Morale bombing
Science fiction infrastructures
Gendered time
Agora
SPRING 2019
Gausta Reconsidered
THE LIBERAL ARTS AT LUTHER COLLEGE
Martin Klammer, editor
SPRING 2019 VOLUME 31 NUMBER 2
Bonnie Tunnicliff Johnson, production editor
Agora, an interdisciplinary journal grounded in the humanities, is a project of the Luther College Paideia Program. Paideia consists of many activities and opportunities, including a three-course interdisciplinary core curriculum; performances and events, including an annual lecture series; library acquisitions; student writing services; networked computer classrooms; and a faculty development program that includes sabbatical grants and summer workshops. All these activities receive support from the Paideia Endowment, originally established through National Endowment for the Humanities grants matched by friends of Luther College. To see the current issue and archival issues on-line, go to <http://www. luther.edu/paideia/agora>. The primary Agora contributors are Luther College faculty; writing is also solicited from other college community members and, occasionally, from outside writers. The journal was established in 1988 by then Paideia Director Wilfred F. Bunge, Professor of Religion and Classics. Mark Z. Muggli, Professor of English, was the editor from 1998-2004 and Peter A. Scholl, Professor of English, from 2004-2014. Martin Klammer, Professor of English, has been editor since 2014. Agora is distributed to five hundred on-campus faculty and administrators and to another five hundred off-campus friends of the college. Anyone wishing to be included on the mailing list should contact the editor. phone: (563) 387-2112 e-mail: klammerm@luther.edu
Contents Occasions Called to Live Faithfully Paula Carlson................................................................................................................. 2 Lutheran Accompaniment in Southern Africa Philip J. Knutson............................................................................................................ 4
2018-19 Paideia Texts and Issues Lecture Series: Journeys and Hospitalities Finding the Hjemland: Herbjørn Gausta and the Immigrant American Experience Kate Elliott.................................................................................................................... 6
Sabbatical Reports Sabbatical is a Place Both Wonderful and Strange Andy Hageman............................................................................................................. 14 Clamoring for Change: Addressing Polarization and Incivility through Social Media Guy Nave..................................................................................................................... 17 Exploring Ideology: East German Literature in Textbooks and the Classroom Elizabeth Steding......................................................................................................... 20 Does Morale Bombing Work? Michael Engelhardt...................................................................................................... 23 Gendered Conceptions of Time in the Lives of Medical Providers Maryna Bazylevych...................................................................................................... 26
Chapel Talks Langston Hughes: Poet and Prophet (February 25, 2019) Guy Nave..................................................................................................................... 29 The Beauty of Brokenness (March 8, 2019) Anna Peterson............................................................................................................... 33 Transformed into God's Beloved Community (April 26, 2019) Sam Simataa................................................................................................................ 35 The Diasporic Human Option Arie Kizel..................................................................................................................... 37
Interview Responding to Islamophobia Martin Klammer with Todd Green............................................................................... 39
Cover: Upper Iowa Valley by Norwegian immigrant artist Herbjørn Gausta.
Called to Live Faithfully by PAULA CARLSON, President of Luther College
T
he reading for today is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 30, verses 18-21:
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Here ends the reading. I want to begin this morning with words of thanks. This will be my last chapel talk at Luther, and I want to start with gratitude. Thank you to the chapel community that gathers Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings here in the CFL. Thank you to the Sunday morning worshipping community here at Luther and to the Sunday evening Focus community. Thank you to Pastors Mike Blair, Annie Edison-Albright, Judd Larson, Marion Pruitt-Jefferson, Amy Zalk Larson, and David Vasquez. The weekday chapel and the Sunday worshipping communities have been 2
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a spiritual home for me and my husband, too, during our years at Luther. I’m grateful to these communities and to the college pastors who have served in these years.
DANICA NOLTON, '22, LUTHER COLLEGE PHOTO BUREAU
Editor's note: In lieu of our usual introduction, we offer Paula Carlson's last chapel talk as president in recognition of her faithful leadership of Luther College. MK
I want also to say “many thanks” to the Nordic Choir, the Jazz Orchestra, and conductors, Andrew Last and Tony Guzman, for your music today. It’s always a great joy to hear you sing and play. I’m especially grateful for your music today.
Paula Carlson presents her last chapel talk as Luther's 10th Thank you’s as well president on May 1, 2019. to all the Luther powerful passage given to me to reflect ensembles who share their gifts of on with you as I say good-bye to the music with us in chapel and beyond: Luther community. Collegiate, Cathedral, Aurora, This reading from Isaiah begins with Norsemen, the Gospel Choir, the bands, assertions about God. Isaiah tells us the orchestras, and many more! God is gracious and merciful. Isaiah Many thanks. tells us God is a God of justice. Grace, mercy, justice—we can trust that God The passage from Isaiah that I just read will be steadfast and sure in these. We is one of the texts assigned each year to can trust, too, that God will hear, teach, st May 1 in our church lectionary, which and guide us. In this passage, Isaiah is the gathering of Scripture passages assures us that God will listen for us and lifted up by the church for each day of answer us when we call to God; Isaiah st the year. Today—May 1 —is the day assures us that God will be our Teacher; in the church year when we remember and finally Isaiah assures us that God the apostles Philip and James: two of will guide us on the various paths we Jesus’s twelve disciples, two faithful take in our lives: “And when you turn to witnesses to the good news of Jesus the right or when you turn to the left, both during Jesus’s lifetime and in the your ears shall hear a word behind you, years that followed. When Pastor Mike saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” invited me to speak today and I read this passage assigned for this day to remember Philip and James, I thought “how wonderful”—what a moving and
This promise of the word from God guiding us on our way is especially
powerful to me today as I anticipate “graduating” from Luther with the Class of 2019 and think, too, about our commitment as a college to “learn in community, to discern our callings, and to serve with distinction for the common good.” In our college community, discerning our vocations and preparing to serve for the common good in many different roles and many different careers in many different places are at the heart of what we do. At its core, college is about learning, discovery, growth, change, formation, and preparation. At the beginning of each academic year these past five years, Pastor Mike has chosen a simple song—a prayer—for us to sing together. The words go like this: Take, oh, take me as I am; Summon out what I shall be; Set your seal upon my heart And live in me. [ John Bell, ELW 814] “Summon out what I shall be”—each year I talk with first-year students and tell them ‘this is what college is about’—summoning out what you will become, growing your talents and strengths as you choose a path, as you set your course. Today’s reading from Isaiah reminds us that as people of God we are called to listen for the word behind us, to listen for the word propelling us—whichever path we choose: whether to the right or to the left. We are to listen for the word behind us to guide us in faithfulness to our God of justice, mercy, and grace. We are called to live faithfully as individuals and as communities. We are called to live faithfully God’s purpose for us whichever path we find ourselves on, whichever place we choose. At Luther, our mission statement is like the word behind us—calling us to live faithfully our college’s core values and commitments. Over the past five years, I have been privileged each day to work with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the college who inspire me with their passion and their commitment to live faithfully the college’s core values and commitments
and to use their talents and learning to better our community and the world.
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
As we created our new strategic plan together, I could think of no better name for the plan than “Inspired. Empowered. Engaged.” – words that can only faintly point to the passionate commitment of people at Luther to learning, community, inclusive excellence, joyful stewardship, and innovation.
making it bring forth and sprout,
Throughout the college’s 158 years, the Luther community’s faithfulness to its core values and beliefs has guided and propelled the college—from its founding in 1861 through so many changes and transformations.
We can trust our God of justice, mercy, and grace to hear, teach, and guide us. Today’s reading from Isaiah reminds us that through all the many seasons of the college’s life, we can trust our God of justice, mercy, and grace to hear, teach, and guide us. When I joined the Luther community five years ago, I spoke at my inauguration about another passage from the book of Isaiah—chapter 55, where Isaiah speaks of God’s invitation to all people to gather together to listen and learn so that we may have life. In our college community, we gather, listen, and learn so that we may throughout our lives thrive, serve, and lead in our vocations and careers.
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. God’s words of promise here hold such hope for the future, such trust in the future. So many of us over many years “graduate” from Luther and go out to embrace new callings in new communities and new places. As I, too, “graduate” from Luther, I am grateful for my years here. I will pray for God’s continued blessings on this place and for God’s blessings on those of us who will soon set off on new paths. God’s words of promise in Isaiah tell us that we can trust God to care for each of us and for our communities. And Isaiah reminds us all to listen for God’s word as we choose our ways so that we may live in faithfulness to our God of justice, mercy, and grace in the years to come. Soli Deo Gloria. Amen.
Today’s reading from Isaiah chapter 30 called up that moment for me again. Once again, Isaiah’s words are so fitting. I want to leave you today with words that for me bring together the Isaiah passage of invitation to a great gathering where all may flourish that I read to you five years ago and Isaiah’s words today about the God of justice, mercy, and grace. Once again, these are God’s words of promise from the book of Isaiah: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, Spring 2019/Agora
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Lutheran Accompaniment in Southern Africa by REV. DR. PHILIP J. KNUTSON, ELCA Global Mission Regional Representative—Southern Africa
Editor’s note: Pastor Knutson spoke via Skype to this gathering which I attended of pastors, laypeople, and ELCA staff involved in ministry and education in southern Africa. I was one of four ELCA college faculty who presented our course offerings in southern Africa: since 1998 Luther faculty have offered 18 courses to students traveling in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. In this talk, Knutson recounts that the Lutheran Church’s presence in South Africa is rooted in persons connected to Luther College. The college continues to serve southern Africa through graduates who have volunteered for the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program, the Peace Corps, and other non-profit organizations. MK
T
o the Global Mission Staff and the Southern Africa Network Gathering, March 11, 2019, Chicago: Warm greetings to you all from Johannesburg! I am sure you are waiting eagerly for spring to arrive! I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to everyone who has taken the time to come to Chicago for the first Southern Africa Network meeting and for the invitation for me to share some reflections with you this morning. It has been 30 years since the Companion synod program started with the formation of the ELCA in 1988, but relationships between Lutherans in the USA and Southern Africa go much further back (over 120 years)—linked to the arrival of the missionary pastor Hans Schreuder from Norway in 1844.1 The son of Bishop Nils Astrup, who was Schreuder’s successor, was Johannes Astrup, who attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, graduating there in 1893 and from the Norwegian Synod’s Luther Seminary in 1896 (one of the precursors to the current Luther Seminary in St. Paul). 4
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The first president of Luther College, Professor Peter Laurentius Larsen, married the sister of Nils Astrup. In 1926 Rev. John Ylvisaker, Rev. H. Otte, and Rev. Johannes Astrup were supported by individuals and congregations through Luther College connections.2 That was 93 years ago! In 1927 the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America took over the Schreuder Mission in South Africa, which was then renamed the American Lutheran Mission. Your presence today is a testimony to those long-term and ongoing connections and relationships. American Lutheran relationships in Africa started then during the colonial era and have continued—seeing the end of colonialism and the dawning of independence in the 1960s, the struggle against racism and apartheid (which has directly impacted all the people, churches, and countries in Southern Africa), the establishment of national churches in the 1970s and 1980s, the release of Nelson Mandela and independence of Namibia in 1990, and the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. And the journey continues!
Rev. John Ylvisaker, Rev. H. Otte, and Rev. Johannes Astrup were supported by individuals and congregations through Luther College connections. Every day I am learning to better understand and appreciate that the church (in all its expressions) does not have a mission—rather, God’s mission has a church! Participation and companionship in God’s mission is a
Philip J. Knutson mutual journey enabled and sustained by God’s grace, alone. We are not the first or the last. Each person, each generation, each church, program, institution, or project has its strengths and weaknesses, joys and sorrows, successes and failure, hopes and fears.3 I continue to be amazed by and appreciate the deep Biblical insight and wisdom of the ELCA’s theology and practice of Accompaniment, understood as “Walking together in a solidarity, that practices interdependence and mutuality, where gifts, resources and experiences are shared with mutual advice and admonition to deepen and expand our work within God’s mission,” and holding up the values of Mutuality, Inclusivity, Vulnerability, Sustainability, and Empowerment.4 Based on my reading of Luke 24 (The Road to Emmaus) and Acts 9 (Saul and Ananias), and my experience in Southern Africa and the USA, I like to speak of mission accompaniment as “mutual conversion” and often quote the words of Professor Rolf Jacobson of Luther Seminary: We are our stories, but our stories—from both a theological
and an ethical perspective—are inevitably inadequate. What then? We will need a different story. We will need this story to come alongside our stories and be a story that can tell the truth about us without killing us. Or rather, precisely a story that will tell the truth about us and thereby kill us, but also raise us from the dead. If such a story is to be found, it will have to come from outside of ourselves.5
conversations with our companions and each other.
As the ELCA, we are privileged to support and work with the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA), which is the sub-regional expression of the LWF in Southern Africa with 15 member churches and 2 million members across 10 countries.6
I think Pastor Richard Pereira from ELCSA Eastern Diocese (Companion Diocese to the Caribbean Synod) put it well when he wrote: I see . . . partnership as a long road that has been travelled. From the first physical contact, it has been a blissful road with challenges, disappointments, sleepless nights and tears. After all, that is what roads are like. They are not always straight. We need to express high appreciation to those who stood the test of time and worked with passion and love for the survival of the partnership. What I like most about it is that it is not only for the rich and well-to-do people but has also benefitted the poorest of the poor . . . 7
A striking fact you probably know is that Africa is the world’s youngest continent with 70% of the population under the age of 35. One of the most exciting and innovative programs coordinated by LUCSA is the Infohut project hosted by companion churches
IMAGE COURTESY OF MARTIN KLAMMER
As you gather as the Southern Africa network, as representatives of companion churches, synods, universities and colleges, seminaries,
of climate change not only in Southern Africa but also in the USA.
Luther J-term students marching with New Hope Feeds Africa, a Cape Town organization that provides meals for the local communitiy. congregations, and Global Mission staff and alumni of programs such as the YAGM program, I know you will be sharing such life-changing stories and experiences (both heart-breaking and uplifting) from “outside of yourselves.” You will be reflecting on the challenges and opportunities provided by companion relationships and how to work together to address holistic mission, theological education, leadership development, health care, HIV & AIDS, unemployment, refugees, gender justice, economic inequality, sustainable development, political conflict, reconciliation, and the effects
So, I pray with you today for a deep sharing of stories, challenging visions and creative and practical strategies for collaboration and strengthening of vibrant, transformative relationships as the Southern Africa Network meets here this week and journeys with ELCA companions and partners into the future. May God bless and guide you as you walk in God’s mission, locally and globally.
Notes
in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Namibia. The goal of the Infohut project is to create an HIV-free generation. The Infohut uses computer-based learning to engage with young people regarding HIV & AIDS, relationships, conflict resolution and other life skills. One Infohut coordinator in Namibia observed: “The Infohut helps people a lot. They learn about life’s challenges and how to overcome them.”
1. Andrew Burgess, Unkulunkulu in Zululand (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House,1934) 111.
Accompaniment stresses that mission is not just a project or a visit but a long-term and mutual relationship which means walking together, even if the ground is not level, with intentional and careful listening to and frank
7. 20th Anniversary Partnership booklet published by the Bremervörde-Zeven Circuit in Germany, page 5, June 2014.
