Bremmer - Us v. Them: The Failure of Globalism

Ian Bremmer introduces Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism by warning that the spread of an us vs. them perspective among citizens around the world, including protests and rock throwing, comes from fear - fear of strangers, terrorists, criminals, decline of economic opportunity - and that governments can't protect us from these threats. He then explained that those who were born and matured in the 20th century believed that the American dream was secured by globalism. Unfortunately, globalism also guaranteed the problems that worldwide citizens now face - that there are winners and losers of the race to globalization. Worse yet it is the fact that globalization and its impact are accelerating.

Bremmer's book and the video of his appearance at a Johns Hopkins forum after Trump's 1st election to the U.S. Presidency describe how globalization has created an interconnected world where the cross-border flow of ideas, goods, and services and the inequity that goes with that flow resulted in governments having very limited potential to protect their citizens. Some political leaders have attempted to recognize this complexity through negotiations and bridge building while others chose the cynical option of retrenchment, withdrawal, blaming others, and erecting conceptual or physical walls. Media complicates the matter because winners and losers of the globalization race can easily see the inequities - that is if they have open access that allows them to see the rest of the world through honest journalistic reporting. As Bremmer says, "It's the efforts of the losers not to get f'ed over, and the efforts of the winners to keep from losing power" (p. 10) that will create conflict with and across the borders of the world. He characterizes this dynamic as the seed that will destroy globalism, primarily because it creates insecurities that pit people against each other.

The facts of globalism are in some cases very different than the general public's perception. For instance, 88% of jobs lost in U.S. manufacturing from 2006-2013 were due to automation, not changes in global trade. Fearing the loss of culture is another example; where diversity is significant (such as Chicago) grater individuation and celebration of culture is more common rather than eroded.

The walls that have been going up around the world are generally more about protecting, rather than predicting the demise of, democracy. Isolating and pursuing separate national interests appears to protect jobs and cultures, with raising tariffs a primary example. The problem Bremmer identifies is that tariffs usually set off retaliation that locks countries into an escalating cycle or moves production to other countries all together. Cross-border flow of people and talent was an international issue in 2018 and has now risen to a much higher level in the anti-immigration movements leading up to 2024. It is the wealthiest countries that will be inclined to the strongest reactions to both the economic and human repercussions of globalism.

What are the factors that will help countries survive the growing fears about globalism? Helping citizens understand that survival is dependent on adaptation and that governments, if run honestly for the benefit of citizens, can change. Secondly, governments must address inequality and begin to lift all boats rather than the yachts of the few. Thirdly, education and retraining will be central, automatically challenging countries with large populations more than those that are smaller. Looking at these factors, "India, Indonesia, Russia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and South Africa are especially vulnerable" (p. 53). "Mexico, Brazil, and China have more capacity than the rest to respond" (p. 54). Bremmer predicted that the success of these 10 countries will determine the outcome for the world economy in the 21st century.

All countries may eventually need to be more responsive to the seemingly universal pursuit of happiness (as defined by the World Happiness Report) including "caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance" (p. 135). In order to achieve these, the ability of governments to rebuild relations among their citizens and across national borders may be inevitable with income/wealth inequality one of the most important factors. Even Zuckerberg seems to understand this when he declared on Facebook in 2017 that progress "now requires humanity coming together not just as cities or nations, but also as a global community" (p. 155). Without a commitment to this greater good, cynicism about all governments will grow until conditions become so bad that even the current winners of the globalism race will open to a new social contract.

As a reflection back almost a decade ago, and before Ian Bremmer published Us. vs. Them (2018), I warned higher education leaders to avoid using the terms globalism or globalization in their discussion of higher education (Roberts, 2015). I based the warning on Jane Knight's scholarship over the years where she clearly distinguished that globalization was export of economic, knowledge, people and other resources in ways that disrupted or replaced local culture while internationalization was the mutual and respectful exchange of processes and resources across borders. Thus, I encouraged educators to talk about their work in terms of internationalization, especially in education hubs and partnerships across regions of the world.

Connecting for leadership

To say that the Leadership Educators Institute of 2024 was inspirational to me is a gross understatement. While the conversations with Vernon Wall and me ended up including most of the things that I had planned to say and previously posted, it was connecting with those who so warmly welcomed conversation with me throughout the Institute that I enjoyed most. There are many but new colleagues Courtney, Andy, Sam, Adelaide, Travell, Kass, and Laura engaged so openly and longer-standing colleagues Kristina, Kathy, Melissa, and of course Vernon and Tanya were steadfast sources of encouragement. Donovan and Luis - it goes without saying how fun it was to connect with you.

What I've found on reflection is how powerful it was to have been placed later in the itinerary, giving me a chance to figure out if I had anything relevant to say when my time came. The problem here is that in so many ways, speaking to a conference or even publishing books and articles may appear to be a prideful thing. The balance between humility and pride is something with which I always struggle and I strive never to cross the line into pride that assumes I have some special gift or insight. Instead, I try to engage in ways that are provisional and encourage shared discovery among those with whom I'm privileged to connect.

"Connecting in leadership" - what does it take? So many of us are seeking more effective and powerful ways to cultivate leadership among students, ourselves, and our communities. What participating in LEI reinforced is that the processes I described in Deeper Learning in Leadership in 2007 were actually guiding me through each successive encounter. I started with a conviction of wanting to listen deeply to what was troubling leadership educators that I met. Then three forces overtook me - presence, flow, and oscillation. I'm not trying to sell books here but the fact is that the urgency of what drove me to attend and speak at LEI called out the better part of me which was attentiveness and being present. Once the forces of presence were in effect I definitely found myself in the state of "flow," a feeling of intense focus that suspends time and place. The unfortunate proof of my state of suspension is that I frequently got lost in the hotel, forgot to eat, and found myself at 8 p.m. each night completely exhausted. Each of the two nights allowed me the renewal I needed to come back the next day - thus oscillating to offer renewal.

