Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Michael Karlberg, The Constructive Imaginary, bahai-library.com.
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The Constructive to transcend the opposition against
you with that same constructive
Imaginary resilience that characterized their
response to the duplicity of their
detractors. Peering beyond the
MICHAEL KARLBERG distress of the difficulties assailing
them, those heroic souls attempted
This special issue of the Journal marks to translate the Teachings of the
a moment in a journey by a group of new Faith into actions of spiritual
collaborators exploring the implica- and social development. This, too,
tions of an emerging concept with is your work. Their objective was
profound relevance to twenty-first to build, to strengthen, to refine the
century struggles for social justice. To tissues of society wherever they
understand the nature and purpose of might find themselves; and thus,
this journey, it will help to know a little they set up schools, equally edu-
about the process that led us here. Be- cating girls and boys; introduced
fore considering this process, however, progressive principles; promoted
it is important to note that the collec- the sciences; contributed signifi-
tion of essays in this journal represents cantly to diverse fields such as ag-
only a small number of voices offering riculture, health, and industry—all
contributions at only one moment in of which accrued to the benefit of
a wider ongoing conversation. Many the nation. You, too, seek to ren-
important voices and perspectives are der service to your homeland and
absent from this collection, but not to contribute to a renewal of civ-
all things can be accomplished in any ilization. They responded to the
given setting. This collection of essays inhumanity of their enemies with
thus constitutes an invitation for all rel- patience, calm, resignation, and
evant voices to contribute, over time, contentment, choosing to meet
to this expanding conversation. deception with truthfulness and
This conversation began when, on 9 cruelty with good will towards
September 2007, the Universal House all. You, too, demonstrate such
of Justice wrote a letter to Iranian noble qualities and, holding fast
Bahá’í students deprived of access to to these same principles, you belie
higher education in their country. In the slander purveyed against your
that letter, the House of Justice wrote: Faith, evoking the admiration of
the fair-minded. (italics added)
Recent events call to mind
heart-rending episodes in the histo- The phrase first employed in this let-
ry of the Faith, of cruel deceptions ter—constructive resilience—has since
wrought against your forebears. It been employed by the Universal House
is only appropriate that you strive of Justice in many other letters. Over
10 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

time, it has captured the imagination around which many Western liberal in-
of growing numbers of people because stitutions and practices are constructed.
it is pregnant with meaning. This spe- According to this logic, human nature
cial issue of the Journal has emerged is essentially self-interested, so societ-
from conversations among one group ies should be organized in competitive
of friends who have been exploring the ways that harness all that selfish energy
meaning of this phrase, its relationship for the greater good. We see this logic
to other concepts in prevailing dis- expressed in partisan political systems,
courses on social change, and its broad adversarial legal systems, capitalist
relevance to the exigencies of the age. economies, grade-based education
In the reflections immediately be- systems, and even many contemporary
low, the collaborative process that led forms of recreation and leisure.
to this special issue is shared, to under- In my dissertation, I analyzed the
score the value of this kind of collabo- social and ecological consequences
rative inquiry. Some of the more salient of this “culture of contest.” My con-
insights that emerged from this process clusion, in short, was that when most
are also shared. In the latter regard, it social institutions and practices are
should be noted that constructive resil- organized as contests of physical, po-
ience is neither an entirely new way of litical, or economic power, they privi-
thinking about social change, nor is it lege the short-term material interests of
a mere reiteration of previous concep- those who enter the contests with the
tions of social change. Rather, aspects most inherited power. This occurs at
of constructive resilience have been the expense of less powerful segments
explored by a range of previous think- of society, and at the expense of future
ers, and have been embodied in a range generations. The result is widespread
of previous movements. What our col- social injustice and ecological ruin.
lective inquiry has attempted to do is My dissertation also examined the
to bring into focus some of these prior way these unjust and ruinous outcomes
conceptions and illustrations, and as- cause many people to arise in protest.
semble them into a more coherent pic- This is very understandable, and I share
ture that expands our social imaginary. the underlying commitments to social
justice and environmental stewardship
that tend to animate such responses.
The initial point of departure for my Yet oppositional protests can inadver-
own study of constructive resilience tently replicate and reinforce the un-
traces back to my doctoral defense just derlying logic of the culture of contest.
over twenty years ago. My disserta- For instance, oppositional responses to
tion1 examined the competitive logic

