Muse Creative

Moral Agency

2009-03-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been more than a little slack in writing blog entries, so I thought I'd share the latest academic piece I have been writing.

I've been really interested in issues of moral agency lately. Who do we consider to be someone who has the capacity to act morally? How do we describe the criteria for moral action? Do our models exclude experiences of some people because of race and gender? Well, because I've been auditing a course on moral agency and taking a course for credit on race, gender and politics, I wrote a paper for Race Gender Politics class that I would have written for Moral Agency, if I were obligated to do the assignments. The abstract is here. Comment back if you want me to send you the full paper. I can't figure out how to post it here or on my website. www.musecreative.org if you don't know!

ISSUES OF MORAL AGENCY IN CELIA, A SLAVE

Melton A. McLaurin’s work, Celia, a Slave: A True Story identifies moral issues emerging from the race and gender conflicts codified in the “peculiar institution” of slavery. The story is particularly useful for exploring the problematic nature of moral agency --the capacity for moral action or the capability to act morally or immorally-- within the lives of persons subject to enslavement and oppression. Analysis of Celia's story reveals how the forms, relations, and institutions of power encoded in chattel slavery condition the exercise of human and moral agency. The task in this paper is to use feminist and womanist critique to construct a multi-faceted account of Celia’s moral agency. This essay considers (1) if moral agency can be ascribed to an enslaved woman and if so, how we should define it, and examines (2) the ways in which her moral agency was constrained and (3) the ways in which her moral agency was asserted or exercised.

An Artful, Soulful Way of Living

2008-10-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

I was thinking the other day about how art can impact life, wondering how art really, practically helps people in a difficult time. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind is how the blues helps me get over the blues. There's something about expressing yourself: reaching into your pain, and belting it out that helps a hurting soul. Although it is not always sad, blues deals with melancholy topics. Blues recognizes the pain of lost love and injustice, but also expresses the victory of outlasting a broken heart and facing down adversity. Ralph Ellison describes blues' unique attitude to separation and loss as "an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in one's aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism." Blues introduced a "personalization of feeling into popular songs", which became a feature of American music, including jazz.*

Years ago, I saw an article on about.com that talked about cultivating soul, rhythm and blues in your life. What stuck with me the most was the advice to sing the blues when you have the blues, but really commit to it – "Saaaaahng 'em!" Reading the article again, though, I found some other great tips. Fortunately, I saved the article on my computer because the link (soul.about.com) is no longer available and all the google technology in the world isn't finding another copy of it. Unfortunately, I did not document the author's name. (If it happens to be you, please let me know!) I am not claiming authorship of this article, but did want to put it out there because I think it's a helpful (and fun) look at what living a soulful lifestyle is about.

How to Cultivate Soul, Rhythm and Blues in the Garden of Your Life

From dynamic diva Diana to Marvelous Marvin, soul music greats had a vibe back in the day that permeated their life. They still do. It's born of a persistent and determined spirit, it is loving, self nurturing, generous, and magnificent. It inspires folks to dance, laugh, cry, to go on....You feel it in the music, but how 'bout when you turn your stereo and computer OFF? Here are some helpful hints for REALLY keeping it real.

Difficulty Level: "Easy as 1-2-3!" - The Jackson 5

Time Required: "What Time Is It?" - The Time (It's attainable right now, in the moment!)

Here's How:

SOUL

Be sure to share your soul with others. Even if you can't share your hopes, dreams and concerns one on one, journalling works wonders and makes you feel connected with others, and grounded within yourself (Quote Sly and the Family Stone, "I am everyday people.")
Accept yourself AS IS, and don't be afraid to toot your own horn, even loudly! (Mos Def: "I ain't no perfect man/I'm tryin' to do the best that I can/with what it is I have" or James Brown: "Say it loud! I'm [fill-in-affirmation here] and I'm proud!)
Don't be afraid to sing, hum, tone, just express yourself with your voice. Not only is it an inner massage for your soul, it's a scientifically proven stress-reliever, as it is meditative. (Earth Wind and Fire were right: "Sing A Song.")
Allow yourself ample relaxation and alone time. ("Relax your mind/lay back and groove with mine" - Michael Jackson)
Exercise gratitude. You may pray, you may enjoy quality time with family, friends or pets, you may be glad to be a living, breathing being on the planet, you may be glad you're self-sufficient, there are myriad colors and facets that revolve around this simple idea. Gratitude imbues your life with a sense of peace. ("I just called to say I love you/and I mean it...- Stevie Wonder")
When all else fails, know that you can give YOURSELF pep talks. ("You gotta be cool/you gotta be calm/you gotta stick together/all I know/all I know/love will save the day" - Do you really think Des'ree's hit song was for someone else? ;) )

RHYTHM

Feel the beat--literally. Place your hands on your stereo, on your computer speaker (etc.) and close your eyes. How do you think deaf and hearing-impaired people "listen" to music? Their heart hears it.
Make your life a dance. Dancing has less to do with "getting on the good foot" (James Brown's great lyrics) and more to do with allowing time for grooving with the fluidity of life.
Turn anger and negativity into a bumping beat. Annoying car horns in traffic can turn to Hip Hop samples in your mind. An incident you can't get out of your head can turn to pillow talk, a la Luther Vandross. Watch this masterful turn of a phrase: "Hung up the phone/can't be too late/the boss is so demanding/Open the door up/and to my surprise there you were standing!" It's all in your perspective, might as well use what irks you to your advantage.

