Tell me what you mean : Emergence

Emergence is a term that is becoming more popular in many social justice movement spaces. The definition that I start off with is one I found in Adrienne Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategy that she credits to Nick Obelensky:

“Emergence is the way that complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions”

- Emergent Strategy p. 6

I find that people and education spaces, including schools, are complex systems that are certainly made up of several simple interactions. I imagine how simply smiling and saying hello to all those that enter our school affects others’ next actions. I imagine how calmly redirecting a child rather than yelling makes a big difference in how a child internalizes a behavior and their relationship with power through that one simple interaction.

We also do not know how any day will end up, no matter how much we plan. Yet, our schools are largely, to this day, predicated on the idea that you can largely predict outcomes. And, sure, in a broad sense, you can. Love, care, shelter, and promoting healthy eating all benefit people in a predictable sense in the long run. But, can I predict that as a result you will learn how to count to twenty by June 24th, 2022 on a standardized test by the time you are in a preschool setting? Absolutely not. It is accepting that is both not possible nor desirable to control these outcomes that has inspired me to think in terms of what else is possible. It is having the ability to engage in the praxis and trust in childrens’ competence that skills will be acquired through a larger, organic process. Focusing on processes in it of itself means engaging in anti-oppressive practice since it pushes against the overemphasis of efficiency and “being a good worker” that our schools are still largely geared towards. It is an invitation to consider why do I want for this thing to be learned by this time so certainly? What would the alternative be? How do I feel in my body when I think of these things? How might we emphasize process over product while still allowing learning to count, for example, to happen, rather than forcing it.

Allowing v. forcing. That’s for another post.

Peace

Rafa