2. Burgess 188.
3. Philip J. Knutson, “Bridges and Gaps: Mission Partnership in South Africa” in Word & World, Vol. XXI, Number 2, Spring 2001.
4. https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/GlobalChurch/Global-Mission. 5. Word & World (Spring 2014), 126. 6. www.lucsa.org.
Spring 2019/Agora
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Finding the Hjemland: Herbjørn Gausta and the Immigrant American Experience This text was delivered as the Paideia Texts and Issues Lecture on March 5, 2019.
G
ood evening! My description for this talk tonight suggested that I was going to investigate the importance of the concept of home and longing to immigrants, using the experience of the Upper-Midwest Norwegian immigrants as a focal group, and the experiences of Herbjørn Gausta in particular. As I sat down to put together this talk I realized that on the surface, we have what my teenage son would call a “well duh, Mom,” moment. I am surely not the first to suggest that immigrants think longingly about their homeland. Displaced people—people who are forced from their homes—are especially prone to nostalgia. Even for those who willingly leave, as the vast majority of the late nineteenth century Norwegian immigrants did, memories of their Norwegian homeland remained present in the communities. Even today, many of my Decorah neighbors (and my husband’s family) still make trips back to Norway to visit their ancestors’ homeland and decorate their homes with images of the spectacular Norwegian countryside.
reproduce in plastic form what they see about them or experience emotionally. This desire can drive them, often against extreme odds, to reject more traditional means of livelihood and to venture out on the precarious path of becoming a professional artist. Herbjørn Gausta was a person of this type.”1 In a similar spirit, Gausta is often talked about as a tenacious painter, the darling of the Norwegian-American community of the Upper Midwest, a rare poetic spirit, one who could not put his memories of his homeland behind him, who could not suppress his longing for the land of his birth, and thus continued to paint images of the Norwegian countryside throughout his life. It’s a nice story, an exciting story even. It’s one that we tell about a lot of artists, but the unexamined question is whether it is true. Is it helpful for understanding the life and career of Gausta? Or is it overly reductive and perfunctory, occluding other potentially more interesting stories that may emerge?
What is interesting, though, is that this narrative of immigrant longing represents the entirety of scholarship on Herbjørn Gausta, who is our subject today. Gausta was born in 1854 and immigrated to America at the age of 13. His choice to follow an artistic career path as a first-generation immigrant is often discussed as demonstrating his deep need for a creative outlet despite the hardships of immigrant life.
Gausta, as we will see, presents a sticky problem that has been glossed over. Gausta was not a provincial young man, stuck in some one-room log cabin, living in isolation on the wind-swept prairie. After graduating from Luther College, Gausta moved to Europe for further artistic training and traveled widely across North America, Europe, and Scandinavia. The notion that he simply recreated scenes of his youth out of personal, psychological need just doesn’t hold up as the full story. If we can set nostalgia aside for a moment, the possibility that his images of Norway are doing other important personal and cultural work opens up.
Marion J. Nelson, for instance, remarked in his biographical study of Gausta, “There are people who at a rather early age reveal an obsessive desire to
Indeed, I am coming to believe that Gausta’s repeated return to the subject of Norwegian customs and the Norwegian landscape, has as much to
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EMILY TURNER, '19, LUTHER COLLEGE PHOTO BUREAU
by KATE ELLIOTT, Associate Professor of Art History
Kate Elliott presenting her Paideia Texts and Issues lecture in March. do with building social cohesion and, quite frankly, paying the bills as it does with homesickness and nostalgia. Before we delve into that question, I’d like to tell you a bit about my current project. My student researchers and I have embarked on a multi-year catalog raisonne project where we are trying to locate all known Gausta paintings. We have started with the sizable collection of paintings that made their way into the Fine Arts Collection at Luther and the Vesterheim Collection upon Gausta’s death in 1924 and have expanded now to domestic and international private and public collections. We have now located over 200 works. What is exciting about such a project is that when you collect the full career of any artist together in one database, common themes and threads emerge. Compiling such a list allows scholars to not only gain a better understanding of the thrust of an artist’s career, but to also make systematic assessments of themes, patterns, and aesthetic preoccupations that engrossed an artist over the course of his or her career. In short, it allows for you to
LUTHER COLLEGE FINE ARTS COLLECTION
Robert Koehler, Herbjørn Gausta (1915). All succeeding images are courtesy of Luther's Fine Arts Collection unless otherwise noted. make the kinds of connections that I hope to make today. Gausta was born in 1854 on what was known as the “Gausta Farm” in Telemark, Norway. In 1867, when young Gausta was barely 13, the family immigrated to Fillmore County, Minnesota and settled near the town of Harmony, just about 20 miles northwest of here. The Gausta family was not unique when they made the decision to immigrate to American. In fact, it is estimated that 750,000 Norwegians immigrated to America between 1836 and 1915.2 Unfortunately, but also not unusually, the Gausta family was struck by tragedy two years later when his father died, leaving the 15-year-old Herbjørn as the male head of the household. Herbjørn assumed economic responsibility for his mother and four sisters. He worked odd jobs for a time before entering the teaching program at Luther College in 1872, where, by all accounts, he did not distinguish himself as a scholar.3 He did, however, draw the attention of Reverend Ulrik Vilhelm Koren
(1826-1910), who recognized artistic potential in the young Gausta. Reverend Koren and his wife, Elisabeth (1832-1918), were called to America to serve the growing Norwegian Lutheran population in northeastern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Koren took up a collection among the NorwegianAmerican community to send Gausta back to Norway for formal training in art.
At this point, we have mostly questions and speculations as to what the community hoped to gain from such a transaction. Marion Nelson relates that Koren “recognized Herbjørn’s gifts.”4 Was it simply a question of charity? Did the close-knit community feel compelled to help out the young, fatherless Gausta and his family? Were they instead hoping to have a trained artist come back and fill a need in the community? If so, what was that need? Did they desire a trained artist to return to their community to paint portraits of respected leaders? Were they hoping to have a trained artist return who could supply Lutheran congregations with fitting altarpieces? Or was there something else driving the need? Other scholars, such as Rena Coen, have established that even in more urban areas like Minneapolis and St. Paul the Upper Midwest was not a profitable market for professional artists in this period. Artists with considerably more training than Gausta found commissions scarce and they needed to diversify their talents, decorating churches or painting signs, in addition
to doing more traditional portraits and landscape paintings.5 Thus, the choice to financially nurture the artistic ambitions of young Gausta may seem like misplaced emphasis of his newly established immigrant community. Generations of American artists from the east coast to the central plains routinely spent their formative years in Paris, London, or Rome seeking training, as such opportunities in America were limited. Back in Norway, Gausta studied with Knud Bergslein, who was known for his romantic views of Norwegian history and rural life. Despite training an entire generation of young Norwegian painters, by the 1870s Bergslein’s style was becoming outmoded, which is why, perhaps, in 1878 Gausta left the school to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. This is where things get really interesting. The Munich Academy had steadily grown in prestige throughout the nineteenth century because of the school’s commitment to the new “Realist” style. When Gausta enrolled at the Munich Academy, the institution was at its peak. He joined the more than 400 American students studying at Munich, making the Americans one of the largest groups of non-Germans enrolled at the Academy.6 The academy was especially well respected among these American students because its curriculum was understood to be “sound and thorough” and its fees comparably low when compared to those of the French Academy or the Royal Academy of London.7 Other scholars have commented that some American artists preferred the more rustic and rural setting of Munich over Paris or London. Finally, it should be mentioned that the more prudish American artists responded favorably to the more structured—and certainly less morally permissive—atmosphere than that of bohemian Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century.8 Letters from Gausta during this time are scarce, but those from his sisters back home suggest the excitement that Gausta too may have felt in his new environment. Spring 2019/Agora
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IMAGE COURTESY OF VESTERHEIM NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN MUSEUM
Gausta’s sister, for example wrote him in April 1878: “It must be very grand things to see in Munich all the splendid works of Art - Oh! don’t I wish I could see some of the beautiful things there. I suppose everything is different there from what it was in Norway but I imagine the people to resemble the Norwegians in some respects because being of the same Origin. When you write again please write about the customs and life of the people there. I like to hear about others countries too.”9 Her comments suggest the extent to which those back home eagerly awaited news of Gausta’s studies and travels. They also suggest the rather cosmopolitan atmosphere Gausta found himself in. Gausta was hired by at least one American socialite to paint copies of Baroque masterpieces hanging in Munich’s main museum, the Alte Pinakothek. In 1878, Isabella Eugénie (Singer) Boye (1841-1904), heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune, commissioned a copy of Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s The Little Fruit Seller (1670-1675) for her home. As surprising as this financial transaction might seem, such commissions were common practice. Many students, including Gausta, struggled to support themselves financially. Some were even financially supported by patrons back home. The young artists would pay their 8
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sponsors back with copies of Old Master paintings. The sad truth of the American Gilded Age art market was that collectors who had the money to purchase art greatly preferred European Old Master works, such as Murillo’s The Little Fruit Seller, even as they sponsored American students to study in Munich and Paris. So again, Gausta is much like his American colleagues. His family was well aware of the need to develop the business side of his craft. His sister, Anne, wrote him in 1877, expressing her pleasure that he was finding modest success while in Norway, and later, Munich. “It pleases me so much,” Anne wrote, “that you already know how to produce pictures that cost so much and hope that you already have been able to sell one.”10 Painting good works was not enough. Anne was aware that Gausta also needed to find buyers. His shortlived patronage by Isabella Singer was surely a financial relief. Already, we have complicated the narrative that Gausta was a naïve, self-taught, insular artist, creating images for an equally naïve insular community. When he finally returned to America in 1881, he brought with him lessons learned from six years abroad and a cosmopolitan outlook honed as he intersected with people of the higher social circles. Throughout the remainder of his life, Gausta would make at least three more
For the rest of his life, he made good returns on Pastor Koren’s investment, supplying the Norwegian-American community in the Upper Midwest with portraits of prominent community members and altarpieces for newly established Lutheran churches. He also exposed his debt to his education under Berglien by creating sensitive genre scenes depicting rural Norwegian life wedded to a new modern Munich style. For instance, Young Mother (1885) demonstrates Gausta’s continuation of Bergliensian subject matter with his scene of a young woman quietly knitting in a Norwegian interior while her young child naps in a cupboard bed. The scene reflects his Munich training with the lighter pallet and fresh brushwork that lends a lightness to the quiet scene. All the while, Gausta continued to paint landscapes. Some like Upper Iowa Valley (1880-1899) depict recognizable Upper Midwest scenes. Here, Gausta presents a view of the Upper Iowa River,
PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH, DECORAH
Gausta, Koren Parsonage (1880-1889)
trips to Norway and Europe. On each return, Gausta embedded himself in the immigrant communities of Decorah, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
Gausta's Christ as Good Shepherd, First Lutheran Church, Decorah, Iowa.
shimmering as it rolls past the distinctive bluffs that surround the Luther College campus. Other canvases, like Lake in Telemark (c. 1890s) are distinctly Norwegian landscapes. For some, especially those that are set on lakes, it is difficult to tell whether we are looking at a Midwestern setting or a Norwegian one. One more point: from the data that we’ve collected thus far it is clear that these subjects remain constant throughout Gausta’s life, even as he moves between Upper Midwest cities and continues to travel the world. That is, he repeats these images again and Gausta, Young Mother (1895) again. Some compositions, such as Rocky Shore (1890), find, is more important than what are virtually identically to other extant we do. We have found no images of works in private collections. Other than Munich, none of the larger German variations in the hills of the background, countryside. We have only found a the only major difference is the size single image of the city of Minneapolis, of the canvas and the details of the 11 proper. In other words, Gausta’s frame. landscapes cannot be thought of as And despite his travels, we have only a travel record, or a series of images uncovered two landscapes that depict that depict his journeys. Therefore we non-Norway or non-Upper Midwest can surmise that Gausta’s landscape sites and only one cityscape. This is production is calculated. He’s not just important. Sometimes what we don’t painting his environment, wherever he
Gausta, Upper Iowa Valley (1880-1899)
might be. He is consciously producing and re-producing images of his dual homes. Gausta's penchant for repeating Norwegian landscape and genre motifs, regardless of his physical siting, lends itself to the idea that he produced work out of a sense of longing and nostalgia for that place he left behind. There is some credence to this idea, especially when the unique psychological effect of immigration is taken into account. It is well documented that immigrants, regardless of historical period, think longingly of their homeland. In fact throughout the nineteenth-century and into the twentieth-century, nostalgia was categorized as an “immigrant psychosis.”12 Displaced people are especially prone to nostalgia and longing because of the physical and psychological separation and the concurrent loss of social identity that accompanies violent uprooting.13 Even those who willingly leave, as did the vast majority of the late nineteenth century Norwegian immigrants, memories of their Norwegian homeland remained present in the communities. Recent scientific research suggests that rather than being a psychological disorder, nostalgia has an important role to play in mental health. Studies Spring 2019/Agora
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Iowa neighbors for scenes from Norway that they wished to have as a memory.17 Lien argues that this culture of photography among immigrant communities served as a way “to create community between the past and the present, to accentuate family values such as closeness and longing, and, not least, to make apparent a sense of ethnic belonging.”18 The very existence of immigrant photographers and, more importantly, the presence of buyers for their work suggests that nostalgia is not necessarily the wrong answer to explain Gausta’s continued commitment to Norwegian subjects. But perhaps that nostalgia is not personally driven. Perhaps it is market driven. Perhaps like the Norwegian immigrant photographers, his patrons are the ones who love what they left and miss from where they came.
