A Diffractive Reading

AbstractTowards the end of the editing process, we started to see the book as something more than a collection of chapters around a theme: as an assemblage, which included, of course, the community of authors. When we put out the first call for contributions in May 2018, most authors volunteered a contribution rather quickly, others joined a bit later, and some dropped out for different reasons, underlining the dynamic nature of our assemblage. In pre-pandemic times, we met on and off campus, introduced some of our ideas at conferences, and had a workshop day to brainstorm, plan chapters, and reflect on the process and the purpose of the book. We were connected by common meals, jokes, writi…