tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31774995034473047692024-03-13T22:58:04.572-06:00em·pa·thynoun. the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3177499503447304769.post-58685875688182782008-01-07T21:21:00.000-07:002008-01-08T09:30:29.535-07:00Where to Find the Real ExpertsMost of us are trained to believe that universities are – to use an agricultural metaphor appropriate for my location in Greeley, Colorado – feedlots full of experts. Indeed, many journalists looking for insights into the latest political scandal, Wall Street surprise, environmental disaster, or psychopathic escapade, turn to a professor for commentary. Of course, not all experts are to be found within the ivory tower: there are plenty of experts in industry and government, not to mention the expertise of media pundits, who are paid to wax authoritative on just about anything. Take William Safire, for example, who, in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31safire.html">recent New York Times op-ed piece</a>, gave us answers to such diverse questions as to whom the academy award for best picture will go (“There Will be Blood”), what levels American troop numbers in Iraq will reach at the end of 2008 (100,000 and dropping steadily), and whom we will elect to be the next president of the United States (McCain).<br /><br />There is one characteristic that all these experts have in common. No, it’s not that they are all and always correct (I can’t wait to test Safire’s predictions) or that they all have privileged access to the facts. It is simply that they are all privileged. The word “privilege” comes from the Latin for “private law”; that is to say, rights that apply to particular individuals and are granted based on one’s position or office (or gender, or race/ethnicity, or social class, or sexual orientation…). If these people didn’t achieve their status as experts because of privilege, they achieved their privileged status because someone or something powerful conferred it upon them.<br /><br />However, as an anthropologist, I have a hard time with such an elite view on who should be or who should not be considered an expert. This doesn’t mean I scorn William Safire’s point of view or the perspectives of university professors, CEOs, and politicians. Many of them have the experience, smarts, and insight to deserve my attention. I just hesitate to ignore the advice of others who don’t have as much privilege, but who do have valuable knowledge and wisdom drawn from a deep well of multi-generational and direct experience. Anyone who’s sat down with a commercial fisherman to talk about fish stocks, a Native American elder to talk about geography, or a farmer to talk about the weather knows what I mean. Rarely can we find these experts’ perspectives featured on a TV news program or in a newspaper article. Those spaces are reserved for the “real” experts.<br /><br />Here’s a case in point. In Monday's New York Times, I found an article in the Technology section opaquely entitled “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07summers.html">Ex-Harvard President Meets a Former Student, and Intellectual Sparks Fly</a>.” The article is really about the debut of “<a href="http://www.bigthink.com/">BigThink.com</a>” – basically a YouTube for thinking people, wherever they might be. BigThink’s tagline is “We Are What You Think,” which, I think, cleverly updates Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum” for the wired 21st century. Unlike YouTube, where you can go, as I just did, to discover Derek Waters’ “Drunk History Volume 1” (currently listed as one of YouTube’s Featured Videos), BigThink wants to be the place you’ll go to ponder allegedly more profound issues such as how to make sense of it all and the nature of the creative process.<br /><br />As I was reading about BigThink, I became intrigued because I conceived a mental image of their site, which included a “Featured Videos” page inviting me to select content posted by thoughtful people all over the world. People like me (or, even more interesting, people completely unlike me) who have thought long and hard about particular problems and want to share their analyses, theses, antitheses, or syntheses with their global community via the razzle-dazzle of digital video. Imagine discovering a treatise on climate change from a bloke in the Orkney Islands or an exposition on the digital divide from an Argentinean gaucho.<br /><br />This would be an amazing thing, not only because it would be another example of democratization of the media (on YouTube virtually everyone can be a movie producer!). It would represent the democratization of expert opinion. No longer would we be constrained to seeking the counsel of privileged egg heads and talking heads; now we could access the experience and insight of underprivileged local experts, whose hard-earned knowledge would help us (more than any Apple product) to think different.