EPISODE 8: “WHAT IF WE DON’T HAVE THE ANSWERS?” THE GENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF QUESTIONS WHEN WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE FOR CHANGE.
Sive Bresnihan
Julia Haimlinger
by Sive Bresnihan and Julia Haimlinger
Comhlámh
Sive Bresnihan and Julia Haimlinger work together in Training, Education and Outreach for Comhlámh. Over the past number of years, they have been exploring decolonial pedagogies and how they can be mobilised for transformative learning and, ultimately, more justice.
Listen to the podcast interview with the author;
“WHAT IF WE DON’T HAVE THE ANSWERS?” THE GENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF QUESTIONS WHEN WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE FOR CHANGE.
In August 2023, some of us at Comhlámh attended an all-island Climate Camp in Leitrim, a county in the North West of Ireland. The camp took place over 5 days, with participants camping and cooking together on fields gifted by a local farmer. Every day all kinds of talks and activities took place inside all kinds of tents (the barn tent, the elephant tent, the circus tent, the spider tent) and in the evening, after dinner, participants enjoyed music and fire. At the end of the 5 days, participants got behind the local environmental group ‘Save Leitrim’ and participated in direct action on the hills around the town of Manorhamilton.
Over the course of the 5 days, we were struck by how Climate Camp was creating ideal conditions for learning and change. Aside from the collective form of organising that underpinned everything (from putting up tents to cleaning out toilets to preparing the evening meal) and the hosting of the camp by some incredibly inspiring local campaign groups, there were the sessions themselves. Running for 1.5 – 2 hours, we would leave these sessions feeling pretty humbled, called upon not to ‘go do’ but rather to sit with the learning and “find ways in”.
Climate Camp direct action, August 2023 (Photo credit: www.climatecampireland.ie)
Finding ways in
"There is also something emotive about hearing voices from struggles and so, as you listen, you find yourself asking the question: ‘How do these currents connect to me?’. If you are in a privileged position of being able to ‘choose’, you might also find yourself asking: ‘How do I find my way into this river? How do I join these currents?"
Whether the focus was ‘data centre expansion in Ireland’ or ‘community resistance to mining’, what characterised the ‘big issue’ sessions was the format, with 5-6 people from different communities presenting side by side. There was something activating about this kind of format. Indeed, after the 1st and 2nd speakers, you begin to pick up the ways in which there are differences but also overlaps – same river, different currents. There is also something emotive about hearing voices from struggles and so, as you listen, you find yourself asking the question: ‘How do these currents connect to me?’. If you are in a privileged position of being able to ‘choose’, you might also find yourself asking: ‘How do I find my way into this river? How do I join these currents?’
Staying with the metaphor of a river and its currents, there are many ways to enter a river. At the same time, the ‘river’ doesn’t stop for anybody or anything – it keeps flowing. This can be disconcerting for somebody looking to get involved in change work. With their intentions to ‘do good’, they might expect that the entryway be made clear for them. But what happens when it isn’t? Do they make demands? Walk away? Or do they try to figure it out? Other things may also happen. They might get as far as the river bank but remain gripped there, overwhelmed by the currents and what they ask of them. Another possibility is a seat on a passing speedboat. They might jump on board. What a relief! But in this, have they found a way in, or is the speedboat more ‘a way around’?
"With their intentions to ‘do good’, they might expect that the entryway be made clear for them. But what happens when it isn’t? Do they make demands? Walk away? Or do they try to figure it out?"
How
In our education work with young volunteers and those interested in activism, we grapple with how to bring learners closer to that edge and to consider ways in. It is a challenge to insist that there are no prescriptions for ‘what to do’ while insisting that engagement is of utmost consequence.
In recent years, one way that has opened up to us is through social cartographies – tools which map diverse perspectives and use images (metaphors and analogies) and comparison tables to invite different conversations. ‘The House that Modernity Built’ is an example of one we use, as well as ‘The Beach’ and ‘HEADS UP’, all developed by the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective. The cartographies based on comparison tables have echoes of the 6-person format we encountered at Climate Camp in so far as they draw attention to points of tension and connection that can otherwise be hidden. While seeking to stir, these cartographies are also not setting out to take participants from A to B or change positions in a directed way.
"These cartographies have provided us and the young people we work with, the opportunity to question the lens through which we are viewing the world, and to ask ourselves what change looks like? And for whose benefit?"
Over the past number of years, these cartographies have provided us and the young people we work with, the opportunity to question the lens through which we are viewing the world, and to ask ourselves what change looks like? And for whose benefit? These questions (among others) provide critical pathways to troubling the idea of saviourism and uncomplicated fixes and are of particular importance for those who are thinking of going overseas to volunteer.
They highlight patterns of social hierarchy and provoke those of us positioned in the North to think about our urge to help, often thousands of kilometres away from our own homes. What are the historical and systemic processes that lead us, over and over again, into this position of helper/saviour and is it help/saving that is needed at all?
"They highlight patterns of social hierarchy and provoke those of us positioned in the North to think about our urge to help, often thousands of kilometres away from our own homes."
While the cartographies help to open up different kinds of conversations, we also acknowledge the power of stories of struggles and are always looking for ways to weave these into the learning space. These stories represent important ‘currents’, and help us shift away from what we know, or how we usually consider things towards what we might have missed and how we might engage with those issues ‘differently’. They also interrupt this idea of needing to ‘fix’. Much like with Climate Camp, the stories invite us to get comfortable with trying and testing and embracing the idea of failing, with knowing that our world and its problems are complex and, by nature, in a constant state of change.
"Experiencing these kinds of connections over and over can help us get more comfortable with the currents in the river and guide us as we continue to look for ways in."
Weaving these stories not only offers a new and different orientation for young people but also emphasises the importance of critical, deep and authentic connections between people and the planet. As adrienne maree brown writes, this is what adaptation and evolution depend on – “a thread that can be tugged for support and resilience”. Experiencing these kinds of connections over and over can help us get more comfortable with the currents in the river and guide us as we continue to look for ways in.
Comhlámh soon turns 50. One of the things that have been learned over all those years and that today feels more important than ever is that ‘finding ways in’ can sometimes mean examining the assumptions that we hold to be true about change and, as citizens concerned about justice and equality, our place in it. As folks with ‘good intentions’, how to accept that entry might not be on our terms – maybe the point is that it can’t be. How instead to pause, take a breath and tune into the layers and rhythms of the river’s flow.
"‘finding ways in’ can sometimes mean examining the assumptions that we hold to be true about change"
More about Climate Camp;
Climate Camp 2023 was organised by Slí Eile, an anti-capitalist climate action group, in collaboration with several local campaigns, including Save Leitrim, which campaigns against the expansion of industrial conifer plantations, Treasure Leitrim, which campaigns against gold mining and Love Leitrim which continues to work on the threat of fracking, particularly in Northern Ireland. www.climatecampireland.ie
Watch the video interview below as the author unpacks the topic;