 |
RATIONALISM IS ...
a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge, rather than on religious beliefs or emotional responses.
Offhand, our rational minds say, 'This sounds reasonable.' Science, after all, is a good thing, especially when it contributes to awareness and understanding of climate change.
It's also important to be able to explain how we've formed an opinion on something, or why we chose a certain action, especially when it affects others. If we have a rationale for those opinions or actions, it means we've thought about them, and are at least more likely to be conscious of our decisions and their impact.
But that word, 'impact', gives us pause. We've been hearing a lot and thinking a lot about 'intent vs. impact' lately. There are myriad resources out there to understand this better, not least of which is Desiree Adaway's Whiteness at Work series, which we've been privileged to invest in on behalf of our colleagues at Good Food Jobs (and at Suarez Family Brewery, Taylor's 'other' family business). As Melanie Tannenbaum points out in a 2013 post in Scientific American, 'many would say that it is inherently privileged to redirect the focus of a conversation to the perpetrator's (presumably harmless) intentions, rather than focusing on the feeling and the experiences of the person who has been harmed.'
So when it comes to rationalism, it doesn't strike us that 'reason and knowledge' are tools of impact so much as they are tools of intent. And it's in those 'emotional responses' where we find a clue to what we are losing when we place rationalism on a pillar by itself.
Knowledge gained through experience, emotion, senses, and faith has cultivated wisdom in cultures all over the world. Yet, "the modern university...'with it's 'experts' and its privileging of particular forms of knowledge over others (e.g., written over oral, history over memory, rationalism over wisdom)' has 'validated and elevated positivistic, White Eurocentric knowledge over non-White, Indigenous, and non-European knowledges,' " write Robin DiAngelo and Ozlem Sensoy in a paper for the Harvard Educational Review, which was summarized in a New York Times Magazine article on DiAngelo's work.
In essence, rationalism strips away a lot of magic in our collective work. When our default is to draw the most straight and direct line from product to profit, we too often neglect to place faith in the ideas and inspiration that can make work - and its impact - truly worthwhile. The latter requires us to invest in things that feel like they matter, rather than replicating only those things that are proven to work. It requires us to prioritize the things that we value, rather than valuing money, productivity, or 'being right', above all else.
In that same NY Times article, Daniel Bergner goes on to write, "I asked whether guiding administrators and teachers to put less value, in the classroom, on capacities like written communication and linear thinking might result in leaving Black kids less ready for college and competition in the labor market. 'If you hold that white people are always going to be in charge of everything,' [Glenn Singleton, founder of Courageous Conversation] said, 'then that makes sense.' [Singleton] invoked, instead, a journey toward 'a new world, a world, first and foremost, where we have elevated the consciousness, where we pay attention to the human being.'"
The italics are ours. We wish there were a way to put even more emphasis on this point, but we will have to settle for putting our own actions, as individuals and business owners, behind it. We invite you to join us in going against the strong tide of rationalism.
For some ideas on how to begin with a more equitable job description, an idea we'll be building on in the weeks to come, check out recent newsletters here and here.
In food, justice, and food justice,
Dor + Tay
|
 |
|