<br /><br />Sadly, this is not what I found when I hopped online and paid a visit to BigThink.com. Instead, I was confronted by a smorgasbord of glossy videos featuring the ruminations of hand-picked philosophers like Mitt Romney, Calvin Trillin, Deepak Chopra, and Sir Richard Branson. To be sure, there are many experts at BigThink I’ve never heard of and whose ideas and erudite disquisitions would fascinate and edify me. But, to a person, they are all privileged experts of one kind or another.<br /><br />To be fair, BigThink is not simply a place to go for more expert opinion. The rest of us who happen to have internet access can post our own ideas in the form of questions or statements. Dutifully, I registered on the site and posted some ideas about evolution and, what else?, empathy. Egotistically, I later revisited the site to rediscover my own ideas. Where did they go? Knowing myself to be unqualified as a BigThink Expert, I skipped the “Browse Experts” link and instead selected the “Browse Ideas” option. Exploring BigThink’s so-called Meta Ideas of “Faith & Beliefs” and Physical Ideas of “Policy & Politics” and “Science & Technology,” I found the ideas of a host of privileged experts, but mine were inaccessible, not because of their arcane reasoning or blinding brilliance (both of which are surely lacking), but because there was no facility anywhere on the site to browse the ideas of non-elite experts.<br /><br />In the NYT article, BigThink’s founder, Peter Hopkins, recalls Larry Summers – the “Ex-Harvard President” to whom the headline refers – worrying that someone might put up “a porn video next to my macroeconomic speech.” Indeed, this highlights a problem with my critique. Is everyone an expert? What if Jane Sixpack, who has some strongly worded, if unsophisticated, opinions about Muslims because of what she’s seen on TV decides to post her “philosophy” on BigThink? Worse yet, what if some enterprising politician who’s running for the highest office in the land decides to use BigThink as a cleverly nuanced political ad? Isn’t it best to let the BigThinkers choose the talent so we’re not wading through flotsam and jetsam? Undoubtedly, they know who the real experts are, right? Right?<br /><br />I rest my case.Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3177499503447304769.post-11953329042559618782007-12-17T09:57:00.000-07:002008-01-22T15:58:27.921-07:00Three Insights into Right Work & Right Ways<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Keynote Address</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Delivered at University of Northern Colorado's Graduate Commencement<br />December 14, 2007<br /></div><p class="MsoPlainText">When I was a grad student, I once attended a class in which an aspiring Ph.D. candidate asked our professor to condense his experience into one kernel of sage advice for us.<span style=""> </span>He flatly replied, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."<span style=""> </span>It’s hard to dispute the truth in this statement.<span style=""> </span>It does often feel as though, to get the work done right, you must do it all yourself.<span style=""> </span>Yet I’ve found this adage troubling because of its implication that the “right work” is done in isolation.<span style=""> </span>For that matter, what is the "right work"?<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">In my view as an anthropologist and educator, the "right work" is never done in isolation from your community because your survival and the survival of your community depend on it.<span style=""> </span>This is one of the reasons why I've woven civic engagement into my career as a teacher-scholar.<span style=""> </span>I believe the university shouldn't be a fortress, or, more accurately, a field of little disciplinary fortresses.<span style=""> </span><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Instead of a field of fortresses, I believe the university should be a forum – a place where people gather to exchange and debate ideas, discover new knowledge, teach, and learn – learn from professors, learn from students, and learn from other community members.<span style=""> </span>And I believe there are many kinds of knowledge that help our communities survive – knowledge of technical skills, academic knowledge, ecological knowledge, aesthetic knowledge, ethical knowledge, spiritual knowledge – and it's our job to teach and learn those kinds of knowledge and, importantly, how to use them in the right ways.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">So, now we've got two questions to grapple with - what is "right work" and what are "right ways"? And guess what?<span style=""> </span>That's your job!<span style=""> </span>Now that you are graduating, you are leaving the forum.<span style=""> </span>As UNC alumni, you're always welcome back to share your knowledge and experience (and donations!).