Complexities and chaos in community histories

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When collecting oral histories and first-person testimonies of diverse experiences in games, it is tempting to try to form grand theories. Isn't that how we turn data into information; finding patterns and trends? This talk aims to problematise that urge to theorise, arguing that traditional historical methodologies can often be coercive. Zoya Street shares some early developments in his independent practice, reflecting on the challenges and benefits of embracing messiness.

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Complexities and Chaosin community histories

@rupazeroZoya street zoyastreet.com

@rupazeroZoya street zoyastreet.com

i don’t know anything

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

we are not experimentshistory is not science

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

personal aCCountsresist generalisations

@rupazeroZoya street zoyastreet.com

historians are thievesstealing others’ stories

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

Community historiesKiveton Park and Wales

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

publiC historiesChicago historical society

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

loCal/folk museumsImitation castle optional

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

the spoils of historyHeritage is “domesticating the past ... enlisting it” — David Lowenthal

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

this is a total mess!“Events exceed our capacity

to know them” — John Law

@rupazeroZoya Street zoyastreet.com

assembly required“...realities depend upon their

continued crafting”— John Law reading Annemarie Mol, Judith Butler etc.