From Adversarialism to Mutualism in an
1 This dissertation was later pub- Age of Interdependence (George Ronald,
lished as Beyond the Culture of Contest: 2004).
The Constructive Imaginary 11

social injustice can reinforce assump- competitive electoral processes that
tions about the inherently competitive emerged in Western liberal societies
or conflictual nature of human beings, are inherently vulnerable to the cor-
along with assumptions about the inev- rupting influence of money, because
itability of interest group competition electoral competitions are expensive
in the social sphere—which consti- to wage. This is a primary reason just
tute suppositional foundations of the and responsible governance has proven
culture of contest. Hence the paradox so elusive in Western liberal forms of
of protest in a culture of contest.2 The democracy. One response to these en-
culture of contest gives rise to myr- demic injustices is through protest. An-
iad injustices, which in turn give rise other response is to begin constructing
to oppositional dissent, which in turn new democratic electoral forms that
reinforces the underlying logic of the are free from competition and parti-
culture of contest that gives rise to the sanship.4 To the extent that new social
injustices in the first place. forms such as this can attract people
The way to transcend this paradox, away from prevailing ones, growing
I argued, is through a non-adversar- numbers of people can withdraw their
ial approach focused on the active participation from unjust social forms,
construction of radically new institu- which would eventually collapse of
tions and practices organized around attrition. The culture of contest might
a more just logic.3 For instance, the thus be transcended, over time, through
the construction of emancipatory social
2 See Michael Karlberg, “The Para- forms that supplant oppressive ones.
dox of Protest in a Culture of Contest.” In my dissertation, I offered examples
3 A broadly similar argument was that illustrate this dynamic.
advanced in the early twentieth century After I made this point, one of my
by Gandhi, in his booklet titled Construc- examiners countered, “That may work
tive Programme: Its Meaning and Place under some favorable conditions, but
(1941). This argument was echoed by
surely it’s impossible under conditions
Carl Boggs’ articulation of the concept
of violent repression.” As we were
prefigurative politics in his essay “Revo-
lutionary Process, Political Strategy, and
speaking, on the other side of the plan-
the Dilemma of Power”; and this concept et, the Bahá’ís of Iran were patiently
of prefiguration was later taken up to some advancing constructive processes of
degree within various feminist and New
Left movements. Such ideas have more the sixth chapter of my most recent book,
recently been engaged by contemporary Constructing Social Reality (see pages
social change theorists such as Majken Jul 180–188).
Sørensen (see “Constructive Resistance: 4 For an illustration of a proven
Conceptualizing and Mapping the Ter- electoral system that is entirely free from
rain,”) and Karuna Mantena (see “Gandhi partisanship and competition, refer to Mi-
and the Means-Ends Question in Politics”). chael Karlberg, “Western Liberal Democ-
I engage this literature more directly in racy as New World Order?”
12 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