<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">But, you're moving on, and it's up to you, as you pack your bags, to take what you got out of your time at UNC and figure out how it can benefit your communities, wherever they may be.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">So, in the spirit of bag-packing, I've got a few things I'd like you to carry with you.<span style=""> </span>Three stories (short and sweet, I promise!), three insights into "right work" and "right ways," and, because I’m an archaeologist and can’t help it, three objects to help you remember them.</p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoPlainText"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHf3O0h8qJLIcj920RFpxmI_Ok_4fdCkn6fwOcBZ6PP6UlGYw4AB_KnOl4jZ5uygX7vL2HuWCfIkdY44w_AD2MiBMcZ6gQbjx3dqzqfdwSpFR2eVJSvZ6L_btp4Rxn-ncg_gJWkgguIYg/s1600-h/stone2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHf3O0h8qJLIcj920RFpxmI_Ok_4fdCkn6fwOcBZ6PP6UlGYw4AB_KnOl4jZ5uygX7vL2HuWCfIkdY44w_AD2MiBMcZ6gQbjx3dqzqfdwSpFR2eVJSvZ6L_btp4Rxn-ncg_gJWkgguIYg/s320/stone2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144988776268795058" border="0" /></a>Stone</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">This is a piece of chert, worked by human hands, from a river in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style=""> </span>Our love affair with stones goes back at least two and a half million years.<span style=""> </span>The poet Carolyn Forché commemorates this intimate and enduring relationship in her poem, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Museum of Stones</span>.<span style=""> </span>She writes, “…this assemblage, taken together, would become/a shrine or holy place, an ossuary, immovable and sacred,/like the stone that marked the path of the sun as it entered the human dawn.”<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I have a very good friend and grad school colleague named Chris, who recently started a heritage preservation firm in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Hawai’i</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style=""> </span>There are many places all over the <st1:place st="on">Hawaiian islands</st1:place> that physically represent the traditional worldview and stories of Native peoples.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately, these places are being destroyed at an alarming rate.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Not only are environmental resources going under the bulldozer to build condos and hotels; the reference points for ancient stories and family histories are, too.<span style=""> </span>For European-Americans, it would be like witnessing a colossal bonfire fed with family photo albums, history books, literary classics, and Bibles.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Recently, I visited Chris on O’ahu.<span style=""> </span>He drove me to a house in the countryside and we met a Native Hawaiian partner of his named Alika.<span style=""> </span>Alika’s a man of slim build, but robust passion for his people’s culture and lands.<span style=""> </span>Native Hawaiian culture goes back a couple of thousand years.<span style=""> </span>That’s a lot of families and a lot of history tied to life on the islands.<span style=""> </span>As some of you might remember from obscure literary sources such as Lilo & Stitch (!), ohana means family, and family is very important to Native Hawaiians.<span style=""> </span>They carefully keep track of their lineages and kinship relations and the storied landscapes to which these belong. </p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Alika told me about his lineage and showed me his family’s connections to the local landscape.<span style=""> </span>From his garden, he brought out a volcanic stone, pointed to the mountain it came from, and put the stone in my hands.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">It was about the size of a loaf of bread and shaped like a donut.<span style=""> </span>They are called “piko stones.”<span style=""> </span>Created around volcanic vents, they are regarded as belly-buttons by Native Hawaiians – an ancient umbilical connection between the people and the Earth.<span style=""> </span>Alika’s piko stone had been passed down through the generations of his family.<span style=""> </span>He is a steward of his family’s piko stone – protecting it and the stories associated with it until the time comes to pass them down to the next generation.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Whatever you wind up doing, strive to respect the deep connections between your community and its place in the world.<span style=""> </span>And if those connections are threatened, see what you can do to help protect them.<span style=""> </span>During my conversation with Alika, I mentioned that I was developing a project that might help Native peoples preserve traditional knowledge tied to their cultural landscapes.<span style=""> </span>Later, when Chris and I were saying our goodbyes, Alika took me aside and said, “Mike, I want to say something to you, but please don’t take it the wrong way.”