Why do I do what I do?
In abstract and general terms, I do the work that I do in order to construct a world in which creativity and freedom are furthered and in which conformity and domination are frustrated.
In terms of my facticity, the concrete specificity of my being-in-the-world, I do the work that I do in order to further abolition and decolonization, to frustrate imperialisms, and construct alternative worlds.
My major projects thus far, encapsulated in my Triptych and Other Related Matters, have primarily dealt in abstract and general terms. These two books are documents of my attempts to define the terms “creativity”, “freedom”, “conformity”, and “domination”.
Only my most recent project, my Four Essays on Reparations, has dealt in concrete and specific terms. The Four Essays attempted to define abolition and decolonization in terms of “artful reparations”, to define imperialisms in terms of “pipelines”, and to define the construction of conviviality in terms of “leaky designs” and “superfluities”. Yet the Four Essays, in seeking to define terms, still trafficked more in abstract generalities and less in concrete specificities.
(De-/Re-)Constructing Worlds is my transition from the abstract to the concrete, from the general to the specific, from the theoretical to the practical. This does not mean, however, that I plan to abandon theory for practice. Rather, it means that I plan to reduce my theories to relays across practices.
The (De-/Re-)Constructing Worlds project will relay across three sorts of practices and, in so doing, it would relate three sorts of practitioners.
First, there is the practice of (de-/re-)constructing statements and the practitioner known as the thinker, one who is a para-academic rather than a professional academic.
The para-academic is to the professional academic what the para-military is to the professional military. The para-academic develops capacities for staging intellectual pursuits comparable to those of professional academics but without making a professional academic career for themselves. “Irregular” para-academics are those whose intellectual pursuits are neither formally recognized nor supported by academic institutions. By contrast, the intellectual pursuits of “regular” para-academics are formally recognized and supported by academic institutions.
Second, there is the practice of (de-/re-)constructing environments and the practitioner known as the builder, one who is an anarchitect rather than an architect.
architect (n.): “one who plans and designs buildings and supervises their construction"; from Greek arkhitekton "master builder, overseer of works" from arkhi- "chief, leader" + tekton "builder, carpenter."
anarchist (n.):"one who denies the validity of ruling power"; from Greek anarkhos "leaderless" from an- "without" + arkhos "chief, leader."
anarchitect (n.): “one who builds without having a master(plan) and without having mastery over others; one who works without having an overseer and without having to oversee others”; a neologism formed from architect and anarchist; from Greek an- "without" + arkhi- "chief, leader" + tekton "builder, carpenter."
Third, there is the practice of (de-/re-)constructing implements and the practitioner known as the tinker, one who is a bricoleur rather than an engineer.
In The Savage Mind, Claude Lévi Strauss writes, “The ‘bricoleur’ is adept at performing a large number of diverse tasks; but, unlike the engineer, he does not subordinate each of them to the availability of raw materials and tools conceived and procured for the purpose of the project. His universe of instruments is closed and the rules of his game are always to make do with ‘whatever is at hand’
All three of these practices, as I conceive of them, are non-professional practices and their practitioners are, accordingly, non-professionals. In other words, putting the matter affirmatively, all three of these practices are dilettante’s practices and their practitioners are, accordingly, dilettantes.
The word “dilettante” comes from Italian dilettante referring to a "lover of music or painting," from dilettare "to delight," from Latin delectare "to allure, delight, charm, please". Accordingly, the dilettante is the practitioner who delights in their practice rather than specializing in their practice.
In the book Tools for Conviviality, Ivan Illich described three different modes of imperialism, each successive mode being more insidious and intractable than the last. First, he described a nationalist imperialism that is characterized by “the pernicious spread of one nation beyond its boundaries.” Second, he described a capitalist imperialism that is characterized by “the omnipresent influence of multinational corporations.” Third, and finally, he described a careerist imperialism, the most insidious and intractable of the three, characterized by “the mushrooming of professional monopolies over production.” As I have come to see it, the antidote to a nationalist imperialism is a ecoregionalism, the antidote to a capitalist imperialism is a communism, and the antidote to a careerist imperialism is a dilettantism.
Relaying across the practices of three sorts of dilettante — the thinker, the builder, and the tinker — (De-/Re-)Constructing Worlds is an exercise in dilettantism, supplemented by exercises in regionalism and communism, that would serve as an antidote to careerist imperialism.
(De-/Re-)Constructing Worlds is intended to be a polyvocal project.
I hope to include many voices alongside my own in this work: incorporating correspondence, transcripts of conversations, and documents of collaborations.
To that end, this is an open call to invite others to participate in the project.
Currently there are two ways that you are invited to participate in this work.
Sign up for the regular dispatches featuring updates on the project, short essays on referenced texts, as well as conversations and correspondence from participants (including you!).
Drop in on the open seminar held virtually once every lunar cycle. (Please note that there will be no prior preparation or reading required for any of the seminar sessions and participants are encouraged to drop in and out as it suits them.)
All are welcome to participate. There are no prerequisites, apart from a convivial attitude and a commitment to intellectual generosity.
The primary reference texts for the (De-/Re-)Constructing Worlds project, in order of appearance, will be:
Deschooling Society, Tools for Conviviality, & The Right to Useful Unemployment by Ivan Illich
The Myth of the Machine by Lewis Mumford
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
The Ends of the World by Deborah Danowski & Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
The Timeless Way of Building, A Pattern Language, & The Nature of Order by Christopher Alexander
“What Is an Apparatus?” by Giorgio Agamben
The Beauty of Everyday Things by Soetsu Yanagi
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney
Shanzai: Deconstruction in Chinese by Byung-Chul Han
To Our Friends by the Invisible Committee