Gausta, Rocky Shore (1890) have suggested that sharing feelings of nostalgia help people to make personal connections through building a sense of belonging. Consequently, an increased sense of relational connectedness can help to stave off anxiety. This is especially important for uprooted populations like immigrants. Psychologist Dr. Erica Hepper writes that because, “Nostalgia helps us deal with transitions,” it becomes a powerful tool for immigrants who find themselves in liminal spaces between homes.14 Thus, recent work on Norwegian migration history draws attention to moments of nostalgia, or perhaps more specifically, expressions of longing, in immigration accounts and letters. For instance, Sigrid Lien’s recent study of photography among NorwegianAmerican communities in the second-half of the nineteenth century suggests that the visual culture of these communities helped fill the deep longing for images of people left behind in the mother country, and places immigrants feared they never see again. This is true even in Gausta’s own community, Lien reminds us. Elisabeth Koren mentioned in her diary the family’s collection of portrait daguerreotypes and the happy fact that she and her husband were thus “surrounded by familiar faces.”15 10
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Gausta, Lake in Telemark (1890s) By the last decades of the nineteenth century, years when Gausta was traveling abroad and then establishing himself back in America, secondgeneration immigrant photographers also began to make trips back to Norway “to take pictures on assignment from immigrant Norwegians who wanted images of familiar places and familiar faces from the country they had left behind.”16 Some NorwegianAmerican photographers like Martin Morrison would take orders from his
We must also be cautious about drawing too strong of a parallel between nineteenth-century immigrant photographers and the academically trained Gausta. His paintings adhere to a different set of aesthetic values and artistic purposes. They do not have the same sense of immediacy as immigrant photographs because they are created in accordance to a different set of rules.19 Photographs in this period were understood to be documentary proof. Their truth-telling power stemmed
from their clarity and the cultural understanding that the camera was an impassive and objective recorder of truth. Gausta’s landscapes and genre scenes, in contrast, are mediated through his European artistic training and aesthetic theory which values the emblematic over the documentary. In practice this means that even though Gausta was himself a photographer and often used photographs of friends and family as the basis for Gausta, Rowboat (1890s) his figural paintings, when worked up into a finished another one of Gausta’s friends, is the compositions these people cease to suited man on the right. In the final represent themselves. They should composition, however, the story is one instead be understood as characters of rural financial transactions between or types.20 This is precisely the goal of farmer and townsman, not a story genre painting, which is to comment on specific to Halvor and Ole. universal human experiences through Given these differences, it seems scenes of everyday life. Gausta’s Closing prudent to expand our questions of the Bargain (c. 1890) is an excellent what personal or cultural work is example of this process. being done with Gausta’s oeuvre. His We know from archival evidence production suggests that Gausta was that the work was painted on the attempting to give his community Halvor Brufodt farm near Harmony, what they wanted, and while longing Minnesota. Brufodt is the model for and loss may be a factor, his work leans the man on the left and Ole Lyndahl, more towards creating community and
Gausta's Closing the Bargain (1890s) currently hangs in Luther College's Peace Dining Room.
keeping culture intact by repeating motifs and familiarizing the old with the new. One way to approach this reading is reexamining the strange formal similarity between landscapes mentioned previously. Returning to Landscape with Rowboat (1914) and Rocky Shore (1890) and other non-specific landscape paintings, many times it is simply the height of the hills that surround the bodies of water that marks the place depicted as Norway or Minnesota. It is almost as if Gausta is looking for visual similarities between the landscapes and emphasizing the topographical continuities of these dual homes. These landscapes seem to be a way to translate the new (home) via the old (land). This is our home back in Norway. This is what we left. This is our home here in America; this is where we have come to. From a psychological standpoint, such familiarizing helps to ease the sense of displacement and spatial disorientation that accompanies immigration and thus would be welcome in immigrant communities. Gausta’s works can also be understood as helping to shore up a sense of cultural belonging as part of a larger project of creating of common Norwegian heritage for immigrant communities. After the initial first immigrations, most newcomers logically travelled to places where there were already Norwegian immigrants. This meant for most of the second and third wave Norwegian immigrants— including Gausta’s family— Chicago was a hub. From here, the immigration patterns were rather regulated. After an initial landing, many families spent a reorientation Spring 2019/Agora
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the European scenery he traveled through, he knew of no market for such images. In this way Gausta’s images of Norway and of the Upper Midwest can be considered closely aligned with his career-long production of altarpieces for Lutheran congregations and portraits of Norwegian-American community leaders. The landscapes, like the altarpieces and portraits, were created specifically with a commission or, at the very least, a specific audience in mind. All this is not to discount wholly a dialogue of nostalgia at work in Gausta’s oeuvre, but to suggest that perhaps that dialogue is misplaced. His buyers are the ones missing their homeland. Gausta is just willingly giving the community what they wanted. Gausta, Lake Louise (1910) period in among already-established Norwegian communities before moving to open land farther to West. But despite the transitory nature of these Chicago communities, the Norwegianimmigrant leaders in such cities sought to build cultural cohesion to counter the impermanent nature of their community. The process played out via cultural groups like the Chicago Norwegian ski club, “NOR”, or singing societies across the Midwest. Immigrant communities also established cultural clubs, like the Chicago Norske Klub, which attempted to build cultural cohesion by promoting a shared glorious Nordic history, with heavy emphasis on the Viking lore. Their Chicago meeting house was decorated with Nordic inspired beams and chandeliers. Norwegian landscape scenes hang prominently on the back wall. Surrounding members of the Norwegian-American community with such visual markers of their shared Norwegian heritage was a way to visually reinforce the community’s cultural connections.
that his Norwegian subjects also paid Gausta’s bills, which is a very important and often-overlooked fact. By the 1880s Gausta had begun to fulfill his sister Anne’s hope that he would be able to sell his “pictures that cost so much.”21 This astute understanding of his particular slice of the art market, I argue, is why we find very few images of Gausta’s larger travels, especially from later in life. Although he surely enjoyed
Gausta’s landscapes and genre paintings do similar work in that they build a shared visual heritage. Cultural cohesion is a laudatory goal, but one must not forget 12
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Gausta's Home, Norway (c. 1880)
Only good can come from opening up our discussions of an artist’s life and his or her work. New insights can be gained from breaking free from unexamined or overly simplistic understandings of what drives artists to create. Considering Gausta from a commercial side as a man trying to make a living through art does not discredit his talent nor his service to his community. It merely allows us to consider ways that the visual arts were produced and consumed in turn of the twentieth century Norwegian-American communities.
So, I was feeling quite good about this talk until I remembered a pair of images I have hanging in storage. They have been driving me nuts for the past seven years. Here are two odd paintings hanging in storage of the Luther College art collection. Both depict the Gausta homestead back in Norway. The largest, Gausta’s Home, Norway (c. 1880) measures almost three feet long, an
uncovered to this point that suggest the circumstances of the work’s commission. There are no mentions of the work in the Gausta archive. There seems to be a deeply psychological reason for the continuing subject of home within the immigrant oeuvre. Sometimes it is just for money, and sometimes—my gut is telling me here—it is for deeply personal reasons.
Hubertus Kohle, Veerle Thielemans (Berlin and Munich, 2009),44.
8. Ursula Frohne “Cultural and Professional Aspirations of American Artists in Munich,” in American Artists in Munich: Artistic Migration and Cultural Exchange Processes, ed. Christian Fuhrmeister, Hubertus Kohle, Veerle Thielemans (Berlin and Munich, 2009), 77. 9. Gunnil Gausta to H. Gausta, April 6, 1878, 94:4:5 in the Papers of Herbjørn Gausta, 1873-1989 Luther College Archive. 10. Sister Anne to H. Gausta, June 12, 1877, 94:3:9 in the Papers of Herbjørn Gausta, 1873-1989 Luther College Archive.
11. The works are finished to the same degree, which suggests that one is not a study for the other.
12. John Tierney, “What is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit Research Shows,” n.p. [cited 14 February 2019] Online: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/ science/what-is-nostalgia-good-forquite-a-bit-research-shows.html John Tierney referenced a slew of scientific studies regarding immigrant populations, the most famous of which is Isaac Frost “Home-Sickness and Immigrant Psychoses. Austrian and German Domestic Servants the Basis of Study,” first published in the Journal of Mental Science 84 no. 352, September 1938 (801-847).
Gausta's Home, Norway (c. 1880) unusually large size in Gausta’s oeuvre. This canvas stayed with Gausta until his death and the contents of his studio found their way into the Luther College collection.22 This means one of two things: either Gausta was unsuccessful in selling this canvas or that he kept it near him intentionally. Gausta’s Home, Norway is not generic, unnamed, or even a common tourist view of Norway. And while it is created in the same spirit as a Norwegian genre subject like Young Mother, especially as he tries to capture the unique folk architectural decorations, the overall spirit is different. The shift in tone has much to do with the shadowy woman, standing in the doorway of the building, holding a small child in her arms. With its lack of narrative, Gausta’s Home, Norway has an aura of nostalgia about it, and I find myself back where I started. Who this woman is, what she is meant to represent, is lost to us at the moment. There are no records
Notes 1. Marion J. Nelson, “Herbjørn Gausta: Norwegian-American Painter,” vol. 3 of Studies in Scandinavian-American Interrelations (Olso, 1971), 3. 2. Sigrid Lien, Pictures of Longing: Photography and the NorwegianAmerican Migration, trans. Barbara Sjoholm (Minneapolis and London, 2009), 2. 3. Nelson, “Herbjørn Gausta,”4. 4. Nelson, “Herbjørn Gausta,” 4
5. Coen, Painting in Minnesota, 67.
6. Christian Furhmeister and Veerle Thielemans, Introduction to American Artists in Munich: Artistic Migration and Cultural Exchange Processes, ed. Christian Fuhrmeister, Hubertus Kohle, Veerle Thielemans (Berlin and Munich, 2009), 7.
7. Susanne Böller, “American Artists at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich 18501920” in American Artists in Munich: Artistic Migration and Cultural Exchange Processes, ed. Christian Fuhrmeister,
13. Richard Bentall and Jason McIntyre, “Immigrants Suffer Higher Rates of Psychosis. Here’s How to Start Helping Them,” n.p. [cited 14 February 2019] Online: http://theconversation.com/ immigrants-suffer-higher-rates-ofpsychosis-heres-how-to-start-helpingthem-73552 14. Tierney “Nostalgia,” n.p.
15. Lein, Pictures of Longing, 5.
16. Lein, Pictures of Longing, 46. 17. Lein, Pictures of Longing, 49.
18. Lein, Pictures of Longing, 23.
19. Lein, Pictures of Longing, 136.
20. When his Minneapolis studio burned in the Tribune Fire of 1889 among the objects lost was Gausta’s collection of photographs taken on his travels and more than 100 of his own works.
21. Sister Anne to H. Gausta, June 12, 1877, 94:3:9 in the Papers of Herbjørn Gausta, 1873-1989 Luther College Archive 22. Marion Nelson, “Material Culture and Ethnicity,” 17. Spring 2019/Agora
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Sabbatical is a Place both Wonderful and Strange by ANDY HAGEMAN, Associate Professor of English
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Imagining infrastructures of the future in science/speculative fiction Since more than a year before my sabbatical, I’ve been exploring a relatively new area of literary, film, and media studies called infrastructural criticism. Scholars in this emerging field channel their close analytical attention on the depictions of infrastructural objects and systems in novels, for example. While characters, and most often the human ones among them, have traditionally and unsurprisingly been a focal point for people studying stories, infrastructural objects and systems can reveal a great deal about the values, aspirations, and oppressions of the society in which a given story is set. After all, subway systems, water and sewer lines, telco networks, dams, and electric grids are where ideologies are embodied, on display, and at work. These infrastructures may be directly related to plot events, or they may indirectly illuminate how the society being represented thinks about publicprivate dynamics and the common good. 14
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SUBMITTED BY ANDY HAGEMAN
n reflecting on my recent onesemester sabbatical in the context of Luther’s Paideia program, which generously helped support my research activities, I find myself drawn to the Paideia notion of problem solving as an activity to be done in communities and through robust, multi-faceted approaches. Over the course of my time away from Luther communities of students and colleagues, I was fortunate to join several other communities—to contribute to their work and to learn from them valuable practices and discourses I could bring back to Luther. What follows are accounts of three problem-solving research communities and the wonderful and strange experiences I had with them.
Andy Hageman visiting the Kiana Lodge on Bainbridge Island, where one of the most crucial scenes of Twin Peaks was filmed. As part of my sabbatical work, I decided to merge this intensified attention to infrastructure with my decades-long exploration of science fiction or what some call speculative fiction—what I’ll refer to as sf in the rest of this article. Think of almost any sf film or novel or tv series you’ve watched, and it’s easy to see that the technoscientific developments that make the fictional world differ from the one we inhabit are often part of infrastructure. Infrastructure has the broad reach to initiate large scale social change. With specific regard to sabbatical, my opportunity to study how sf imagines infrastructures of the future and how infrastructural designers leverage sf came in part through an affiliation I had with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. The CSI is a bleeding edge universitybased center that has designed multiple ways to work as a hub for various and
at times intersecting communities of problem-solvers. One of the projects underway while I was connected with the CSI was a historical survey of how science fiction has imagined Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to build a taxonomy that would feed into modules designed for use by policy think tanks and makers as they try to determine how best to legislate the futures of thinking machines. As you would guess, a project like this emerges from a belief that anticipating, designing, and regulating the future for the common good requires the convergence of urban planners, computer and data scientists, public policy analysts and writers, and humanities scholars who work with the powers of imagination and storytelling. And, while I won’t claim that sf is unique in this, I will claim that I’ve experienced time and again the capacity for sf to bring together a wide range of problem-solving people from diverse
backgrounds and fields of expertise and curiosity. A lot of wonderful and strange sf is made, after all, by people with proclivities towards eclectic polymathery—Kim Stanley Robinson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, to name just a few.
Subway systems, water and sewer lines, telco networks, dams, and electric grids are where ideologies are embodied, on display, and at work.
lecture illuminated the entanglements of aesthetics, politics, engineering, and joy that go into imagining the High Line in New York and Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Sometimes life gives you an unplanned evening that synchronizes perfectly with the sabbatical work you already have underway while also inspiring you to think about how an architecture unit might fit into a future syllabus for a Paideia class. Systematizing the game When I was deep into my sabbatical I took a slight pivot with a journey to the Seattle area. This turn was inspired by the uptick I’ve noticed in the last five years of Luther students who actively game—whether video or board or both—and who express interest in working in the gaming industry. The student gaming community at Luther is lively and likely only to become more so. In order to develop myself to serve that community, I reached out to someone who’s been a close friend since we met in the 4th grade: Lars Bakken. Lars is a video game success story that students react to with awe. He worked and navigated very hard and very smart to build a career in the world of video games about which he’s quite passionate. I connected with Lars in order to arrange a visit to Bungie, the company where he works—you may have heard of it as they produce Halo and Destiny among other game titles. My objective was to learn what work
looks like in the video game industry, how a liberal arts education prepares students for that work, and how the curriculum at a college like Luther could engage this medium that has outpaced the film industry according to several metrics. From the conversations I had, one of the key takeaway points was that cultivating speaking/presentation skills as well as knowledge in the things one feels passionate about are keys to setting yourself apart from everyone else who aspires to work in the field and comes equipped with computer science savvy. Building a game is problem solving; in fact, since games are about problem solving, building a game is a sort of meta problem solving activity. It’s accomplished in teams, and works best when people coming at the project from different angles such as story and coding work assiduously to communicate clearly with each other. And by bringing passion and knowledge to the table, team members can find rewarding ways to shape the project.
