Disrupting Displacements: Making Knowledges for Futures Otherwise in Gullah/Geechee Nation

Abstract

In this article, I consider the politics of making knowledge and building theory about displacement that has as its goal transformative social change. Drawing on my experience conducting research as a member of the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank, I engage with strands of Black feminist thought to consider the politics of pursuing what I call itineraries of verification. I propose a thick conception of the politics of knowledge production as best understood as a bundle of social relations. By thick conception, I mean to inextricably link the products of knowledge production practices (e.g., academic publications, data sets, and other artifacts that are produced through acts of research and systematized knowing) and the institutional, social, interpersonal, and political economic relations that are made and reified in the process. Central to this set of concerns is how social formations are implicitly or explicitly reproduced or reworked in the knowledge production process. In particular, I am skeptical of the assumption that knowledge about systems of power is inherently disruptive of those systems. With respect to research on displacement generally, or in my work with Gullah/Geechees specifically, this critique invites reflection on the political stakes of ways of knowing about processes we wish to disrupt, rework, or abolish.

本文思考了以改革性社会变化为政治目标的迁移的知识和理论构建。根据我作为“古拉/古奇可持续性智库”（Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank）成员所开展的研究, 采用黑人女权主义思想, 我思考了诉求“验证旅程”的政治学。我提出, 知识生产政治强概念的最佳理解是一组社会关系。强概念是指将知识生产实践的成果（例如, 学术出版物、数据集、通过研究和系统化认知所产生的其它产品）, 与在此过程中形成的具体化的制度、社会、人际和政治经济关系相紧密联系起来。这些问题的核心, 是知识生产过程如何隐性或显性地再造或改造社会形态。特别的, 对于权力系统知识会破坏权力系统的假设, 我表示怀疑。关于迁移研究、尤其是我关于古拉/古奇人的研究, 针对我们所希望中断、改造或废除的过程的认知方式, 这一批判要求我们去反思它的政治利害关系。

En este artículo, abordo la política de producir conocimiento y construir teoría acerca del desplazamiento, que tiene como meta el cambio social trasformador. Basándome en mi experiencia de conducir investigación como un miembro del Tanque de Pensamiento Gullah/Geechee sobre Sustentabilidad, me comprometo con las corrientes del pensamiento feminista negro a considerar la política de búsqueda de lo que yo denomino itinerarios de verificación. Mi propuesta es por una concepción compleja de la política de producción de conocimiento, que se entienda mejor como un paquete de relaciones sociales. Por concepción espesa, me refiero a vincular inextricablemente los productos de las prácticas de producción de conocimiento (e.g., publicaciones académicas, los conjuntos de datos y otros artefactos que se producen por medio de actos de investigación y conocimiento sistematizado) y las relaciones institucionales, sociales, interpersonales y político-económicas que son creadas y reificadas en el proceso. Algo central de este conjunto de preocupaciones es cómo se producen o se reelaboran implícita o explícitamente las formaciones sociales en el proceso de producción de conocimiento. En particular, soy escéptico alrededor de la suposición de que el conocimiento relacionado con los sistemas de poder sea inherentemente disruptivo de esos sistemas. Con respecto a la investigación sobre el desplazamiento en general, o particularmente sobre mi trabajo con el Gullah/Geechee, esta crítica invita a reflexionar sobre los intereses políticos de los modos de conocer acerca de aquellos procesos que deseamos alterar, reelaborar, o abolir.

Key Words:

• displacement
• feminist theory
• Gullah/Geechee
• knowledges

关键词:

• 迁移
• 女权主义理论
• 古拉/古奇
• 知识。

Palabras clave:

• conocimientos
• desplazamiento
• Gullah/Geechee
• teoría feminista

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Queen Quet and the members of the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank, as well as the many Gullah/Geechee people with whom I have had the opportunity to spend time, travel, and break bread.

Notes

1 For more information about how Think Tank members approach collaboration with each other and Gullah/Geechee communities, see “WEBE Gullah/Gechee: Cultural Capital and Collaboration Anthology,” edited by Queen Quet, at https://www.queenquet.com/online-store/WEBE-Gullah-Geechee-Cultural-Capital-%26-Collaboration-Anthology-p46757092.

2 Although space limits the ability to share details of this work, interested readers can find videos and photos from many of these events at Gullah/GeecheeNation.com.

3 “Tabby” is a type of construction that uses oyster shells to make concrete, commonly used for slave dwellings along the coast

4 As well as other forms of dispossession.

5 View the Story Map at https://www.SaintHelenaGullahGeechee.com.

6 I do not mean imply that these thinkers would inevitably endorse my position, but rather to say that I find their work helpful for thinking through a problem that I consider to be important.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kate Driscoll Derickson

KATE DRISCOLL DERICKSON is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research is concerned with the politics of knowledge production particularly in relation to nature, urbanization, and racialization.