Culture, unlike democracy, is self-propelled and self-propagating: it is persistent, in ways that democracy strives to be; it is effusive in ways that democracy should be; it is practical, as democracy must always be; and it is critical, in ways democracy is too often not. In these ways, culture’s strength and importance to civic life is that it runs through everything; it is the warp to democracy’s weft. The growing recognition of Indigenous wisdom about place and its management are important to acknowledge in any discussion of place-based work. The “new” ideas of regenerative and permaculture agriculture can draw a lineage to Indigenous wisdom, for example. Regeneration of democracy, and permaculture-like practices in its stewardship, remind us that democracy has had an Indigenous lineage well before the misattribution of its birth date as the American revolution or even 5th century BCE Athens.
Democracy, the value and its practice, requires constant nurturing, widespread participation, regular renewal, visible processes, and meaningful outcomes. It is not a given nor a natural state of human affairs. Creative practice is one mechanism for this social embodiment of democracy, just as its dark twin, civic deviousness, can be for society’s authoritarian impulses.
Creative practice runs in our family and in our community along culture’s warp, interwoven with democratic values manifest in community gardens, affordable housing, historic preservation, community organizing, economic development, sustainability, politics and policy, and arts like performance, poetry, and film. This path guides us through the four chapters in the place-based actions section of this book as they describe creative practices in four communities where democracy and culture are woven into beautiful tapestries.
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