SUMBITTED BY ANDY HAGEMAN
As part of the CSI community, I had rare conversational chances. One afternoon over coffee with Professor Andrew Maynard of Arizona State University, we talked about his background in nanotech physics and risk assessment and how that interacts with his work teaching and writing about sf film. In a number of conversations, I discovered a shared fascination with the emerging tech buzz As a parting reflection on this piece for the blockchain.1 Prompted by this, of my sabbatical, the increasing I took an online course to learn what I gamification of work in many could, all the while seeking out which professional sectors means that college sf writers and texts were already at work students who can think about game and imagining what the blockchain might other media narrative and design are be and do. I’m still a novice at the tech getting equipped for the future. Even specs, but I did publish my sf findings though the number of graduates who in an essay at the Los Angeles Review enter the video game industry itself may of Books in order to initiate the line of not swell significantly, the core skills inquiry and to get in touch with others who want to work on this. And during a residency at the ASU campus in Tempe, I gave a lecture on infrastructures in contemporary Chinese sf and got to develop and hone my ideas through this powerful road-test experience. While on campus I chanced to notice a poster advertising a lecture by Charles Renfro at The Design School. Renfro is one of the leading Andy' Hageman's essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books is one of the first publications on blockchain in designers/architects science fiction. in the world, and his Spring 2019/Agora
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SUBMITTED BY ANDY HAGEMAN
Snoqualmie Falls near Snoqualmie, Washington, one of the primary filming locations for Twin Peaks exterior footage. that I observed and am now thinking of translating into my own teaching are part of what work is looking like in the near future—part of what work that human beings may still do better than thinking machines is looking like, too. Twin Peaks and writing and writing and writing One of the other communities that’s been vital to me ever since I was 16 years old was the worldwide camaraderie of Twin Peaks fans. I’ve loved that TV series ever since watching all the original episodes on their initial air dates, and I’ve returned to the series for academic work as well as for fun. After all, TV creators and scholars consistently agree that Twin Peaks was the show that changed TV forever. For sabbatical, I leaned heavily into Twin Peaks because in Spring of 2020 I’ll be teaching a course called Writing for Media. Journalism keeps revolutionizing relentlessly, and writing for multimodal platforms such as websites that can incorporate video and audio materials is ever on the move. To prepare to teach, I wanted to push myself to write regularly for multimodal publication. I decided to write on Twin Peaks since Season Three, which was released a full 25 years after the original series was canceled, was still relatively new and offered lots of space for analytical critique. About the same time as I was 16
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gearing up for sabbatical, a couple of driven, tenacious members of the fan community launched a high-quality website focused on Twin Peaks analysis but eventually expanding to a wider range of cultural critique. I jumped on board because this was a fine way to practice lots of writing and the skills that precede the act of drafting. Of all the writing I’ve done, the multiple pieces I’ve now published at 25 Years Later (https://25yearslatersite. com/) are some of the most rewarding and fun. The experience has underscored how wonderful it can be to create with a community of editors and publishers who are committed to quality and experimentation, and a number of readers have connected with me after reading a particular article. In fact, I have to wrap up this Paideiathemed piece right now because I’m on a deadline for a three-article series currently underway that situates Twin Peaks the series within the real world context of the communities in the Snoqualmie Valley where the exteriors of the series were shot.
Notes 1. Although blockchain technology is generally thought of in connection with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, there are many alternatives to blockchain futurisms other than (and even antinomous to) crypto-mining. In brief, blockchain technology facilitates transactions of many different kinds by recording them in a ledger shared across a decentralized group, rather than by registering them with a third party, such as a government. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ speculating-on-the-blockchain-beyondcryptocurrencies/
Clamoring for Change: Addressing Polarization and Incivility through Social Media by GUY NAVE, Professor of Religion
Understanding the Demand for Change
T
he work of my 2017-18 sabbatical builds upon the work I started during my 2010-11 sabbatical. While I didn’t realize it when I began my 2010 sabbatical, the work during that sabbatical built upon an interest I developed in graduate school 15 years prior.
intrigued by the rhetoric of political pundits as they predicted a Republican takeover of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. As I followed the campaigns, I noticed a return to the rhetoric of “change” that characterized Senator Obama’s 2008
primarily on a platform of “change,” what was the change people wanted that they felt they had not received? I found myself becoming increasingly interested in trying to understand what “change” actually means for people. What exactly is it that people want when they are clamoring for change?
In the work of Luke-Acts, repentance is not simply remorse and/or contrition for wrongdoings; repentance represents a radical and fundamental change in thinking that results in a radical and fundamental change in the way people live in relationship with one another. Since publishing that book in 2002, my subsequent publishing, teaching, and research have led me in different, exciting, and Guy Nave speaking at the 2018 Women's Day March rewarding directions. While my in Decorah. scholarly endeavors have been varied, as I reflect upon where I am and presidential campaign. Virtually every where I have traveled intellectually, I 2010 Republican candidate vying for realize that my fascination with “change” a congressional seat was promising has been present the entire time. “change.” My 2010-11 sabbatical took place two years into the first term of U.S. President, Barack Obama. I started that sabbatical shortly before the 2010 midterm elections. During the run-up to the elections, I became
After a rather decisive Republican victory, I began asking myself, what was it that the American public wanted President Obama to do during the first two years of his presidency that they felt he had not done? Since he was elected
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLIE LANGTON
Toward the end of my Ph.D. course work, I became increasingly interested in the portrayal of repentance in the New Testament writing, The Gospel According to Luke. That interest became the focus of my dissertation and resulted in my book, The Role and Function of Repentance in Luke-Acts.
Since 2010, I have immersed myself in scholarship examining the theory and practice of social change. My research reveals that while there is no universal consensus regarding a definition of “change,” there do seem to be common assumptions shared by people demanding change. The most prevalent assumption is that change involves the replacement of a present undesired way of being with a proposed desired alternative way of being. Often connected to this assumption is a belief held by those demanding change that their views represent the desired alternative way of being and the views of “others” represent the current undesired way of being. In other words, usually when people are demanding “change” all they are really talking about is persuading others to see things the way they already see them. How the Rhetoric of “Change” Contributes to Incivility and Polarization
Since my 2010-11 sabbatical, it has become apparent to me that far too often when we refer to “change” we are referring to something that “others” need to do rather than something we ourselves also need to do. I find it extremely ironic that it is during a period that many people have identified as the most deeply divided period in American politics and culture—a period where political gridlock is the norm Spring 2019/Agora
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rather than the exception—that there has been an exponential increase in the rhetoric of “change” (Noah 2008). Everyone is dug in, entrenched, and unwilling to move from their ideological position, while at the same time everyone is talking about, demanding, and even promising change. What kind of change is possible, however, when no one thinks they need to change and everyone thinks “others” need to change? It is this belief that others are “the problem” that hinders change and contributes to much of the incivility and polarization within society today. Polarization within both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is the highest it has been since the Civil War post-Reconstruction period (Legacy Voteview 2016).
University. I developed a collaborative relationship with the “research network” team associated with the National Institute for Civil Discourse. I gave two presentations at the 8th National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation, hosted by the National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation, and I gave several local and regional talks on civil discourse. As a result of my sabbatical work, I was selected to be part of the organizing committee for the Urgency of Civility Conference hosted in Alexandria, Virginia, April 29 – May 1, 2019. As an educator, I strongly believe teaching students how to engage in civil discussions about important issues is extremely important, especially in an environment as polarized and
People on opposite sides are not just “wrong;” they are immoral and must be opposed. Over a quarter of Democrats and a third of Republicans see “the other” as a “threat to the nation’s well-being." In order to experience meaningful transformative change, this demonization of others— which contributes to incivility and polarization—has to stop. Using Social Media to Promote Civility During the course of my sabbatical, I had the opportunity to collaborate with leading scholars and practitioners in the field of social change and civil discourse. I spent time at the Institute for Civil Dialogue at Arizona State University. I participated and presented a paper at the Fourth International Conference on Hate Studies, hosted by Gonzaga 18
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During my sabbatical, I began developing a social media platform called Clamoring for Change that seeks to burst such ideological bubbles. Clamoring for Change endeavors to create a space that welcomes multiple ideological perspectives and encourages interaction and conversation across ideological perspectives. While America is becoming increasingly divided along ideological fault lines, the majority of Americans are not ideological extremists (Pew 2014). This American majority, however, is often less politically engaged and frequently less willing to participate in discourse about important social issues— allowing extremists on both the right and left to dominate much of the discourse. This domination by ideological extremists leads to increased polarization and incivility— giving the impression that less representative views are more representative than they actually are. A DRAWING CREATED BY RICHARD AND VICTOR MERRITT.
A study of 10,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center in 2014 found that polarization among Americans is more extreme than it has been any time in the last 20 years (Wade 2014). The nature of this divide reflects a depth of cultural conflict that results in the demonization of people who hold opposing views (Bridges 2017).
frequently affirms our belief that “others” are the ones who need to change. Social media regularly functions as an “echo chamber” that filters the information we receive, whereby affirming our opinions about “others” (NPR 2016) and creating dangerous ideological bubbles (Grimes 2017).
politicized as America is today. While I value the learning that takes place in the classroom and in face-to-face encounters, it is painfully obvious that this sort of learning also needs to happen within a cyberspace setting. The level of vitriol and incivility that takes places within many social media sites greatly diminishes the quality of deliberation that occurs within these sites. Social media often reinforces our notions of certainty. Since most people gravitate toward media sources that affirm preexisting views, social media
One of the things visitors to Clamoring for Change will notice is that comments are not allowed on individual posts. Instead, posts will refer participants to other posts with similar or differing views. Participants will be invited to join forum discussions after reading posts representing various ideological perspectives. The hope is that engagement with multiple ideological perspectives will contribute to informed and civil forum discussions. In order to join forum discussions, participants will have to create an account. Individuals wanting to join the online community will have to verify their identity (reducing trolls and promoting accountability) and agree to
“Rules of Engagement” that promote civil discourse. Looking for Help I’m hoping Clamoring for Change will initially be used by academics as a way of exposing students to multiple perspectives that provoke them to question their beliefs and assumptions about society and the “common good.” Once the site becomes populated with college/university students modeling civil discourse regarding controversial issues, the site will be marketed to a broader general audience. Most of the work during my sabbatical was devoted to conceptualizing, developing, and beta testing the site. While I know the site will continue to evolve and develop, I believe it is ready for a more “public” launch that I hope will include the contributions of a wide array of contributors. Since the project is in its very initial stages, virtually all of the user content currently on the site reflects a single ideological perspective (which of course is mine). In order for the project to succeed, it will need numerous contributors representing multiple ideological perspectives to produce “user content” (e.g. blogs, videos, podcasts, etc) and it will need participants (e.g. students) with diverse perspectives to join the forum conversations. I am currently in the second round of applying for an ACM Faculty Career Enhancement Program (FaCE) award grant. FaCE grants enable ACM faculty to engage in collaborative projects that explore ways to strengthen liberal arts education and then share the results widely with colleagues across the ACM and beyond. I am also seeking faculty collaborators outside of the ACM. Teaching in
college classrooms for over twenty years, I have had several conversations with colleagues about developing ways of bringing the fruit of our research to a broader public audience. I believe finding ways to better leverage social media can present scholars with opportunities to shape and influence public discourse. It is commonly recognized by most academics that Facebook, Twitter, Google, Reddit, etc. have serious disadvantages as platforms for discussion (Knight 2018); unfortunately, these platforms have enormous market share. Using a platform like Clamoring for Change as a venue for faculty to develop their public intellectual voice by engaging an initial base of hundreds (and possibly thousands) of students and then a larger base of millions of Americans frustrated with the polarizing discourse of ideological extremists could result in a platform that could possibly pose a viable alternative to Facebook, Twitter, Google, Reddit, etc. The collaborative, transdisciplinary contributions of scholars to the development of an alternative social media platform committed to presenting multiple ideological perspectives not only could enhance teaching and learning on college and university campuses, but it could also significantly change the nature and tenor of public discourse. While the creation of this platform is an ambitious project, I believe it has the potential of making a major contribution to the promotion of understanding and civil dialogue in a society that is growing increasingly polarized. I invite everyone reading this report to visit “Clamoring for Change” to learn more about the platform and to consider becoming part of an effort to reduce polarization by promoting understanding of and engagement with multiple ideological perspectives— which represents one of the goals of a liberal arts education.
Works Cited Bridges, Tristan. “Political Polarization in the U.S. and Social Inequalities.” Sociological Images, The Society Pages. Mar 6, 2017. thesocietypages. org/socimages/2017/03/06/politicalpolarization-in-the-u-s-and-socialinequalities/. “Clamoring for Change.” https://www. clamoroingforchange.com/about/.
Grimes, David Robert. “Echo Chambers Are Dangerous: We Must Try to Break Free of Our Online Bubbles.” The Guardian. Dec. 4 2017, https://www. theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/ dec/04/echo-chambers-are-dangerouswe-must-try-to-break-free-of-ouronline-bubbles.
Knight, Meghan. “Explainer: how Facebook has become the world’s largest echo chamber.” The Conversation. Feb. 5, 2018. https://theconversation. com/explainer-how-facebook-hasbecome-the-worlds-largest-echochamber-91024 Noah, Timothy. Change: the Empty Word. The Los Angeles Times. Jan 13, 2008. www.latimes.com/la-op-noah13jan13story.html.
“The Polarization of the Congressional Parties.” K7MOA Legacy Voteview, University of Georgia. Jan 30, 2016. legacy.voteview.com/political_ polarization_2015.htm.
Pew Research Center, Political Polarization in the American Public, Jun 12, 2014. www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/ political-polarization-in-the-americanpublic/#utm_source=feedly&utm_ reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_ campaign=political-polarization-in-theamerican-public. National Public Radio, “The Reason Your Feed Became An Echo Chamber — And What To Do About It.” All Tech Considered, Jul 24, 2016. www.npr.org/ sections/.
Wade, Lisa. “Amidst Extreme Political Polarization, the Average American Goes Unrepresented.” Sociological Images, The Society Pages. Jun 19, 2014. thesocietypages.org/ socimages/2014/06/19/amidst-extremepolitical-polarization-the-averageamerican-goes-unrepresented/.
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Exploring Ideology: East German Literature in Textbooks and the Classroom by ELIZABETH STEDING, Associate Professor of German/Director of Student Honors and Fellowships
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lthough I didn’t realize it at the time, my recent sabbatical actually started taking shape at the 2008 German Studies Conference. At one of the sessions, an audience member posed a question about the portrayal of East Germany (the GDR) in secondary school history textbooks. With my interests in education and the GDR, the question got me wondering about GDR literature and textbooks. What are secondary school students in Germany learning about the literature of this country which no longer exists, but which still shapes German identity and society? Fast-forward to 2012, when I was directing the Münster Semester. That April I discovered that Professor Cornelia Blasberg was teaching the class “GDR Literature in the Classroom” at the University of Münster. Intrigued by the topic, I contacted her and asked if she would like to get together for coffee. Six years later, in response to another e-mail from me, she agreed to serve as my host for my Fulbright grant. This is one of the unexpected rewards of my sabbatical—a reminder of the kindness of fellow scholars when a relatively unknown colleague requests letters of recommendation, invitations, and brainstorming sessions. I hope that I can pass along that generosity throughout my career. Textbooks as Research Objects Curricula and textbooks reflect the widespread public discourses of a country while also revealing underlying, even unacknowledged attitudes and views. Therefore, regardless of the subject area, textbooks are inherently 20
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ideological. Educational researcher Michael W. Apple views textbooks as “official knowledge,” distilling, packaging and disseminating the information that culturally and politically powerful groups deem valuable. Because curricula and textbooks are in most cases statesanctioned documents, they are rich resources for examining issues of power, ideology, and (national) identity. It is therefore not surprising that much textbook research focuses on the academic subjects of history and social studies, as these areas so obviously embody a nation’s view of itself and the world. However, while history textbooks can reveal much about a nation’s social consensus and controversies, they cannot tell the entire story. Literature textbooks can help fill that void.
