Holistic Civic Engagement Education

My PhD dissertation in the field of Public Affairs & Policy offers a model for teaching holistic civic engagement in higher education courses. I argue that effective civic engagement toward justice and equity requires competencies on the emotional, spiritual, and physical levels, as well as on the cognitive level. I propose and assess a process by which university faculty can teach these competencies in a way that is appropriate in higher education.

Below is an excerpt from my 2020 Dissertation. Read the whole dissertation here.

Modeling and Implementing Holistic Civic Engagement Education

This section has two components. The first is a proposed model of how holistic civic engagement stages and competencies might be mapped based on Bell’s (2014) Medicine Wheel. The second is an instructional tool to be used in college courses in order to help students grow in their capacity for constructive civic action. This tool guides students through all the stages in the model with the aim of re-engagement.

Bell (2014) writes:

“Building from these understandings, Indigenous knowledge embraced by Medicine Wheels can be defined as wholeness, interrelationships, interconnections, and balance/respect. Wholeness requires that we look in entireties; that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, yet the parts cannot be fully seen until the shape of the whole can be seen. Interrelationship requires that we establish a personal relationship with the ‘whole’ – with all that surrounds us. In addition, we must establish a relationship with our whole being; this includes our spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional aspects. Interconnections create an environment which is mutually sustaining; where there is a transcending of logic and linear thought to reveal synthesis and dynamic interdependence. Balance and respect provide an order and structure to the whole and all its relationships and interconnections, while providing an appreciation for the ‘awe’ of it all” (para. 10).

Bell’s (2014) Wheel (Figure X). called Gifts of the Four Directions, is at the center of the Model. The Model of HCEE (Figure X) adds two components to an outer layer: One civic engagement capacity, and two competencies, that map to each stage of the wheel. The capacity is a relatively direct application of the Wheel stage to the civic sphere. The competencies (bolded) are skills that would help enable the capacity. They are components or building blocks for the capacities in the context of the higher education classroom. It is important to note here that thought the model takes guidance and direction from a Medicine Wheel, is not itself a Wheel, as it does not originate from Indigenous Knowledge. This section discusses the components of the model.

Figure X: Model of Holistic Civic Engagement Education around Bell’s Wheel

East: Vision, seeing and awareness. Capacity: Generate or receive civic visions in context of democracy. Competencies: Critical Insight and Vision.

The East is the direction of vision and awareness. Applied to the civic world, a capacity for vision involves holding several scaled visions at once and being able to navigate between them. These visions include one’s personal vision (including vision for a lifetime, visions for the next five years, etc.), the visions of organizations and institutions one functions within, and larger-scale visions that stem from democratic values such as equity and justice. For civic engagement education, one particularly relevant aspect of vision is working with American democratic values such as equality, freedom, justice and participation. Part of civic engagement is holding onto these values while navigating the current realities of institutions.

For this reason, the two competencies that map to the East are Vision and Critical Insight. To engage civically, one ideally holds a personal vision for participation, a group vision held by a collective effort, as well as a sense of how the endeavor serves democratic outcomes. Critical Insight is a habit of mind that is inquisitive, piercing and engaged. It looks for evidence, makes comparisons, and uses skepticism as a tool to refine logic. Critical insight is key to civic engagement because the ability to examine social realities and generate explanatory insights is essential for taking directed and informed action. Analyzing power dynamics is part of critical insight. When citizens see larger patterns in society that may have contributed to their feeling of disempowerment, this can transform into a political challenge with potential for redress, rather than an individual deficiency that cannot be changed (hooks, 1994). Finally, Critical Insight can tolerate--and is unafraid of discovering--divergence between a reality and an ideal. It is important that it is paired with Vision, which can allow students to experience this as a divergence they can work to bridge, not a chasm into which to fall.

Vision is important as well in that orienting engagement toward vision rather than away from an undesired situation is considered a potent and sustainable orientation to engagement (Merculieff, personal communication, April 17, 2015). Armstrong refers to the mental self, when using its full potential, as “directed by the ignited spark” (p. 464). This implies a perspective that the spark exists, and the mind follows its instigation. Vision, especially shared visions held by groups, is important to civic engagement in that it drives, inspires, and sustains it (Edwards and Post, 2008; Senge, 1990).

