Conscious Engagement Research Articles

Strange Solitary Mystic: Tracing the Dark Night of the Soul in Kerouac’s Desolation Angels and Big Sur

Past scholarship of American beat author Jack Kerouac’s novels has primarily focused on examinations of his “spontaneous prose” style and the influence of Buddhism on his writing. However, the recent availability to scholars of Kerouac’s private papers indicates that the Catholic themes and imagery in his writing were the result of a conscious and ongoing engagement with Catholicism, rather than relics of his cultural heritage. These Catholic threads take on greater clarity when Kerouac’s novels are read as he intended: as volumes in a larger, omnibus work. This essay examines two novels—Desolation Angels and Big Sur—through the framework of the dark night of the soul, as illuminated by the Spanish Carmelite mystic St. John of the Cross. The journey begun in the Washington state mountains in Desolation Angels and concluded by the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur chronicles one man’s quest to reunite with the divine and presents a compelling argument for Kerouac’s position as a Catholic writer.

Transgressive and Transformative Gendered Sexual Practices and White Privileges: The Case of the Dyke/Trans BDSM Communities

In this essay I explore the personal-political pleasures and limits of transgressing and transforming cultural/social/political categories of hierarchy through embodied, sexualized practices. To do so I analyze how dyke/ trans BDSM practitioners privilege the practice of transgressing and transforming gender boundaries by neglecting or marginalizing the conscious engagement with racial transgressions and transformations.1 In the essay I draw on my empirical study on dyke/trans-inclusive and queer BDSM communities. EXPLORING AND TRANSGRESSING BOUNDARIES THROUGH BDSM PRACTICES The frame for playfully engaging with and transgressing social hierarchies and norms, cultural taboos, and personal boundaries within BDSM is the construction of a social space (Schutz and Luckmann 1979, 48 f.) that is experienced as a safe space (Matt, Scout, Terry, United States, Tony, Germany), (Connie, Germany) or field for experimentation (Jonas, Europe).2 What qualifies the space as safe for playing and experimenting is in part general BDSM standards and characteristics, such as negotiating and establishing consensuality; communicating, respecting, and pushing boundaries; dramatizing and thus making visible and debatable power relations and stereotypes; emphasizing emotional and physical intensity in sexuality; and translating sexual fantasies into reality, most notably through role play. Yet the pushing of individual and sociocultural boundaries and the quest for intense bodily and psychological experiences also situates BDSM practices in a complex and sometimes paradoxical matrix of danger and safety: the risky nature of some BDSM practices necessitated the implementation of safety measures and ethics in the community in the first place.3 A frame of safety and consensuality ensured by certain commonly accepted standards of behavior simultaneously is exactly what enables some individuals to explore BDSM practices, while for others it takes off the edge or thrill by making things too safe and sterile when it is exactly the inherent risks or dangers that make this path worthwhile or sexy. The white bisexual femme Anya (Europe) considers BDSM an emotionally dangerous path in that one can never foresee what feelings certain acts might trigger, but like many other BDSM practitioners, she values transgression of one's own limits as a chance to grow. Indeed, for some of my interview partners the main incentive to practice BDSM is to explore and get to know one's own boundaries or push/transgress them, or both, within a framework of negotiated consent. Another great motivation for queers and trans people to engage in BDSM is that in contrast to everyday life, in BDSM spaces one can consciously choose and negotiate roles and identities for play. Therefore, the participants may agree upon the gender, race, age, class, or status one chooses for a scene in a consensual manner, and in this sense BDSM has the potential to become the playground Connie refers to. Additionally, the dyke+ community excludes eis men, straight BDSM practitioners and vanilla people who might have prejudices against grown-ups who love to play in this way or might be able to cope with queer sexualities.4 As the white pansexual genderqueer femme Neila (Germany) points out, it creates a space that is perceived as devoid of predefined power relations in regard to gender and sexuality, if in regard to other social power structures such as race or class. Therefore, most people who move in (and sometimes out) of the dyke+ BDSM communities share the view that provides a safe space for people to fuck with their gender and also for their gender identity to be respected and that gender is not at all based on biology, because there are lots of people who don't identify as in their everyday life, but within SM context they'll be boys (Matt), which sets this community apart from the gay male and straight BDSM communities as well as the vanilla dyke/ lesbian communities (Hale 2003). …

Introduction: for tradition as an analytical category

Archaeologists have been wary of tradition, employing the term in either an empty or an abusive sense. When they do use it they tend to align it to habitus, on the one hand, or to ritual, on the other. This paper makes the case for distinguishing tradition to describe agents' conscious engagement of current actions with past actions, and for the importance of understanding such engagement in order to understand agents and agency. It exemplifies the value of tradition by discussion of two ancient Greek statues of naked men.