Curricula and textbooks are rich resources for examining issues of power, ideology, and (national) identity. History textbooks deliberately and (self-)consciously create a national narrative, so textbook authors are keenly aware of how they portray the past. Literature textbooks, in contrast, reveal attitudes about the past in a more veiled manner: through the privileging of particular authors, the preferencing of certain literary forms, the post-reading questions posed to students, and historical/informational texts presented along with literary texts. Issues of ideology, power, and memory may not seem obvious at first glance, but that is exactly what makes literature textbooks intriguing—they often reveal unacknowledged viewpoints about the
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Editor's Note: Elizabeth Steding received a Fulbright Award to study and teach the legacy of East German literature at the University of Münster during her sabbatical in Spring 2018.
Elizabeth Steding cultural value of certain texts, authors, and regimes for those determining the “official knowledge” of their time. My research project One might think that nearly three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, anything worth saying about the GDR has already been said. Archives are open, entire generations have grown up in a post-socialist country, and Germany has plenty of other issues with which to concern itself. But the way a country deals with its past reveals a lot about its present: about regional differences, changes in attitudes and values over time, and the role of cultural institutions. My research explores this interplay of past and present by examining the portrayal of GDR literature in textbooks used by advanced students in German high schools (generally grades 11-13) by means of case studies of specific authors. Starting in 1985, when Germany was still divided, I trace the developments in textbooks and curricula, examining
when GDR literature is included, how it is presented, and whether it is portrayed as belonging to the canon of German literature or as something “other.” My book, A Footnote of Literary History? The Fate of GDR Authors in Gymnasium Curricula and Textbooks 1985-2015, is less an analysis of the literature itself than of how it is validated, marginalized, or instrumentalized by textbooks, which are themselves the products of a specific cultural context. The tension between a focus on literature and a focus on politics when depicting GDR literature is always present in textbooks. Several larger developments have become apparent in my research. First, while literature was clearly used for ideological purposes in GDR education, West German textbooks from 1985 largely ignore any political context of GDR literature (when they include
This is the second larger development, using GDR literature as a means of ideological critique of the GDR itself. Textbooks in general have shifted away from simply presenting literary texts to including historical context, explanations of literary terminology, and (sometimes quite leading) reading comprehension/analysis questions. All of these extra-literary texts work together to create an impression of the GDR and its literature. Textbooks therefore fall along a spectrum from nearly exclusive focus on literature to a clear preoccupation with ideological critique of GDR politics and society. This spectrum expands and contracts over time, and it also reveals the third larger development: regional differences. My study focuses on four German states, two each from the former East and West Germany. The states also represent varying political climates. It therefore comes as no surprise that books used in Bavaria (a very conservative West German state) often are noticeably more critical of the GDR. They do not downplay East German literature, “simply” the GDR itself. My Sabbatical Year
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Fall Semester 2017 was spent here in Decorah working on my book, which was originally organized chronologically. By December I had drafts of three of the four main chapters. It was during a January meeting with my writing group (Nancy Gates Madsen and Victoria Christman) that Nancy suggested A few of Elizabeth Steding's German literature textbooks organizing my book around topics rather than years. I knew it at all). After German unification in immediately that she was right, but 1990, however, textbooks begin to more I will admit that I was discouraged. overtly marginalize GDR literature: by In a matter of minutes, I had gone ignoring it, presenting it as inherently from having (admittedly very rough) different than West German literature, drafts of most chapters of my book to or by focusing on politics over literature. having what felt like nothing. But as
my writer’s ego recovered, I realized that the new organization would solve a lot of the problems I had noticed in earlier versions. Besides, if I am going to convince my students that revision is more than just fixing typos, I now have a great example! Spring Semester was spent in Münster, where Sören led the Münster Semester and I continued researching and writing. As part of my Fulbright grant, I also co-taught a master’s level seminar at the University of Münster. My teaching partner, Professor Blasberg, credits my Fulbright proposal for her decision to offer “The Other Germany: Literary and Medial (Re-) Constructions of the GDR After 1989.” Although the German department in Münster is very large, Professor Blasberg is the only member who regularly offers courses about GDR literature—a status with which I am very familiar. We both enjoyed working together on designing and teaching the course, and I was also able to incorporate my research project into the syllabus. After reading Christa Wolf ’s novella Was bleibt (What Remains), I presented on the portrayal of Christa Wolf in literature textbooks over time. Not only did this enrich our course, but it also greatly helped me write my case study chapter on Christa Wolf. It was an exciting opportunity for me to be able to so closely connect my teaching and my research. Another unique opportunity that I had during my Fulbright semester was presenting at the Aspects of American Culture Conference sponsored by the University of Halle-Wittenberg. Designed for English teachers, the annual conference offers sessions on American literature and culture. Drawing on my experience teaching Paideia 450: Making Decisions for US Schools, I spoke on “(Un) equal Opportunities: Race, Class and Education in America.” I remember what it is like to teach high school (I taught German and math for five years), so I enjoyed being able to give something back to my fellow teachers—be it new ideas and resources for classroom discussion, or simply a chance to use their English outside the classroom. Spring 2019/Agora
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While teaching has always been how I primarily define myself, I also appreciated having this past year to focus more on research. I am still amazed and grateful that my book project continues to fascinate me, as it has been over a decade now since I first stumbled onto the topic. It was refreshing this past year to dive deep into research, to write more regularly (albeit not every day…), and to focus on one big project rather than several. While my book manuscript is still not complete, I have enough momentum to see the project through to the end, and I even entertain occasional thoughts about my next scholarly project. A Note About Fulbright The Fulbright program has entered my life at some key moments. It was 20 years ago that I was part of the teacher exchange program, teaching English, math, and music for a year in Cochem, Germany. It was shortly after returning from my year abroad that I decided to return to graduate school and get my PhD. Three years ago, a short-term Fulbright/DAAD program in Leipzig introduced me to the co-director of the Middlebury German School, which led Sören and myself to spend two summers teaching there. This past spring in Münster was also a rewarding time of research and co-teaching. My new dual roles as Director of Student Honors and Fellowships and Fulbright Scholar 22
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One of the many realizations I had this past year is just how much teaching defines my sense of who I am. Fall semester was a challenge at times, since I was here in Decorah but not really part of life at Luther. I definitely needed the time to disengage, but I realized how much I missed being in the classroom. While in Germany, I had several opportunities to teach/present, and each time I found myself thinking “now this is what I really enjoy doing.” The feeling of working with a group of students to reach new realizations, to muddle through uncertainty, to ask unexpected questions—that is totally invigorating to me. Working with students in class or individually has always been my true love. Having the chance to step away has reminded me of that.
Elizabeth Steding presenting at the teacher conference Program Liaison will continue to keep me connected to the Fulbright world. For any faculty or students reading this, I would encourage you to consider applying for a Fulbright yourself. With short-term and long-term programs in more than 100 countries, there are amazing opportunities for research and/ or teaching. I would be happy to talk with anyone interested in applying. If an audience question at a conference and a coffee with a professor helped me get a Fulbright, imagine where your seemingly insignificant and unrelated experiences may be leading you!
Does Morale Bombing Work? The following essay on the effect of "morale bombing" is the result of research Professor Engelhardt conducted during his 2018 sabbatical.
their governments. Only in Italy did popular unrest, possibly accentuated by bombing, contribute to the fall of a government (Overy 318-360).
The ultimate aim of the attack on a town area is to break the morale of the population which occupies it. To achieve this we must achieve two things: we must make the town physically uninhabitable and, secondly, we must make the people conscious of constant personal danger. The immediate aim is, therefore, twofold, to produce i) destruction and ii) the fear of death.
Further evidence against morale bombing came during the Korean and Vietnam wars, when even heavier bombing failed to produce a collapse in enemy morale. Tran Quang Co, North Vietnam’s deputy foreign minister during the 1960s, claimed, “Never before did the people of Vietnam, from top to bottom, unite as they did during the years when the U.S. was bombing us” (quoted in Goldstein, 181). Abandoning morale bombing, air forces sought more discriminate means of defeating enemies through more accurate attacks.
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Royal Air Force staff memorandum, Sept 23, 1941 (Overy 65)
ince the dawn of the airpower era, military theorists have speculated on the capacity of air-delivered weapons to affect the morale of enemy populations. Italian air theorist Giulio Douhet was the first to suggest that future wars would be decided by shattering the morale of the civilian population by bombing (Douhet [1921]). Prior to World War II, the Royal Air Force developed a targeting doctrine based on striking working-class districts of German cities, on the assumption that German workers, having voted mostly Socialist or Communist during the Weimar era, would be quick to revolt against Hitler when faced with “constant personal danger”(Overy 33-65 and Hastings 31-55). The German Blitz of 1940-41 largely silenced moral objections to this strategy, which was pursued to the end of the war. World War II appeared to discredit the theory of morale bombing. Despite the destruction of dozens of cities, neither British, German, nor Japanese people rose in rebellion against
The past half century has brought a revolution in air warfare. The development of precision-guided munitions (PGMs), popularly known as “smart bombs,” has increased bombing accuracy to the point where two aircraft armed with four bombs may be able to inflict the same destruction as 300 World War II B-17’s dropping 3,000 bombs (Marletto 30). At the same time, the advent of PGM’s can dramatically reduce civilian deaths from air attack. In the Kosovo War of 1999, civilian deaths from NATO bombing probably numbered about 500, six or seven for each day of bombing (Larson and Savych 21-2, 64-5, Daalder and O’Hanlon 122). A Human Rights Watch examination of the 2011 NATO operation in Libya found only 72 confirmable civilian deaths from 9,700 strike sorties (Human Rights Watch, “Unacknowledged Deaths”). Yet little attention has been given to the morale effect, as opposed to the direct military effect, of the PGM revolution. If “dumb” bombing failed to weaken the morale of adversary populations, has
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by MICHAEL ENGELHARDT, Professor of Political Science
Michael Engelhardt “smart” bombing done better? This study seeks to answer this question through an examination of air campaigns in the past quarter century. Audiences for Morale Bombing: Elites and Masses While interwar airpower theorists like Douhet saw the urban population of enemy countries as the target for morale bombing, modern conditions have created another possible “audience”: a country’s elite. During the Kosovo conflict, for example, the United States identified factories owned by relatives and associates of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic and destroyed them, sometimes after warning the owner by email, fax or phone (Schmitt and Myers, Sale 377). In the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, Israeli bombs devastated the Beirut neighborhood where Hezbollah had its headquarters and its leader his personal residence, while leaving most of the city untouched (Arkin103, Harel and Isacharoff 97-102). Since elites rarely wish to bear the cost of conflict themselves, such attacks could cause them to capitulate to the attacker’s demands. Spring 2019/Agora
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Hence Hypothesis 1: Precision strikes against elite targets will demoralize elites and push them toward negotiations or capitulation.
Hence Hypothesis 2: Precision strikes on infrastructure can demoralize civilians and produce unrest leading to war termination or regime collapse.
NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark consistently pushed for a wider target list to “break Milosevic’s will or the
The Ministry of Defense building in Belgrade was heavily damaged during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
The following case represents two of several that I am examining as part of a project investigating the impact of bombing in the age of PGMs. Kosovo: Failure Turns to Success On March 24, 1999, NATO air forces began bombing Serbia in order to compel Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to cease ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo and to withdraw his forces from that disputed province. On June 3, Milosevic finally capitulated to NATO’s demands and ordered his troops to withdraw, to be replaced by a United Nations peacekeeping force. The reasons for Milosevic’s decision are still disputed. Initially, NATO leaders had expected Milosevic to capitulate after a few days of bombing, as he had in Bosnia four 24
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The Serb army held together reasonably well under attack. Aided by wooded terrain, Serb troops proved adept at hiding heavy weapons from the bombers and at deploying decoys. However, elite dissatisfaction with the war was much more evident. Milosevic’s deputy prime minister, Vuk Draskovic, stated publically, “Yugoslavia should
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Precision strikes may also be used to target the masses, but not in the gratuitously destructive way seen in past wars. In Kosovo, NATO aircraft dropped bombs filled with carbon-graphite fibers that temporarily knocked out the power grid without destroying it, depriving the Serbian population of electricity. One senior U.S. official admitted that the goal was “to bring the war home to those in Belgrade who support Milosevic. They’ve got to know they are at risk. You have to have something going on around them 24 hours a day so they never have a minute’s peace” (Fulghum 34, Ricks 17). Attacks on infrastructure that do not cause widespread civilian deaths may be less likely to engender anger at the attacker and support for the target regime. They may also encourage already disaffected citizens to rebel against an oppressive regime.
years earlier (Gregory 55). Accordingly, targeting was restrictive and aircraft were forbidden to fly below 15,000 feet to minimize risk. During the first week of operations, NATO pilots flew only 48 attack sorties a day (Correll 4).
will of his supporters” (Clark 242). On April 22, a bomb landed in the master bedroom of Milosevic’s official residence (Haun 122). Afterwards, graffiti appeared across Belgrade reading, “Slobo, when we needed you you were not at home” (Gregory 78). Morale bombing of elites and masses was thus clearly part of NATO’s strategy, though direct attacks on Serb forces in Kosovo were also important. As time went on, Clark got targeting restrictions relaxed and more and more strikes damaged the Serbian economy. By late May the combination of bombing and economic sanctions had reduced Serbia’s GDP by 30 percent, with a loss of two million jobs in a country of only eight million people. Eighty-five percent of electric power was interrupted, with consequent disruptions in water supply to many cities. Yet civilian deaths were few (Daalder and O’Hanlon 122).
recognize that it cannot defeat NATO and that it must face the reality of a world standing against Yugoslavia” (Lambeth 83, Daalder and O’Hanlon 155). Draskovic was immediately fired, but other top officials soon began to urge an end to the war (Haun 124). The deputy mayor of Belgrade acknowledged that “I can see a small village surviving months or years in these conditions, but in such a big city—I simply cannot imagine it….This is not Phnom Penh. We cannot forcemarch everyone to the countryside” (Posen 73). As for the Serbian masses, bombing appeared at first to have the same counterproductive effect as in previous wars. Milosevic’s wife Mirjana Markovic and her Yugoslavia Left party sponsored a daily rock concert in Belgrade to boost morale. Initially, it drew thousands of fans, but as the war went on attendance dwindled to a few hundred (Haun 123).
Despite police repression, small protests broke out in several cities in late May. While there was no mass revolt, the war discredited Milosevic and paved the way for his eventual removal from power.
no mass revolt against ISIS, although according to one account “several hundred” Mosul residents provided information to government forces (George et al).
Scholars disagree about the weight of internal dissatisfaction in Milosevic’s calculations. Some argue that the threat of a NATO ground invasion and Russian pressure were more important than the erosion of morale. However, NATO was not in a position to launch a ground war before late August of 1999, yet the war ended in early June (Haun 130, Posen 74). Kosovo stands as the first war ever won primarily by morale bombing.