All of the leadership educators who attended LEI were seeking more effective ways to cultivate student leadership. Some were just struggling with how to get students to participate in programs and stick with them long enough for them to make a difference. As I observed one group exploring student participation challenges, I heard drivers such as belonging, purpose, success, healing, and expectation, all of which might need to be folded into how we invite students to come along with us.

I have no doubt that most of the LEI 2024 attendees took a great deal away from being in Philly for 3 days but the most important part is finding colleagues with whom to share the journey. Humbly sharing with each other and authentically meeting each other was certainly evident at the meeting and perhaps there is insight here in relation to reaching students. If we urgently engage in ways that demonstrate that we're not leadership educators just as a job but as a calling and that learning to be better leaders requires reflection, focus, and renewal, perhaps students would come along with us more enthusiastically.

Crystal ball - looking back and forward in leadership learning

The emergence of the focus on leadership learning goes back to the 1970s and probably even earlier. This movement has spawned an "industry" (Kellerman, 2018) that spans sectors, disciplines, and cultures. Student affairs educators have been part of this movement from the beginning and have made significant contributions along the way, including the advocacy for comprehensiveness, coherence, access and inclusion, and evidence-based practice.

However, some scholars have continued to challenge leadership educators for the lack of return on investment. I have enjoyed numerous interactions with Barbara Kellerman as she has pushed leadership scholars, educators, and consultants to get serious by committing to proving their worth. Where I find myself today is continuing to try to bridge organizational barriers, sectors, and international boundaries to advance leadership learning that makes a difference.

With the number of years I've been in the orbit of leadership studies and education, I've had several opportunities to be interviewed on my recollection of the last almost 50 years of advancing leadership learning. Being interviewed by Vernon Wall at the 2024 Leadership Educators Institute gave me another opportunity to gaze into the crystal ball. Following are the questions and the responses I offered.

Looking back on your 50+ year career, what were the moments and circumstances that were most formative in the way you viewed your work?

There were three very significant awakenings for me. The first was in my early career while working and pursuing my Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. When I first went to Maryland I worked in the Orientation Programs but I brought with me from my Colorado State days a very different view of students' roles. I saw the potential, and advocated, for greater responsibility of student leaders empowered by deeper training and development. Fostering deeper student leadership involvement in Orientation led to my being invited to start the leadership programs at Maryland, a task I pursued by engaging with ACPA in the creation of the comprehensive leadership program model that was published in 1981 (Student Leadership Programs in Higher Education). This involvement started me down a path of studying and conceptualizing leadership learning throughout my career.

The second instrumental moment was getting acquainted with one of the founders of student affairs work, Dr. Esther Lloyd-Jones. Her view of student affairs as a catalyst for institutional engagement and empowerment of deeper student learning changed forever how I viewed my work as a student affairs educator.

The third transformative moment relates to international exposure. I first worked and traveled internationally when I was selected as a Visiting Scholar for Miami University's Luxembourg campus in 2005. This experience then led to my accepting the invitation to create the student support, service, and development area for Education City in Doha, Qatar, as Assistant Vice President for Faculty & Student Services for Qatar Foundation. The initial experience in Europe and later work for 7 years in the Middle East transformed my view of higher education and how culture needed to be accommodated or embraced.

What do you see as the central principles of cultivating leadership learning over the years, what issues have been most central and consistent?

There are five central principles that have endured and that I believe leadership educators should continue to observe:

• The capacity to lead is present in everyone and is found in both positional and non-positional examples.
• Fostering deeper leadership requires a personal development progression (e.g. presence, flow, and oscillation that I proposed in Deeper Learning in Leadership, 2007).
• The importance of values in leadership with humility, curiosity, and respect for difference as central concerns. (The Social Change Model is the most notable in advancing values in leadership.)
• Inclusive leadership achieved through multiple purposes (training, education, and development), multiple processes (programs & pedagogies), and offered to multiple populations. These principles were advocated by the ACPA Commission IV Task Force beginning in 1976.
• Partnerships to advance the work along with comprehensive and coherent models. This commitment is demonstrated in the subsequent inter-association collaborations that included other student affairs groups, crossing to academics, and actualized in the multi-sector perspective of the International Leadership Association.

How has your view of cultivating leadership changed as a result of your international work and travel?

I want to first acknowledged what a privilege it has been to travel and work internationally. My first experience was at age 57 and I have had so many opportunities since then, most of which are covered throughout this blog. For those of us who have this privilege, I believe it is important to not flaunt it but to humbly acknowledge our privilege, consider how critical theory might inform it, and seek to learn from it.

There is a quirk in this emergence of international understanding and it is my personality, one informed by an artist's spirit and training in music. I recently discovered Emilie Wapnick's idea of the "multipotentialite" personality which was stunning in how well it described me. The multipotentialite has the following characteristics:

• Non-linear career path
• Make connections between seemingly unrelated concepts
• Get bored when things get too easy
• Excel at idea generation
• Abhor routine and predictability
• Not afraid to try new things

The multipotentialite lens in me leans into experimentalism, coupled with empiricist curiosity. I did not always understand this about myself but realizing and leaning into it made me more comfortable in my career and life choices and this has been immensely affirming. It also made international travel and work incredibly interesting. Living internationally and having the opportunity to travel started me down a path of preparing for cultural encounter, remaining curious, and approaching experience with appreciation. 

