The question at the heart of my exploring is a deeply personal one, but I’ve no doubt will be familiar to many of us in the ASP community. That question is:
“how I might respond to, remain grounded and feel alive in the face of all we face“?
The theme I put at the heart of this exploration was ‘Poetic Activism’ – a term I’d stumbled across in the work of the social psychologist and constructionist Ken Gergen. It was Gergen who said that ‘words make worlds’ and he went onto invite each of us to become poetic activists. Could we perhaps create new worlds by adopting different ways of languaging the world (and showing up in it)? The idea of ‘poetic activism’ really caught my imagination and it seemed to resonate for others too. So, in the subsequent years I used the term as a springboard to explore, converse, and write into. It’s interesting where I ended up. Whereas I started off with the scarcity mindset that I could never do enough, I ended up with the idea that life itself was always giving us an abundance of moments in which we might choose to act. Here’s an excerpt from my final blog:
‘An activism of abundance
The thing I’m realising is that each moment is in itself quite pedestrian. It’s no big deal. Did you fail to act that time? No matter. As long as you’re alive, there’ll be another opportunity coming right along. Like a series of buses you can catch – towards the bigger story that is unfolding in this world right now. This feels far from the idea of finding the right action, the perfect thing to say or a well worked out change intervention. Instead, it is more like an activism of abundance – and indeed, an activism of compassion.’
The Blogs below (there are six in all) can be read, in sequence or dipped into in any order as catches your fancy. There is a seasonal quality to them too as you’ll see. I hope you will enjoy and if you’d like to share any reflections do get in touch (mgearty@newhistories.co.uk)
1. Summer 2022: Poetic Moments
2. Late Summer 2022 : Rethinking Activism
3. Autumn 2022: Poetic Moves
4. Midwinter interlude Hare
5. Spring 2023: Conversations and the minor gesture
6. Late Summer 2023: The Bog Bracelet – reflecting on Grenfell
7. Autumn 2023: An activism of abundance
Dr Margaret Gearty
New Histories
Margaret Gearty is an action researcher, consultant and educator whose work and passion is all about how the simple human matter of storytelling can be combined with reflective and participative action research to stimulate important learning and change for individuals, communities and organisations.
New histories…towards a sustainable future
Margaret founded the action research consultancy New Histories in 2012 to pursue this work.
We become the stories we tell
The stories we choose to tell do matter. A story can inspire, motivate or disempower. New Histories is all about the potential storytelling has for individual learning as well as for widespread change. By paying attention to the stories being told and by helping new and important stories to travel, we can bring about change – towards a more enlightened, sustainable future.