"No te crearon las golondrinas": The transformative possibilities of collectivity
Camacho, Paulina
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116099
Description
Title
"No te crearon las golondrinas": The transformative possibilities of collectivity
Author(s)
Camacho, Paulina
Issue Date
2022-07-14
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Lucero, Jorge
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Lucero, Jorge
Committee Member(s)
Travis, Sarah
Ruiz, Sandra
Reyes, Karen B.
Department of Study
Art & Design
Discipline
Art Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
collectivity
relationality
kinship
care
art
art education
Abstract
This study is an investigation of the dynamics of the Chicago ACT (Artist Creating Transformation) Collective as a conduit through which we can better understand the generative possibilities of intergenerational everyday intersections of relationality. The Chicago ACT Collective’s reciprocal study is rooted in love and built from a desire to transform unjust structures. This enables an expansive and collaborative approach to collectivity.
The Chicago ACT Collective uses dialogue and art-making as tools for research and reflection enabling a cyclical process of making and learning with and from each other and their broader networks. The majority of the work produced by the Chicago ACT Collective is created in collaboration with people, groups, and organizations who contribute to direct responses to current events and people centered movements. By publicly sharing their work, the Chicago ACT Collective invites opportunities to engage in continued dialogue as a group and with others in an effort to comprehend, deconstruct, and (re)imagine complex oppressive systems.
This investigation is organized in three parts. The first addresses the theoretical attunements and methodological orientations that have informed this investigation. I do this through a series of letters to the members of the Chicago ACT Collective. Following a spirit of collectivity and decolonial research practices, part two temporarily interrupts these letters to include the voices of members of the Chicago ACT Collective in the form of excerpts of transcribed conversations. In part three, I end the dissertation by returning to letter writing in order to share observations and reflections that emerged from these conversations.
The Chicago ACT Collective is one iteration of multiple forms of different spaces and communities the members inhabit. This interconnected structure enables a cultivation of energy, spirit, and collaboration that radiates and reverberates beyond the members of one community. While we may learn to collaborate in various settings, this is not the same as deciding to form a group and be in purposeful relation with others. Each iteration of a collective composition reflects specific contextual dynamics; they are communities that challenge the illusion of individuality while simultaneously reflecting relational interdependence. The Chicago ACT Collective values interconnectedness and recognizes that by integrating the commonalities and differences of each member communities are far stronger than solitary units. Engaging in relational dynamics is a laborious practice and requires a fair amount of emotional, spiritual, and intellectual labor. Yet collective structures, exemplified through the Chicago ACT Collective, model how relationality predicated on love, trust, and mutual respect create the conditions that enable members to imagine and enact new visions for our world. This research, while situated in a singular group, offers important lessons applicable to a wide variety of spaces and contexts.
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