I gradually realized that the cultural lenses that we use in the U.S. are useful but incomplete. The primary reason I say this is that much of what I've seen in cultural learning is comparative/competitive rather than appreciative. When you think of the way difference is explored, it is often conceived in a superiority versus deficit paradigm. I've written about this in my more recent publications but I recently focused on the implications for leadership training in a chapter that came out in the New Directions in Student Leadership series, titled "Incorporating an international perspective in training" (Roberts & Nyunt, 2024). This article advocates for leadership educators to become internationalists in their world view, challenge the standard leadership theory canon, and check their pedagogical practices. These three areas are complemented by pointers that will enhance leadership learning for international and all students.

Looking to the future of cultivating leadership learning, where do you see the need for greater focus and attention?

Proving the value of leadership learning, welcoming conflict and dialogue, and internationalizing our content and processes will become increasingly important. Add to these the advice offered by Satterwhite & Botkin (in press) that "leadership scholarship and learning needs to incorporate the emergence of collective leadership paradigms, include indigenous and diverse cultural perspectives, incorporate diverse andragogy and settings for learning, commit to inclusion and belonging of all learners."

It's also important that leadership learning include a heuristic understanding that can be comprehended and put into action. A heuristic approach will allow for the conceptual framework to be central, coherent, and serve as a catalyst to pervasively cultivate leadership potential that fulfills both individual and shared aspirations.

What are your deepest concerns and/or predictions about leadership and higher education in the coming years?

My deepest concerns relate to confronting bad leadership, paying more attention to active followership, incorporating critical perspectives, and instilling hope.

There are issues that haven't changed since we started this work and there are some new issues that offer expanding opportunity for us. My hope is that we double-down on the constants and step up on the newer opportunities.

Things that haven't changed:

• Advocating for the cultivation of core values that enhance the potential for positive leadership - humility, curiosity, respect for difference...
• Cultivating habits of character that support purposeful and generative leadership
• Infusion of leadership learning through partnership with others on campus and in the community
• Cultivating leadership through coherent and comprehensive commitments

Things that are expanding our opportunities:

• Creating positive organization culture as a central responsibility of leadership
• Understanding leadership as a continuum of followership to leadership and the growing necessity to pay attention to responsible followership and bad leadership
• Incorporating an international perspective
• Increasing emphasis on standards/principles and proof of impact (i.e. CAS Standards, ILA General Principles, Carnegie Leadership for Public Purpose elective classification)
• Integrating broader perspectives informed by critical examination for colonialism, racialization, and culture
• Instilling critical hope in the face of cynicism and pessimism

Coates - The Message

Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message was controversial from the moment it came out. Predictably, it was condemned by pro-Israel factions because it asserted that apartheid had been imposed on Palestinians for decades.

The Message is as much about what writing is as it is about the three settings it describes - Senegal, South Carolina, Israel and the West Bank. Coates begins The Message by describing the critical importance of writing. Returning to his childhood experience, Coates describes not doing well in classrooms that required order, attention, and dutiful learning. But to his credit and our benefit, he turned this "not quite right" for conventional learning into inspiration for his artistry as an author - thinking outside the square box, unwilling to sit still when curiosity calls for disruption. Calling others to write, he urges the type of writing that attempts to draw attention to our common humanity and the struggles that are part of it.

Coates demonstrates that hardship is the stimulus for many writers' greatest works by relating the depravation of African Americans in the U.S. to that of Palestinians. Both experiences have been catalysts for profound insight. "A literature fueled by a profound human experience must necessarily burn at a high flame, and thus a 'material handicap' is transformed into a 'spiritual advantage,' putting in the hands of the oppressed 'the conditions of a classical art'" which is a condition "as true for those laboring under the shadow of enslavement as it is for those laboring under the shadow of apartheid" (p. 228).

Describing his travel to Senegal, a place that at first felt very foreign but then became all too familiar, Coates reflected on the irony of how hard people who subjugate others must work. The "plunderers are human beings whose violent ambitions must contend with the guilt that gnaws at them when they meet the eyes of their victims" (p. 28). The construction of race in early American experience was an essential tool to put those of African descent in a position that denied them their humanity. The further irony is that the denigration of Africans and the denial of the value of their culture spawned imagination of an idyllic Eden-like place that became the bedrock of hope under inhumane circumstances.

Upon visiting Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Coates grew to acknowledge the very real contemporary existence of an apartheid state. Apartheid is defined in international law as "inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them" (p. 215). It depends on how one reads this section of The Message, but I did not see blame in calling out the policies and social conditions that Palestinians experience. Coats instead describes in considerable detail how Israel came to be in the aftermath of  pogroms, concentration camps, and the annihilation of 6 million Jews during WWII. The promised land to which European and then Jews of other national origins would flee was sanctioned by an international coalition embarrassed and frightened by what the world had just witnessed. And, the new freedom of a Jewish state, and the Zionist movement within it, was the source of power that allowed expansion of Israel into territories that were promised to Palestine and resulted in imposition of conditions that, if experienced anywhere else in the world, would have immediately drawn condemnation. Of course, "Every single empire in its official discourse has said that is is not like all the others" (quote from Edward Said, p. 139). The results are undeniable - "Palestinians living in Israel have shorter lives, are poorer and live in more violent neighborhoods" and their movement is controlled by "'admission committees'... that "are free to bar anyone lacking 'social suitability' or 'compatibility with the social and cultural fabric'" of Jewish areas. Zionism's claim to Israel as their homeland is clearly a form of colonialism and is confirmed in one of the ideologies' founders, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who pronounced, "The land of our fathers is waiting for us; let us colonize it" (p. 158).

