Get to know me, homey: exploring critical, relational and racial literacy possibilities in co-excavative letter writing

Abstract

Purpose There is currently a dearth of research on the implications of the epistolary as a site for knowledge production. This paper aims to demystify the process of academic theorizing through the co-authors’ co-excavative epistolary method. Design/methodology/approach Through co-excavative epistolary practices, the co-authors’ relationship was deepened, the collective sense was made of Covid-19, and racial literacy-centered academic theorizing commenced. In the co-authors making meaning of their letter-writing data, they provide examples of and analyze their co-excavative letter-writing process. Findings The co-excavative epistolary method deepened the co-authors’ relationship to one another and improved their ability to produce useful and complicated knowledge. Research limitations/implications The co-excavative epistolary exchanges mark a new site for academic theorizing and incite creative approaches to academic co-writing, as well as more transparency about the academic writing process in general. Social implications Co-excavative methods disrupt traditional academic sites of knowledge production and engender space for relational intimacy. Originality/value The work introduces both a new method, co-excavative epistolary writing and a new rational framework, the critical dignity relational framework.