One of the things that has struck me in talking to my fellow white people is how much of their fear is focused on a future that isn’t predominantly white. Now, that in a general sense is not surprising, as institutions like the police are designed precisely to preserve the state as white people have built it. But what seems to be getting clearer for white people in this moment is that this fear stems from only being able to imagine a future in which, as they abolish our systems of oppression, Black communities turn the same tactics at white people as we have unleashed upon Black bodies for centuries (as hightlighted by Tamika D. Mallory while speaking at protests in response to George Floyd’s murder).
After functioning in a white settler-colonial, looting culture for centuries, it makes sense that it is difficult to imagine other futures–futures where being led by a Black vision doesn’t mean a simple reversing of the world order. So, in addition to building up my anti-racist language and my understanding of the history of Black people in the U.S., I want to build a deeper understanding of how Black writers, artists, and individuals imagine Black futures. How they imagine liberation, change, and alternate ways of being.
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In examining the community orchard, I am struck by how the concepts of care and managements fold together or overlay. We establish an orchard management plan to guild what happens at workdays. Is a component of that work care? Or is a principle of care guiding how we manage? If we manage our fields but care for our lawns, can we distinguish the two by a professional (managerial) and personal (caring, potentially affectionate) divide or continuum? If so, what happens to the lawn? In “caring” for the concept of the lawn, we do violence against the species that comprise it–and so, it seems, breaking down the language of our action can highlight the thing–species, concept, construct–we aim to uphold. I hope to keep this in mind as my analysis of the language and practice of the community orchard unfolds.
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To get a better understanding of BCO’s orchard site and find visual components to support the narrative in my dissertation, I asked BCO if they could share what maps were available in their ad hoc archive. This is a big ask of an all-volunteer organization with nearly 10 years of history, but several folks volunteered to dig through their supplies. I was amazed at what they found. (Thank you, Amy, Dani, Ashley, & Josh, for bringing these documents back to the surface for us.) In addition to one of the earliest maps, I was able to piece together the evolution of the site as design team members edited the maps. See the sequence below to learn more.
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