Playing With Ancestors: Writing as an Act of Vulnerable Listening

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities of engaging in playful interactions with ancestral forces, expanding the boundaries of academic writing. Specifically, it examines the interplay between writing and inquiry, emphasizing play as a means of communion with both human and nonhuman ancestors, fostering vulnerable listening within academic discourse. Departing from conventional productivity-centric writing approaches, the paper advocates for a paradigm wherein writing responds to curiosity, evoking play, and imagination, while also embracing experimentation and learning. This conceptual shift envisions writing as a dynamic companion, extending its engagement beyond human ancestors through a posthuman theoretical perspective. Similar to play, writing emerges from interactive experiences, offering a conduit for establishing profound connections with the external world. Engaging with ancestral figures through playful frameworks necessitates embodied practice, encompassing sensory, emotional, and sociocultural dimensions. The paper employs practices of storytelling, metaphors, and nonlinear narratives in an exploration of three nonhuman ancestors in particular: moths, ladders, and trees.