social transformation under conditions individual about the ongoing challenge
of violent repression. But this story had of racism in the United States. In that
never been told through the lens I ar- letter, the House of Justice expressed
ticulated in my dissertation. After my its hope
defense, I realized the need to do that.
As I began to write about this, I re- that those friends in the United
ceived a copy of the 9 September 2007 States who resolve to renew their
letter from the Universal House of commitment to uprooting racism
Justice alluded to above. When I read and laying the basis for a society
the phrase constructive resilience, it that reflects interracial harmony
crystalized in my mind precisely what can draw insight and inspiration
I was trying to articulate. This phrase from the unwavering resolve of
distills what it means to exercise trans- the Bahá’ís in Iran. The messag-
formative constructive agency under es written to the friends there in
conditions of violent repression. So the recent years, most of which have
phrase provided the organizing logic, been translated into English and
and the title, for the article I was writ- are publicly available, are instruc-
ing, which was subsequently published tive in this regard. For almost
by the journal Peace & Change. two centuries, and particularly
the last four decades of relentless
oppression, the Bahá’ís in Iran
Over the decade that followed, the have remained forward-looking,
Universal House of Justice used the dynamic, vibrant, and committed
phrase “constructive resilience” in oth- to serving Iranian society. They
er letters, and the concept was becom- have refused to allow apprehen-
ing the object of increasing attention. sion and anxiety to take hold or let
In 2017, I invited three friends whose any calamity perturb their hearts.
scholarship is relevant to this concept They have drawn on the highest
to help organize a conference panel on reservoirs of solidarity and collab-
the topic. Insights generated from that oration and responded to oppres-
experience then informed several pre- sion with constructive resilience,
sentations at other conferences. Soon eschewing despair, surrender,
after, we planned an intensive weekend resentment, and hate and tran-
seminar on this concept, in Washing- scending mere survival, to trans-
ton, D.C., with a dozen people from as form conditions of ignorance and
many disciplines. Insights generated prejudice and win the respect and
from the D.C. seminar informed further collaboration of their fair-minded
conference presentations and further countrymen. Those believers in
conversations among the four of us. the United States who have la-
On 4 February 2018, the Universal bored so persistently to promote
House of Justice wrote a letter to an race unity, especially the African
The Constructive Imaginary 13

American friends, should appre- nine-person panel for a plenary audi-
ciate in their own efforts over the ence at the 2019 annual conference of
years the same expression of con- the Association for Bahá’í Studies in
structive resilience, born of their Ottawa. It is those nine panelists who
great love for Bahá’u’lláh, and see are the contributors to this special issue
in the recent turmoil opportunity of the Journal.
rather than obstacle. The process alluded to above was a
journey of mutual learning character-
In the months following the arrival ized by ongoing consultative inquiry,
of this letter, the four friends alluded to the testing of ideas in diverse spaces
above organized another seminar, held with diverse groups, reflection on ex-
at the Highlander Research and Educa- perience, and refinement of language,
tion Center in Appalachian Tennessee. concepts, and approaches. Of course,
Of the thirty participants who attended this conversation has not yet widened
this seminar, the majority were African enough to embrace all relevant voices
American, and the preceding passage and perspectives. For instance, Indige-
was one of the focal points of our dis- nous voices will further illuminate the
cussions. How can the constructive concept of constructive resilience in
resilience of African Americans be powerful ways. Nonetheless, this ini-
articulated in ways that illuminate this tial conversation has already carried its
powerful concept and illustrate its uni- participants to a place at which no in-
versal relevance? And where can we dividual, journeying alone, could have
see other expressions of constructive arrived.
resilience that further illuminate our The essays collected here provide an
understanding? opportunity to share a range of insights
Immediately following the High- and reflections that have arisen, so far,
lander seminar, a workshop was offered on this path. By sharing these, we hope
in Atlanta at the annual conference to inspire others to contribute further
of the Association for Bahá’í Stud- on this path of learning.
ies, and approximately one hundred In sharing our initial insights, we’ve
people attended. Some months later, adopted a less formal, less academic
another weekend gathering was held style than is typical of academic jour-
in Washington, D.C., with nine partic- nals. We’ve come to appreciate that it’s
ipants who had attended the previous rarely possible to “persuade” people
D.C. or Highlander seminars and had of the value of constructive resilience
expressed an interest in further engage- through formal academic arguments.
ment. That latter gathering in D.C. led Though constructive resilience is an
to other academic presentations, along eminently rational concept, recognizing
with the development of two univer- this requires a degree of intuition and in-
sity courses. Those same nine partici- spiration. Constructive resilience speaks
pants were also invited to serve on a as much to the heart as the intellect.
14 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