The analysis provided by Coates is reinforced by Isreali historian, Ilan Pappe. The settler colonialism of Jews in Israel depended on Zionism and its declaration that Palestine was the home for its people. Jews arriving in Palestine in the early 20th century knew that they needed to push Arabs out and that domination in economic terms was essential. This domination, and a romantic nationalism based on establishing a Jewish state, emerged after the partition accelerated and as Jews fled Europe and its legacy of anti-Semitism. Pappe's conclusion is that decolonization of Palestine is inevitable, but only when a one-state solution is negotiated.

Coates connects his cultural origin from Africans brought to America against their will and condemned to an unequal and lesser status with the plight of Palestinians where none "is ever the equal of any Jewish person anywhere" (p. 125). Coates makes the point that the structure, stratification, and changeless destiny of Palestinians is as clear in the West Bank and Gaza as it was in South Africa and America before civil rights.

As I drafted this summary, I pondered the connection between assertions by Coates that "Politics is the art of the possible, but art creates the possible of politics" (p. 105) and Pablo Picasso's "prosperity is a hypothesis - an artist works with what he has here and now" (Picasso Museum, Malaga, Spain). These assertions, starting with reality in order to envision possibility, captures the essence of Coates' The Message. In an era where Israel is perpetrating atrocities akin to those to which Jews were subjected under Nazi persecution, we must start by considering the potential that Israel's "right to defend itself" has gone too far. Then the stalemate in negotiations between Hamas and Israel can be broken and the long-envisioned possibility of a two-state solution will be possible.

Smith - Remaking the Space Between Us

Diane McLain Smith offers discerning analysis and real hope for how to heal the vicious partisanship that has overtaken America in her Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can work Together to Build a Future for All (2024). Hope is possible, even in the face of the divisiveness of the 2024 federal election. The fact is that 87% of the general population comprise the center of a more flexible and pragmatic citizenry. The other 13% are far out on either end of the political spectrum yet they exert an outsized voice in political discourse, and we give them undue attention in the media.

Smith's proposition goes back to two human potentialities that have served us well as we evolved - cooperation and competition. The problem is that these natural tendencies have very different outcomes. "At this state in our evolution, cooperation and empathy are much more likely to flourish within groups while competition, even hate, is much more likely to break out across groups" (p. 3). We are drawn together inside groups and driven apart between groups. "81 Percent of Americans believe the resulting divisions pose a greater threat to our future than foreign nations" (p. 8). The way out of this is deliberating to identify shared purpose that transcends different identities, life experiences, politics, and results in a new national identity coming out of a more interdependent way of being.

Many Americans, both conservative and liberal, recognize Donald Trump as a purveyor, if not the originator, of contemporary inter-group complaint. By catering to disaffected and disappointed citizens, billionaire Trump drew a significant number of middle and struggling class white citizens into his MAGA movement by making them feel that they were part of the golden toilet class. In Heather McGhee's analysis (The Sum of Us, 2021), give someone who is struggling someone else to look down on, and loyalty is not only secured but almost guaranteed. This strategy relies on a belief that "Some groups are innately better or lesser than others"... and "One group's gain must come at another's expense" (p. 28).

Imagining something better and committing to make it possible is the place to start remaking the space between us. Robert Putnam's Upswing (2020) cites times in U.S. history when citizens came together to create a more compassionate society and the question remains, are we on the cusp of a swing toward a new better self? Putnam's earlier work Bowling Alone, was released in a documentary titled Join or Die by Netflix. Covering Putnam's life work in advocating the importance of building bonds through voluntary associations, it reinforces the importance of remaking the space between us in order to renew human flourishing.

Remaking the space is dependent on embracing another evolutionary stage where cooperation across groups is fostered even when biases, values, and different life experiences tend to separate us. Smith recounts examples of such swings taking place - responsiveness to immigration in Lewiston, Maine, election reform such as fusion or ranked-choice voting, the compassionate response after the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, the Braver Angels debate initiate, and engaging communities in restorative storytelling. In these and other examples it only took one cross-group friend, which led to increased receptivity to ideas not considered before, and a commitment to pursue more.

Vaclav Havel's admonition that, "Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope" (p. 127) is an insight to employ for those who seek to remake the space between us. The headwinds we face include the decline of investigative journalism and migration to profit-driven national and social media, politicians who drive extreme positions to capture the headlines, disinformation and misinformation, and our own biases reinforced by social media echo chambers. The potential to turn these around is in activating the peripheral majority, encouraging them to engage others, and showing up where conflict is present or is likely to emerge. Navigation in conflict-ridden situations requires a commitment to 1) refuse to simplify and face complexity, 2) explore what happened and cast a wide net, 3) make sense of conflicting accounts, 4) explore options with others, 5) make a decision, explain the reasoning, and acknowledge other views, 6) be patient in waiting for a response, and 7) reflect on mistakes and continue to learn (pp. 159-163). From the Valedictory speech in 2022 of an Upstate NY high school senior, "Having hope is never stupid. No matter how buried it gets or how lost you feel, you must hold on to hope, keep it alive. We have to be greater than what we suffer" (p. 174).

