A Ritual of Access, a Rhythm of Refusal

Abstract

(Academic) citation is a representational practice of hollow, ruined potential professional accumulation of intellectual capital.

Citational practice is often taught with an eye towards making visible the intellectual contributions that undergird one’s original work. Which sources are mentioned and who is acknowledged is partially contingent upon power imbalances that legitimize certain forms of knowledge while denigrating others. Thinking with and alongside various scholars, I consider the possibilities for (re)locating the ruins of citational practice within collective cultural systems that reside outside of institutional trappings and thrive in an activated setting of mutuality, care, and sustained questioning of what we know, how, and why.