In keeping with this approach, I’m rights movement, or the Arab Spring.
also dispensing, in this introductory es- Though the means of struggle dif-
say, with the convention of summariz- fer between the first and second set
ing each subsequent essay. The essays of stories, the storylines are similar in
speak for themselves. Instead, I was important ways. In both sets of stories,
asked by my peers to share some of a population that considers itself op-
my personal insights into constructive pressed in some way engages its adver-
resilience, which have emerged along sary directly in a confrontation leading
this path of learning. to victory or defeat. Such stories have
shaped our social imaginary when it
comes to how people can struggle for
For me, the concept of constructive change. This does not mean the sub-
resilience expands what social theo- stance of these stories is imaginary.
rists call our “social imaginary”—our They reflect the experiences of count-
ability to imagine and enact new possi- less revolutionaries and activists, many
bilities in the pursuit of social change. of whom deserve our respect and admi-
Imagination is a way of knowing. Our ration. But these dominant narratives
imaginations are informed, in part, by displace other stories we could tell
the stories we hear, including stories about other ways people have strug-
about who we are and how we got here. gled for social change, thereby limiting
At my doctoral defense, my exam- our conception of what such struggles
iner had never heard the story I later have looked like in the past and what
learned to tell about the Bahá’ís in Iran. they might look like in the future.
Nor, it seems, had she heard any other
stories of radical constructive agency
coupled with resilience under condi- To understand the implications, it helps
tions of violent repression. So, those to contrast constructive forms of agen-
possibilities lay outside the boundaries cy with contentious forms of agen-
of her social imaginary. cy—a distinction that other theorists of
Stories of social change have sel- social change have also made.5 In the
dom been told in ways that bring simplest terms, constructive agency is
constructive resilience into focus. focused on building a more just social
Consider the many stories that tend to order. Contentious agency is focused
circulate about violent insurrections. on disrupting or dismantling an unjust
Think, for instance, of the American social order. Both forms of agency can
and French revolutions, the Haitian be motivated by commitments to so-
revolution, or the Bolshevik and Mao- cial justice and by the corresponding
ist revolutions. We also hear many sto-
ries of nonviolent resistance. Think,
for instance, of the struggle for inde- 5 See, for instance, Sean Chabot
pendence in India, or the U.S. civil and Stellan Vintagen, “Decolonizing Civil
Resistance.”
The Constructive Imaginary 15

pursuit of social change. But the means have entailed heroic struggle under the
by which these ends are pursued differ. most oppressive conditions, and these
The distinction between constructive protagonists have contributed as much
agency and contentious agency need not to the empowerment of African Amer-
be laden with value judgments. “Con- icans as have contentious campaigns
structive” is not a synonym for “good” of nonviolent resistance. Indeed, these
in this context and “contentious” is not a constructive struggles endowed the Af-
synonym for “bad.” Both forms of agen- rican American community with many
cy may be needed in the broader scheme of the material, social, and organiza-
of things. Yet, this distinction enables us tional resources that made campaigns
to notice forms of struggle that other- of nonviolent resistance possible.6
wise go unnoticed; to see protagonists Likewise, the stories about Indige-
who otherwise go unseen; to tell stories nous struggles for justice that tend to
that otherwise go untold; to imagine fu- circulate most widely on this continent
tures that otherwise go unpursued. tend to be stories such as the armed
For instance, the story I learned in standoff of American Indian Movement
school about the struggle for racial jus- activists at Wounded Knee, South Da-
tice in the United States is the story of kota, in 1973; or the armed standoff of
nonviolent protests and civil disobedi- Mohawk activists in Oka, Quebec, in
ence that culminated in the 1960s. It’s 1990; or nonviolent protests against oil
a remarkable story that needs to be told, pipeline construction through Indige-
with countless heroes who deserve our nous lands in North Dakota and British
admiration. More recently, the Move- Columbia in recent years. In contrast,
ment for Black Lives is being told as stories rarely circulate about the many
the next chapter in this story of non- ways Indigenous Nations across the
violent resistance, with a new genera- continent are, at various paces, con-
tion of heroes who clearly deserve our structing new systems of governance,
admiration. law, education, health care, and natu-
While these stories need to be told, ral resource management.7 In many
so too do the stories of countless Afri-
can Americans who have struggled in 6 For two excellent examples of re-
other ways, for many generations, to cent scholarship on African American con-
construct elements of a more just social structive agency, see Jessica Gordon Nem-
order. Those elements include schools bhard, Collective Courage: A History of
and colleges, churches and hospitals, African American Cooperative Economic
businesses and banks, economic co- Thought and Practice; and Monica White,
operatives and associations of mutual Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resis-
aid, along with entirely new patterns of tance and the Black Freedom Movement.
community life, new cultural forms, and 7 Refer, for example, to Jody
new artistic expressions—all of which Wilson-Raybould, From Where I Stand:
value Black lives. These endeavors Rebuilding Indigenous Nations for a
Stronger Canada; Paul Boyer, Capturing
16 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

