Paper short abstract:

In a participatory work forming connection through shared labor, forge bonds between people of unlike mind, culture, or lived experience. Learn spooncarving while having a critical conversation about our ability to coexist despite our differences. We’ll question what it means to be a “decent” human.

Paper long abstract:

The Decency Project is a participatory work forming connection through shared labor. Seeking a bond between people of unlike mind, culture, or lived experience, I teach strangers to make a functional object while having a conversation. We are guided by a pedagogy of awareness embracing critical thinking and historical contextualization. Our dialog is not about contemporary politics, but abstracted ideals and our ability to coexist despite our differences. We question what it means to be human: What must I do? What can I do? What must I not do?

Using 19th century Appalachian woodworking techniques, participants carve spoons - objects of functional interaction at the center of the home - from logs and tree limbs found or cast aside by modern manufacturing requirements. What follows is an exploration of traditional craft skills, concurrently rejecting and acknowledging the romantic myth of lost mastery as a necessary given. Bonding through their shared labor and distracted by the dexterity of hand and material, participants are questioned and empowered to delve into abstractions of cultural and societal structure. Absorbed in their carving, participants discover a freedom for critical thinking within a cooperative discourse. The discussion is simultaneously interactive and performative, interrogative and declarative.

The resultant engagement is a pluralistic investigation, both inter- and trans-disciplinary. Within this inclusive perspective, we envision potential futures, imagining what progress is possible and what obstacles might prohibit that progress. Together, we identify where decency occurs within our lives, and nurture relationships in an historic moment of conflict and disconnection.