El Sistema - transforming lives through music

Cultivating leadership of all types and including under-resourced and stressed communities is key to shared prosperity across the world. As climate change, economic inequality, and political polarization become increasingly visible through social media, empowering leadership from all places and people will have to be undertaken with sincerity for the good of all.

El Sistema, begun in 1995 by Jose Antonio Abreu, is fostering a youth music revolution. Abreu's vision was to introduce music education among Venezuelan children as a way of buoying hope and lifting them out of poverty. The TedTalk featuring Abreau, describing his purpose and its unfolding impact, is startling in its simplicity as well as the difference being made in Venezuela, the U.S.A., and elsewhere.

The devastating exodus of tens of thousands of Venezuelans to the U.S.A. has created political polarization about "the border" that was substantially responsible for Donald Trump's election as President in 2016 and threatens to bring his return in 2024. That exodus is seen very graphically in Chicago and includes heart-rending stories of survival both on the path and after arrival. As the documentary "Desde cero: The migrant journey in Chicago" demonstrates, Venezuelans are seeking a better life and are risking everything for the opportunity to be free and productive.

We had the opportunity to see Gustavo Dudamel, a product of El Sistema and prominent world conductor, direct the National Children's Symphony of Venezuela at Ravinia this last week. The performance of 170 children ages 10-17 of classical Latin American music as well as Shostakovich's Symphony #5 was stunning. It was almost inconceivable that they were able to perform at such a highly proficient and artistic level. The following day we witnessed the open rehearsal of Dudamel with the Children's Symphony of Venezuela coupled with El Sistema youth from Chicago. The rehearsal was of Sibelius' "Finlandia," a piece that was composed to celebrate Finish pride in the face of the Soviet threat of the early 20th century. At one point in the rehearsal, Dudamel explained the sequential emergence of the main theme first in the woodwinds and then in the strings as the proud voices of two countries. The theme is both proud and yearning for fuller expression - much like the aspiration of Venezuelan citizens who now find themselves in the U.S.A. but mourning the loss of culture and family.

In closing the rehearsal, Maestro Dudamel offered high praise by saying "you are not the future... you are the present" to the young musicians who had been enthralled in the exploration of music for one and a half hours. This was hard work requiring focus, patience, and perseverance. These youth were healed from whatever gaps that might have emerged out of a lack of resources, and they were bound in common purpose - recognizing each other's worth and making incredible music together!

Glaude - We are the leaders we have been looking for

We are the leaders we have been looking for (Glaude, 2024) asserts a belief that many leadership scholars and educators have advocated for years - expanding leadership capacity by cultivating leadership in everyone is essential to tackling the challenges we face. Glaude's focus is on the empowerment of African Americans in righting the wrongs of slavery but the principles are applicable to any organization or system of oppression. He asserts that while key figures of the civil rights movement such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X did much to improve the condition of African Americans in the U.S., moving beyond heroic figures is essential if systemic racism and inequality are ever to be eradicated.

"The ugliness of life is assumed, ascent has happened, and what matters is the insistence on flying anyway. You must maximize your gifts no matter the costs" (p. 1) is both jarring and hopeful. By the "ugliness of life" Glaude is referring to everything from slavery to overt discrimination, harsh parenting, and other challenges in life. In relation to racism, the evidence of the slow march to justice for people of all races has, and presently does, include moments of elation but it also includes the almost inevitable retribution that results from the fear and retaliation of those who perceive they are losing power. "You must maximize your gifts no matter the costs" reflects the necessity of rising above the assumptions, resistance, and persecution of one's oppressors.

Glaude's writing is eloquent and engaging and integrates multiple philosophical perspectives. John Dewey, the early 20th century education reformer, is cited as one of the most influential thinkers in advocating methods based on pragmatism, "an instrument of social improvement aimed principally at expanding democratic life" (p. 16) which could then unleash the imagination to solve human challenges. This pragmatism potentially replaces the expectation of prophetic or heroic figures who are deemed by virtue of their special gifts to have answers for social ills. Instead, Glaude calls for critical engagement in pursuit of what could be (imagination) and acting in the faith that change is possible. In his words, "Faith, then, can be understood as a tendency toward action and imagination as its central conduit" (p. 38).

In addition to challenging the place of prophetic figures, Glaude faults neoliberalism as a "particular way of life and governance that extends the market into the very idea of who we take ourselves to be" (p. 22). The neoliberal way of being reduces the focus on public good by lifting up the values of selfishness and greed as the path to individual fulfillment. By contrast, pragmatism empowered by imagination "opens us up to the wounds and joys of strangers, forging habits that enable us to be suspicious of actions that deny the dignity of our fellows" (p. 44). This opening up is the "politics of tending" that affirms the value of others and encourages receptivity to listening and empathizing with them.

The combination of recognizing the limits of heroism and the emptiness of neoliberalism that drives us apart rather than drawing us together opens the way to abandon the prophesy of others and instead cultivate dispositions among everyone that are required for true democratic life and leadership. The new dispositions include valuing the dignity and worth of all and having confidence in the sanctity of everyone to do good even in the face of evil. Ultimately, Glaude advocates "Black democratic perfectionism," nurtured through self-cultivation, informed by tending to self and others, and reimagining our world "in the context of a society shaped by the value gap that distorts and disfigures our characters" (p. 111). Generalizing beyond African Americans, Glaude suggests "The answer to the troubles in this country rests, as it always has, with the willingness of everyday people to fight for democracy" (p. 120).