cases, these constructive and resilient an essential characteristic of sustained
expressions of collective agency are movements for social change.8
based on spiritual principles and tra- The constructive struggle of African
ditional practices that were assault- Americans has repeatedly encountered
ed under colonialism, survived, and such repression, as in the 1929 destruc-
are now being adapted to new social tion of the prosperous Greenwood dis-
conditions. trict in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the mas-
In sum, stories of constructive re- sacre of its residents; or the destruction,
silience—among Indigenous peoples, two years later, of the prosperous town
within the African diaspora, and among of Rosewood, Florida, and the massa-
many other marginalized populations – cre of its residents. More broadly, the
have been widely ignored until quite resurgence of organized racism fol-
recently. Stories of this nature now lowing the brief period of postbellum
need to be widely told, to enrich our Reconstruction—a resurgence that in-
understand of the past and present, and cluded the rise of the Ku Klux Klan,
to expand the horizon of possibility in the systematic disenfranchisement of
the future. Black voters, the passing of Jim Crow
segregation laws, and the spread of
lynching as a form of intimidation and
One insight we gain from such stories social control—is an expression of this
is that radical constructive agency in same dynamic.
the face of oppression, just like conten- When we examine, in this context,
tious agency in the face of oppression, the constructive agency of the African
is frequently met by acute acts of vio- American community, we can appreci-
lent repression. This should not be sur- ate the profound resilience that com-
prising. When people work to construct munity has shown over many genera-
elements of a more just social order, tions. And as we do this, we can begin
those who benefit from the old order to seek out, recognize, or listen to other
will notice. Among those who benefit expressions of constructive resilience
from the status quo, remarkably, some throughout history. Think, for instance,
will experience a moral awakening and of the earliest Christian communities.
support the cause of justice. Others will As those communities focused on the
attempt to defend the status quo by re- construction of radically new, and
pressing the struggle for change—even more just, patterns of community life,
when that struggle is pursued through they experienced brutal repression that
entirely constructive means. In the was sustained for generations. In the
face of such repression, resilience is face of such repression, their radical

Education: Envisioning and Building the 8 For a discussion of resilience
First Tribal Colleges; and Clint Carroll, in nonviolent movements, see Kurt
Roots of Our Renewal: Ethnobotany and Schock, “The Practice and Study of Civil
Cherokee Environmental Governance. Resistance.”
The Constructive Imaginary 17

