ABSTRACT
At the time of writing in early 2020, COVID-19 has prompted violent expressions of racism towards people who look Chinese in the UK. This chapter reflects on the parkour and art du déplacement-inspired place practices used as part of a session on place and placemaking in London, UK. Extending Sara Ahmed’s ideas of the ‘melancholic migrant’ (2010, p.142), I suggest that the lively nomad might use placemaking as a way of resisting assimilation and being transformed into zombie migrants. Drawing from Roisin O’ Gorman and Margaret Werry’s (2012) observations on failure, I will reflect on placemaking that prompts reconsideration of the failure encouraged in creative learning environments. Finally, I reflect on Nishitani Keiji’s (1982) understanding of death as an invitation to contemplate an understanding of living that recognises our interconnectedness to the more-than-human in place.