Spain - al-Andalus

The al-Andalus region of Spain is extraordinary in its history and beauty. Our recent visit was a trip offered by our undergraduate alma mater, Colorado State University, with a central hotel stay in Antequera. From there we took day trips to Granada, Seville, Ronda, Cordoba, and Malaga, returning each evening without having to move hotels to enjoy a time of year that was ideal - May temperatures in the mid-70s, sunny days and cool nights, and early summer blossoms everywhere.

I read two books to prepare for the trip. The first was Ornament of the World and the second was The Alhambra. I won't recap either book, but I encourage you to read my summaries for background. The Alhambra was a must see on my bucket list and the primary motivation for choosing the trip. It is considered to be the best example of Moorish architecture with its complicated and exceptionally beautiful design. One can only imagine what it was like to see the Alhambra fully furnished with rugs, art, books, and ornamentation to match the extravagance of the architecture. The interesting issue is that, while the Alhambra is one of the most celebrated examples of the influence of Islam in Spain, it was not built until Islam's influence was actually in decline. As the author of The Alhambra indicated, it was a lament of the loss of the achievement for what al-Andalus had become while the rest of Europe huddled in the Dark Ages. There is so much to the Alhambra and it's hard to choose one image to represent its magnificence, however, the Court of the Lions pictured here literally took my breath away when I first walked into the space.

All of the cities we visited were a treat. Each was important on its own either in terms of history or the uniqueness of its setting. Besides Granada, where the Alhambra is, my two favorites were Ronda and Cordoba. Ronda is the second oldest city in Spain and spans a spectacular gorge in the mountains. It was also the first city to engage in bull fighting, a ritual that has become very controversial among Spanish citizens. Cordoba was founded by the Romans and the bridge into the city still serves as the major pedestrian access passage. Cordoba's Mosque is immense but it's not the size that is most notable but instead it's the fact that the original Mosque was eventually overtaken by Spanish Catholics who built a Baroque cathedral inside it.

The al-Andalus trip was rich and informative, partially the result of good local guides in each city but also because of the preparation for the journey. One of the many good fortunes in my life is that I didn't start traveling until 2005, which is when I started this blog. My travel in 2005 was an intentional experience in learning and teaching, firmly cultivating in me a desire to always prepare for travel, seek to be respectful of local cultures, and work very hard to not be the stereotypical browsing tourist checking off the boxes of "been there - done that." Travel is a privilege that carries a responsibility to prepare, show respect, and draw all the possible learning from the experience.

Al-Andalus is fascinating as an example of a time in history when Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived peacefully together. Perhaps it was the tone set by Abd Al-Rahman, the Muslim prince who fled Damascus when his family was slaughtered. When he unified disparate Muslim groups in the siege of Cordoba in 756 it became a moment in history where mutual needs and the desire to create new knowledge and innovation inspired those of different faiths to put aside their differences. Historians speculate about the why and how al-Andalus fell after only 300 years but there is no question that it stands as witness to the possibility that peaceful inter-faith existence can create a level of shared prosperity and creativity seldom matched in history.

Music illuminates

We are particularly privileged to live in the Chicago area and attend the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts on a regular basis. On April 6, 2024, we were lucky enough to have tickets in our season package of conductor Klaus Makela directing three pieces. The first piece was the U.S. premiere of Batteria by Zinovjev. The second was the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1. The finale, and one I will never forget, was the Shostakovich Symphony No. 10. WFMT, Chicago's classical radio station, provides background and on-demand recording of this momentous concert.

The reason the night was so momentous is that Klaus Makela had just days before been named to the highly coveted position of CSO Music Director. At the age of 28 Makela presently serves as the conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and as of 2027 he will serve both the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and Chicago Symphony. The performance of the Shostakovich No. 10 was astounding, resulting in a loud roar at the conclusion and multiple curtain calls. Makela was humble, innovative, focused, and deeply prepared for the night and Chicago has many performances ahead that I know will be equally eventful.

The Shostakovich No. 10 is important because it was the first he would compose after the death of Stalin, who had repeatedly criticized and punished him during his music career. It is a profound example that "every piece of great art has two faces - one towards its own time and the other towards the future" (quote from esteemed conductor Daniel Barenboim). The Shostakovich No. 10 is the unleashing of desperation into possibility and, although dark in many of its orchestral colors, rises to a frenzied conclusion of optimism.

The audience response this night reflected what research indicates about music's power to synchronize. Subconsciously joining together, attendees at concerts begin to breath together and their heart beats align. The synchronization is even more common for attendees who are open to new experiences such as "art, travel, and exotic things," as reported by the researcher, Wolfgang Tschacher. Thank goodness that I've been blessed with an openness that is ready to align with others through great music.

The program notes for the night included a quote from memoirs that are attributed to Shostakovich - "Music illuminates a person through and through, and it is also his last hope and final refuge. And even half-mad Stalin, a beast and a butcher, instinctively sensed that about music. That's why he feared and hated it."

Rolheiser - The Holy Longing

If you follow my blog, you know that I read and devour experiences for new insights which results in my posts being all over the place. This summary of Ronald Rolheiser's The Holy Longing (2014) was read by a book group in my church and I became curious about it when several people commented on its relevance to today's world and the struggle for meaning that many people express. The book is coming from a religious perspective but I see many of the ideas that are advocated as more broadly applicable to general spirituality and yearning for purpose in living.