constructive agency required powerful form of governance by which it orga-
forms of resilience. nizes its affairs through elected assem-
blies at local, national, and internation-
al levels. Bahá’í elections, in which
The story of the Bahá’ís in Iran, allud- voters have true freedom of choice,
ed to above, is another story of radi- are entirely free of competition and
cal constructive agency and resilience its trappings of partisanship, money,
that expands our social imaginary. It ego, and self-interest. In Iran, women
also invites us to consider where this and men have served side by side on
constructive resilience comes from and elected assemblies despite cultural pro-
what sustains it. hibitions against such a practice, even
In this regard, Bahá’ís believe that as Blacks and Whites did in the U.S.
recognition of the oneness of human- South under Jim Crow segregation or
ity is the primary spiritual and social in South Africa under apartheid, and
challenge of this age and that justice as members of all castes do in cultures
must become the central organizing that perpetuate the caste system. This
principle of a new social order derived administrative order has frequently
from this recognition. Toward this end, been attacked, and it has been tempo-
Bahá’ís are committed to a twofold rarily dismantled by some repressive
process of social change that includes governments, including the current Ira-
the transformation of hearts and minds nian regime. Nonetheless, globally, the
as well as the transformation of social project of constructing a more just and
norms and structures. They seek coher- viable model of governance contin-
ence between the means and ends of ues undeterred. And when conditions
social change. They adopt a long-term change in Iran, which they eventually
perspective on change which calls for will, Bahá’ís will resume this aspect of
perseverance in a multi-generational their constructive work in that country.
struggle. They have faith in humanity’s In the meantime, in Iran, Bahá’ís con-
long-term capacity for justice. They tinue to channel their energies into oth-
employ a conception of power rooted er aspects of their constructive work.
in capacity building and focused on the Or consider the experience that
application of spiritual principles to prompted the 2007 letter from the Uni-
systematic processes of social transfor- versal House of Justice quoted near
mation. They recognize that efforts to the beginning of this essay. In recent
pursue meaningful social change will decades, Bahá’ís have been denied
often be met by hostility and repres- access to higher education in Iran as
sion, and they accept that the pursuit part of the current regime’s policy to
of change thus requires sacrifice and block the progress of the communi-
resilience. ty. In response, Bahá’ís constructed a
For instance, the Bahá’í communi- decentralized university, the Bahá’í
ty has been constructing a radical new Institute for Higher Education (BIHE),
18 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

in Bahá’í homes and offices across will of the oppressed to advance the
the country. BIHE now offers over struggle. This is a well-understood
one thousand distinct courses within principle in the theory and practice
five associate degree programs, eigh- of nonviolent social change, purpose-
teen baccalaureate degree programs, fully applied in campaigns of civil
and fifteen graduate degree programs disobedience.9
ranging across the arts and sciences. Radical constructive struggles, on
Faculty, staff, and students are occa- the other hand, don’t seek to publicly
sionally arrested and imprisoned, and provoke moral dilemmas of this kind.
university materials are confiscated in Yet similar outcomes can still result.
raids. But the Iranian regime has been When constructive struggles are met
unable to destroy BIHE because of its with repression, this too can attract the
decentralized and resilient nature. The moral sympathies and support of previ-
regime is also unable to marshal any ously complacent bystanders and third
moral or legal argument in support of parties while galvanizing the will of
its efforts to destroy the university be- those engaged in the struggle.
cause of BIHE’s purely peaceful and This principle is illustrated clearly
constructive nature. This is yet another by the Bahá’í community in Iran, which
expression of constructive resilience. has encountered a genocidal campaign
of repression from its inception, yet
has continued to grow and advance
These stories are recounted not to val- in a resilient manner, giving rise to a
orize the struggles of any given people global movement attracting the support
relative to the struggles of others, but of an ever-expanding cross-section of
to bring to light new insights in ways humanity now engaged in radical con-
that expand our social imaginary. An- structive work in every country.
other of these insights emerges as we Every wave of repression Bahá’ís
return to a comparison of constructive have encountered in Iran has tended
and contentious agency. to increase awareness of, sympathy
Contentious nonviolent tactics, for, and interest in the Bahá’í Cause—
such as civil disobedience in the face both within Iran and around the world.
of unjust laws, are intended, in part, to For instance, in recent decades, as the
set up a moral dilemma within a pop- Iranian authorities have implemented
ulation. In the face of the dilemma, increasingly desperate measures to re-
those who benefit from unjust laws press Bahá’ís, the wider population of
must choose to either support or re- Iran has become increasingly willing
press the movement for justice. When to defend Bahá’ís and increasingly at-
repression occurs, it often attracts the tracted to the Faith. Indeed, far more
moral sympathies and support of pre-
viously complacent bystanders and
third parties, while galvanizing the 9 See, for instance, Gene Sharp,
The Politics of Nonviolent Action.
The Constructive Imaginary 19

