PROVOCATIONS — Global & Local, Culture & Politics, Learning and Doing
Think of Provocations as guides to the intellectual and cultural landscape of Central Indiana. They identify common themes that connect clusters of fascinating and crucial events. They point out new ways of learning about the problems addressed by these events (the one best article you should read before you go as well as the three books you should get with your Barnes & Noble gift card after the event). More importantly, Provocations try to stimulate new ways of thinking about our place in the world, and our ability to imagine new solutions to the world’s problems.
Provocation 1.0 — Race, Rememberance, and Reconciliation.
The problem isn’t that most organizations schedule 90% of their African-American programming around one day in January (Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr.!) and the month of February (Black History Month … the shortest month of the year). The problem is creeping tokenism, or inauthenticity. The problem can be confusion about what we are commemorating when we think of the country’s Terrible Sin of Slavery, and why we are celebrating in the first place. Maybe the Eiteljorg’s important symposium on Wounded Knee will help: after all, the country’s Terrible Sin of Indigenous Genocide is even further from being healed. How to remember the sin of slavery while moving ahead in the 21st century? Provocate has an answer: Attend the events with open ears and open minds, and start preparing for Juneteenth!
Coming January 22.
Provocation 2.0 — Why George W. Bush, Bono, and Adam Smith Can’t Save Africa … But Maybe Hoosiers Can.
Post-election violence has claimed the lives of dozens in Eldoret, Kenya … the newest sister city of Indianapolis. Whose fault is it? And who’s responsible for helping Kenyans put the pieces back together? President Bush’s new model of foreign aid? Bono’s celebrity-driven international civil society? Globalization a la Adam Smith? Maybe we should take another look at that sister city relation.
Coming January 22.
Provocation 3.0 — Seeking a Seperate Peace in the War between Science & Faith.
Global warming, stem cell research, creationism … For another period when organized religion and science clashed as aggressively as they are clashing today, you’d probably have to go back to the French Revolution. Maybe the Russian Revolution. Why so ferocious a conflict now? Finding a middle ground will probably just mean the worst of both side, and the stakes are too high for us to choose wrong or to try to avoid choosing. Provocate looks for something better than the lowest common denominator.
Coming January 23.
Provocation 4.0 — Crossing Boundaries: Beyond Border Transgressions.
Our debate about unauthorized immigration is like Wittgenstein’s view of philosophical dilemmas: a fly trapped in a bottle, whanging back and forth with no means of escape. “Kick ‘em out and keep ‘em out” vs. “Just make them all citizens.” Whang whang whang. This spring Central Indiana has a chance to get our fly out of the bottle.
Coming January 23.
Provocation 5.0 — The Decline of the American Empire, part 1: Friends, Foes, Rivals.
These are tough times for the American Empire. we’re still #1, no doubt about that. But is it really worth it? Our friends in Europe seem unwilling to follow our lead, our enemies refuse to be intimidated by our might, and rivals such as China seem poised to pass us up in coming years. A new president is unlikely to turn things around. Let’s use a visit by China’s Ambassador (as well as Taiwan’s) as an occasion to imagine Empire differently.
Coming January 24.
Provocation 6.0 — The Decline of the American Empire, part 2: A Provincial Perspective.
410 AD: Visigoths sack Rome, thus shattering a thousand years of complacent security. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, was forced to imagine how the provinces would survive shorn of Imperial protection and dominance. “City of God” was his answer. As we in the Indiana provinces contemplate how we will live with the crumbling of the DC-based Empire, what will be our answer?
Coming January 24.
Provocation 7.0 — New Ways of Living, New Ways of Giving.
Think of the most serious problems we face. Crushing poverty at home and abroad, global climate change, ideological and religious extremism … solutions will not be purely rational any more than they can be imposed from above. They will require fundamental, even wrneching, changes in the way we live every day. Fortunately, we can see signs that people of many ideological orientations are creatively rethinking self- and national-interest.
Coming January 25.
Provocation 8.0 — Mid-West/Mid-East.
Think of how turmoil in the Middle East affects our lives every day. Our economy destabilized, the lives of our neighbors and family at risk as they serve in Iraq, national government budget shot to pieces. Worse is the sense of powerlessness: we feel dependent on decisions made in DC or Baghdad or Jerusalem. Don’t despair: This spring we’ll learn five ways that Hoosiers are acting directly to defuse problems in the Mid-East.
Coming January 25.
Provocation 9.0 — Words that Move Us.
Some of the finest novelists, short story writers, and poets in the country are coming to Indianapolis this spring … yet no one seems to notice. What if we really allowed the power of wrods and images to grab hold of our imaginations, would it make a difference in the way we live? Provocate thinks it might, and has some ideas about how to make this transformation possible.
Coming January 26.
Provocation 10.0 — You May be Provocating … And Not Even Know It!
“Provocating” means creative engagement. It means looking for unnoticed connections of global challenges and local initiatives. Provocating means using arts and culture to get better grasp on political issues, while recognizing how the arts are shaped by the political context. Provocating means finding that hook that draws other people into discussions that are both entertaining and illuminating. A surprising number of people are provocating right now … and Provocate wants to help them do it better.
Coming January 26.
