Overview

All those of us who devote ourselves to social sciences feel in many moments of our research and of our writing that there are many words which do not say what we want to say. There are others that scream but we have to dismiss them because they cannot be admitted in the disciplined quietude of academia. And there are many forbidden words because they are not dedicated to the insipid idea of neutrality. In sum, our work as social scientists is always a sort of game, dance or fight with the most diverse words and ways of being, or not, said or written.

Besides, all of us know that words, said or written, are often the most imperfect of human languages. The senses that inhabit them are scarce, they are full of impurities and often refuse to say the things, emotions, verbs, and nouns. Even more so, when our writing wears the corsets of academy, our round meats are prevented from breathing; the sighs need to be contained as well as our yawns. And when inquiring or expressing astonishment and mystery then, in those cases, we know that those words conquered by academy are the most impoverished faces of our languages. And we are saddened. The paths to the rebel sea of words that say are closed to us and we need to open them with the strength and the energy that no discipline has: wisdom.

In this Workshop I want to propose to you an experience of constructing knowledge from tales thought and written in co-authorship with many women with whom I have followed many paths as a social scientist. We understand many times that there are things that cannot be said in any way other than using words that scream. And we created tales that are fiction and reality all at once and without separation and divorce. Through some of these chosen tales I suggest we do the following exercise:

1. To think together the borders we have and that we want to break in producing knowledge in academia
2. To open the library of tales and to collectively read some of its books
3. To identify some of the learning achieved and its uses
4. To write our own book-tales

This event is organized as part of the Methodologies Cycle "Roda de Saberes". The workshop will be promoted by Teresa Cunha (CES) | 

Contact: rodadesaberes@ces.uc.pt