Dear ,

At the beginning of 2024, I was traveling in Malaysia and Singapore, and one of the many inspiring things I did was go see the Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America exhibit (open thru March 24). It compares 20th century art created in these two regions which were united by their shared struggles against colonialism.

In addition to getting to learning about so many amazing artists from both regions that I was never introduced to before (despite years of visiting museums and galleries and taking art history classes) I was struck by how individuals and collectives of artists in these regions saw their roles in the world and in their home countries – roles like making visible their people’s experiences of colonialism; providing alternative visions of the world beyond their colonizer’s laws, beliefs, and ideals of beauty; and helping to form national identities steeped in their own cultural traditions.

The exhibit also reminded me of a documentary I saw in August on the opening night of the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival called Kiss the Future. The film – which is being released this week at AMC theaters in the U.S. – focuses on the Siege of Sarajevo and the experiences of (particularly young) Sarajevans and a group of foreign aid workers. While the context is very dark, it is quite moving and inspiring to see how young people used music, dance, theater, and art as catharsis, as expressions of their humanity, as a means of building trust and connection, as a form of creative resistance. Sarajevans’ creative resistance also enabled an unusual relationship with the band U2 who tried to use their 1993 ZooTV Tour to raise awareness and spark activism in support of the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as the band toured countries whose governments were unwilling to intervene in the war or support the newly independent country’s struggle, ultimately enabling the Bosnian Genocide.

I recognize that our world today is filled with so much darkness – war, genocide, poverty, fascism, xenophobia and so many other forms of violence feel pervasive, and they make many of us feel powerless. However, Tropical and Kiss the Future are just two of so many reminders of how people from different places, times, and circumstances have continued to find ways to come together and embrace creativity and humanity and resist the darkness in the world. I know for me, having opportunities to learn about and remember what other people and communities have done before inspires me to see new possibilities about how I can practice creative resistance. And I share this, because I hope it helps inspire you too.

Be well, do good, and keep each other safe,
Alison

THE LATEST

Gold Joins Emergent Learning Program Faculty

After a decade of practicing emergent learning by integrating it into her work including with clients at Optimistic Anthropology, our founder, Alison Gold, became certified advanced practitioner from the Emergent Learning Community Project at the end of 2023. Advanced practitioners are people who have 1) demonstrated their depth of understanding and practice and 2) returned learning to the community (read more about that under ICYMI).

In addition, Alison has joined the Spring 2024 faculty of the Emergent Learning Training Program, an open enrollment program held every year where participants learn to apply the practices and principles of emergent learning together in a collaborative setting. The program meets virtually for four months and culminates with a day and half in-person session. The Spring 2024 program is closed for enrollment, but if you’d like to be notified of future training opportunities, sign up here.

Love for Clients: Destiny Arts Center, Rfsu & Ploughshares Fund

We might be a bit late for Valentine’s Day, but we wanted to share some love for Optimistic Anthropology’s clients! We are grateful to get to learn with and from, and contribute in a small way to the work of unique and amazing organizations and teams seeking to shape a more just, equitable and positive world!

• The Oakland, CA-based Destiny Arts Center which uses movement arts from Black and African-American traditions for youth empowerment! Our work together over the last 2.5 years has drawn on principles of equitable evaluation and methodologies like theory of change and emergent learning as we’ve supporting the organization to grow its culture, processes, and strategies for evaluation and learning.

• The Ploughshares Fund is the largest funder in the nuclear threat reduction space. In the second half of 2023, we collaborated with them to have a series of discussions with grassroots organizers and advocates to understand the current reality of their work today and what they envision for the future of the grassroots.

• RFSU is a Swedish organization that advocates to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. We’re working with their International Unit to integrate emergent learning with an intersectional feminist perspective into their own culture and processes, including funding and partnerships with organizations outside of Sweden.

If this has you percolating about something you’re working on, please say hello or schedule a time to connect. We are already looking ahead to Q3 and Q4 2024 and will have capacity to take on some additional work then.

ICYMI

2023 Releases Feature Oa’s Work on Emergent Learning & Systems Changemaking

Our founder, Alison Gold, penned “Chapter 3 Asking Powerful Questions” in the Guide to the Principles of Emergent Learning which was released by the Emergent Learning Community Project in September 2023.

You can download a .pdf for free or order a printed and bound copy here.

Alison also contributed chapter 9 “Optimistic Anthropology in the Work of Systems Changemakers” for the book Anthropological Optimism: Engaging the Power of What Could Go Right which was released in April 2023 by Routledge Press.

You can buy it here or if you’d like a copy of Alison’s chapter, say hello!

GOOD LISTEN

Articles of Interest Season 3

We’ve been fans of Avery Trufleman’s Articles of Interest podcast since it launched. It’s third season (16 episodes released March - November 2023) explored a range of topics, some lighter than others. A few of our favorite episodes from the season include
a) Inside the Factory about the rise of the social auditing industry,
b) Prison Uniforms a collaboration with the podcast Ear Hustle, about life inside and after prison;
c) Plus Sizes which explores why is it so hard to find fashionable, well-made, affordable clothes for bigger bodies even though so many people live in them; and
d) Chromophobia about the history, present, and future of dying fabric and how the value of colors are socially constructed and reconstructed.

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