I am the Amazon who Dances on the Backs of Turtles: The Politics and Poetics of Writing Self and Community

Abstract

In this thesis I explore the writing practice I have been engaged in for a number of years. I conceptualise this practice as 'writing self and community'. A critical element of my interest in writing self and community is the political intention to work against hegemonic cultural constructions and create space for diverse and resistant voices and stories. The argument of my thesis is that taking up writing in this way engages both the politics and poetics of representation - both its discursive and semiotic dimensions. The first part of my discussion introduces my writing practice and locates it in the discursive and practical context of radical adult education and cultural activism. I draw on understandings of individuality and community in these contexts and show the relationship between politics and culture in the radical tradition. I suggest that the counter-hegemonic intention of cultural activism is to 'represent ourselves'. In the second part of my thesis I develop my discussion through examples of my practice and focus particularly on material from the Homefront women's community writing and publishing group which is, in a sense, the story of my thesis. I use both expository and evocative styles of writing and include voices other than my own, as well as my own in different registers. I also focus in more detail on the political and poetical dimensions of writing as a representational form. I suggest that the wider discursive contest for social meaning is played out in practices of textual representation as well as in discourses concerning these practices. I propose that a counter-hegemonic writing practice involves using imaginative writing strategies and conventions in unorthodox and transgressive ways, with a view to agentically re-writing the subordinate subject. The social relations of this practice and its intention are those of the inclusive, mutual making of community through alliances across different social positions.