<span style=""> </span>He looked deep into my eyes and, with a broad smile, said “Hurry up!”<span style=""> </span><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoPlainText"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHmaczy3Cbg2iqgS5CtERNMI-vQc41WwNvjcgdcwgAzIPkUtskKupBRHdXoS7_Dd9ESZ1yCKTfPHLekBT3h_W8ECbbgB28e640zCclRYL4crGzu559MWMizK8Zb4UnpA0y0Thcn2oqF4/s1600-h/bone2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHmaczy3Cbg2iqgS5CtERNMI-vQc41WwNvjcgdcwgAzIPkUtskKupBRHdXoS7_Dd9ESZ1yCKTfPHLekBT3h_W8ECbbgB28e640zCclRYL4crGzu559MWMizK8Zb4UnpA0y0Thcn2oqF4/s320/bone2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144988909412781250" border="0" /></a>Bone</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">This is a vertebra from the backbone of a swordfish.<span style=""> </span>An archaeology student of mine who used to dig for bait worms along the <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state> coast to help pay the bills found it in the mudflats a few years ago.<span style=""> </span>We haven’t had swordfish in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state> waters for thousands of years.<span style=""> </span>They were part of the Native American diet about 4500 years before the Europeans landed on their shores.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I came here from Machiasport, a small town of about 2,500 people on the northeastern coast of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style=""> </span>If you’ve ever eaten a lobster, there’s a good chance it was caught in waters not far from where I lived.<span style=""> </span>That region of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state> is made up of small fishing villages that have been there for more than 300 years.<span style=""> </span>If you meet someone from towns like Machiasport, Cutler, or Jonesport, if they aren’t a fisherman themselves, they’ll have someone in their family who is.<span style=""> </span>Commercial fishermen are smart and fiercely self-reliant because they have to be, to compete for lobsters in the open ocean.<span style=""> </span>I once met a high school student who told me he started lobster fishing with his dad when he was five years old.<span style=""> </span>He owned and operated his own lobster boat by his 16th birthday.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I have a friend named Steve who’s been a lobster fisherman his whole life and can’t think of anything else he’d rather do.<span style=""> </span>He’s married and has two young boys and I’m sure at least one of them will follow in their dad’s footsteps, too.<span style=""> </span>A few years ago, Steve was out in the back acreage of his land with his boys.<span style=""> </span>He had climbed a tree to put in the final touches on a deer hunting stand, when he lost his footing, fell twenty feet, and broke his back.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">His boys ran home. When they couldn’t find their mom, the 5 year old decided to go back to stay with his dad. He told the 3 year old to wait at the house and tell their mom when she returned.<span style=""> </span>His little brother did exactly as he was told.<span style=""> </span>When she got back, she called Steve’s brothers – because family members are much faster than paramedics in a remote coastal town – and they raced out there to rescue him.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Steve’s a paraplegic now.<span style=""> </span>He can’t use his legs and, while he can move his arms, his hands are paralyzed.<span style=""> </span>Fortunately, he can move his head and talk and all his involuntary functions are in working order.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoPlainText">And he’s still fishing for lobsters.<span style=""> </span>Here’s why: Steve’s smart and tough and determined.<span style=""> </span>Also, just about the entire town of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Cutler</st1:place></st1:city> rallied to support him. </p> <p class="MsoPlainText">To help with the hospital bills, they held an auction where people bid sums of money that far exceeded the value of the items on the auction block.<span style=""> </span>His competitors protected his lobster fishing territory – a profoundly altruistic act – and the town maintained his fishing license while he was recovering.<span style=""> </span>Eventually, Steve had his boat retrofitted so he could steer it from his wheelchair.<span style=""> </span>His wife even worked for a time as his “sternman” (someone who helps haul the traps and process the lobsters).<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">There are many possible endings to a story like Steve’s, but his is amazing.<span style=""> </span>His is amazing because of his personal strength and because of the selfless support of members of his family and his community.