Stop. There is that space. I thought it might give him something to look at, like the center of a house you keep coming back to . It is mind-boggling to them that Black people can still find peace. She resisted violence and oppression by asserting her existence and that of those around her. She resisted violence and oppression by asserting her existence and that of those around her. Thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback. That's why the narrator is able to say of this third Ofglen, "of course she is" Ofglen. We've been taught that silence would . They rolled the windows down, and turned the music all the way up to play one of Dariuss favorite songs. Every single person let the healing waves of music wash over them with their soulful and buoyant caress, and just danced their hearts out right where they stood. We cry out for justice. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. Resistance creates suffering. Hallie Brignall, Annual Fund Manager Evan Rosa: This is For the Life of the World, a podcast about seeking and living a life worthy of our humanity. While communal joy represents an outright danger to a repressive regime, individual joy can also empower resistance. And so the question becomes for me: can there be a form of joy that helps to constitute identity that happens in the in-between, in the gathering of different peoples? With Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramrez. How does one cultivate joy? To laugh in the face of fear is possibly the bravest act, which is why Saffiyah Khan became an instant hero in the United Kingdom when she smiled at fascist thugs from the far-right, racist movement English Defence League who began harassing Muslim women in her hometown. But whats most remarkable is what happens after these festivities. Joy, and celebrations in particular, focus our attention on our commonalities, not our differences. $22. By Crystal Fields-Sam Sometimes people in the coffee shop offer to help me out, even though I tell them they dont have to, but when they do help I say to them, Hey, on fried chicken day, I got you.. Audre Lorde sums this idea up this clearly in her 1978 essay, The Uses of the Erotic, In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change. She goes on to point out that this has often been marshaled in patriarchal societies for the oppression of women. UK & US. What happens when somebody walks into a space marked by joy? In his poem, A Brief for the Defense, he writes: If we deny our happiness, resist satisfaction,we lessen the importance of their deprivation.We must risk delight. People who refuse to come to earth. Lewis famously wrote in his autobiography, Surprised By Joy, "All joy reminds it is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away, or still about to be." "Peace without justice is tyranny." - William Allen White. Miroslav Volf: What is joy for you as a theologian, as a church men, as a black man? Men told you what to listen to, what to like. Joy lets us reclaim our humanity. They cannot take it." Lauren Oliver, Delirium tags: courage , love , resistance , strength 1065 likes Like It was how you were talked to how people thought of you what you could do/couldnt do even what you were perceived as being capable of accomplishing. Many of us have had the experience of being annoyed at a coworker, but then going to the company picnic, having a beer and a laugh together, and forgetting our annoyance. Would you say that these are joyful times? She poured her heart out on stage, she demanded that the men stand back so that women could literally and metaphorically come forward as she very bluntly called out misogyny. We're passionate about making this work consistently accessible to people who are genuinely concerned about the viability of faith in a world racked with division, contested views about what it means to be human, and what it means to live life well. 1. I plan to share it with my friends and families, just as I shared your book. Their mission is to protect and support the dignity of marginalized individuals and communities. This inexplicable power to dance in the midst of mourning is not to be smugly dismissed, as has many suggest, as some sort of slave religion or momentary hyper-spiritualized pie in the sky delusion. Joy As An Act Of Resistance ( LP, Album, Orange, CDr, Album, All Media, Limited Edition, Rough Trade Exclusive) Partisan Records. Coming back to Audre Lorde: The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference. Joy, and celebrations in particular, focus our attention on our commonalities, not our differences. Miroslav Volf: So it's almost like a Pentecost joy, each speaking in their own tongue, but speaking that language of joy together. Yet, as the onslaught of trauma and terror continues to reek havoc on our communities both through the systematic racism of state violence and through the deeply internalized racism of gang violence, families and communities like the Smith and Myricks families in Northwest Pasadena point each of us of the power of joy. What would that space look like for you? To be able to choose our joy and experience it, this is the freedom so many are fighting for. You'll also receive periodic updates on new things from The Aesthetics of Joy. This is the joy of resistance. So when people. - C.S. Equipping Knox with an endless and unconditional amount of love is what carries him through each day. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Willie Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Africana Studies, and Religious Studies at Yale University; he is an ordained Baptist minister and is author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race,Acts: A Commentary, The Revolution of the Intimate, and most recently, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. So I thank them for being fighters and challenging the status quo for standing up for all of us. Lorde uses the word erotic, meaning a form of deep, sensual (not necessarily sexual) pleasure, but I think you could easily use the word joy if it makes more sense to you: Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world, rather than merely settling for a shift of characters in the same weary drama., Ive talked a lot about the joy of communal celebration, but we can also find it in nature. [CDATA[ Celebratory joy creates unity on an emotional and a physical level, and a unified populace is harder to dominate. "For Black folks, joy and resistance aren't really that separate," Waheed tells me over Zoom. Fundraising is the vehicle a worthy cause utilizes to traverse obstacles which would otherwise prevent it from being heard. Thats right, dancing. I began to realize this when I was studying animal celebrations. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too., Most gun control arguments miss the point. Often there is no reason to make such choices outside the context of the primary choice that calls for them.". How lucky to have met him. History month and why rewriting history to exclude the African American's place in it is so perfidious, its founder said it best, "If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the . Willie, wonderful to have a conversation with you about joy. Growing up in the 90s, they were really my first exposure to feminism (lite) with the idea of Girl Power and that women could do anything despite what others thought or expected. Joy is an act of resistance: how to reclaim your identity and find your voice - Anil Sebastian - Change Makers Podcast Joining Michael Hayman today is Anil Sebastian, the artist, musician and creative director of specialist sonic branding agency DLMDD. The ones who will choose to journey with you through the fantastic & the foolish. To me she was the embodiment of my existence as resistance. People who love in a world without walls, people who love into hate, into refusal, against hope, and without fear. Joy is a sign of vibrant life, of thriving. Welcome back. Miroslav Volf: I don't know whether I'm maybe romanticizing things, but it seemed to me that from what I have observed growing up, but also when I have traveled, that I find more joy in the midst of oppression in almost paradoxical way, than I find in plenty. And what we have to understand is it's precisely that kind of geographic dimension that we have to think about, if in fact we want to think beyond segregated joy. Folk or traditional music is typically condemned, such as in Nazi Germany, which targeted Jewish music. It wouldn't be easy to find her, now. Reclaiming those sources of joy is a way to refuse to be dehumanized, to reassert our vitality. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Thank you, Martha. Joy takes something that might be threatening to people, such as difference or otherness, and makes it less so. I appreciate your feedback. Visit faith.yale.edu/give. Willie Jennings joins Miroslav Volf to discuss the definition of joy as an act of resistance against despair, the counterintuitive nature of cultivating joy in the midst of suffering, the commercialization of joy in Western culture, joy segregated by racism and slavery, how Jesus expands and corrects our understanding of joy. Every morning, you wake up, and your mind tells you it's too early, and your body tells you you're a little too sore, but you've got to look deep within yourself and know what you want and what you're striving for." I think there are artists, musicians, painters, and others who have shown that there's possibilities of living in being sustained by a form of joy that is not homogeneous, that is fully captured inside, if you willan expanding world of different people being brought together inside the sheer love of the music, for example. Dancing was similarly reviled, and all types of celebration found themselves in the crosshairs of European colonists setting out to spread Christianity and civilization around the world. As in so many fields, burnout is a serious risk, especially because activist work is rarely well-compensated and because the strong sense of personal responsibility many activists feel makes it hard to take breaks. //. Other soldiers wrote home requesting flower seeds to plant. Photo by Amy Pion And so we did. For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives. 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