birkbeck College, University of London, 2 November, 2013 'The Politics of the Social in Contemporary Art'. Tate Modern, London, 16 February 2013 'Creating worlds: The affective spaces of experimental politics'. Day conference. Royal Holloway, Bedford Square, London, 14 January, 2013 |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Protest Camps Network |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Protest Camps Network was established by a group of researchers looking at the recent phenomenon of protest camps and the use of public space. From my research I contributed knowledge on creative forms of protest and organisation. I organised a one day public workshop funded by the ESRC Festival of Social Science. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners have contributed room space, advertising and marketing resources, and opportunities for international networking and idea exchange. |
Impact | 'Creating worlds together: A workshop on Experimentations and Protest Camps'. Public workshop. Birkbeck College, University of London, 2 November, 2013 'The Politics of the Social in Contemporary Art'. Tate Modern, London, 16 February 2013 'Creating worlds: The affective spaces of experimental politics'. Day conference. Royal Holloway, Bedford Square, London, 14 January, 2013 |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Creating radical political economies through communicating differently |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Around 70 academics from Geography and related social science and humanities disciplines attended, and given the interdisciplinary nature of the talk several questions were asked about the new methods developed through the project. Postgraduate students arranged for a meeting with me afterwards to discuss bringing creative methods into geographical research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/AbstractDetail.cfm?AbstractID=49595 |
Description | Creating worlds : the affective spaces of experimental politics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Academics from disciplines of geography, media, arts and social sciences met to discuss different strategies for community organising Development of Protest Camps Research Network |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Letting Atmospheres Speak |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | 80 students and academics attended, a lot of discussion was resultant from the presentation I was asked to contribute a chapter to a forthcoming book |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Resonant Bodies Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | My paper generated discussion on the role of voice and sound in geography Ongoing collaboration with some organisers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | https://www.ici-berlin.org/event/532/ |
Description | The Politics of the Social in Contemporary Art |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Opened up conversations on art and politics with public audiences Was asked to contribute to official documentation of international arts groups |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/conference/politics-social-contemporary-art |
Description | The governance of voice: technologies of control and 'other media' studies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The talk sparked discussion between geography and media PhD students I was asked to help a student on a PhD project connected to their dissertation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Voices Along the Supply Chain |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Academics and industry professionals came together to share knowledge on logistics industries, which led to extended discussion and new collaborations forming Formation of new collaborations and industry linkages |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |