By Nathan Archer
Friday, March 11 — Highlander
We wake at the final destination of our trip, Highlander Research and Education Center, in Tennessee. There is only one view, and it is majestic: wood cabins overlooking a long stretch of sloping pasture. A thin road runs down to a ranch house below. To the left sits a corral where the cattle graze quietly. In the distance beyond, the Smoky Mountains linger. Soft winds and birdsong narrate the still scene. It is time for reflection.
The main building holds within its walls incredible history. Pictures of MLK, Myles Thornton, Rosa Parks, and numerous others decorate the walls. It is evident that this is the genesis of the American civil rights movement. One by one we meander down into the cafeteria on the ground floor, where a traditional southern breakfast buffet of eggs, biscuits, bacon, and fruit awaits us.
The dining hall is cheery. Carol (from CCI) makes an appearance and the table adjacent to ours is filled with a coalition of folks organizing to combat racial injustice. They partner with Black Lives Matter and have come to learn Highlander methodology for social justice. All are friendly and welcoming.
After breakfast, we head upstairs to the conference center with its signature rocking chairs circling an ornamental center table. The circular arrangement is meant to eliminate power dynamics and encourage open discussion across all members of meetings and workshops, or so Susan told us. She’s our workshop leader and has been working with Highlander for years.
She started us off with a video of Highlander’s integral role in social movements throughout the 20th century, then, she broke us up into groups and act out skits that illustrated Highlander’s teaching practices. The skits were uproarious: Akash transcended human form to become an enlightened collective consciousness. Carol Judy was reincarnated as Skip with a towel around his head. From this we gleaned the principles of the Highlander methodology: popular education, cultural work, and participatory research.
After our group exercise, we went back downstairs for lunch, roamed about outside, reconvened on the back porch, and then reentered the rocking chair laden room for our class reflection. On the walls, Skip and Sara had put up posters of each site we had visited throughout the week. Each of us received a marker with instructions to evaluate sites based on their strategies for collective collaboration, their values, and how they achieved sustainability. Afterward, each of us chose a poster, and lead discussion of the notes made about the organization. This exercise gave much clarity to our week, and highlighted that these site visits now functioned as numerous case studies to which we could apply the theory we had been studying throughout the semester.
Our final exercise for the week was to assemble in our groups outside and use the newfound perspective of food systems to develop our group projects. After some consulting from Skip and Sara, we were called back into the conference room for an important announcement: the group projects for the class were being merged into a singular class project. Saumye was skeptical, Becca was elated, and everyone else seemed relatively relieved. Up until this point, there had seemed to be some tension underlying this project. Skip took the moment of unity to share a poem. I don’t recall the name, the author, nor its contents, but I do recall it being somehow remarkable. Sorry Skip.
At this point, our work was finished. Time to relax and unwind. A playful anticipation took over the group, as we prepared for a night of authentic southern music and raucous dance. A live band arrived and joined us for dinner. We ate, mingled, and then make our way across the field to the gazebo. A woman named Ruth donned red converse, overalls, a pink blouse, a ponytail, and a vivacious personality. She ran about introducing herself to everyone in our group, then picked up a microphone and called us to the dance floor.
I can confidently claim that next few hours were the most magical of the entire trip. Skip skipped, Saumye whipped and Nae Naed, Danielle breakdanced, and we all spun, promenaded, shuffled, do SA doed, wove the basket, birdied, and crowed our way through the many festive forms of square dance. Ruth called it all out over the mic, and after each session, we’d dance our way to a gathering in front of the band who would close the song in harmony. With a hoot and a holler, we would break, huffing and puffing, and giggle by the firepit until we had the strength to get back on our feet. This cycle repeated until the band could play no longer. They packed up, told us we were just as much the entertainment as they were, and bid us good night.
We concluded the night around the fire, reading poems and sharing stories until one by one we trickled off to bed. After a week of intensive study, it was a great relief to be able to end our journey with a bang!
By Nathan Archer
Appalachia Spring Break Field Study – ENTR4506 Advanced Studies in Social Enterprise
