The Optimistic Anthropologist Volume 41 - October 2022

Repairing That Hole In The Universe

October 12, 2022

OCTOBER 2022  |  VOLUME 41

Dear ,

As I look back over the last year, and particularly the last couple of months when I was living overseas in Sarajevo, I’m struck by how the

themes of remembrance, reckoning, repentance, and repair

came up so often in things I had the chance to experience and engage with.  And how often these concepts feel so painfully elusive in the world today.

One example of this was at a

by the Bosnian artist

.  Šehović created

as a performance in the Baščaršija (old town) of Sarajevo on July 11, 2006 to honor and remember the 8,372 victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. Before undertaking this project, Šehović reached out to and built relationships with some of the

,

themselves victims of the genocide, and together they collected 932 Bosnian coffee cups (and continues to be in relationship with the mothers today). At the performance, the artist set out the cups and filled them with Bosnian coffee to honor the Bosnian Muslim men and boys who would never come home to participate in the daily ritual of drinking coffee with family and friends. For 14 years,

Šehović to assemble and disassemble the monument on July 11, and people have continued to contribute their coffee cups to the project (there were 9,909 as of the day I saw her speak). Over the years, the process of the performance also evolved so that anyone can participate in laying out the cups and pouring the coffee.

Since the first time I saw it, Što Te Nema struck me as a powerful example of communal connection and remembrance about a deeply painful event for which there has been no repentance or repair.  While International Tribunals and Courts have deemed what happened in Srebrenica a genocide and found key leaders guilty of that crime and others, genocide denial is rampant in the region (and the world) and perpetrators continue to be celebrated. Tribunals and Courts don't change people's behavior or heal the harm done to victims.

Recently, I was listening to an interview with

about her new book

.  In the interview, she

,

 “I believe that real repentance work…focuses on the needs of the person, people, community who's harmed. And is about taking care of them and is about repairing that hole in the universe.  Pushing forgiveness is telling the person who was harmed that you need to basically let go of this horrible thing that was done to you, even though nobody is taking care of you, even though nobody is attending to your needs.”

She went on to explain how the 12

century philosopher and Torah scholar Maimonides analyzed and synthesized pre-existing Jewish teachings on “

teshuvah

, usually translated as repentance, [but] really means return…It's about coming back to your integrity, your sense of self, your best self… It's about acting like you have a family, like you're accountable to people, and like you matter.”

Maimonides identified five distinct steps in this process (which I’ll distill in a very un-nuanced way) to: 1) own the harm that you caused fully and completely; 2) start to change; 3) make amends (based on what the victim wants or needs); 4) apologize (and you may or may not be forgiven, as repentance and forgiveness are separate things); and 5) change your behavior and make different choices when in similar situations.

In this framing, the process of return takes time and effort, and apology only comes after a person or people have owned their impact, begun to change, and made amends. Beyond the individual, this process is critical to the work of community, institutional, national, and systemic transformation. Yet, seldom do we require those who have caused harm to recognize their impact, let alone reckon, repent, and repair in this way.  

Which makes me wonder, what would our world, our nation, our institutions, our communities look like if we did reckon, repent, and repair in this way?  What will it take - individually and collectively - to return? 

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

 

P.S. If you've seen or experienced examples of reckoning, repentance, and repair in your community or systems change work, I'd love to learn from and with you. 

P.P.S. I have the capacity to take on some additional work in 2023.  Over the last couple of years, I've loved delving deeper into equitable evaluation and working with teams to strengthen their approaches to systems change and deep equity.  If that sounds like something you may need, please

and/or

.

LATEST

Starting in January 2023, Alison Gold will be teaching 

 (with a focus on systemic change) at the

for the fourth time!  Her students always rave about guest speakers who share about their work in MSPs and how it has related to themes in the course focused on: 1) people and purpose, 2) structure and strategy, 3) funding and casemaking, and 4) learning and accountability. 

We've had an amazing array of guest speakers in the past and always are looking to feature new folks too! 

Interested in helping build the field of multi-sector partnership practitioners for the future?  Or have a suggestion of someone who'd be a great guest speaker for MBA/MPA students committed to climate action and social justice?

SUMMER/FALL 2022 ROUND-UP OF SOCIAL CHANGE JOBS, RFPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS 

Folks we know are recruiting for A LOT of great jobs this fall all across the U.S.!  Each newsletter, we share 

, a monthly-ish round-up of job, consulting, and fully- funded fellowship and accelerator opportunities that people and organizations connected to Optimistic Anthropology are recruiting for. 

(our list reaches ~1300 great people!)

COMING TO DC? WE'D LOVE TO HOST YOU AT THE GARDEN APARTMENT!

 is a colorful and quiet private 1 bedroom apartment for people who are visiting DC while they engage in activism, conferences, travel, work, or study. We've hosted amazing guests from all over the world. We recently were certified as an Air BnB Superhost, and our cleaning fees support a neighbor. 

We have some availability remaining for this year from November 27 - January 2.

 and book your stay of 5 days to months through 

 or by 

!

GOOD LISTENS FROM SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2022

We love music, podcasts, and audiobooks! And we see connections between all kinds of culture and the work we do.  

ABOUT OPTIMISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

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