The primary thesis of The Holy Longing is that humans by nature are drawn to search for meaning - the existential question of what's this all about and what is my purpose here? Rolheiser offers the opinion, "Spirituality is not something on the fringes, an option for people of a particular bent... We do not wake up in this world calm and serene, having the luxury of choosing to act or not act. We wake up crying, on fire with desire, with madness. What we do with that madness is our spirituality" (p. 6). He goes on to suggest that what counts in this innate spirituality is what we do with it - the habits and discipline with which we choose to live that either brings us closer together with others and nature itself or drives us apart. In a surprising twist for a book coming from a religiously-based author, he identified Mother Theresa, Janis Joplin, and Princess Diane as examples of different ways to seek connections to the ultimate - women whose lives were shaped by deep energy and zest for life who, without pursuing their passions, would have fallen apart or died.

Turning to a more practical application, Rolheiser referenced naivete about spiritual energy, pathological busyness, distraction, restlessness, and a lack of balance as essential impediments to the search for meaning. These distractions of the modern day drive us from each other, from community, and away from the healing that faith communities can foster. What then is the antidote? Referencing C.S. Lewis from Surprised by Joy, he says that "delight has to catch us unaware, a place where we are not rationalizing that we are happy" (p. 26). Those surprising moments are quite simply when we say to ourselves, "God, it feels great to be alive" (p. 26).

I've had these "it's great to be alive" moments and I cherish them, and the interesting thing is that I experience them more in my senior days than earlier in life. Perhaps the result of constantly seeking as young or maturing adults, we just don't see that where we are justifies pausing for the moment of appreciation and celebration. Rolheiser suggested that growing in our "it's great to be alive" could be cultivated more by observing the New Testament teaching of Jesus. Specifically, four practices or attitudes are ways to seek spiritual connectedness as well as recognize it. They include; 1) private prayer and morality, 2) social justice, 3) mellowness of heart and spirit, and 4) community.

I've believed for some time that "conviction in action" was one of the central, if not a primary core, element to inspired leadership. The holy longing described by Rolheiser, and the four practices, may be another way of characterizing and pursuing the discovery and pursuit of purpose that I've previously advocated.

Irwin - The Alhambra

A great complement to Ornament of the World, Robert Irwin's The Alhambra (2004, 2005) delves into the history, mystery, and extraordinary artistry of one of the most significant buildings in the world. Built in the 14th century (1334-91) in the latter days of the Nasrid caliphs, the Alhambra has come to be recognized as the quintessential example of Moorish art and architecture, although the height of the Moors in Spain was during the much earlier period of the 8th to the 10th centuries. Irwin's book is actually a travel guide and is probably read by tourists preparing for a visit, but it has enough historical depth to make reading it worthwhile whether touring or simply wanting to know more about Moorish architecture.

The Alhambra offers perspective on ambition, decline, and remorse about what could have been. In Irwin's final pages of text he bemoans, "The Alhambra serves as an icon of exile and loss" (locator 2022). The early presence of Moors in Spain brought religious tolerance, prosperity, and stimulated art and culture distinctive in Europe but in its final years all this would vanish, all but the Alhambra.

The Alhambra palace (actually 6 palaces) is sectioned into three areas; the Mexuar for public business, the Court of the Myrtles for private administrative use, and the Court of the Lions which included private apartments for the king (Emir) and his concubines. The uses of the palaces, barracks, mosque, and small town are sometimes disputed, and the reality is that it's impossible to determine the historic use of some areas in the palace. By contrast to many historic buildings that were erected to assert authority and power, the Alhambra was more scaled to the private use and comforts of Nasrids. But historic events did take place there, including a visit by Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella years after Christians defeated the Moors. Columbus, with his Jewish Arabic-speaking interpreter by his side, appealed for resources to sail to the east by going west on his 1492 expedition. Why an Arabic-speaking Jew? Because Columbus assumed that those he would encounter in the east would speak Arabic. The preservation, and subsequent renovation, of the Alhambra was as much a victory statement of Reconquista as it was a commitment to great architecture.

The phrase 'La Ghalib ila Allah' ('No victor but God') is found throughout the Alhambra, displayed in fabrics as well as incorporated into the permanent decoration of walls. The pleasures of life, a veritable heaven on earth, are reflected in arresting vistas, proportion of buildings and arches, landscape, and pools and fountains. The hammams (baths) in the Alhambra are both beautiful and functional, allowing for ablution in preparation for prayer as well as for cleanliness. The Hall of the Ambassadors is the most impressive room, clearly intended as a chamber for reception of visitors, and is sheltered by a ceiling of twelve-sided stars in seven levels, reflecting the seven heavens. The Court of the Lions is a sunken garden of low plants (or "Riyad") and is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. This garden and others served as extensions of the buildings, with the buildings simply framing the beauty of the gardens, which might have served as meditative spaces for Muslims to study and pray (madrassa). All the Alhambra buildings reflect a harmony of space that suggests the infusion of mathematical principles in design, although no evidence confirms such a scientific approach.

Music was also an important element of the Alhambra, with music itself being highly mathematical and proportional. The 'ud, an instrument popular today throughout the middle east with Marcel Khalifa its undisputed contemporary master, is proportioned to match the relationship of the spheres. Ibn Khaldun declared that the meaning of music "is that existence is shared by all existent things" (locator 1219) and that vocal music reflected the apex of cultural development. The predictable mathematical relationship in music are reminiscent of the symmetrical tessellation found in abstract decorations in textiles, carpets, tiles, and other adornments, with arabesques depicting leaf and tendrils and atauriques depicting vegetation such as palmette, pinecone, and palm leaves.

