Beetle Movements

Authors

  • Sarah Hopfinger Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.2.6286

Keywords:

Chronic Pain, Disability, Multi-Species, Human-Nonhuman Alliances

Abstract

This autobiographical piece of creative writing reflects on an experience between the author and a beetle she comes across on a walk in Scotland. This multi-species encounter creates a momentary alliance between human and beetle, shedding light on the intricacies of inhabiting a troubled body and providing insights into the messiness of living with chronic pain—a messiness that could be something to embrace and celebrate.

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Author Biography

Sarah Hopfinger, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Dr Sarah Hopfinger is a queer disabled artist-researcher, working across choreography, performance, live art, creative writing, disability/crip, chronic pain, and ecology.  Her artistic practice is underpinned by a crip politics that approaches disability as a valid and valuable lifeway. She uses performance and writing as a methodology for asking questions in response to her lived experiences and wider issues, and as a practice of being in the unknown and complexities of those questions. She regularly publishes academic work on disability dance and ecological performance. Her award-winning critically acclaimed performance work has toured nationally and internationally, including: Made In Scotland, Summerhall, Tramway, The Place, Battersea Arts Centre, and Festival Quartier Danses (Canada). She works part-time as a researcher at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

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Published

2026-10-31

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026): Eco-Crip Cultures: Disability and the Environment

Section

Creative Writing and Arts

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