Scores for feminist praxis: embodied study of knots and speculative genealogies

This paper discusses scores, an arts-based device for feminist knowing and praxis that supports relational, embodied, and imaginative learning across fields. Scores bring attention to nuanced dimensions of power, imagination, physical movement, and care. I argue that, when supported with engaged facilitation, scores function as rebellious tools to craft forms of knowing and being that refuse violence and oppression. Rooted in embodied experience, scores as technologies of feminist research foster forms of knowing that reject universal truths, empowering participants to theorize trusting their personal and social trajectories while envisioning more equitable scenarios. This paper presents scores through a segment of a study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, where participants used scores for speculative theorizing on genealogies, interpreted as “knots.” This paper examines physical gestures to highlight scores’ unique affordances for feminist and creative praxis. I offer that scores are valuable devices for reshaping pedagogical and academic practices toward more caring, relational, and liberatory horizons.