Connection, Community, Care
Uddipana Goswami
Editor-in-Chief
Perhaps there is a purpose to the turmoil and turbulence we see all around us today, nationally and internationally. We have to believe there is, or we fall into the very real danger of losing our faith in what could be good, true, and trustworthy.
Perhaps this purpose is to show us the possibilities of peace and the alternate roads to resistance. As a decolonial feminist peace scholar, my work has always highlighted these possibilities. I see them playing out every now and then in small acts of resistance: when neighbors come out of their homes to protect someone from unlawful incarceration or a mural with lovely flowers grows out of a dumpster that feeds the unhoused.
To some, these are trivial efforts. To those who know, these are acts of community and connection. They are indicators of joy in the human connection that resists oppression and looks for ways to ease the pain, in whatever way we can, during the times that we can’t fight the big fights. Sometimes, that is enough to keep us afloat. Often, that is all we need to keep our hopes alive while we recoup and regroup for the big fight.
Mukoli was conceived as one such act of peace and joy. And like all acts of peace and joy, it grew within a community of care and commitment, a community that has remained connected and together as we step into our third year of existence. We exist and thrive as a part of this community, not in isolation.
This special issue, therefore, is dedicated to our community. It features our editors who give us their time and expertise. It brings you work created by our local artists and writers here in Kennesaw and in the greater Atlanta metro area, who review for us, spread the word about us, and take part in the pracademics of peace and healing that our School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development engages in. Thus, one poem and two pieces of featured art were contributed by community members who participated in a workshop on Healing Through Expressive Art that we conducted earlier this year.
For Mukoli’s readers across the world, my hope is that as you read this issue, you will embrace my local community as warmly and enthusiastically as it has welcomed you – my global family of writers and creators – into its midst.