Sounding relations to grond and water: Responding to social-ecological change through spoken word poetry

This thesis explores South Africans’ relations to grond (land/soil) and water through two collaborative spoken word poetry projects. By investigating how collaborative poetic practices can be improved to respond to social-ecological changes, this study generates critical new knowledge for other poetry collectives to apply to their own practices. The principal methodology is practice-led and is focused by two projects – the first, themed around relations to grond that took place in Mangaung in early 2019, and the principal project, themed around relations to water, culminating in the production “What the Water Remembers” in Cape Town on 4 September 2019