Lifeways of Hope

"For birds, migration is not an ahistorical matter—they change migration patterns regularly, adapting to climatological and environmental pressures, navigating with ancestral insight on stars, low-frequency sound, and perception of magnetic fields and polarized light. Finding themselves after a long journey in a new place, they learn about risks, dangers, and lifeways from local birds. They observe and adapt. But they also impose their resilient rhythms on the new landscape - they sing their songs and hail on the layers of whistles to interpolate in their music."

- Edgar Garcia, Emergency: Reading the Popul Vuh in a Time of Crisis

The CRCs Lifeways of Hope initiative, generously supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and Morgan State University, seeks to improve communal listening practices as a vital lifeway for healthier collaborative work in cities. Conversations that frame urban infrastructure lack compassion and lead to alienating practices (e.g. how many highway and renewal projects split BIPOC communities apart). 

Focusing on the connective tissues between us– the land in our cities– and by centering relationships, we seek to improve collaborative work among community partners, scholars, and students.

The work will be carried out through the Listening Lab - directed by Rupa Pillai, the Learning Lab - directed by Harold Morales, and the Museum Experience Lab - directed by Amy Landau. The Listening Lab will collect, analyze, and grow deep listening models to improve collaborations between community organizations, universities, and museums. Training, workshops, and experiential retreats will then put the models to practice to learn about institutional processes and practices that often present obstacles to collaborative work. Lessons learned from the Listening Lab will be applied in the work of the Museum Experience Lab and Curricular Lab to encourage and support healthier approaches to public knowledge production and sharing within cultural and educational institutions. The vital work of these labs will be carried out in American cities across the country, including Baltimore and Los Angeles.

Co-Principle Investigators: Harold D. Morales, Amy Landau, and Rupa Pillai

Lifeways of Hope Fellows (2023-24)

Katherine Kunz (Listening Lab), Dom Turner (Learning Lab), Carlos Alvarenga (Museum Experience Lab)

To apply for the Lifeways of Hope Spring 2024 Fellowship in Public Scholarship, CLICK HERE.

For more information about our exciting new Lifeways of Hope fellows, see our Research Fellows.

Announcements & Press:
Morgan Newsroom
Henry Luce Foundation

For more information or to learn how you can be a part of and support the work, please contact us at info@ReligionAndCities.org