Visiting Haiti and conversing with Haitian leaders has opened my eyes. Being in Port-au-prince has given me a new perspective and vision for my work in Guatemala. Today, we started a theological conversation about the way we see the City. The title of the training is “The City of Joy” and we will explore together what it means to live, love and laugh in the midst of our city. Our first stop in the conversation took us to the soul of who Haitians are. I cannot say that I understand Haitian culture, that would be arrogant. What I can say is that through exploring in conversation with Haitian leaders the way they see their city, I am able to see the tip of the iceberg. Our conversation today was based on the notion of the Symbolic Universe. This idea comes from a series of sociologists and religious thinkers like, Beningo Beltrand, Peter Berger, Thomas Luckman and John Searle among others. In a brief way, the symbolic universe is the soul of people. It is the symbols that give identity to “what” we are, “who” we are, and “why” we are. According to Beltrand in the Theology of the Inarticulate There is three different levels that give us identity. The first one is the civitas, the “what” of the people, In other words, the body. Here we find the physical environment of a country/city/community, land, architecture and climate. The way we usually respond to what we see in this area is “relief efforts”. In this area we build houses after an earthquake, give food, build bridges and so on.
Secondly, we have the polis, the mind of the people. In this area we try to understand the who of the people. Here we see the norms of the people, language, food, rites, music, religion, values, work and humor. And, the way we usually respond to this area is with “development”. And the third one is the Symbolic Universe, in other words, the soul of the people. In this area we try to understand the why of the people. We seek for the defining symbols and stories that give meaning and identity to a people. And the way we respond to problems in this area is through “advocacy”. Through the conversation we had with the Haitian leaders who attended our training I came to realize that I know very little about the symbols that give me identity as a Guatemalan. I was able to see that because it took me a few seconds to think about examples that could help the participants to find their own symbols. It is not that I haven’t look for the symbols. It is that I have stopped looking for the symbols that rise from within the communities I serve. Thereby, I am very often guilty of systemic misunderstanding.
Systemic Misunderstanding is one of the most dangerous mistakes in any kind of relief, development, or advocacy effort. If we do not understand the symbols we won’t communicate our message in a way that will make sense. When we are in a systemic misunderstanding we do not understand how the processes and systems of a culture work. Therefore, we are inefficient in relieving, developing and advocating for and with the people we serve. In addition, we become authoritative and frustrated because our ideas don’t work. In the end, we hurt people in our desire of doing good. All that to say that we had a great conversation. We talked about this misunderstanding and the implications it has for our leadership among vulnerable communities.
At the end of the day I kept the conversation going with Valerie, our colleague in Haiti. We talked about the symbolic universe and how it holds Haiti’s identity. Something that was really sad and interesting at the same time was the interpretation of Haitians about the earthquake in 2010. According to Valerie, the earthquake shattered a lot of the symbols of Haitian culture, and also created new symbols that changed the identity of who Haitians are. those symbols both, shattered and new, make it really hard for Haitians to recover and rebuild their identity. As another of the Haitian leaders said, “it is hard to see a ‘city of joy’ (the name of the intensive training we are teaching) when all we see is pain and poverty, when the symbols that make us who we are come from shattered buildings, hunger, violence and corruption” As I finish my day I can only think about the pain and suffering of our peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. I think of the historical difficulties that have slowed down our development as nations. In the end, that is why we try to dialogue about what it means to live, laugh and love in the midst of our cities.
theurbanwonderer 