Conclusion: It All Depends
ISIS: Only Killing Works On August 14, 2014, President Obama responded to the collapse of Iraqi forces in the face of an ISIS offensive by ordering air operations against the militant group. Initially the number of strikes per day was minimal, prompting critics to question the administration’s seriousness (Gunziger and Stillion 2). As time went on the air war escalated. By late 2015 the anti-ISIS coalition claimed to be killing 1,000 fighters a month (Peterson 2015), though British estimates put the number at about half that. Even accepting the lower figure, around 25,000 ISIS troops had died by the end of 2016 (“UK puts number”). ISIS leadership was also a target: British intelligence clamed in early 2015 that nine of the 18 top commanders were dead (Boghani 2015). According to one U.S. Air Force colonel, one goal of the campaign was to incite rebellion among the population subject to ISIS rule: “Success,” he said, “is the implosion of Daesh from within. Over time it will be like a cancer: it will eat itself from the inside out” (Peterson 3). The ISIS caliphate did indeed collapse during 2017-19. Yet the eventual victory was hardly due to any collapse of morale. ISIS leadership remained steadfast despite attrition, with slain commanders replaced by others. Some defections did take place during the battle for Mosul in 2016-17, but these appear to have been prompted more by government advances on the ground and promises of amnesty than by air bombardment (George et al). There was
Morale bombing can no longer be dismissed as a futile strategy. Analysis of these and other cases show that both adversary elites and publics can be vulnerable to demoralization resulting from increasingly effective air attack. At the same time, the ability to break the morale of adversaries varies considerably with the adversary. Milosevic’s regime proved able to recognize its own interest in ending the conflict as it lost public support. ISIS’s leadership was invulnerable to morale bombing, due to its uncompromising Islamist ideology. Air strategists should be aware of the potential, as well as the limits of morale bombing in an age far removed from that of Douhet. BIBLIOGRAPHY Arkin, William. “Divine Victory For Whom? Airpower in the 2006 IsraelHezbollah War.” Strategic Studies Quarterly, Winter 2007, pdf file.
Boghani, Priyanka. “Have Airstrikes Really Killed Half of ISIS’s Top Commanders?” https://www.pbs. org/wgbh/frontline/article/haveairstrikes-really-killed-half-of-isis-topcommanders/. Clark, Gen Wesley. Waging Modern War. Public Affairs Press, 2001.
Correl, John T. "Assumptions Fall In Kosovo." Air Force Magazine, June 1999, p. 4. Daalder, Ivo and Michael O’Hanlon. Winning Ugly: NATO’s War in Kosovo. Brookings Institution, 2000. Douhet, Giulio. The Command of the Air (1921). Reprinted University of Alabama Press, 2010.
Fulghum, David. “Electronic Bombs Darken Belgrade.” Aviation Week and Space Technology, vol. 150, no. 19, May 3-4, 1999. George, Michael, et al. “Special Report: In Mosul’s Fall, Informers Played a Vital Role Against Islamic State.” http:// www.msn.com/en-us/news/world.
Goldstein, Gordon M. Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam. Henry Holt, 2008.
Gregory, Robert. Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars: Air Power in Kosovo and Libya. Potomac Books, 2015.
Gunzinger, Mark and John Stillion. “The Unserious Air War Against ISIS.” Wall Street Journal, 14 Oct 2014. Harel, Amos and Avi Issacharoff. 34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah, and the War in Lebanon. Palgrave Macmillian, 2008.
Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: The Myths and Reality of the Strategic Bombing Offensive, 1939-45. Dial Press, 1979. Haun, Phil. Coercion, Survival and War: Why Weak States Resist the United States. Stanford University Press, 2015.
Human Rights Watch, “Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian Casualties in NATO’s Air Campaign in Libya.” www.hrw.org/ report/2012/05/13/unacknowledgeddeaths/civilian-casualties-natos-aircampaign-libya. Lambeth, Benjamin. NATO’S Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic Operational Assessment. Rand Corporation, 2001.
Larson, Eric V. and Bogdan Savych. Misfortunes of War: Press and Public Reactions to Civilian Deaths in Wartime. Rand Corporation, 2007.
Marletto, Lt. Col. Michael P. “The Impact of Emerging Munitions Technology on 21st Century Warfare.” Marine Corps Gazette, January 2000.
Overy, Richard. The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied War Over Europe 1940-45. Penguin Books, 2013. Peterson, Nolan. “Hunting ISIS: We’re Killing 1,000 A Month.” Newsweek, 16 Oct 2015. Posen, Barry. “The War For Kosovo: Serbia’s Political-Military Strategy.” International Security, vol. 24, no. 4, Spring 2000.
Ricks, Thomas. “Electronic Transformers, Serb Psyches Get Short-Circuited by New Weapon.” Wall Street Journal. 4 May 4, 1999, p. 17.
Sale, Richard. Clinton’s Secret Wars: The Evolution of a Commander in Chief. St. Martin’s Press, 2009. Schmitt, Eric and Steven Lee Myers. “NATO Said to Focus Raids on Serb Elite’s Property.” New York Times 19 April 19, 1999, p. 1.
“UK puts number of ISIS killed at half U.S. figures.” http://www.cnn.com.. https:// www.cnn.com/2016/12/16/politics/ukus-number-isis-fighters-killed/index. html
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Gendered Time in the Lives of Medical Providers
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everal years ago, I saw a call for paper abstracts for a panel “Gendering Time: Feminist Considerations of Temporality” to be presented at the American Anthropological Association meeting. The organizers of the panel (Andaya and Fleming 2016) were asking their fellow anthropologists to consider the ways in which time was gendered: the different scales and regimes of time (daily routines, bureaucratic time, life course time); gendered experiences of different forms of time; the ways gender, broadly considered, structures the ontology of time; and the ways in which masculinities and femininities are produced through experiences of time. As a new mother with a full time appointment in academia who was preparing for tenure review, I was easily convinced that time was gendered. My attempts to stay on top of things seemed like a never-ending catch up game, so I surrounded myself with literature on parenting and academia (Connely, Ghodsee 2011). Even more therapeutic, however, was my discovery of scholarship on the gendered nature of time and its implications for the professional careers of women. This body of work was important to me because my research largely revolves around understanding feminization of various professional fields, most significantly the medical profession, and corresponding gender segregation by medical specialty. One concept that I discovered in that body of literature that rang so true to me was the ethos of the “all hours work” (Smithson and Stokoe 2005). All hours work refers to workers’ full temporal commitment to their profession, which is made explicit by their availability to work all hours of the day and to go above and beyond the full-time contractual agreement. It flourishes in regimes of full-time rather 26
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than part-time or flexible time work. This “heroic” ethos requires “extensive temporal commitment that sweeps away personal time, leisure, domestic life and family responsibilities” (Ozbiglin, Tsouroufli and Smith 2011:1591). The regulation of time in many professions, and medicine in particular, is connected to a “traditional model of the ideal worker who is available to work all hours” (1590). These readings reassured me that I was not alone in struggling with life and work balance, because these two were never really meant to be separate, according to this logic. In addition to being personally relevant, scholarship on the ways in which time is gendered has pointed me to a new theoretical perspective for explaining the feminization of medicine in postsocialist realms, i.e. why countries like Ukraine have a high number of women-physicians across various medical fields, somewhere between 70-80%. Scholarship produced in the U.S. and Western Europe has typically connected the feminization of health care in former Soviet countries to the presumable “deprofessionalization” of medicine and low earning potential in socialized health care systems (Field 1991, Schecter 2000). However, having grown up in Soviet Ukraine and having invested now over ten years into investigation of socialist and post-socialist health care models ethnographically, I knew that these scholars applied quite narrow valuation criteria, based on the application of U.S. and Western Europe-based bioethics. I was therefore looking for a more finely focused lens to understand the feminization of medicine in places like Ukraine, and scholarship on gendered time has provided me such a lens. At first glance, scholarship on work/ life balance would more easily explain male dominance of medicine, not the
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by MARYNA BAZYLEVYCH, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women & Gender Studies
Maryna Bazylevych feminization of it. Similarly, Lyon and Woodward (2004) show that “more than full-time work ethos” is more easily enjoyed by men in fields like law, medicine, and advanced civil society jobs. This is likely due to women in early career stages also taking on having children and taking care of them while men are able to allocate energies to careers in science (Siller and Hochleitner 2015:115). In countries with relatively high percentages of women who are practicing physicians (UK, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Austria), women have been reported to more often regard their partners’ jobs as more important—even if both are medical doctors. Women also take more parental leaves and parttime jobs in Austria and Switzerland (Stamm and Buddeberg-Fischer 2011). In their leisure time, women are found to tend to family responsibilities, while men engage in research. This connects to Allen’s (2005:570) reports that in the U.K. time management is one of the key factors for women’s choice of specific medical specialties, with proximity to the workplace being crucial. I suggest that it is exactly this non-linear trajectory of women’s lives that involves a lion’s share of care-taking that positions them well to practice medicine in a post-socialist context.
An ethnographic example below illustrates this point.
and entrepreneurial, thus showing how career choices, temporality, and gender intersected to create a feminized professional field.
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While doing fieldwork research in Ukraine back in The concept of career 2008, I met a TB is based on an idealized specialist, Halyna male-centered construct (not her real name). of working life: “women’s Halyna worked lives are often marked by as a phlebologist less linearity and greater for most of her complexity” (Cuzzocrea career, but after 2015:86). Yet, it is precisely almost 20 years in this lack of linearity that a very underfunded positions women well and challenging to practice medicine in workplace, she was Ukraine, which typically happy to move offers a similarly non-linear to a local WHO trajectory for possible success A mural on one of the pediatric policlinics in Kyiv, Ukraine, emphasizing the office to work on TB role of woman as mother. Most physicians at the clinic are women. in post-socialist contexts. prevention instead Drinkwater et al. (2008) find achieve the coefficient of propitious of treatment. As we were sipping tea a similar gendered consideration of time significantly later in medicine behind her work desk in a shared family and work at play for male and compared to other professions, such office, Halyna said that she always female medical students in the United as banking, or IT. Recent medical understood women’s continuing—and Kingdom. In their study, students school graduates first have to invest even growing—participation in this demonstrated striking differences in the significant time into developing skills already feminized profession as the ways they planned to achieve a family/ and networks, before they can expect to providers’ consideration of “propitious work balance that they found desirable, get a return on them. In addition, there time.” The coefficient of propitious time with women prepared to prioritize is no guarantee that their investments is used here to indicate the productive parenthood and men having “high will reap significant returns. Indeed, life of a device during which it can aspirations by tacitly assuming their medical providers sometimes abandon function productively, i.e. yield profits. partner, as mother, would care for their the practice of medicine in favor of In Ukraine, the health care system children” (Drinkwater et al. 2008:424). work in pharmaceutical companies, is ailing as it struggles to deliver “A dominant social perspective . . . of clinical research trial companies, and the constitutional promise of being men as breadwinners and women as cosmetic medicine facilities that serve universally accessible and available mothers” paradoxically enables women the newly rich clients. Halyna thought in the midst of political changes and to take up medicine in post-socialist that gender strongly shaped physicians’ economic hardships. Physicians are countries (ibid.). While there, women decisions on whether they could afford have achieved considerable heights, waiting many years before seeing even though gender segregation by returns on their investments. For female medical specialty which often places For female doctors, years doctors, years of little to no income men in surgery, orthopedics, trauma, were mitigated by investing their time of little to no income were and health care administration is into children and family. Furthermore, sometimes interpreted as female mitigated by investing their a medical career endowed women with disempowerment. In the course of my other valuable capital, such as the skills time into children and family fieldwork research that took me to and knowledge of caretaking. For male three of Ukraine’s urban areas, I met participants, taking a leap of faith into remunerated poorly; indeed, an average exceedingly successful female physicians, predictable years of relative poverty physician makes around 200 (USD) researchers, administrators, trade union was not matched by other benefits. per month. Yet, such work can still workers, and medical students. In our The social proscription of providing offer lucrative income if significant conversations, they often emphasized financially for the family constrains time is invested in building professional the role of the family in their choice men’s choices in favor of jobs that give connections. Since income strategies of the medical profession. This is what a firmer guarantee of income. Indeed, are embedded to a large extent in Bohachevsky-Chomiak (1988) called male physicians in my study have informal networks, physicians must be “feminists despite themselves” and often opted for medical careers either prepared to spend a significant number what Phillips (2008) observed in NGO because they were born into medical of years accumulating the necessary leadership in Ukraine. Similarly, Riska dynasties, were independently wealthy, cultural capital. Providers are able to and Novelskaite (2008) find in their or were exceptionally committed Spring 2019/Agora
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study of Lithuanian physicians that women expressed higher commitment to the profession than men; Osinsky and Mueller (2004) report the same for Russia. I find that women are interested in a good income just as men are, however familial considerations are substantial for them, which in part makes them more likely candidates for the current biomedical profession. The pragmatic considerations of their cultural roles as mothers and household
for Papers. An email message sent via Council for the Anthropology of Reproduction. Electronic document.
Bohachevsky-Chomiak, Martha (1988). Feminists despite themselves: women in Ukrainian community life, 1884-1939: Edmonton. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.
Connelly, Rachel and Kristen Ghodsee (2011). Professor Mommy: Finding WorkFamily Balance in Academia. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Lyon, D. and A. Woodward (2004). “Gender and Time at the Top: Cultural Constructions of Time in High-Level Careers and Homes.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 11(2):205-221. Osinsky, Pavel, and Charles Mueller (2004). “Professional Commitment of Russian Provincial Specialists.” Work and Occupations 31(2):193-224. Ozbilgin, Mustafa, Tsouroufli Maria, and Merryn Smith (2011). “Understanding the Interplay of Time, Gender and Professionalism in Hospital Medicine in the UK.” Social Science and Medicine 72:1588-1594. Phillips, Sarah (2008). Women’s Social Activism in the New Ukraine: Development and the Politics of Differentiation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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Ringel, Felix and Roxanna Morosanu (2016). “Time-Tricking. A Genderal Introduction.” The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 34(1):17-21.
Sculpture of mother and child in front of the pediatric policlinic in Kyiv keepers make the biomedical profession a good choice. It is precisely women physicians’ perceived ability to exercise their temporal agency, i.e. “temporal dimensions of their lives, and whether they are able to influence them” (Morosanu and Ringel 2016:17) that points women to the medical careers that they often feel could benefit them both personally and eventually financially, thus demonstrating how career choices, temporality, and gender intersect to create a feminized professional field. References Allen, Isobel (2005). “Women Doctors and Their Careers: What Now?” British Medical Journal 331(7516):569-572. Andaya, Elise and Rachel Fleming (2016). “Gendering Time: Feminist Considerations of Temporality.” Call 28
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Cuzzocrea, Valentina (2015). “Imagining a Future in the Medical Profession: Gender and Young Sardinians’ Narratives of a Career in Medicine.” Gender, Careers and Inequalities in Medicine and medical Education. Tsouroufli, M. Ed. Pp. 177-200.
Drinkwater, Jess, Tully Mary Patricia and Tim Dornan (2008). “The Effect of Gender on Medical Students’ Aspirations: a Qualitative Study.” Medical Education 42:420-426.