Iranians are now identifying as Bahá’ís well understood that movements are
than at any time in the history of that most effective when such knowledge is
country, even though becoming a imparted to their participants through
Bahá’í is now considered by the regime systematic forms of training, which
to be a crime of apostacy punishable by mobilize people to take creative ini-
death.10 As a result of these dynamics, tiatives within a shared framework of
many Bahá’ís in Iran have been gal- activism. Again, a growing body of ac-
vanized to new heights of consecrated ademic and activist literature has been
action. examining this theme.12
All these processes could be seen,
for instance, when leaders of the U.S.
Another insight that emerges as we Civil Rights Movement began adapt-
compare constructive and contentious ing insights from Gandhi’s nonviolent
approaches to transformative change movement in India to their own strug-
is the essential role that learning and gles, even as protagonists of the U.S.
training play in both. Among nonvio- struggle continued generating new
lent resistance scholars and activists, insights while developing correspond-
it is now well understood that contem- ing systems for training movement
porary movements can learn from past participants. Today, such processes are
movements, even as they generate new playing out globally through myriad
knowledge and insight within their movements of nonviolent resistance,
own social contexts, which can in turn linked to a growing body of literature
contribute back to the collective store on nonviolent praxis, promulgated
of knowledge that future movements through centers of nonviolent training
are able to draw on. Indeed, there is that are multiplying in formal and in-
an entire academic field now focused formal spaces and online settings.
on “social movement learning,” along The radical constructive agency of
with activist journals and websites de- the worldwide Bahá’í community is
voted to this theme.11 In addition, it is advancing through a parallel dynamic
that intersects with these other process-
10 For evidence of these claims, refer
es. Drawing on a century and a half
again to Karlberg, “Constructive Resilience.” of its own experience, as well as on
11 Refer, for instance, to Maria Is-
abel Casas-Cortés, Michal Osterweil, and 12 Refer, for example, to Larry Isaac,
Dana Powell, “Blurring Boundaries: Rec- Daniel Cornfield, Dennis Dickerson, James
ognizing Knowledge-Practices in the Study Lawson, and Jonathan Coley, “‘Movement
of Social Movements”; and Laurence Cox, Schools’ and Dialogical Diffusion of Non-
“Movements Making Knowledge: A New violent Praxis: Nashville Workshops in the
Wave of Inspiration for Sociology?” See Southern Civil Rights Movement”; and
also the activist journals Reflections on a Mark Engler and Paul Engler, This Is an
Revolution, and Interface: A Journal for Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shap-
and about Social Movements. ing the Twenty-First Century.
20 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

