Slow violence, over-indebtedness, and the politics of (in)visibility: Stories and creative practices in pandemic times

Abstract

In this paper I share insights and thoughts on the ‘doing’ of creative practice for representing and communicating lived experiences of slow violence. Reflecting on two UKRI GCRF studies I have been part of in Cambodia, and which both harnessed creative practice in their methodologies, I focus specifically on the slow violence of over-indebtedness effecting garment workers and farmers during, but also pre-dating, the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper intentionally ‘makes space’ for the films and portraiture photography from these studies to be viewed and exalted – the aim being to encourage political geographers to become more attuned to, and themselves embrace, the ‘doing’ of creative practice. Together they show first how the ‘doing’ of creative practice can deepen and add new dimensions to growing work on embodied relations and temporalities of debt and over-indebtedness. Second, the insights offered in this paper underscore the ethical importance of care, responsibility, and trust in geographical knowledge creation and the management of research projects concerned with slow violence. The paper ultimately impresses the dual value of the ‘doing’ of creative practice and its myriad politics, and being more attentive to what can be learned through creative practice itself about the political geographies of slow violence encountered in people's lives.