Marginal Walking

Abstract

I propose the concept of marginal walking as a critically creative framework that nourishes and supports the spaces of the margins as a corrective and a prescription to the stresses of everyday racism, which is difficult to see or describe, but underlies every interaction in everyday public spaces. Drawing from my reflections on the increase of anti-Asian hate during the global pandemic of 2020 to 2021, I investigate how news of racist incidents circulates through digital networks that are entangled with quotidian places such as parks, grocery stores, and public transit. Through such concepts as autocartography and strata-mapping, as explored through my own research-creation practices as well as through participatory walks given by my artist collective Hamilton Perambulatory Unit (HPU), I look at how conscious acts of sensing and intervening in marginal everyday space can contribute to the creation of alternative narratives and knowledge that is necessary for change.