Synopsis
What does humility mean and why does it matter in an age of golden escalators and billionaire entrepreneurs? How can the cultivation of humility empower us to see success in failure, to fight against injustice, to stretch beyond our usual ways of thinking, and to foster a culture of listening in an age of digital shouting? With contributions from renowned scholars as well as psychologists, artists, and many others, Radical Humility: Essays on Ordinary Acts offers guidance. Edited by Rebekah Modrak and Jamie Vander Broek, Radical Humility explores what we can learn from philosophers about why Socrates chose to question everyone--even the Oracle who proclaimed him to be the wisest of men. New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow examines the corrosive effect of Donald Trump's arrogance on our democracy. Artist Ruth Nicole Brown describes lessons learned from her aunt about living a life of "you before me," and how this informed her work celebrating Black girls. Journalist Lynette Clemetson lays out the conflicts for journalists trained to recede into the background but now urged to be social media presences. And scholars Aric Rindfleisch and Nadia Danienta describe why maker cultures are as good at celebrating failure as they are at championing success. Having witnessed the personal and civic costs of narcissism and arrogance, these and other writers consider humility as a valuable process--a state of being--with the power to impact institutions, systems, families, and individuals, and give voice to the ways in which humility is practiced in many ordinary but extraordinary actions. Contributors: Aaron Ahuvia, Russell Belk, Charles M. Blow, Richard C. Boothman, Agnes Callard, Lynette Clemetson, Tyler Denmead, Nadia Danienta, Mickey Duzyj, Kevin Em, Eranda Jayawickreme, Kevin Hamilton, Eranda Jayawickreme, Troy Jollimore, Melissa Koenig, Aric Rindfleisch, Valerie Tiberius, and Ami Walsh
About the Authors
Rebekah Modrak is a writer and artist whose interventionist artworks resist consumer culture. Re Made Co. (remadeco.org) poses as an online "company" promoting $350 artisanal toilet plungers to parody actual company Best Made Co., seller of $350 luxury hand-painted axes. RETHINK SHINOLA (rethinkshinola.com) guides viewers through the Shinola company's past and present of marketing White supremacy. You can read her thoughts about culture jamming and reclaiming meaning from brand rhetoric in The Routledge Companion to Criticality in Art, Architecture and Design, Afterimage, Consumption Markets & Culture, Ms. Magazine, The Conversation, and Infinite Mile, and you can read others' reflections on her work in publications such as Hyperallergic, Core77, The Creators Project, Detroit MetroTimes, and Design Observer. She is a professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan.
Jamie Lausch Vander Broek is a Librarian for Art & Design at the University of Michigan. This summer, she bought a book made of cheese for her library. You can read about it on saveur.com. She holds a tailored Master's degree from the U-M School of Information in Art and Art Museum Librarianship, and received a B.A. in Art History with a minor in Italian Studies from Wellesley College. Since arriving in Ann Arbor, she has been active in the local art and book communities, and is currently on the board of the Ann Arbor District Library.
Aaron Ahuvia is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan-Dearborn whose work literally focuses on peace, love, and happiness. Regarding happiness, he has published extensively on how our lives as consumers--earning and spending money--influence our psychological well-being. Regarding love, he is the leading authority on why we love objects and activities, as well as how our love for our favorite things relates to the love we have for people. Finally, with regard to peace, his expertise includes training people to better understand others who are different from them. This is important to businesses that need to understand their customers. But he has also used his expertise to work with organizations promoting peaceful conflict resolution. Currently, he works with Better Angels, an organization seeking to reduce polarization between liberals and conservatives. A published study ranked him 22nd in the world for research influence in consumer behavior. He has been quoted in Time, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and has appeared on NPR and television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Russell Belk is Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing and York University Distinguished Research Professor. His current research involves sharing, digital consumption, gift-giving, and consumption of technology. This work tends to be qualitative, visual, and cultural. He has received the Paul D. Converse Award, two Fulbright Awards, and the Sheth Foundation/ Journal of Consumer Research Award for Long Term Contribution to Consumer Research. He is a fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, the Association for Consumer Research, and the American Psychological Association. He has more than 700 publications in print and film. His writing has been cited more than 75,000 times. Together with colleagues he initiated the Consumer Behavior Odyssey, the Association for Consumer Research Film Festival, and the Consumer Culture Theory Conference.
Charles M. Blow is an Op-Ed columnist at The New York Times. His columns tackle hot-button issues such as social justices, racial equality, presidential politics, police violence, gun control, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Mr. Blow is also a CNN commentator and a Presidential Visiting Professor at Yale, where he teaches a seminar on media and politics. He is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The book won a Lambda Literary Award and the Sperber Prize and made multiple prominent lists of best books published in 2014. People Magazine called it "searing and unforgettable." Mr. Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper's graphics director, a position he held for nine years. Mr. Blow went on to become the paper's design director for news before leaving in 2006 to become the art director of National Geographic Magazine. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Blow had worked at The Detroit News. Mr. Blow graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he received a B.A. in mass communications, and he holds an honorary doctorate from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.
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