Accompanied by a partial taxonomy of the para-site, where microbial definitions are offered in relation to their cultural counterparts, this essay traces a genealogy of the para-sitic condition by examining practices grounded in gallery education and Community Arts practices in the UK, as well as broader radical or popular education models. Graham’s series of texts examines the para-sitic condition as a potential coordinated political struggle, one that might make “good on culture’s claim to social transformation” by working para (i.e., alongside), within, and as other to institutions.īelow, the first essay in this series, “What is this para-sitic tendency?,” maps the contemporary terrain of this political project under late neoliberalism. “Para-sites like us” is an ongoing research project initiated by Janna Graham, the inaugural Six Degrees resident.