“With footsteps marking roundabout paths”: Jewish poetry on Crimea

Published within two years of each other in the early 1920s, the Hebrew poet Shaul Tshernikhovski’s sonnet sequence “Crimea” and the Yiddish poet Perets Markish’s sonnet sequence “Chatyr‐Dag” are important studies in the image and significance of wandering in contemporary Jewish literature. Crimea holds a powerful interest for these two poets as a locus of discussion about land and territory, about the connection (or lack thereof) of Jews to a landscape that is in a sense “beyond the Pale,” both familiar and exotic, and a place of personal escape or refuge in these poets’ own biographies. Moreover, their conscious engagement with the great Eastern European literary landmarks of Crimea –Alexander Pushkin’s “The Fountain of Bakhchisaray” and Adam Mickiewicz’s “Crimean Sonnets” – makes these important texts for understanding Jewish cultural movement in the early twentieth century.

Virtual Action Learning Sets: A Model for Facilitating Reflection in the Clinical Setting

Background and Purpose. Reflection is a strategy for learning from experiences that requires active, conscious engagement of the learner. Action learning promotes reflection and higher-order thinking and uses questions to solve real world problems. The authors present a model of learning using virtual-action learning (VAL) sets in the clinical setting. They sought to determine whether this model facilitated reflection and higher-order thinking, whether any differences existed between mentorfacilitated and peer-facilitated groups, and students' perceptions of the process. Method/Model Description and Evaluation. Two groups of physical therapist students (group 1: n=4; group 2: n=3) on their final clinical internship were oriented to reflective process and participated in VAL activity. Each submitted 1 critical incident to an electronic discussion board. Once posted, group members posed questions to facilitate reflection and further analysis. Group 1 was mentored by the clinical instructor (CI); Group 2 was peer-facilitated. An online discussion ensued to enable students to resolve their incidents. After 4 weeks students wrote a 1-page summative, reflective essay on the process and insights gained. Discussion threads and summative essays were analyzed. Descriptive statistics summarized evidence of the elements of reflection and levels of higher-order thinking achieved. Chisquare tests of independence were used to assess differences in frequencies of the reflective elements evident and of the levels of thinking achieved between the groups. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare groups for the number of questions posed versus advice given per entry. Finally, qualitative methods were used to analyze the summative reflective essays for students' perceptions of the process. Outcomes. No significant differences were noted between groups in the frequency of reflective elements evident in the postings. Group 1 exhibited greater proportions of data gathering (chi-square = 14.467, P < .001) and data analysis (chi-square = 4.025, P = .05), but no significant difference was noted when reaching a conclusion. Furthermore, while the mean number of responses phrased as questions did not differ significantly between the groups, those phrased as advice or experience sharing were significantly less in group 1 than in group 2 (z = -4.234, P < .001). Finally, the following themes emerged from the summative essays: (1) reflection is a deliberate analytic process; (2) reflective practice offers insight into the depth of patient management; and (3) VAL sets enhanced collaborative learning. Discussion and Conclusion. Virtualaction learning enabled students to work collaboratively to solve problems using the reflective process in the fast-paced clinical environment. Students valued and learned from the asynchronous dialogue and resultant reflective and questioning processes that promoted further thought, analysis, and problem solving.

(Re)Expressions of African/Caribbean Cultural Roots in Canada

This qualitative article examines the importance of collectivism expressed by both newcomers and established Ghanaian and Jamaican immigrants in Canada. Toronto residents ( N = 32) participated in structured face-to-face interviews consisting of 32 open-ended questions examining individualism— collectivism and cultural orientation. Results indicated that the majority of participants maintained a collectivistic cultural orientation, despite their length of residency in Canada, as a result of three major factors. First, participants' social networks facilitate the migration and adaptation of newcomers and thus perpetuate collectivistic principles. Second, as a symbol of identity, participants actively value and promote their collectivistic cultural attributes. Finally, participants' cultural collectivism encourages the establishment of highly interwoven transnational ties that reinforces collectivistic orientational interactions. The findings suggest that conscious engagement is a necessary component of collectivistic endeavors to actualize group goals.