<span style=""> </span>They shared the burden.<span style=""> </span>They are part of his backbone and he is part of theirs.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoPlainText"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIR7UGtsax_YSfcLktDfwq9Zxi3fKF9KfgWVq6Kvb28-tVRVdRUQB2P2yknGPVscjDD-5Ucfn9c_PAPIU84pOtTb0Lf_dDU-Rw8bAPeOrycm7ECbl8FXnHRbC1yEBldcw-Ojl1j8fIuxA/s1600-h/feather2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIR7UGtsax_YSfcLktDfwq9Zxi3fKF9KfgWVq6Kvb28-tVRVdRUQB2P2yknGPVscjDD-5Ucfn9c_PAPIU84pOtTb0Lf_dDU-Rw8bAPeOrycm7ECbl8FXnHRbC1yEBldcw-Ojl1j8fIuxA/s320/feather2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144989025376898258" border="0" /></a>Feather</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">There’s nothing remarkable about this feather, but it reminds me of another story, and a final insight into “right work” and “right ways.”</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I was the academic advisor for a non-traditional college student and former Marine named Joe.<span style=""> </span>Except for his long black hair, tied back in a pony-tail, he looks like the stereotypical marine – powerfully built, lithe, and handsome.<span style=""> </span>Joe also happens to be a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and lives at Sipayik, part of the Passamaquoddy reservation about an hour’s drive from Machias.<span style=""> </span>After leaving the Marine Corps, Joe returned to <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state> to finish his degree and give back to his people by offering a traditional spiritual path away from alcoholism, drug abuse, and domestic violence.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Because of its history of neglect and oppression by the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> government, the Passamaquoddy community has a poverty rate of more than 30%.<span style=""> </span>Between 1964 and 1993, Passamaquoddy deaths from cirrhosis of the liver – a disease caused by alcohol abuse – were nearly 3.5 times higher than the state of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state>’s average. Suicide rates are more than double the state’s average and the homicide rate is seven times higher.<span style=""> </span>One study estimates a 60% alumni drop-out rate for students graduating from the K-8 school that serves the reservation.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">During the time that I’ve known him, “GI Joe” – as the kids jokingly call him – has been a role model and coach for the reservation’s young men.<span style=""> </span>He helps them get physically fit, teaches them boxing, looks out for them, and every Sunday, leads a traditional sweat lodge ceremony in which he trains them to be warriors – in other words, honorable men who can resist the temptations of anger, despair, and addiction and become wise leaders.<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I recall one cold and windy morning last January when I joined Joe, another Passamaquoddy elder named Darrin, and six boys at their Sipayik sweat lodge.<span style=""> </span>The lodge sits on a point of land overlooking <st1:place st="on">Passamaquoddy Bay</st1:place>. It’s a squat, dome-shaped structure, about twelve feet across, framed with saplings and covered by blankets and canvas tarps.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoPlainText">Near the eastern door of the lodge, we carefully built a smaller lodge of logs and kindling.<span style=""> </span>Darrin explained that this was the lodge for the “Grandfathers” – the stones to be heated in the fire until they glowed orange.<span style=""> </span>When the ceremony began, one of the boys who agreed to be the “fireman,” as he’s called, would carry Grandfathers on a pitchfork to the doorway of the lodge, where Joe would place them in a central pit in the floor of the sweat lodge.<span style=""> </span>There would be four “rounds” of the ceremony: one for the women and children; the next for all of Creation; the third (and hottest!) for healing; and the last for forgiveness.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">I stood with my back turned to the lodge as we fed the fire and its intense heat began to push back at the frigid northwest wind.<span style=""> </span>I watched the boys horsing around and heard the crunch of Darrin’s feet behind me as he returned from a foray to his pickup truck parked nearby.<span style=""> </span>When I then heard the sound of something being pressed into the thawing earth, I turned around and was startled to discover the head of an eagle, mounted on the top of a leather-wrapped wooden staff a few feet away.<span style=""> </span>I still remember its yellow glass eyes glaring at me in the sunlight.