As part of Missed Connections, Serena convened The opposite of an opposite, a study session with her study partners. This public gathering, hosted online and in person (in Vienna), shared glimpses of the ongoing study encounters that map notions of opposites, dualities, dissonance. Together, we questioned the phenomenological and ideological separations that inform and are reinforced by colonialism/ modernism.

The opposite of an opposite brought these study partners and conversations together for the first time; this gathering involved discussion, participatory somatic activities, and a talk by complementary medicine practitioner, Lynn Teo, who traces dualism within healing practices such as acupuncture and shiatsu.

What transpired was an open-ended experiment in studying together, both online and in person. The reading list accompanied Serena and her study partners for the year they spent studying together, and we’re sharing it with you to stimulate some of your thinking and practicing in reflecting on and working beyond the study session.