accumulated bodies of knowledge and articulated independently, shortly after
experience beyond the Bahá’í commu- that gathering, by Michelle Alexander,
nity, Bahá’ís have developed a network a prominent voice in the U.S. struggle
of training institutes in every region for racial justice. In a New York Times
of the world that prepare and mobi- opinion piece titled “We Are Not the
lize people to take creative initiatives Resistance,” she acknowledges the role
within a shared framework of activ- of resistance in struggles for social jus-
ism. This decentralized system makes tice, but she cautions, “Resistance is a
available an accumulating global body reactive state of mind. While it can be
of experiential knowledge, even as its necessary for survival and to prevent
local participants continually contrib- catastrophic harm, it can also tempt us
ute new insights to that growing body to set our sights too low.” Elaborating
of knowledge. In addition, Bahá’ís are on this theme, she explains:
increasingly drawing on this body of
knowledge as they participate in, and Those of us who are committed to
contribute insights to, wider discourses the radical evolution of American
on social change. democracy are not merely resist-
ing an unwanted reality. To the
contrary, the struggle for human
Yet another insight worth noting is the freedom and dignity extends back
way stories of constructive resilience centuries and is likely to continue
imbue the concept of “resistance” with for generations to come. In the
new meaning. Within the narrative of words of Vincent Harding, one of
contentious agency, resistance is what the great yet lesser-known heroes
movement activists engage in, in re- of the Black freedom struggle,
sponse to oppressive social forces. But the long, continuous yearning and
within the narrative of constructive reaching toward freedom flows
agency, resistance is what the con- throughout history “like a river,
structive movement encounters from sometimes powerful, tumultuous,
those defending the status quo. In other and roiling with life; at other times
words, within the latter stories, creative meandering and turgid, covered
movements for a more just social order with the ice and snow of seem-
are the streams and rivers of historical ingly endless winters, all too often
progress. Those who try to obstruct streaked and running with blood.”
such currents of progress constitute the Harding was speaking about
resistance—like obstinate stones in the Black movements for liberation in
path of a river. America, but the metaphor applies
This insight emerged through equally well to the global struggle
conversations on constructive resil- for human dignity and freedom.
ience at the Highlander Center, al- (Alexander)
luded to above. The same insight was
The Constructive Imaginary 21

“Every leap forward for American her husband, like so many White men
democracy,” she continues, “has been of his generation, was a closet member
traceable to the revolutionary river, of the Ku Klux Klan.
not the resistance.” “Another world is But Bina Mae was a woman of faith
possible,” she concludes, “but we can’t whose reading of the Bible centered on
achieve it through resistance alone.” living a virtuous life and enacting the
social-justice gospel. She sent her hus-
band packing. She opened her home
These social dynamics alluded to by to Black residents of her town. When
Michelle Alexander, above, derive she traveled south of the Mason-Dix-
from basic expressions of the human on line, she rode in the back of the bus
spirit. The aspiration to contribute to express solidarity with Black folk.
constructively to the betterment of the These were not popular things for a
world is one of those. So, too, is the White woman to do at that time. She
quality of resilience in the face of ad- likely paid a price. Given her hard-
versity. And we can see both manifest scrabble background and the many
in myriad ways, in countless individ- challenges she faced throughout her
uals past and present. In this sense, life, she was clearly a resilient woman.
while constructive resilience can be a Bina Mae helped raise my moth-
characteristic of entire movements, it er and imparted these values to her.
is also a quality of the individuals who When my mother came of age during
advance those movements. Thus, the the turbulent 1960s, she aligned her-
story of constructive resilience is also self with the Civil Rights and Antiwar
the story of individuals. Movements. While pregnant with me
I grew up hearing a story about my in the late sixties, she began attend-
great-grandmother, Bina Mae Collins, ing meetings to learn about the Bahá’í
who was born and raised in Springfield, Faith, which she embraced and told her
Illinois, in the 1890s. Her father was a grandmother about. Upon hearing this,
coal miner with eleven children, so she Bina Mae remembered ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
did not come from a family of means. visit to Chicago half a century before,
She had little formal education. Given in 1912. Bina Mae must have read an
that Illinois had only abolished slavery article at the time, in an Illinois news-
in 1848, she saw the ongoing violent paper, about His visit. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
racism of her times, including a lynch- teachings about the oneness of human-
ing she witnessed as a child and the ity resonated with her to the extent she
1908 massacre of Springfield’s Black would remember His visit so many de-
residents. She married a man who cades later.
turned out to be a compulsive gambler Bina Mae also helped care for me
and, as a result, she struggled to raise when I was young. She passed away
her own daughters in conditions of when I was six, and she figures in some
ongoing poverty. She also learned that of my earliest memories. The stories
22 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

my mother told about her shaped my Boggs, Carl. “Revolutionary Process,
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