Pop quiz: Which social "activist" type are you?
Jes's recent post on personal vs. political reminded me of the Movement Action Plan (MAP) - a progressive guide to creating social change with a breakdown of four activist "types" that each play a role in promoting change. (You can read more about Bill Moyer, the man behind the MAP concept, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moyer)
The four activist roles include: Citizen, Reformer, Rebel, and Change Agent.
Here's a diagram that shows what each type of activist is all about. (If you click on it, you can blow it up to actually read it!):
I like that "citizen" is included in there, probably for reason's similar to Jes's comment below, "of COURSE the personal is political." I think this diagram sort of "un-demonizes" activism, showing that "activist" does not necessarily imply someone who is promoting an extremist view. From the standpoint of the Fellers, if our goal is urban livability, and to that end, social change is necessary, then it is easy and perhaps necessary to take the leap from being a "concerned citizen" to being an engaged "activist" without being radical.
In thinking about our discussions of Urban Livability so far, and also in our individual academic specializations or career fields, I'm curious where each of us Fellers would place ourselves on this diagram, and why. Has your perspective changed since joining the Fellers? Do you hope to play a different "role" in your future career?
The four activist roles include: Citizen, Reformer, Rebel, and Change Agent.
Here's a diagram that shows what each type of activist is all about. (If you click on it, you can blow it up to actually read it!):
I like that "citizen" is included in there, probably for reason's similar to Jes's comment below, "of COURSE the personal is political." I think this diagram sort of "un-demonizes" activism, showing that "activist" does not necessarily imply someone who is promoting an extremist view. From the standpoint of the Fellers, if our goal is urban livability, and to that end, social change is necessary, then it is easy and perhaps necessary to take the leap from being a "concerned citizen" to being an engaged "activist" without being radical.
In thinking about our discussions of Urban Livability so far, and also in our individual academic specializations or career fields, I'm curious where each of us Fellers would place ourselves on this diagram, and why. Has your perspective changed since joining the Fellers? Do you hope to play a different "role" in your future career?
posted by Audrey at
2:44 PM
1 Comments:
Audrey -
What a great post, and a great question that you raise! It seems that within some of our areas in the academy "activism" is much more embraced than it is in other areas (where "activism" is still a pretty scary concept best left to radical hippies!)
My location within my discipline really moves me back and forth between the "rebel" category and the "change agent" category. The possibilities of performance studies are endless, extremely public, and so much more accessible than most of the traditionally published (critical) scholarship to much of the non-academic public. I'm currently teaching an "Intro to Performance Studies" course in which my students and I working towards creating mini-performances that will hopefully embrace the "triad" of performance studies: citizenship, creativity, and critique. (Dwight Conquergood, a noted performance scholar and activist, is the "father" of the tri-partite alliterative lists that ring throughout our discipline.) Working with, through, and in performance is much messier, much scarier, and (to me) more exciting than the more widely-accepted "traditional" work that I could be doing in the humanities - and the possibilities of performance are nearly endless.
As a teacher and as a person vested in leadership and educational programming (hooray!), though, the "change agent" category also upholds much of what I would like to strive for, namely the "educating the masses" and "creating paradigm shifts." The power that an educator has to affect the lives of her students directly, and their social worlds indirectly through their influence is, in a word, ENORMOUS! Teaching is a huge responsibility and one that I will always strive to do better... with the goal of working with and learning from students in a critically engaged "classroom" that moves beyond the physical walls of the university space.
That's my two cents. I'm anxious to hear where others see themselves in the "range" of types of activism(s)!
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