Praxis of Social Imaginaries, Summer Session 2024 – Løgumkloster, Denmark

The Praxis of Social Imaginaries. Cosmologies: Othering and Liminality (Circle 3)

Praxis of Social Imaginaries, Summer Session 2024

Location: Løgumkloster, Denmark

The Praxis of Social Imaginaries. Cosmologies: Othering and Liminality (Circle 3) Summer Session of the Nordic Summer University (NSU) met in Løgumkloster, Denmark. The session was focused on the text by Dominican Friar Bartolomé de las Casas—A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. The intention of the sixteenth century document was to report to the Spanish king the cruelty that the Spanish Conquistadores inflicted on indigenous men and women.

The research team paid special attention to the first encounters between the conquistadores and indigenous men and women. To delve even deeper into such discussion the group engaged in numerous exercises, like two people silently observing one another while remembering their first encounter. Visual and performative interpretations that assist in the research and intention of understanding and analysis of de las Casas report and descriptions.

It was the re-enactment of a Mexican mourning ritual that seemed to be incredibly memorable for its unique and striking approach to engaging knowledge. One ritual one participant did indeed pretend to be deceased while laying on the grass while other participants adorned his body with numerous and varied decorations including flowers and greenery.

The diverse perspectives of the circle participants including Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sweden, and Finland were of profound assistance in the work and research in connection de las Casas’s text.

Circle 3 is initiated by theologian and dancer Dr. Laura Hellsten and performance historian Dr. Lindsey Drury within the Nordic Summer University (NSU).