The fieldwork for the Adodi project began in 1998 and extended to 2005. The research was “published/performed” in a variety of ways from adapting the interviews to a solo theatre performance, reading my field notes in a gallery, three installations (visual and sonic) and a written monograph. Assembled here is a performance of the Adodi archive: the monograph, three life story interviews, three hand-written journals, a gallery of photographs, and the sonic installation Telling First Love Stories.
Thirty men participated in life story interviews that includes their articulation of the Adodi retreat experience. On this site, you will hear a selection of three, unedited narratives that will provide a glimpse of the fluidity of the exchange. You will hear my story, the researcher, intertwined with the stories of the men. I was first taken aback by the level intimacy revealed in the interviews but soon realized because of marginality, rarely were the men asked to share their stories. Foucault coined the term “subjugated knowledges” for experiences and narratives erased of those ranked at the bottom of society by the dominant culture. The Adodi archive as presented here resists erasure.