PWL International Seminar #2

PWL INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR #2

“Practice Grounds for Living and Community-Oriented Self-Formation:
The Role of Institutes of Higher Learning”

KAM BELLAMY & PHILIP FRANCIS

ONLINE | April 30 | 8 PM (CET)

Abstract

Across the global tradition ISPWL brings into dialogue, “philosophy as a way of life” names not only a field of study, but efforts to revitalize philosophical arts of living: practices of attention, contemplative expansion to a broader perspective, and self-formation, sustained in community, and oriented toward the good life for oneself and others. In that spirit, Springboard approaches humane-formative higher education as the deliberate cultivation of contemporary “practice grounds”: small, place-based living-learning communities that make room for transformation to be lived, tested, and stabilized–experienced, not merely discussed.
A significant amount of sense-making takes place in the college years, and formation happens regardless of how we educate. Springboard works with the premise that we can be intentional about creating conditions under which formation occurs. We call for a re-imagination of what higher education can be and what it is for. We call for a commitment to engaging the whole learner—body, mind and spirit—in a lived practice that can orient a young person toward a life of meaning and purpose and a commitment to the well-being of the planet and the good life for all. We work with the premise that formation happens in relationship–to self, community, and place–and that small-scale, material environments foster these relationships. Through practices of attention, frank dialogue and care for self and others, and communal-civic responsibility and decision making, microcolleges and living-learning institutes work with PWL traditions that have long been treated as central to philosophical formation.
Springboard works with a three-pronged strategy to develop more humanly-scaled, community-oriented learning communities for young adults. First, Springboard supports the development of a robust field of models we can point to as examples of what formative education (grounded in what PWL articulates as spiritual exercises) might look like. These are exemplary “practice grounds” that can also function as lures and reference-points for a wider PWL ecosystem. Second, Springboard works to develop and coalesce a research and evidence base to understand how transformative learning happens in the young adult years and make the case for why it is important. Finally, Springboard works to develop an ecosystem of educators, funders, students, and college and university affiliates that supports the flourishing of existing transformative learning communities and the deliberate development of new communities.
In this session, Springboard’s Executive Director Kam Bellamy will share why Springboard works to ensure young people are invited into learning communities in which experiences of connection to self, community, and place are intentionally cultivated, as conditions for humane formation and philosophical living. We will hear from the PWL oriented philosopher and Seguinland Institute’s Executive Director Phillip Francis about his work to create a deeply transformative learning community, and how work with Springboard catalyzed Seguinland Institute’s development. We will hear the status of the research work and how it is working to bolster the ecosystem of funders and educators committed to this work. Finally, we will hear a call for support for greater collaboration with college and university partners to ensure more young people are afforded opportunities to be part of deeply transformative learning communities. We will invite ISPWL members into dialogue about their own work building enclaves for philosophical and transformational learning, and how we can work together to, institutionally and culturally, make such “practice grounds” a durable part of the higher education landscape rather than isolated exceptions.

Suggested Pre-Reading
Springboard’s 2024 White Paper:
Distinctive Pedagogies that Address the Meaning Crisis in Higher Education: Case Studies from Microcolleges and Living-Learning Institutes

Bios

Kam Bellamy is Executive Director of the Springboard Foundation for Whole Person Learning. From a life in Camphill communities working with people with disabilities, to a career in agriculture and food systems, to her current field of educational spaces, a throughline in Kam’s life is a dedication to creating living environments in which people can practice new ways of being. How do we want to be—with ourselves, with each other, and with the earth? Kam is excited about Springboard because it works to ensure young people have opportunities to “imagine (and make real) otherwise.” From communal living to governing their daily life and the world around them, Springboard is about developing practice grounds in which young people can create the world they want to inhabit. Kam feels passionately about the power of connected relationships to create long-lasting and meaningful change. She has served as the inaugural Executive Director of 3 successful non-profits and earned an MBA from Yale School of Management. With grounded idealism, Kam loves working with forward-thinking individuals and groups to envision and forge new paths.

Philip Francis is the Founder & Director of Seguinland Institute. Philip (he/him) grew up on a boat yard in Georgetown, Maine. He learned to philosophize in that salty mix of lobstermen pragmatists and back to the lander idealists. After painting the bottom of many a boat, he took his questions on the road: to liberation theology base camps in Nicaragua, intentional communities in India and monasteries in Greece. He settled down at Harvard Divinity School where he completed his doctoral work in religion. He completed a postdoc at UPenn and professorships at Carleton College and Manhattan College before returning to his home state as Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at UMaine Farmington. His book, When Art Disrupts Religion, was published by Oxford University Press. He is on the Board of Directors of the Gap Year Association.

Attendance is free but restricted to the members of the ISPWL. If you wish to become a member, please fill in this form.