About This Issue

] About This Issue I t is so gratifying to publish a Festschrift on David J. O’Brien, a committed historian known for elucidating parallels past and present in the church and society . His former students and colleagues testify to his conscious engagement in the process of making the American Catholic past vitally connected to contemporary social thought and action. He urges his readers and listeners to draw upon American Catholic history, the social teachings of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II, and of the United States bishops, and as good American citizens take charge in forming public policy on the basis of justice and peace. He is known as a person of faith and a man of great passion in his call for social and religious reform and renewal. We are pleased to honor David J. O’Brien for his many gifts; he is truly a mensch for all seasons. Each of our contributors has a distinctive perspective on O’Brien but also a shared personal appreciation of him. Jay P. Dolan is professor emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. Alice Gallin, O.S.U., is former professor of History and Dean of the College of New Rochelle, and a past president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Philip Gleason is professor emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. Paula Kane holds the John C. Jr. and Lucine O’Brien Marous Chair in Contemporary Catholic Studies, and is professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. James McCartin is professor of History at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. Joseph McCartin is professor of History at Georgetown University. Tricia Pyne is the archivist of the Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. Rodger Van Allen is professor of Theology at Villanova University and co-editor of American Catholic Studies. Christopher J. Kauffman ...

Remedying defective or deficient political agency: Cornel West's uses of the tragic1

American culture has often been seen, particularly from the standpoint of Europe, as lacking a sense of the tragic. On the European view, this tragic deficit is the reason that Americans are more likely to act intemperately or with hubris. A critique of American culture for its lack of conscious engagement with tragedy figures prominently in the work of Cornel West. He argues that a broader American receptiveness to the tragedies of American history and life will result in a greater commitment to participate in public life for the purpose of relieving unnecessary suffering. In the first place, he sees tragedy as a means of fostering hopefulness and counteracting the tendency of citizens, particularly African‐Americans, to retreat to privatized modes of despair. Tragedy also functions in West's thought as a means of fostering a sense of solidarity across class and racial lines. Lastly, tragedy can heighten the appreciation of left intellectuals for the existential dimensions of political and social agency.

Reconsidering the Role of Artists in Initial Teacher Training

This article is concerned with the role that artists might have in the process of preparing teachers of drama in the UK. It considers the ways in which culturally held values, which in the West create a distinction between school-based art-making and the professional arts, might be challenged and developed. It proposes a critical understanding of the field of cultural production to explain this divide, and greater consideration of the models of artistic practice that student teachers experience. The article suggests that initial teacher education has a role to play in this process and draws upon a small-scale research project, which proposes a conscious engagement of particular kinds of artistic practice in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) .

The Democratic Potential in the Transition of Postmodernism

Postmodernism is more than a school of thought or merely a critique of modernism. It is rather a period of transition that marks an evolutionary trend in the development of human culture and in the development of democratic government. As such, postmodernism warrants more than reform; it calls for the conscious engagement of its potential. Further, the dilemmas of postmodernism could become permanently embedded in our culture if they are not recognized as the transitory growing pains of a society seeking a new balance rather than merely confronting a social malaise. Indeed, the basic tenets of postmodern philosophy can be understood from different perspectives—not all of which lead to the decline of civilization. Postmodernism, for example, is also an opportunity for government to participate in the evolution of American democracy. Such participation, however, calls for a self-conscious public administration, one more concerned with stewarding this change than regulating it.

Switching Cognitive Gears: From Habits of Mind to Active Thinking

The phrase "switching cognitive gears" is used to call attention to the fact that cognitive functioning involves the capacity to shift between cognitive modes, from automatic processing to conscious engagement and back again. Effectiveness may be as much a function of an actor's capacity to sense when a switch is appropriate, as to process in one or another mode. In this paper the authors develop a perspective on the switch from automatic to active thinking and the conditions that provoke it. They apply the perspective to work settings and identify types of situations in which actors are expected to switch from habits of mind to active thinking. They propose further work to develop a framework for understanding the switch from active thinking to automatic.