Field, Mark (1991). “The Hybrid Profession: Soviet Medicine.” Professions and the State: Expertise and Autonomy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Jones Anthony Ed. Pp. 43-63. Temple University Press. Fleming, Rachel. “Gender and Tech in India: from Numbers to Gender Equality.” Platypus, The Castac Blog of the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing. June 19, 2016.
Riska, Elianne and Aurelija Novelskaite (2008). “Intersections in Post-Soviet Realities: (En)gendering Commitment to the Profession.” In Gender Matters in the Baltics. Novikova Ed. Pp. 109127. Mama Cash Foundation and the University of Latvia Gender Studies Center. Schecter, Kate (2000). “The Politics of Health Care in Russia: The Feminization of Medicine and Other Obstacles to Professionalism.” Russia’s Torn Safety Nets: Health and Social Welfare during the Transition. Field, Mark and Judyth Twigg Eds. St. Martin’s Press. NY. Siller, Heidi, and Margarethe Hochleitner (2015). “Drafting Intersections in the Career of Female Medical Doctors.” Gender, Careers and Inequalities in Medicine and Medical Education. Tsouroufli, M. Ed. Pp. 99-126.
Smithson, Janet and Elizabeth Stokoe (2005). “Discourses of Work–Life Balance: Negotiating ‘Genderblind’ Terms in Organizations.” Gender, Work and Organization. 2(2):147-168. Stamm, M. and B. Buddeberg-Fischer (2011). “The Impact of Mentoring during Postgraduate Training on Doctors’ Career Success.” Medical Education 45(5): 488-496.
World Population Review. “Fertility Rate by Country,” http://worldpopulationreview. com/countries/total-fertility-rate/. Accessed on April 7, 2019
Langston Hughes: Poet and Prophet February 25, 2019
by GUY NAVE, Professor of Religion
A reading from the book Habakkuk, chapter 2:1-3: I will stand at my watchpost,and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
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want to thank College Ministries for sponsoring this Black History Month series on prophets and poets. As a biblical scholar who appreciates the Bible as literature, I often find myself turning to the prophets for words of hope and insight. The prophets regularly raise questions concerning justice, community, and transformative living. As one who appreciates poetry, I also often find myself enthralled by the rhetorical skill and incredible discernment of poets to diagnose the human predicament and tell us exactly where and why it hurts. Both prophets and poets possess the ability to tell us the “what” and the “who” and, eventually, they prescribe appropriate medicine to heal the wound—both personal and collective. Prophets and poets often seek to serve as a conscience for society. They call us to empathize with human suffering and pain, to do justice, to walk humbly, and to create healing and liberating future possibilities.
Prophets and poets are often deeply concerned about the value and meaning of human existence. They often write about the fragility of life and the miscarriage of justice in society. Like many of us, they struggle with the problem of evil in the world, and they protest against injustice and oppression. For the few minutes we have together today, I want to briefly consider the words of the prophet Habakkuk and the words of the poet Langston Hughes from his poem, “Let America be America Again.” I also want to suggest that Hughes—like biblical prophets— was both a poet and a prophet. Although the biblical prophets occasionally wrote in prose, they primarily wrote in poetry. Poetry is quite different than prose, and we will interpret the prophets better if we recognize that they are writing in poetry. Unlike Paul and much of the New Testament literature, Old Testament prophets through their poetic expression appeal primarily to our emotions. Furthermore, they do not build complex (and often convoluted) grammatical arguments—like Paul— but rather they use images to convey their message. They paint pictures with words to express messages loaded with emotional impact. This does not mean that prophets ignore logic or argue illogically. It simply means they tend to focus more on “emotional intelligence” rather than so-called “rational intelligence.” I often use the language of the biblical scholar, Marcus Borg, when referring to prophets. Borg referred to biblical prophets as “God-intoxicated voices of radical social criticism promoting social justice and an alternative social vision.” The prophet’s poetic outcry against
social injustice was often motivated by a revelation and/or understanding of justice and compassion far greater than what they witnessed. The prophet felt compelled to speak out against injustice and to speak on behalf of those who were exploited and oppressed. They often delivered a message against those in power. This aspect of the prophet’s work is often referred to as “prophetic criticizing.” The prophet, however, didn’t simply criticize, the prophet also promoted an alternative social vision. A vision of a more just, fair, and compassionate world. The presentation of this alternative vision is often referred to as “prophetic energizing.”
In their quest for justice, biblical prophets were often willing to challenge and confront all authorities— even God. It’s not enough simply to criticize; the prophet also seeks to energize the people by providing an alternative vision. This alternative vision is a vision for this world, not some future “pie in the sky” world we will inherit when we die. The prophet presents a vision of a world that we are called to create together—a world that reflects the justice and compassion of God for all creation. Both Habakkuk and Hughes longed for justice, national renewal, and transformation. They advocated on behalf of all people—especially the oppressed and marginalized. While the specifics of the historical context of Habakkuk are unknown, the Spring 2019/Agora
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and confront all authorities—even God. Like Habakkuk, biblical prophets were willing to hold even God accountable to what they believed to be justice for all of creation.
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Biblical prophets were fierce individuals who were not afraid to question, to doubt, to laugh, and to die. They often stood for something greater than themselves and were ultimately committed to a cause. In the midst of their critique, however, they also promoted an alternative vision of a just world and maintained a sense of hope in what they believed to be God’s desire for a just world.
Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series. "For migrants, the church was the center of life." (Panel 54, 1940-41) prophet was clearly concerned with the suffering of the people—suffering the prophet considered unjust and for which the prophet was willing to confront and challenge even God. In the opening chapter, the prophet writes: O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? 30
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Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (1:2-4) Habakkuk is surprised by what appears to be God’s indifference or lack of response to the plight of the people. In their quest for justice, biblical prophets were often willing to challenge
Surveying the extent of the devastation, the prophet Habakkuk declared trust and confidence in God’s presence even when it seemed God was nowhere to be found. The prophet ends by declaring, Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; God makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights. (3:17-19) Similar to biblical prophets, Hughes critiqued the suffering experienced by Americans during his time—suffering exhibited through destructive social oppression, immeasurable racial violence, lynching, segregation, and social inequity. Through his poetry, Hughes engaged in both prophetic criticizing and prophetic energizing— promoting an alternative social vision that represents the ideal of America in the midst of the disappointing reality of America. In so doing, Hughes functioned as both a poet and a prophet. I close with the words of Hughes’ poem, “Let America be America Again”— not in order to “Make America Great Again” but in order to make America great at last.
Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed— Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home— For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free?
(It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
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I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek— And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean— Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series. "Railroad platforms were piled high with luggage." (Panel 39, 1940-41)
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Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay— Except the dream that's almost dead today. PHOTO CREDIT: THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION: WWW.PHILLIPSCOLLECTION.ORG
O, let America be America again— The land that never has been yet— And yet must be—the land where every man is free. The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME— Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose— The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain— All, all the stretch of these great green states— And make America again!
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Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series. "In the North, they had the freedom to vote." (Panel 59, 1940-41)
The Beauty of Brokenness by ANNA M. PETERSON, Associate Professor of History
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2 Corinthians 12:9-10
want to take you back to three years ago: I’m nine months pregnant, heavy with life and hope and anticipation, and talking to my doula and friend about what comes next. I remember her saying that when a woman gives birth the pieces of her are rearranged and come back together in new ways. She told me that she considers it a privilege to witness how and when this happens. Ever the over-achiever and perfectionist, I recall thinking to myself: “I’m sure that will happen for me faster than any of the other clients she’s served.” You might have guessed this prediction didn’t work out quite the way I expected. I now know that the tendency to perfect, to control, to achieve is driven by a deep sense of unworthiness. Research professor Brené Brown says that “perfectionism is the 20-ton shield we carry around hoping that it will keep us from being hurt,” and that we are most susceptible to perfectionism in areas we feel most vulnerable to shame. I didn’t know then that motherhood for me would be tied to feelings of inadequacy, shame, and unworthiness, and would be one continuous trigger of my perfectionism.
My daughter came into this world a month early. She had a stay in the NICU at Mayo in Rochester. She was/is a tiny creature and the doctors worried for months after her birth that she wasn’t gaining enough weight. We went in for weight check after weight check. Determined to breastfeed, I nursed her and pumped around the clock. I took supplements, drank special tea, and never slept more than three hours at a time. Her doctors called me a rock star. Meanwhile, I spiraled more and more out of control. To me, her early birth, her small size were evidence of my unworthiness. I was a failure. And every time we had to place her on a scale, endure a side glance from a nurse, or hear from a stranger “she’s so little!” I evaluated my own worth as a mother, as a woman, as a human and found myself to be insufficient. I now realize that my stubborn determination to breastfeed wasn’t only rooted in the “breast is best” mentality, but was in fact a desperate attempt to restore my sense of worth. I believed that if I succeeded at breastfeeding then I could offer myself some proof of my worthiness as a mother, some reassurance that my body, my self, wasn’t a complete failure. While I breastfed my daughter for two years, breastfeeding was never able to restore my sense of worth. Instead it was a source of endless anxiety. It became a way to measure myself in a very literal way. Every ounce that she gained or didn’t gain, every ounce I pumped or didn’t pump reflected back to me my own deep sense of lack. Nine months after her birth, I sat at the kitchen table with my husband and told him that I needed help coming up with a plan where I could kill myself in a way that would still allow him to claim the life insurance benefit. In my mind, I
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And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
March 8, 2019
Anna Peterson was worthless and irredeemable. I had broken open. In Brenda Shaughnessey’s poem “Liquid Flesh,” describing the breastfeeding relationship, she writes: I’ve been melted into something too easy to spill. I make more and more of myself in order to make more and more of the baby. He takes it, this making. And somehow he’s made more of me, too. My breaking offered me an opportunity to make more of myself. Through counseling, yoga, and intimate, painful self-examination I’ve come to see (and continue to see) the insecurities my perfectionism and resulting achievements had masked. Motherhood has given me the chance to live a more authentic life. A life where I know myself in greater depth and complexity than ever before. This has not been easy. It has taken over two years of desperate healing, of growth, of failing and Spring 2019/Agora
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FREER GALLERY OF ART AND ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D.C.: GIFT OF CHARLES LANG FREER, F1904.323
A work of kintsugi pottery, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery that highlights the brokenness, rather than trying to hide it making the at times excruciating choice to love myself again and again. I’ve recently been introduced to the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. The practice of Kintsugi begins with broken pottery pieces. Rather than trying to seamlessly piece the pottery back together in order to hide the vessel’s flaws and brokenness, the artist uses a lacquer infused with metallic powder—often gold—to reassemble the piece. The resulting pottery highlights and embraces the jagged imperfections and reflects a belief that our scars enhance our beauty and value. One of the lines in a Kintsugi blessing written by Reverend Ellis Arnold (formerly) of Decorah’s United Church of Christ reads: “When the time comes that you are ready, may you do something beautiful with the pieces you hold.” My intention with sharing my story is to do something beautiful with my brokenness. To share it with you so that you might recognize your own scars as beautiful and something to be celebrated. So that you might also identify the true nature of perfectionism and the high standards you set for yourself and others. 34
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It’s been three years since I had that conversation with my doula. The pieces of me have come together in ways I never could have imagined. But I now believe the process will never be finished. I will never stand before you a seamless and perfect person—as difficult as that is for a recovering perfectionist to write. I am broken and will be broken. But this no longer scares me as much as it once did. I chose to see my successes and my failures as brave attempts at living rather than indications of my self-worth. And like the scripture reading for today reminds me: I am “made perfect in weakness.”
Transformed into God's Beloved Community Sam Simataa is a software test engineer at Preventice Technologies in Rochester, Minnesota. He has also served as director of Luther's Gospel Choir. I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2
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ood morning. It’s an honor for me to be giving this chapel talk that will help kick off the 50th Anniversary of the Black Student Union. In conversations and interactions that will take place this weekend and beyond, I hope to leave you with this motif: context is everything. Context— the circumstances that create the understanding around an event or idea. So, allow me to share a bit about myself, to put my story into context. I’m from Namibia, in southwest Africa, a country that boasts a diverse population. Growing up in Namibia was exciting for me because I would interact with peers from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds. We’d speak in various languages, learn about each other’s tribes through cultural exchanges, and tease each other about various tribal traits. For example, the OvaHerero tribe love to eat meat—so I would tease my Herero friends that the term “vegetarian” will never exist in their lexicon. But I would also look forward to attending their “braais,” or barbeques, because they always know how to handle the meat just right.
In grade 10, I was fortunate enough to receive an academic scholarship to the Mahindra United World College of India. I really had no context in which to prepare myself for this experience, as this was the first time I left the familiar area of southern Africa, and so I braced myself. Needless to say, the culture shock was real. At the school, I encountered teenagers from a multitude of countries—some countries I’d never heard of. However, over time I learned more about these foreign lands. I had first-hand experience on cultural sensitivity, and how there is always two sides to every tale. I witnessed great interactions, like with my Pakistani and Indian friends having difficult conversations regarding the relationship between their two countries but still being able to genuinely sit and enjoy a meal together. I was able to combine this attained motivation and drive, and two years later graduated and then found myself at Luther College.
I recited the activities that I was a part of, and I recall there being looks like “did he just say music major?” Having written my senior year 4,000word essay in ethnomusicology, I started my freshmen year by joining Norsemen and taking music classes, as well as being on the tennis team roster. Those aspects of Luther came with built-in communities, so I felt a sense of belonging from the start, albeit that I was one of the few people of color in them. A couple weeks later, I remember attending the school year’s first BSU meeting. When I was up for introductions, I recited the activities that
DANICA NOLTON, LUTHER COLLEGE PHOTO BUREAU
April 26, 2019
by SAM SIMATAA,'13
Sam Simataa '13 speaks at the BSU 50th Anniversary Chapel on April 26, 2019. I was a part of, and I recall there being looks like “did he just say music major?” I didn’t anticipate those reactions, but I knew them—the reaction that I’m doing things that black people don’t do, in an African or African-American sense. Unfortunately, I didn’t join the BSU that year, and kept doing my thing. However, over time, I realized that those were just initial reactions from students not having exposure to black peers in those realms, and so I fostered relationships with BSU members and collaborated with the group in events such as the BSU Talent Show. However, as a result, it felt like I was living on a metaphorical “racial fence,” jumping between social circles that were predominately white, like in tennis, and non-white when hanging out with friends from the international student body. In the February Gospel service, Pastor Kara Baylor spoke of her struggle to find a home in this place as an African-American student adopted by a white family. I resonated with her sense of connection to multiple communities in one sense and not being fully at home in any one place. Spring 2019/Agora
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Being asked to give this chapel talk today, I was at once greatly humbled, and slightly intimidated—humbled because having helped produce a play to commemorate Luther’s sesquicentennial, the research process gave me a profound appreciation for Luther’s history, and also the early days of the BSU and its presence on campus. I recall reading about black student protests occurring on college campuses across the United States in the late 1960s. I could only imagine the amount of energy and passion brewing as BSU founders sought recognition and community, and to form a legacy for generations to come. But it’s also for this reason that I was intimidated, simply because I felt my story wasn’t one that highlighted some real struggles that black and other students of color
There’s an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” have faced and continue to face on campus. But as I continued to reflect on this latter point, I realized that the BSU was formed for people to feel free to share their stories and experiences with each other, in a space that might have made them feel like they couldn’t before. I am humbled to share my stories and gather with you all this weekend to celebrate the establishment of such an avenue. In 2017 I was invited to an intergenerational song camp to share songs from southern Africa. I researched the camp, and saw songs sung that were related to social justice, and I didn’t know if my gospel genre would quite fit in. Furthermore, I saw that the attendees were predominantly white, with only one person of color in the online videos. It did make me wary, but nevertheless I agreed to give it a try. On my first day there, I quickly caught on to songs they taught me, and even began to become contemplative. The next day, when it was my turn to teach my songs, I took a moment to share some of my thoughts from 36
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the night before and gave context to the gospel songs I was about to share. Several people later commented to me that having shared those reflections beforehand really prepared them to be willing and able to learn music from an unfamiliar place and genre. Context is everything. There’s an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” Today’s text calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It also calls us to be a living sacrifice. This language reminds us that this transformation is about sharing in a larger struggle of God’s vision for justice, mercy, and healing. My perspectives have evolved over time, and with more conversations and interactions, will keep evolving. I believe that true transformation comes in extracting lessons from such moments, intentionally learning from them to transform internal prejudices and stereotypes, and evoking the need to build a sense of community. Our personal transformations often include chapters of adversity and struggle where renewal of the mind comes through deeper learning and tested faith. We then realize that we need each other to survive. My hope and prayer for the Luther community is that celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Black Student Union will challenge and encourage us to grow in transformation—to let our minds be renewed by relationships and learning that engages differences across culture, gender, and ethnicity, and to share in the work of justice and mercy so that we would be transformed into God’s vision of beloved community.
