The Cycle of Knowledge is a community engagement partnership between the Rhodes University English Department and the Writers' Movement of Joza in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. The poetry group consists of university students, secondary school students, and poets from the local community. The group’s praxis is informed by community engagement scholarship that advocates the formation of strategic part
nerships for the mutual education of all participants. The weekly sessions of the Cycle of Knowledge provide a range of educational activities around writing, reading, and performing poetry. These include discussions of the work of local and international poets, creative writing exercises such as timed free-writing, poetry ciphers and open mike sessions, editing and group feedback sessions on individual works, performances on campus, in town and at local schools, recording our work in audio and video formats, collating biographies of the poets involved and a history of the group’s activities. The group meets on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-7:30, shifting weekly between meetings on the university campus and meetings at the Assumption Development Centre in Joza. Transport is provided by the Rhodes Community Engagement Office.
