Preface

In 2004, in a moment of despair caused by her global, national and local political context, Toni Morrison wrote:

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for selfpity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilisations heal” It is important to remember that Morrison wrote this as a result of her friend’s guidance and support. Being an international student in a country that has not reconciled with or fully confronted its colonial, homophobic, transphobic and racist legacy can be challenging. As Masters’ students at the International Institute of Social Studies, we came together in the fall of 2022 from various social, academic, professional, political and cultural backgrounds. A few of us escaped war and violence. Some of us raised children, still others gave birth. But many of us were not fully aware of the challenges that would come in a Dutch context. The few Dutch among us graciously offered resources and support- ways of potentially mitigating the challenges that came with this opportunity. Yet, we were often struck by moments of unanticipated exclusion and marginalisation in The Netherlands. Like Morrison, learned to lean on one another, to create and to experiment as we tried to make sense of the contexts we were leaving as well as the contexts we were entering into. Of course, Dutch society was not the only challenge we faced. We also dealt with the uncertainty of COVID-19. We held on to our chairs as 80 kilometre per hour winds whipped through Den Haag. We listened to our brave colleagues share their experiences on International Women’s Day. We grappled with failures in our own institution’s policies as well as contentious moments in European and international politics. We also celebrated. We celebrated as our institution turned 70. We hopped on trains, buses, and planes to embark on study trips across Europe. We sang karaoke in the Butterfly Bar and breathed a collective sigh of relief as we finally submitted our theses. Through moments of jubilation and exasperation, we are here. Our writing cannot be detached from this context. It was inspired by our experiences, by our professors, by those who came before us and by those who could not be here with us. The essays in this collection are a reflection of this lineage. From moments of personal and collective hardship, we have crafted an opportunity to learn, to reflect, to critique, to resist, and to heal. The selection process for this collection is, of course, biased and subjective. While we strove to include every ISS major and continent present in our batch to ensure that the diversity of ISS was genuinely represented in the selected papers, we could only select 19 essays from the 46 ISS faculty submitted. Undoubtedly, our decisions reflect our preferences. However, we worked hard through this process to select essays that we felt were innovative, reflexive and representative of the collective learning and unlearning that ISS aspires to. We publish this bearing in mind how the ‘formal’ references included in these essays can never capture the many conversations, brainstorms and imaginings that occur over kibbeling in the ISS atrium, between sips of subpar coffee in the lobby or after uncertain glances at a Dorus laundry machine that stutters through turns. Writing is never an individual process. As such, we hope that in publishing this collection, we might also recognise and embrace how our individual accomplishments and journeys are inseparable from our collective one.

At the same time, we would also like to thank one individual who has made this collection possible. Namely, Drs. Peter Bardoel (ISS faculty) headed the editing team and despite personal challenges, offered constructive feedback and guidance. Thank you for reading and reflecting on this collective Exercise in World Making. We hope you enjoy reading these essays as much as we did.

Sincerely,

The Student Editors and Cover Graphic Designers of the 2021/2022 Exercise in World Making for the ISS Masters Programme in Development Studies: Inés Jiménez Rodríguez, Daniel R. Soucy, Chomprang Wongrusmeeduan, Rebecca Mort, Mariela Miranda van Iersel, Niyati Pingali, Lívia Sá Dos Santos Souza, Chelsea Ellingsen, Karen Nabwire Kilwake, and Tigist Gebermarian Yohannes.

Reference

Morrison, T. (2015) “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear.” The Nation. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/no-place-self-pity-no-room-fear/ (Accessed 8 December 2022).