Ceda Parkinson

Thesis title

Metamorphic Imaginaries: Through the lens of the butterfly chrysalis, how might experimental nonfiction articulate a ‘shared imaginary’ between human and more-than-human worlds? 

Abstract

My practice-based research investigates experimental nonfiction as a form that merges creative and critical approaches to reframe how we perceive the more-than-human, and how this form can allow ‘the boundaries of identity, place, and system’ to be ‘abolished or transformed’ (Berry, 2015). In the creative output, butterfly metamorphosis will be framed as a ‘shared imaginary’ where human and nonhuman transformations intersect. I will produce a work of experimental nonfiction as a series of essays and ‘portal’ texts that will explore the different stages of metamorphosis within a chrysalis, creatively responding to questions such as: what new forms are asked of us in these current times? What forms need to be dissolved? How can we create and step into a metamorphic imaginary that allows us to visualise alternative ways of being? I will be examining key methods and texts in experimental nonfiction that engage with nonhuman voices to understand how experimentation with language, form, positionality and voice can be used as narrative strategies to push against human-centred narratives and articulate nonhuman ones. 

My research is grounded in the theory of ‘transcorporeality’, a framework that examines the interconnectedness of human and non-human natures, ‘…as a theoretical site ... where corporeal theories, environmental theories, and science studies meet and mingle in productive ways.’ (Alaimo, 2010). Through this, I seek to produce a critical and creative output that challenges prevailing assumptions of humans as ‘knowing bodies’ (Bennett, 2010) and instead aims to understand animal bodies and human bodies ‘…as partaking in a common space, a conjoined time, a mutual worlding.’ (Neimanis & Walker, 2014). My original contribution to knowledge will be the framing of experimental nonfiction as an important method in establishing new ways of depicting and interacting with the more-than-human in literature, demonstrating how experimentation can initiate deeper understanding of the shared realities between human and more-than-human life. 

Qualifications

Professional Engagements

• Workshop Facilitator, “Spider as Teacher: Calling on the Vibrational Knowledge of the Web” — The Convivial, Penryn | January 2026 
• Author Reading & Book Signing, Threadworks — The Writer’s Block | January 2025 
• Threadworks Lighthouse Talk — Falmouth University | January 2025 
• Author, Guillemot Press | September 2024 – Present 
• Writer in Residence, Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature | January – February 2024 
• Writer in Residence, Our Mingled Selves Writers Room — The Writer’s Block | April – June 2023