On peregrinations : a history and practice of ambulatory writing

Abstract

My peregrination of ambulatory writing begins by briefly exploring expanded conceptualizations of walking and writing, followed by a select historical survey of practices and projects that I frame as ambulatory writing, followed by a discussion of three of my recent works that are representative of my ambulatory writing practice. The three works are 1) Crossing Illinois for Housing (2019), my approximately 175-mile week-long walk across Illinois to raise funds and awareness for people experiencing homelessness in the state; 2) coyote travelog (2020), my three-year long writing project composed of text from the streets and spaces of New York City; and 3) a walking-based course I have designed called “Asking, We Walk,” which is intended to build spatial/placial consciousness and militancy through a combination of walking, writing, and engaged discussion. Seeing as this is a practice-based dissertation, in the Appendix, I present photographs and press links pertaining to my project Crossing Illinois for Housing; the full-version of coyote travelog; and my emergent curriculum, “Asking, We Walk.”