In this highly anticipated new issue, we encounter brilliant examples of what writing can do in a hypernormal time – whether that's Benjamin Gready on the absurdity of fieldwork on land under active occupation or Zahid Gamieldien's short story about a dancing rat who finds itself enmeshed in systems too shadowy to be true. But, as with the emotional cycles of resistance, hope and snark are features too. Dan Hogan considers the lawn as a class obsession, and π.ο. asks a question: why people hate poetry? We also read about a rakhasa family who passes on wisdom to their young kin, a story by Shefali Mathew. And you’ll find new poetry by Eli McLean, Fiona Hile and Sol Chan, among others, as well as a comic by Safdar Ahmed, plus heaps more. Co-editors Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk write in the editorial, "Writing always matters, but it matters most directly in the face of this kind of thuggish assault on language, our first and last commons. We can’t let the bastards have it.”
Devleena Ghosh is a Professor in Social and Political Sciences at UTS. She researches and has published widely in environmental and postcolonial studies, specifically on India and Indian Ocean connections. Currently, she is researching coal mining in Chattisgarh, progressive women’s movements in India and Australia and syncretic religious practices in India. Her most recent book is Teacher for Justice: Lucy Woodcock's Transnational Life (with Heather Goodall and Helen Randerson) (ANU Press 2019).