The perspective of the Moors, and the Alhambra their personification, for some Spaniards is that the Moors undermined their unique cultural identity. For Arabs and Muslims, the Alhambra stands for all that has been lost in the centuries after the decline of the Moors in Spain, the Ottomans in the Middle East, and persecution in far eastern places such as India. I've come to understand this through Marcel Khalifa's sculpted portrayal in the music of "Concerto al Andalus" and in the mournful playing and singing that I previously thought was Spanish but now recognize as a blend of Spanish and Muslim/Arab cultures.

Menocal - Ornament of the World

In the closing chapter of Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain (2002), author Maria Rosa Menocal commented, "Andalusian stories allow us to glimpse one long and extraordinary chapter of our history in which the three major monotheistic faiths struggled, successfully and unsuccessfully, with the question of tolerance of one another" (epilogue). Indeed, the middle of the 8th century until approximately 300 years later was a brilliant moment in time when Jews, Christians, and Muslims mingled faith with art of various sorts and created a degree of shared prosperity that was unusual for the time and even today.

Committed to asserting control of the "House of Islam," the Abbasids murdered all but one of the Umayyad ruling family in Damascus in the year 750. The lone survivor, Abd al-Rahman, fled Syria, traveling through northern Africa, and landing in southern Spain. Exiled from his home and all that he knew, al-Rahman assembled loyalists to Islam and took Cordoba by force in 756. He then rapidly transformed Cordoba into a flourishing economy with diverse cultures and religions, embracing and benefiting all. By the 10th century, following a succession of the al-Rahman heirs, Cordoba was recognized as "the ornament of the world," from which the title of Menocal's book is taken.

The Umayyad view of Islam embraced the dhimmi, believers in one God and adherents of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim prophetic teaching. The view mandated the protection of Jews and Christians, even though conversion to Islam was also seen as possible and desirable. In fact, the term "Mozarab" was adopted as the term for converts who embraced Islam and Arab ways of living. The Mozarab dressed like Arabs and even adopted Arabic as their language, joining in the polity of "people of the book." The Umayyad were committed to transmitting essential knowledge from generation to generation and did so by translating essential historical texts and amassing impressive libraries. Jews were employed as viziers and intellectuals, creating greater prosperity than Jews in Europe had ever achieved, largely because they embraced their Umayyad sponsors and enthusiastically embraced cultural assimilation and Arabization.

Some of the internal chapters of Ornament of the World are primarily focused on literature and poetry. In these chapters, Menocal described the fluidity and fusion of languages across cultural groups with Jews and Christians speaking and writing in Arabic or dialects combining their cultural languages with Arabic and Spanish. One of the most profound examples of this fusion was for Jews whose native language expanded to transcend its previous use in religious observance, giving rise to a new period of literary and poetic expression in Hebrew.

Even after the height of Islamic influence in Spain, Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun's prolific writing in mid-14th century was heavily influenced by the legacy of al-Andalus. Fleeing politically stifling Fez (Morocco), Ibn Khaldun first settled in Granada and then Seville, immediately recognized as a renowned scholar in both. His Maqaddimah, or "Introduction to History," contributed to a new view of history that recorded the rise, decline, and fall of great societies, a pattern that was so evident in al-Andalus. As an example, he would have seen that even the architecture of the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, built on the foundation of the former Great Mosque of Seville, was adorned with Arabic language and profuse arabesques. Observing the influence of Islamic and Arab culture must have seemed ironic as well as tragic, something historians now view as cultural appropriation of a past great Islamic society overcome by Christian domination. This domination eventually led to the Edict of Expulsion in 1492, when Jews and Muslims were forced to convert to Christianity or leave the place where they had previously tolerated each others' religions as they contributed to a golden age of knowledge and art.

Menocal lauded Cervantes' story of Don Quixote, first published in 1605 but based on stories from the golden age of al-Andalus, as a masterpiece reflecting the tragedy of cultural decline. Book burning and vilification of others were symbolized in the windmills of Don Quixote's mind, depicting a time when reality could no longer be discerned from the conflagration of disinformation. The story of Man of la Mancha reflected the loss of an age of possibility with the Alhambra in Granada as its iconic representation, a palace so splendid, so unique in its "Stylistic openness, the capacity to look around, assimilate, and reshape promiscuously,... as a key part of the Umayyad aesthetic" (locator 3883).

Why did this golden age of tolerance and creativity end so quickly? One explanation that historians have opined is that the Black Death (bubonic plague) of the Middle Ages, killing 20% of the total population, drove cultural and religious groups away from each other. Driven by fear, and the crumbling infrastructure of social mores and shared humanity, groups that had found common cause disintegrated into warring factions. Scapegoating of the "other" was central to destroying the bond of humanity and tolerance itself was characterized as traitorous. What remained after the Black Death was a hollowed-out system void of religious tolerance and compassion. Whether the result of the Black Death or a slide toward Christian orthodoxy and accompanying persecution of other faiths, Spain in the post-Moor era failed to accept the more difficult  path of cultivating the uneasy embrace of contradiction and difference. In essence, the Spanish Inquisition became the instrument of purifying a culture from 500 years of nurturing tolerance and co-existence.

The question lingering in my mind is if Ibn Khaldun's depiction of decline and fall of great societies is underway in the present day? And the pivotal leadership question is if leaders will take the creative path of fostering tolerance across difference or will they choose the easier, and profoundly destructive, path of denying diverse human experience and culture in the pursuit of cultural purification and domination?