The Constructive Imaginary

The Constructive you with that same constructive Imaginary response to the duplicity of their detractors. Peering beyond the MICHAEL KARLBERG them, those heroic souls attempted This special issue of the Journal marks a moment in a journey by a group of collaborators exploring the implica- tions of an emerging concept with profound relevance to twenty-first century struggles for social justice. To understand the nature and purpose of this journey, it will help to know a little about the process that led us here. Be- fore considering this process, however, it is important to note that the collec- tion of essays in this journal represents only a small number of voices offering contributions at only one moment in a wider ongoing conversation. Many important voices and perspectives are absent from this collection, but not all things can be accomplished in any given setting. This collection of essays thus constitutes an invitation for all rel- evant voices to contribute, over time, to this expanding conversation. This conversation began when, on 9 September 2007, the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter to Iranian Bahá’í students deprived of access to higher education in their country. In that letter, the House of Justice wrote: the fair-minded. (italics added) Recent events call to mind heart-rending episodes in the histo- ry of the Faith, of cruel deceptions wrought against your forebears. It is only appropriate that you strive 10 The Journal to transcend the opposition against resilience that characterized their distress of the difficulties assailing to translate the Teachings of the new Faith into actions of spiritual and social development. This, too, is your work. Their objective was to build, to strengthen, to refine the tissues of society wherever they might find themselves; and thus, they set up schools, equally edu- cating girls and boys; introduced progressive principles; promoted the sciences; contributed signifi- cantly to diverse fields such as ag- riculture, health, and industry—all of which accrued to the benefit of the nation. You, too, seek to ren- der service to your homeland and to contribute to a renewal of civ- ilization. They responded to the inhumanity of their enemies with patience, calm, resignation, and contentment, choosing to meet deception with truthfulness and cruelty with good will towards all. You, too, demonstrate such noble qualities and, holding fast to these same principles, you belie the slander purveyed against your Faith, evoking the admiration of The phrase first employed in this let- ter—constructive resilience—has since been employed by the Universal House of Justice in many other letters. Over 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, social imaginary. Along with her re- Political Strategy, and the Di- silience, Bina Mae tried to contribute lemma of Power.” Theory and constructively, in the ways she could, Society, vol. 4, 1977, pp. 359– to bending the moral arc of the uni- 393. verse toward justice. Her story helped Boyer, Paul. Capturing Education: shape my early imagination about who Envisioning and Building the I was and what I could do. The stories First Tribal Colleges. Salish of nonviolent social movements I later Kootenai College P, 2015. heard, including my mother’s support Carroll, Clint. Roots of Our Renewal: for those causes, further expanded my Ethnobotany and Cherokee imagination, enabling me to envision Environmental Governance. what was possible through organized U of Minnesota P, 2015. collective struggle. The stories of rad- Casas-Cortés, Maria Isabel, Michal Os- ical constructive agency I have since terweil, and Dana Powell. “Blur- sought out have further expanded my ring Boundaries: Recognizing imagination, enabling me to envision Knowledge-Practices in the other means of organized collective Study of Social Movements.” struggle. Anthropological Quarterly, vol. If we hope, one day, to transcend 8, no. 1, 2008, pp. 17–58. the culture of contest that has been im- Chabot, Sean and Stellan Vintagen, posed by Western modernity—a cul- “Decolonizing Civil Resis- ture that has inflicted untold suffering tance.” Mobilization: An In- on humanity and is now liquidating the ternational Quarterly, vol. 2, environmental security of future gener- no. 4, 2015, pp. 517–532. ations—it seems to me that we need to Cox, Laurence. “Movements Making find, tell, and become protagonists in Knowledge: A New Wave of many more stories of radical construc- Inspiration for Sociology?” tive agency and resilience. To build a Sociology, vol. 48, no. 5, 2014, new world, we need to expand our con- pp. 954–971. structive imaginary. Engler, Mark and Paul Engler. This Is an Uprising: How Nonvi- olent Revolt Is Shaping the W C Twenty-First Century. Nation Books, 2016. Alexander, Michelle. “We Are Not the Gordon Nembhard, Jessica. Collective Resistance.” The New York Courage: A History of Afri- Times, 21 Sept. 2018. nytimes. can American Cooperative c om /2018/0 9/21/o pi n ion / Economic Thought and Prac- sunday/resistance-kavana- tice. Pennsylvania State UP, ugh-trump-protest.html. 2014. The Constructive Imaginary 23

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