<span style=""> </span><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Until that time, I had never seen nor heard of an eagle staff. Later, <a href="http://www.wright.net/content/blogsection/5/38/">I learned</a> that some Native American military veterans and respected elders are granted the right to carry an eagle staff, which stands for the best qualities of a leader – honesty, bravery, humility, wisdom, integrity, and respect.<span style=""> </span>For these Passamaquoddy young men, I couldn’t think of a better example of strength and hope than what I saw in the form of the eagle staff and in the forms of Darrin and “GI Joe.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">So, these are my three objects and three insights for you to pack along with your updated CV and favorite reference books.<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Stone</span>: Respect and steward your community’s cultural heritage– it’s your umbilical connection to the Earth.<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Bone</span>: Support community members in need – they are part of your backbone.<span style=""> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Feather</span>: If you’ll allow me to take liberties with Gandhi’s famous saying about change, “Be the leaders you wish to follow in the world.”<o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">As an archaeologist, I've "seen" (through my research) whole civilizations come and go across human history for all different sorts of reasons – overexploitation of natural resources and people, invasion, disease – but through it all, through all the ups and the downs, somehow communities of people have survived.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">They survived in the past because their members didn't toil in isolation and they didn't harbor the illusion that they lived independently of the others in their community.<span style=""> </span>Because of our ancestors’ right work and right ways, I'm here to share some of my insights with you tonight.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText">For our communities to survive into the future, each of you must find your right work and right ways.<span style=""> </span>And my final words to you are the same as those my Native Hawaiian friend Alika said to me.<span style=""> </span>Respectfully, I say to you: "Hurry up!"</p>Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3177499503447304769.post-37358201342024295632007-11-07T10:49:00.001-07:002007-11-07T14:22:34.385-07:00Is Empathy a Fad?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">On October 25, 2007, the New York Times published an article on page A23 entitled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/education/25green.html?ex=1350964800&en=7491ce1a1b9b008a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">Schools Embrace Environmental Efforts, Though Critics See a Costly Fad</a> (interestingly, the online version of the article has a different title: "Schools Embrace Environment and Sow Debate"). The article's author, journalist Winnie Hu, describes public school-based projects in which students participate in a range of activities, from wetland preservation to light-bulb exchanges. Many see this as a progressive educational initiative, such as Nicholas Dyno, principal of Southampton High School on Long Island, whom Hu quotes as saying, "Students need to learn to give back."<br /><br />To me, these projects recover empathy (see my <a href="http://schulzechair.blogspot.com/2007/11/recovering-empathy.html">first blog posting</a>). Engaged, group activities that raise awareness, restore, protect, and conserve allow us to realize empathy: they (1) foster <i>familiarity </i>with our environment; (2) increase perceptions of <i>similarity </i>with our fellow human beings; (3) permit discovery of knowledge (<i>learning</i>) about threats to our world and ways to mitigate them; (4) develop our personal <i>experience </i>with the issues; and (5) increase the <i>salience, </i>or relevance<i> </i>of problems to our own lives. When we realize empathy, we perceive problems differently. They are no longer "out there"; instead they are "in here." When we have experience and knowledge related to a problem, we develop efficacy, or agency - a sense that we have the desire and power to make a difference in our world.<br /><br />Contrast this perspective with some others presented in Hu's article. Take, for example, Jane S. Shaw, executive vice president of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, whom Hu quotes as saying, "Students need very basic skills, and those are so much more important than getting an emotional high because they've done something supposedly for the environment." Or Jerry Cantrell, president of the New Jersey Taxpayers Association and a former school board president, whom Hu quotes as saying, "The 'ed-biz' is known for faddish endeavors....They pick things up on some new philosophy, and it seems cool and popular, and I would throw being green in with that."