Finding Ways to Move in Joy

Academia often seems overwhelming and potentially created to destroy us. Yet, it can also be a place to explore the possibilities of joy. In this paper, I draw on Gilles Deleuze’s interpretation of Baruch Spinoza’s concepts of joy as the ability to move. If we think about joy as the ability to move, what possibilities open to us? My experience in the lighting presentation last year crafted a shared recognition of the construction of academia today as a machine that attempts to inhibit our movement. But also, the presentations recognized points of hope, of the ability to make change and movement happen within our oftentimes oppressive systems. This paper will encourage audience members to think through where places of movement exist in their own lives as ways to cultivate and encourage joy.