The Diasporic Human Option by ARIE KIZEL, University of Haifa, israel
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uring April, the Jews around the world celebrate the Passover, which signifies the bondage in Egypt and the Exodus and return to the land of Israel, the historical homeland of the Jewish people. A week later comes Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we, in Israel, commemorate the destruction of the Jewish people and the extermination of six million of our brethren. In those meaningful days every Jew confronts the question of “home”: Why do we need our own home(land)? What is the connection between the national home and our national body as a home? And now, after the Holocaust, after the horrible destruction, what is the meaning of home? These questions are connected to the idea of testing home, any home from the perspective of being a nomadic person, being a diasporic human. Exodus 24:1–4 recounts the story of a historic, decisive encounter between God and Moses: Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and bow low from afar. Moses alone shall come near the LORD; but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”
In the continuation, Moses makes his way up the mountain: On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Now the Presence of the LORD appeared in the sight of the Israelites as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain. Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (vv. 15–18) In the following chapter, God makes a rather surprising request of Moses: “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” This chapter describes the process of the building of the sanctuary, posing the questions: Why does God need a house? Why does he require a tabernacle amongst his people and why does he say: “that I may dwell among them” rather than they among him?
I am constantly wondering whether a home affords us a safe haven or in fact protects us (and prevents us) from the possibility of criticism— internal and external. The issue of the need of a home for safety and security in the struggle against the death that puts an end to the home, the home of the current life—can become troubling. A home can be of various types—a national homeland, an ideological home, a religious home, a community, a family, an identity. But still it is a home and as someone who comes from the discipline of critical theory, I am constantly wondering whether a home affords us a safe haven
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Editor’s note: Arie Kizel is head of the Development of Pedagogical Education Systems Program Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa, Israel, and President of the ICPIC International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children. He spoke at the Interfaith Forum at Luther College in April, but was unable to stay to give his scheduled chapel talk. He offered this reflection upon his return to Israel.
Arie Kizel or in fact protects us (and prevents us) from the possibility of criticism— internal and external. Does its stability not interfere with our ability to ask questions, engage ina critical manner of thinking, and keep our minds fresh from indoctrination, from the totality of the mass? As Theodor Adrono, one of the founding fathers of Frankfurt School, said, “the possibility of an inner deep criticism.” Does it not create a false consciousness that prevents us from marveling? So, I would like to suggest to all of us that the diasporic philosophy that seeks to counter certainty, and in a way “home,” is the desire to refresh soil that has become arid. I want to suggest the option of the diasporic human. The diasporic individual which strives against the self-evident and thus does not seek a home as a permanent shelter. Both diasporic education and diasporic philosophy aims (first and foremost) at an ethical-creative way of life, drawing on the idea of exile in Judaism, and leading to the birth of the improviser in the cosmopolitan sense—the option of leaving home, being a homeless and Spring 2019/Agora
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restless person in order to investigate, research and be in a state questioning, questioning the home. This opens the possibility (and the freedom of life) which is manifested through its nomadic nature, neither relativist nor nihilist. It refuses to give up responsibility and insists on taking a stand out of love and out of care. It is not an opposition, but a position.
The diasporic philosophy that seeks to counter certainty, and in a way “home,” is the desire to refresh soil that has become arid. Some will argue that Passover, and some of the acts of Jesus, offer a Diasporic way of life which does not seek a home or fulfilment through tradition in a collective; on the contrary, it will break through the fences and become a trailblazer who paves the way. Thus, the exile (the diasporic thinker) will be a person who is always paving new roads. So, the diasporic human can become a critical thinker as a critical builder. His life’s journey will be a constant dynamic search, while tearing down, branching off, setting out. The Diasporic human will not complain that he has not found the final goal, since his life’s purpose will be creativity and improvisation through love, not the violent conquest of a target through instrumental means. He will continue to confront the next obstacle, the next mountain, from which he will contemplate on the ways that he is living, and we are living, in our homes. The diasporic option offers us an emancipatory action, against evil and injustice inside us and in our community. I want to suggest that when God asks for home – “that I may dwell among them” – he wants us to be diasporic, to be less concentrated on the home as a fixed material display and more on our moral acts which need checking from time to time, even on a daily basis. 38
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After the Interfaith Forum at Luther College on April 2019, I have returned home, to Israel. Every time the plane approaches the Land of Israel and its beautiful coastland appears in all its glory, I ask myself, as a son of Holocaust survivors, whether the national homeland we achieved asks itself enough questions about its nature, values, goals, and purposes. At these moments, precisely when the plane is about to land, I become a diasporic Jew for a minute. So, I appeal to us with a request that we make a habit of checking whether we have a diasporic outlook on life. This gives us a sense of wonder, refreshment, and doubt—as well as the self-correction we need in relation to ourselves and those around us.
Responding to Islamophobia MARTIN KLAMMER, Professor of English and Agora Editor with TODD GREEN, Associate Professor of Religion
Todd Green: I offered three insights at the interfaith vigil. First, the perpetrator of the New Zealand attacks held a worldview that bore striking similarities to the beliefs of many on the far right in Europe and the United States. The perpetrator expressed fear of white demographic decline in the West and articulated the conspiracy theory that Muslims and immigrants will “replace” the historic majority population of Western nations. His anxiety over Muslims and immigrants, not to mention over the perceived threat to white civilization, is not too far removed from some very prominent political voices on the far right, including Marine Le Pen (France), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), and Viktor Orban (Hungary). We can also add Donald Trump to this list. Second, the New Zealand attack wasn’t an outlier. It was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks targeting racial and religious minority communities in their houses of worship over the past decade. Such attacks include Sikhs in Oak Creek (2012), African American Christians in Charleston (2015), Muslims in Quebec City (2017), Jews in Pittsburgh (2018), and Muslims in Christchurch (2019). What these and
some other terrorist attacks, including the Anders Breivik mass murder spree in Norway (2011), have in common is that they were perpetrated by angry white men, most of whom articulated grievances about racial, religious, or cultural diversity and the resulting “threat” to white national identity or white supremacy. Third, the Luther and Decorah community is in a unique position to help shape the political discourse about anti-Muslim hatred and violence. Every four years, Iowa is the center of the political universe. We are entering one of those years in which many people seeking the highest office in the land will come into our community to make their case to prospective voters. We should make every effort to show up to these rallies and, if given the opportunity, ask candidates to take a clear stand against the Islamophobia that has seeped into mainstream political discourse and has put Muslim lives (among others) at risk. We are in a position to put these candidates on the spot and to hold them accountable if they show up to our community but struggle to offer a clear, unequivocal condemnation of Islamophobia.
about the loss of white power and privilege in an increasingly diverse world. What can we do—what can anyone do—to not just take a stand against Islamophobia, but to address this fear, this anxiety? Is there an approach beyond, or different from condemning Islamophobia? TG: One of the things we can do to help address the predominant anxiety toward Muslims is to educate the majority population about where Islamophobia narratives come from, how anti-Muslim hostility is manufactured and manipulated today, and who benefits from these fears. Most of us know very little about the history of bigotry toward Muslims in the United States and how this history intersects with hostility toward other racial and religious minorities. The most important thing we can do is to build relationships between the majority population and Muslims. We have data indicating that relationships
MK: One of your key ideas in your work on Islamophobia is that it’s not just far right political leaders that energize or galvanize antiMuslim terrorists, but that there’s also “professional Islamophobia network” of media commentators who, as you have said, “make a living and a career off of demonizing Muslims and casting Islam in the worst possible light.”1 These media professionals stir up the passions of “angry white men” (who may go on to commit acts of terrorism), but that anger as you just said has deeper roots in “fear” and “anxiety” Todd Green
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n March 15, a 28-year-old gunman attacked worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people and injuring 50 others. Several days later Luther campus ministries held a prayer vigil for the victims. Todd Green, associate professor of religion and noted scholar and speaker on Islamophobia, spoke at this event. It seems fitting and right that we reflect on the violence against faith communities that continues to trouble and terrorize our world. To that end, I interviewed Todd for this issue of Agora. I first asked Todd, “What did you say at the prayer vigil?”
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across racial, cultural, or religious differences can be game changers when it comes to countering bigotry. In the case of religious bigotry, if we know someone from a religious tradition that is different from our own, if we have a personal relationship with someone of another religious tradition, we are much less likely to have prejudiced views toward that tradition or those who are a part of it. If I have a friendship with someone who is Jewish, I’m much less likely to be anti-Semitic. And if I know someone who is Muslim, I’m much less likely to be Islamophobic. Even limited contact can potentially make a difference. According to a PRRI study from a few years ago, two-thirds of people who talk with Muslims at least occasionally are more likely to view Muslims as an important part of the American religious landscape. Yet we also know from a recent Pew study that almost half of all non-Muslims Americans do not know a Muslim personally. This is the dynamic we want to change. MK: I agree that this is important. I had just this experience during my first sabbatical in South Africa when our family lived in a Muslim community and I got to know the imam. He and I shared our faith perspectives without judgment. Students in Luther’s Nottingham program have also been invited to share meals with Muslims. Along these lines, your courses on Islam and Islamophobia are important for our students. Could you tell us about these courses and the interactions with Muslims and Muslim faith communities our students had? TG: I teach both a course on Islamophobia (on campus) and an Islam in Europe (Study Away) course offered every other J-term. I co-teach it with a colleague from the social sciences. The course focuses on the political and cultural tensions and debates pertaining to the place of Muslim minority communities in Europe. Our conversation partners include journalists, politicians, civil liberties organizations, and faith communities. In most countries that we visit, we try to visit at least one mosque (and often more) to gain a firsthand perspective 40
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on the challenges Muslims face in various European countries. We also try to make sense of these challenges in light of Europe’s colonial history and how this history shapes interactions today between Muslims and majority populations in Europe. MK: In this study away course, do you observe any shifts or even transformations in students in how students perceive Islam and/or Muslims, based on what they (the students) say and write? TG: Students do encounter a shift in their perspectives on Islam and Muslims through the course. For some students, it’s the first opportunity they’ve had to hold a sustained conversation with a Muslim. For many students, it’s the first time they have visited a mosque, or spent time in an urban neighborhood in which the majority of residents have a Muslim or immigrant background and they (particularly the white students in the course) are in the minority. In the process, their image of a white, Christian, monocultural Europe quickly fades. What often surprises students is just how much greater the tension is in Europe when it comes to the place of Muslims in the social and political order. What they also learn is that Muslims in Europe face restrictions on their freedom of religion that would be hard to imagine in the United States. European countries are much more comfortable regulating public expressions of religiosity than the United States is, hence the recent wave in full face-veil bans in Europe. These restrictions call into question for them images of the West as committed to freedom of expression or religion. MK: Are you hopeful that we can move beyond religious intolerance and even hatred, and move toward being a society where all peoples and faiths are respected? TG: With Islamophobia, things are going to get worse in the short run. Too many politicians have found in Islamophobia a powerful weapon which enables them to tap into fear among a certain portion of the electorate and to leverage that fear for votes and to
further policies that do great harm to Muslims. We also have to keep in mind that a great deal of Islamophobia at home is also driven by our foreign policy abroad. Muslim Americans have become symbolic stand-ins for the perceived Muslim enemy in the war on terror, and this has led to all sorts of policies - from detentions to surveillance to the Muslim ban that single out Muslims as a suspect population deserving of discrimination. It will take a great deal of courage from politicians and a significant change in our foreign policy to reverse the alarming trend of Islamophobia. We’ve been lacking on both fronts for quite some time. But yes, I do have hope despite it all. We are beginning to see the emergence of strong Muslim voices in the political realm, the likes of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who are not afraid to challenge the political establishment and to stand up for Muslim civil liberties and against foreign policies that turn a blind eye to human rights violations, whether that be in Saudi Arabia or Israel. They are inspiring a generation of Americans to become bolder and unapologetic in challenging the injustices and the racism that has infected American politics. Greater Muslim representation in politics is also one of the keys toward reversing discriminatory policies aimed at Muslims. I’ve also seen an increase in public acts of solidarity for Muslims in the aftermath of terrorist attacks and other tragedies in which Muslims are targeted with hate and violence. This is also a promising sign of a greater resolve among those of us who are not Muslim to take a stand. And I have witnessed greater efforts at interfaith engagement in the past several years, including from Christian communities and clergy that historically have not reached out to their Muslim neighbors. All of this gives me hope.
1. Todd Green, Presumed Guilty: Why We Shouldn’t Ask Muslims to Condemn Terrorism (Fortress, 2018), pp. 73-74.
Find the current issue and back issues of Agora online
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ou can read the current issue of Agora online and you can also find and search all back issues by first going to our webpage: search “Agora” on the Luther College homepage. The current issue can be viewed right on that page. For back issues, click on the link that takes you to the webpage titled “Luther College Publications Archive.” Enter and then “select publication,” to search either Agora or The College Chips—the complete files of both Agora and the campus newspaper are available. You can search using names, words or phrases, and dates. You can read online or download as a PDF.
Changing your address? Want to stop receiving Agora? If you do, please email or write us. Contact Agora, c/o johnbo02@luther. edu, or write Agora, Main 126, Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, IA 52101. The image above illustrated early issues of Agora. The journal was established by the Paideia Program, and paideia translates as education. The image shows a teacher with his tablet on his lap and stylus in his hand.
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