Workshop: Writing the sensuous world

The introduction of writing as a technology fundamentally reimagined the way in which cultures operate. Oral language welled up from an ongoing and reciprocal call-and-response with the living, organic world. In turning to the page, we shifted into a mode of engagement in which we mostly talk only to and amongst ourselves.

Walter Ong, in his book Orality and Literacy (1982) notes the many ways in which literacy has acted to restructure human consciousness. In Imagining for Real (2022), Tim Ingold writes of the impact of the Reformation in shifting our reading practices from reading for revelation to reading for fact - from worlding and epiphany to interpretation and analysis. Mika et al (2020) argue for a decolonised philosophy of language drawn from Māori metaphysics which grounds language in a practice of 'worlding the world' rather than or as well as wording it.

In this day-long workshop spent mostly outside, we will explore methods for worlding the world through an approach to language which grounds it again in orality and a process of call-and-response with a sensuous world. Using the Penryn woods as our ecological collaborator, we will explore deep listening practices, movement as language, ecological rhythm and meter and sounding, before finishing by putting pen to paper. We will ask: how might we attune to an already-speaking world? Is it possible to write with the world? Can the written word connect us to reality, rather than abstract us from it?

Throughout, we will be exploring the idea of poetic research as ceremony, following Shawn Wilson's work on indigenous research methodologies.

A loose structure for the day

• 9.45 - Gather, make tea, settle
• 10 - Introductions, first seminar: The world speaks! From orality to literacy and back again
• 10.40 - Exercises in the woods, sharings
• 12.30 - Lunch
• 1.30 - Second seminar: Writing with the world
• 2 - 4.15 - Exercises in the woods, sharings
• 4.15 - End notes, closing circle

What to bring

Please bring weather-appropriate gear, a water bottle, a flask for hot drinks if you wish, any additional snacks you might need, and a notepad and pen.

Tickets

There are just 14 places available on this workshop. Each ticket includes a vegan lunch and free tea and coffee. Please refer to the following suggestions when booking your place:

• Low spare income - £20
• Medium spare income - £50
• High spare income - £80
• Abundance ticket - £100

We also have space for one volunteer placement at £5! The volunteer will be asked to come 45 minutes early and stay 45 minutes afterwards to help in setting up/packing down. There will also be a few general care-taking jobs throughout the workshop, such as gathering mugs etc. for washing up.

We do not wish for cost to be a barrier, so if you would like to come but can't spare the cash, please get in touch at [email protected]. Other-than-financial exchanges are always possible.

Accessibility

This workshop will include walking to and from The Convival in Penryn into the woods twice. The terrain is very obstacle-laden and can be very muddy. Please get in touch to chat about whether it would work for you!

Facilitator

Sophie Craven is a writer, artist and facilitator based in Cornwall, UK. She graduated from SOAS university in 2016 with a BA in Arabic and Social Anthropology, and a specialisation in memory, imagination and heritage sites (with fieldwork taking place in the West Bank of Palestine).

She worked in learning and facilitation for seven years, including co-founding The Slow Work Garden, before completing her MA in Poetics of Imagination at Schumacher College / Dartington School of Arts in 2024. Sophie is coordinator and host of The Convivial, and her current research interests include sacred landscape, ritual, mythopoetics and psyche.

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