Lead-in

This chapter serves as some sort of introduction, leading the readers in(to) the wealth of chapters found in this book. Following a short review of some of the literature published in English about writing and interculturality from fields such as intercultural rhetoric, academic discourse and literature studies, the authors argue for the emancipatory and epistemic potential of un-writing interculturality as a process of seeking to think, enunciate and perform otherwise. The possibility of doing un-writing is not ascertained unless the conventional practices of articulating knowledge are disrupted. This chapter notes that we should not elevate form over substance in order not to mistake theatrics for substance. It further asks whether un-writing is necessarily accompanied by un-thinking and un-doing or whether these actions do not require any unsettling of form, rhetoric, prose and structure. The aim is not only to provide the readers with examples of un-writing but also to encourage them to start un-reading (e.g., un-interpreting, un-understanding, un-critiquing and un-appreciating). To un-write is not an end in itself but rather the start of a series of actions whose rationale is to question what we know, how we come to know and how we express what know. Copyright © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Fred Dervin and Hamza R’boul; individual chapters, the contributors.