<br /><br />Aside from the deserved response, "Sour grapes!" to Shaw and Cantrell's opinions, I think their statements also deserve to be taken seriously. Shaw is essentially telling us that education should be nothing more than the "3Rs" - Reading, wRiting, and 'Rithmetic - (taught to the tune of the hickory stick?); there is no time for fooling around with empathy-recovering, civic efficacy-building, place-based, tree-hugging education. Cantrell is telling us that involving our next generation of leaders in educational experiences that teach sustainable development and architecture is akin to helping them get their tongues pierced or shop for an iPhone.<br /><br />What should we do instead? Put the kids back in the classroom where they belong (and where they won't cause as much trouble - oops, but have you seen the 11/7 NYT article entitled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07protest.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin">"Students Call Protest Punishment Too Harsh</a>"?). Inculcate in them time-honored traditions of apathy and over-consumption. Suffocate their youthful enthusiasm under wet blankets of disaffection. Isolate them from their communities within dilapidated silos of academic irrelevance. In short, teach them how to lose hope.<br /><br />Or, help them plant a tree.<br /><br /><br /><p class="poweredbyperformancing">Powered by <a href="http://scribefire.com/">ScribeFire</a>.</p></div>Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3177499503447304769.post-48160945845425743282007-11-06T11:02:00.000-07:002007-11-07T12:49:45.899-07:00Mark LeVine & the Axis of Empathy<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw4vk8Mymx9utF751Pd63PAdW4VK3o0IyzLkw7tP24o1yBFTl-67ngDcUR_xW30KwB_vHC_EvM-sRH3XJYsAg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />On August 14, 2007, faculty from the University of Northern Colorado's <a href="http://www.unco.edu/mind"><span style="font-style: italic;">Life of the Mind</span></a> Program (an award-winning program offering a suite of engaging, interdisciplinary undergraduate courses) invited University of California-Irvine Middle East scholar and musician, Mark LeVine, to join us for a two-day retreat.<br /><br />The discussions that ensued were fascinating and provocative and I've created a short video of relevant excerpts for my Empathy blog. Mark has coined the phrase "Axis of Empathy" to counter George Bush's well-known antipathic phrase, "Axis of Evil." I culled from our conversations with Mark four excerpts that define some of the dimensions of his Axis of Empathy: (1) culture jamming, (2) "militant empathy," (3) empathy and discomfort, and (4) empathy and hope.<br /><br />Mark raises some key questions and issues. His ideas are politically charged and, of course, controversial, which is why I think it is important to post them on my blog. He indicts "the Right" and its strategy to create antipathy, a climate of fear, and isolation. Depending on your political orientation, you might find his arguments to be affirming or antagonistic (or both!). Regardless of your political orientation, I think it's likely you'll find truth in some of what he's saying. Comments are welcome!Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3177499503447304769.post-16918652026694058182007-11-01T16:10:00.000-06:002007-11-02T15:08:47.068-06:00Recovering Empathy<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxpj8JasDI0mrHilsmYOl0R6elh7dGu_B6FYvXcSim9iuu2-uiidRcaFyaRiXMZV97nxRWoucGaqyApjMyWmg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal">I'm an anthropologist currently serving as the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Northern Colorado</st1:placename></st1:place>'s Robert O. Schulze Chair in Interdisciplinary studies. Every three or four years, enough interest accrues from an endowment to permit hiring a person to serve as Schulze Chair for one year. I feel a bit like one of the mythological Corn Kings, who, in this case, are elected to catalyze thought and action (instead of fertilizing the Goddess) and then sacrificed at the harvest. Carpe Diem!<br /><br />I created this narrated slide-show based on the Schulze Chair inaugural lecture I delivered last September. It's about 23 minutes long (vs. the 1.25 hours it took for me to deliver the lecture in person!) and lays the groundwork for my work on empathy in education.</p><p class="MsoNormal">In a nutshell, I focus on the emotional fall-out from 9/11 and subsequent events to make the point that, for our communities to survive and prosper, we need to recover empathy. One way to accomplish this is to create opportunities for college students to gain knowledge, experience, and empathy through academic projects that are based in the communities that surround and support the "Ivory Towers" of Universities and colleges.</p><p class="MsoNormal">A <a href="http://www.unco.edu/mind/schulze/transcript1.html">text transcript</a> of the Recovering Empathy video is also available.<br /></p>Mike Kimballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10755445406614290428noreply@blogger.com0