South: Relating to understand. Capacity: Relate to vision, self and others. Competencies: Connection and Identifying Gifts & Interests

In the South of Bell’s Wheel, lie the qualities of relating and taking time to understand. This is distinct from the process in the West, which has to do with building understanding as well, but through reason rather than relationship. Applied to civic life, these qualities could be expressed as a desire to connect and relate, to see oneself and others through an asset-based lens that asks, “What are this person’s gifts?” Part of this is turning to oneself to build awareness of one’s strengths and interests, so that work in the civic world is more meaningful. Armstrong states that the physical self is connected to all the other selves and contains us as differentiated individuals. Learning about one’s unique gifts is connected to the physical dimension because it is an expression of our differentiated individuality (Armstrong, 1996).

The competency of Connection lies in the South as well. It refers to the ability to feel an embodied sense of connection (Batacharya and Wong, 2018; Featherstone, 2013). Menakem (2017) discusses the importance of working with the physical body as a site for wellness, connection and agency. Miller (2007) and other holistic education scholars argue for the importance of including the physical body in course planning, even in higher education (Yeager & Howle, 2013; Burns, 2015). Connection to others is also understood as an embodied act (Lin, Oxford, & Brantmeier, 2013). In civic life, relating to others helps build community and a sense of belonging (Block, 2008). Ties between community members can also help sustain civic endeavors and, ultimately, strengthen democratic institutions (Putnam, 1993). Ideally, students can come to both value social connection and be more tolerant of the discomfort of relating to others in public spaces.

West: Using reason, “figuring it out” through experience. Capacity: Engage (civically) from compassionate discernment; learn from experience. Competencies: Empathy, Engagement.

In the West lies the capacity for reason, engaging and puzzling through, and growing in discernment and wisdom. Applied to civic engagement, this would express as a capacity to step into active civic life, grow through experience and exposure, and become more discerning and compassionate in evaluating public issues. Though this stage involves active engagement, it is not yet the North stage of wise action; in the West there is still “figuring it out.” The educational capacity here is compassionate discernment. As part of this stage, students engage both publicly and personally. Publicly, they investigate civic areas of interest, participating in civic life through structured community-based learning. Personally, they engage with their own process, learning to be discerning about what they are feeling and needing, and what is motivating their actions.

The competencies underlying this are empathy and engagement. Empathy is the ability to imagine others’ experiences, especially their emotional experience (Rosenberg, 1999). This is paired with Engagement, which refers here to an individual’s ability to pay attention, be curious and interactive, and to care. Engagement without empathy has the potential to too strongly favor one perspective. Empathy without engagement misses the opportunity that comes to act on wisdom gained by knowledge of others. Palmer (2011) writes that “When all that we understand of self and world comes together in the center place called the heart, we are more likely to find the courage to act humanely on what we know” (p. 6). These two competencies link closely to this statement; compassionate understanding and discernment fuel caring engagement.

North: Wise action to create change. Capacity: Use gifts in context of vision, relationships, and discernment (in civic world). Competencies: Interconnection, Trust.

In the North lies the important stage of taking wise action. Bell’s (2014) Wheel refers to “Movement” in the North. I interpret this as willingness and desire to make change, to instigate movement in the larger system that connects individual, community and society. Importantly, in the context of the Wheel, this movement and action are informed by wisdom. Here, wisdom is the result of a progression of awareness (gained through seeing), understanding (gained through relating), and knowledge (gained through engaging).

The competencies here are Interconnection and Trust. Though these do not seem like action-oriented competencies, they are important as a frame of understanding from which to take action. Trust allows one to step into a larger process without needing to know the outcome (Edwards and Post, 2008). Trust is the capacity to feel oneself as part of the web of life, part of civic community, and part of large-scale, social movements that span space and time. Civic leaders refer to the importance of trusting in the process of justice--implying that short-term gains and losses should not be the sole focus--and that this is important to sustain commitment (Anzaldúa, 1980). Trust could also be possibly also be called hope (Loeb, 2017; Orr, 2011).

Interconnection gives weight to seemingly small actions, and the perspective that everyone matters informs actions (Sturm, Metz & Oxford, 2013). For Armstrong and others, connection to nature is literal, and the spiritual self is capable of hearing and making sense of information emerging from beyond the individual (1996). In the civic realm, interconnection serves as fuel for commitment to the public good.

Academic Classes taught

Civic Leadership

For six years I have taught undergraduate courses in Civic Leadership at Portland State University. My courses use the model of community-based learning and include Introduction to Civic Engagement, Foundations of Community Leadership, Fundamentals of Public Service, and Civic Engagement: The Role of Social Institutions.

Leadership for Sustainability Education

I have taught Permaculture and Whole Systems Design in Portland State University’s School of Education. This course teaches students how sustainable design principles to educational projects, curricula, and organizations.