BLUES

Likewise, if you are determined to be miserable, if you are knee-deep in a brokenhearted love affair or just can't catch a break, wallow with flair. Get yourself a sweet wardrobe, slick your hair back and don't just sing the blues, "saaahng" 'em! ("I'm goin' down!/I'm goin' down!/"Cause you ain't around" - Mary J. Blige wails, bending in pain a la James Brown. Brown could never quite make it off the stage in his sets! He was too busy begging, "Baby, please...please...please...don't go!")
Sure, your past mistakes might make you mad. Take an inventory so you know where you're going next time, and you take a different route--but don't stay there. "No time to back-step/'cause if you back-step/look what you stepped in, you stepped in mess" De La Soul
Turn the beat around. Don't be afraid of your feelings. They can be your very best friends. People find they're angry oftentimes because there is something they need to look at--they feel they've been wronged. Sadness connotes a sense of loss--imagined or otherwise. Confusion is the soul's search for clarity. "How does it feel?" D'Angelo sings, mellifluous, "How does it feel?"

Tips:

Rules for the Road

Soulful living is an ongoing, step by step process. There is no "right or wrong" way to do this. Reading musical heroes (and superheroes') biographies helps. These folks had good AND bad times, and often we forget we only see them in their best and worst moments.
Rhythm is individual ("Groove is in the Heart," sang Dee-Lite). There's no correct or incorrect way to dance, either. Don't let any player-hater tell you any differently.
Blues are a necessary part of life, of your experience. The more quickly you admit what's ailing you, and admit you're willing to deal with it, the more quickly you can "Move on Up!"

* This quote and description comes from this reference: Arnold Shaw, The Jazz Age: Popular Music in the 1920's (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 77-78.

The Synthetic Task of a Theologian (My Work as Scholar)

2008-09-29T23:59:00.001-07:00

As a theologian, artist and ethicist, I work in the space where ethics and aesthetics converge in public life. I examine ethical systems based on aesthetic constructions: imagery, visions, narratives, models and metaphors; I also examine aesthetic constructions that reveal or rely on religious and theological bases. My work as a scholar is to synthesize work in the separate, but interconnected fields of theology, ethics, and aesthetics and construct theologies of culture from them.

My current project is to determine the way that ethical and aesthetic constructions inform and shape each other. How does this interrelation demonstrate itself in the built environment? How do religious, spiritual, or otherwise defined "sacred spaces" function as both aesthetic interventions and ethical statements about the identity of those who construct and dwell in them and their relation to the larger publics of society?

I base my work on a praxis model of theology that has been informed by African-American and feminist activism. The praxis model of contextual theology does not focus solely on reinterpreting a universal gospel message into local modes of language and practice or listening to the existing culture to see where the gospel already exists. Instead, the praxis model focuses on discerning the meaning of social change and contributing to its course of action.

Theologian Stephen Bevans describes the central insight of the praxis model:

…Theology is done not simply by providing relevant expressions of Christian faith but also by commitment to Christian action. But even more than this, theology is understood as the product of these two aspects of Christian life [expression and action]. The praxis model employs a method that 'in its most profound sense is understood as the unity of knowledge as activity and knowledge as content.' It is reflected-upon action and acted-upon reflection—both rolled into one. *

This type of engagement is a way of knowing and living truth; it is a model of thinking. It is based on the idea that engagement is a source of knowledge better than belief in someone else's authority or even personally appropriated knowledge. The idea is that we know best when reason is coupled with and challenged by our action, making us subjects, not just objects, in the historical process of our time and place.

My theological stance on engagement has led me to examine the role of religious and aesthetic expression in civic engagement. There are many ways in which people participate in civic, community, and political life and, in so doing, express their engaged citizenship. From proactively becoming better informed to participating in public forums on issues, from volunteering to voting, from community organizing to political advocacy, the defining characteristic of active civic engagement is the commitment to participate and contribute to the improvement of one's neighborhood, community, and nation. These forms of engagement often rely on visions of the past, present, and future – that is, ethical and aesthetic constructions. My particular interest is analyzing from a theological perspective is the way institutions –people groups, faith communities, norms, and schools of thought-- shape the built environments in which they dwell. Influenced by Baptist tradition, I often emphasize the role of the local church; I therefore explore the ways "the local church is not just in a place or of a place; [but] it finds its identity in being for the particular place it finds itself in."** I do not limit my work to Baptist scholarship, however. I draw from diverse traditions and fields of study to assess and critique architectural and urban spaces as reflections of the theological and spiritual experiences therein contained.

* Stephan B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, ed. Robert J. Schreiter, Revised and Expanded Edition ed., Faith and Cultures Series (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002).

**Ibid., 72.

The Synthetic Task (My Artist’s Statement)

2008-09-22T15:41:00.001-07:00

Design communicates values. Cohesion between the intellectual, spiritual and physical aspects of an architectural design can evoke a powerful sense of place. My work addresses these connections. I draw from diverse fields of study to assess, redesign, and create architectural spaces as reflections of the spiritual experiences they seek to affirm.

As an architectural designer and theologian, my mediums are metaphor, abstraction, color and texture. My designs communicate through the shaping of space in a modernist and expressionist aesthetic that demonstrates function and the interplay of human relationships in direct immediacy. I create architectural forms, but I also express my ideas through illustrations and collages, proclamation of Biblical and literary texts and the composition of essay and memoir. My work articulates a community's unique narrative: the identity of its past, present and future. I critically engage and then express the unexamined, the unspoken and the unheard not through conflict, but through an intentional process of reflection, dialogue and collaboration. In our physical and metaphoric landscape of division and disjointed space, my task is synthetic: to heal and to reconcile.