Performing Punctuation: Decolonising English mouths, ears, tongues, and pens (Performance and Communities) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1835952208 ISBN 13: 9781835952207

Publisher: Intellect Books, 2026

Synopsis

Performing Punctuation gathers writers/performers to highlight, question and contest colonising facets of English language punctuation, while looking for ways to reveal and rarefy these proprietary rules such that they are responsive, playful, generous, generative, and ultimately more inclusive.

A transdisciplinary collaborative book that brings awareness to the limiting effects of the prevailing dominance of English language and its vociferous use of punctuation. The book's content and design is guided by this question: How can English language punctuation discard its domineering and strident overcoat to enable a greater diversity of readers, listeners, performers, writers, and practices?

Performing Punctuation, bears out digressions, indiscretions, transgressions and fabulations of grammatical marks unfaithful to propriety. It makes public an on-going and refreshed movement to play humorously and tenaciously with those small but powerful writing marks that regulate, discipline and structure textual language and spoken discourse. These marks, symbols and rule-makers are anything but a mere neutral grammatical systems; they are language gremlins and pixies; inflecting and infecting agents with histories, voices and messages of their own accord. These marks are understood as part and parcel to the on-going colonising history of the English language.

The collection brings together of a range of voices – Māori and Pākehā – and the collaborative editorial relationship with contributors allows conversation to develop between the elements of the book.

About this title

About the Author

Anna Brown is associate professor, design researcher, educator and practitioner whose expertise is in participatory design. Her research focuses on deliberative engagement, participatory policy design and design-led innovation. She leads Toi Aria: Design for Public Good, a research centre in the College of Creative Arts. Toi Aria works with organizations within the government and not-for-profit sectors to create and deliver community-centred policies and services.

Contact: Massey University College of Creative Arts Toi Rauwharangi, PO Box 756, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.

Edition details

• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1835952208
• ISBN 13: 9781835952207
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Preston Julieanna, Brown Anna