Deathworlds to lifeworlds : collaboration with strangers for personal, social and ecological transformation / edited by Valerie Malhotra Bentz and James Marlatt.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Marlatt, James, editor.

Bentz, Valerie Malhotra, 1942- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Life.

Communities.

Phenomenological sociology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 pages)

Place of Publication:

Berlin, Germany ; Boston, Massachusetts : Walter de Gruyter GmbH, [2021]

Summary:

Lifeworlds, originally discussed by Husserl and developed by Schütz, are the whole grounds of our ways of sustaining life in communities. Intensified loss of Lifeworlds has lead to Deathworlds researchers from around the world engaging in phenomenological writing to expand their awareness of experiences of significance in their lives. They connected via face-to-face communication and computer platforms. Recognizing and sharing emotional challenges, participants revealed Deathworlds within their Lifeworlds (traumatic echoes of war, genocide, oppression), and practices that contribute to illness, community decline, and climate change. Participants and researchers collaborated on chapters including: grief, death, addiction, environmental devastations, suicidal veterans, impacts of disasters, homelessness and Deathworld politics. The participants developed reflective qualities of being such as open-mindedness, sense of "wonder" and embodied awareness. These are among the Ten Qualities of Phenomenologists discovered from prior research. Deathworlds to Lifeworlds will appeal to those looking for practical ways to expand consciousness, and promote collaboration for social and environmental justice. "Deathworlds to Lifeworlds wakes people up to how current economic and social forces are destroying life and communities on our planet, as I have mapped in my work. The chapters by scholars around the world in this powerful book testify to the pervasive consequences of the proliferation of Deathworld-making and ways that collaboration across cultures can help move us forward." —Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and member of its Committee on Global Thought. She is the author of Expulsions, Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy, was elected to the Royal Academy of the Sciences of the Netherlands, and has been made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government. "Recognizing the inseparability of experience, consciousness, environment, and problematics in rebalancing life systems, this book offers solutions from around the world." —Four Arrows, aka Don Trent Jacobs, author of Sitting Bull's Words For A World in Crises, et al. "Deathworlds is a love letter for the planet—our home. By documenting places that no longer sustain life, the authors collectively pull back the curtain on these places, rendering them meaningful by connecting what ails us with what ails the world. They offer powerful stories and ways to take action to re-create life affirming societies and practices." —Katrina S. Rogers, Ph.D., conservation activist and author of Toward a Postpositivist World: Hermeneutics for Understanding International Relations, Environment, and Other Important Issues of the Twenty-First Century "This unique book brings together 78 participants from 11 countries to reveal the ways in which phenomenology – the study of consciousness and phenomena—can lead to profound personal and social transformation. Such transformation is especially powerful when ‘Deathworlds’—physical or cultural places that no longer sustain life – are transformed into ‘Lifeworlds’ through collaborative sharing, even when (or, perhaps, especially when) the sharing is among strangers across different cultures. The contributors share a truly wide range of human experiences, from the death of a child to ecological destruction, in offering ways to affirm life in the face of what may seem to be hopeless death-affirming challenges." —Richard P. Appelbaum, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and former MacArthur Foundation Chair in Global and International Studies and Sociology at UCSB and Professor at Fielding Graduate University, where he heads the doctoral concentration in Sustainability Leadership. "Deathworlds to Lifeworlds helps us notice the Deathworlds that surround us and advocates for their de-naturalization. Its central claim is that the ten virtues of the transformative phenomenologist allow us to do so by changing ourselves and the worlds we live in. The book is un outstanding presentation of the international movement known as ‘transformative phenomenology.’ It makes groundbreaking contributions to a tradition in which some of the authors are considered the main referents. Also, it offers an innovative understanding of Alfred Schutz’s philosophy of the Lifeworld and a fruitful application of the Van Manen’s method of written protocols." —Carlos Belvedere, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Contents

Part I: Lifeworlds in Deathworlds in Łódź, Poland

Chapter 1 From Deathworlds to Lifeworlds Through Collaborative Transformative Phenomenology

Chapter 2 Deathworld of the City of Łódź: Insider Experience

Chapter 3 Deathworld of the City of Łódź: Outsider Lived Experiences

Chapter 4 Phenomenology of Trash

Chapter 5 Walking with Homeless Persons in Kraków and Łódź

Chapter 6 The Experience of Precognition

Chapter 7 Personal Discovery and Transformation Through the Study of Lived-Experience

Part II: Experiences of Lifeworlds and Deathworlds

Chapter 8 Restoring Lifeworlds Through Phenomenological Writing, Reflection and Collaboration

Chapter 9 Be-ing with Dying: A Personal Experience with the Death of a Young Person

Chapter 10 Inspiration in Times of Personal Challenge: A Mindful Inquiry

Chapter 11 The Deathworld of First Responders: Being a Stranger to Oneself

Part III: Lifeworlds and Deathworlds in We-Relationships

Chapter 12 Grief and Unraveling in Romantic We-Relationships

Chapter 13 Overcoming Deathworlds of Addiction, Self-Injury, and Stress

Chapter 14 Military Wife and Mother: Lifeworlds and Deathworlds Surrounding Military Life

Chapter 15 Embracing Endless Liminality: Improvisation and the “Practical Mystic”

Part IV: Deathworlds and the Indigenous

Chapter 16 Indigenous Worldview and the Vision of a Peace Educator

Chapter 17 Colonization of the Lifeworld of Sheepherder Communities of Mongolia

Chapter 18 Deathworld Encroachments on the Amazon Rainforest

Chapter 19 Sustaining Lifeworlds in the Face of Famine, Water Shortages, and Malaria

Part V: Transformative Phenomenology Practice

Chapter 20 Transformative Phenomenology as an Antidote to Technological Deathworlds

Epilogue: The Essence of Collaborative Transformative Phenomenology

About the Authors

About the Editors

Endorsements

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

3-11-069181-7