Wyatt Earp & Willful Ignorance Meet in a Tunnel
Nestled between Tombstone Canyon and the San Pedro Valley is the Mule Pass Tunnel. History, lore, and confusion are all part of the story of the tunnel—this is the way to the Queen of the copper mines in the same territory where Wyatt Earp pursued vendettas, and a nearby marker erroneously claims this as the continental divide). But none of that mattered when my younger siblings and I would make the trek to Bisbee, Arizona with my mom or dad. The Tunnel was the most harrowing part of the journey for my sister, who, in her own way, insisted people digging through mountains for the sake of a road was an act of hubris sure to bring disaster at exactly the moment our little family hatchback was cruising through the pass. She also became convinced (through no help from our brother or me, I’m sure) that lifting her feet up off the floor and holding her breath while the car went through Arizona’s longest highway tunnel[1] was the one guaranteed way to make sure we made it safely to the other side.
In some ways, I feel like this doctoral journey is like that tunnel. It is a liminal space, valid on its own, but a transition that must be completed—in this case, between ways of interacting with the world[2]. Our work seems to be a kind of meta-threshold that (hopefully!) will unlock new ways of thinking, learning, and engagement far into the future. No doubt, there will be moments when the whole endeavor feels like hubris or as though the world might cave in, moments when I’m holding my breath in hopes it helps to make it through. I’m not aware yet of all of the preconceptions or paradigms I have right now that will need to be broken or reshaped in order to experience the kind of transformation I believe will be part of this process, but I’m sure none of that will be particularly comfortable.
Our readings on threshold concepts already have substantial applications for me in both the doctoral journey as a journey and as it relates to inviting others to interact with my NPO. First, I’m reminded that engaging in these thresholds is a very human thing: we all encounter them many times throughout our lives, and we have the agency to either embrace the opportunity or resist and reject what is there. Knowing the struggle of the “in-between” is shared not just generally but in real-time by others in the cohort and my peer group gives me hope that we will be able to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” even when we feel too stretched or disoriented[3].
Second, because this is a human, shared thing, it’s also something to engage with holistically[4]. We are each whole people, learning and engaging our minds, bodies, emotions, and communities in a process that involves not just academic learning but spiritual transformation. As I interact with others in my NPO process, I’m not just trying to interact with one of these elements but inviting them to be full-value participants, knowing there will be components that require working through thresholds of understanding and application that might elicit strong emotional, mental, and spiritual reactions.
One of the challenges around my NPO (which currently focuses on cultivating belonging across differences and substantial dividing lines) is the question of willful ignorance. I was challenged with these questions by an interview participant: How is it “possible that people can live in this nation and NOT [sic] know there are serious racial problems and inequalities? To what extent would they have to isolate themselves to be unaware of what is ever-present? Do they never watch TV, or engage in social media, or read? Do they never encounter others?”[5] In this case, it seems “racial problems and inequalities” are likely a threshold concept where an avenue of resistance may be intentional blindness that allows the learner to remain in an existing mental and structural paradigm. I’m not yet sure if or how this will play out, but I think recognizing the whole person and community components mentioned earlier will be an essential part of providing the most effective kind of support required to help participants journey through this threshold.
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[1] Peter Corbet. “Mule Pass Tunnel Has Eased Trip To-from Bisbee for 60 Years.” Mule Pass Tunnel has eased trip to-from Bisbee for 60 years | Department of Transportation, April 11, 2018. https://azdot.gov/blog-article/mule-pass-tunnel-has-eased-trip-bisbee-60-years.
[2] Gina Wisker, “Beyond Blockages to Ownership, Agency, and Articulation: Liminal Spaces and Conceptual Threshold Crossin in Doctoral Learning,” in in Threshold Concepts in Practice, ed. R. Land, J. H. F. Meyer, and M. T. Flanagan (Amsterdam: Sense Publishers, 2016), 171.
[3] Michelle Salmona, Dan Kaczynski, and Leigh N. Wood, “The Importance of Liminal Space for Doctoral Success,” in Threshold Concepts in Practice, ed. R. Land, J. H. F. Meyer, and M. T. Flanagan (Amsterdam: Sense Publishers, 2016), 162.
[4] Anastasia Efklides, “Metacognition, affect, and conceptual difficulty,” in Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge, ed. J. H. F. Meyer and R. Land, (New York: Routledge, 2006), 48.
[5] Written comment from an interview participant, an expert in church and race dynamics.
About the Author
Jeremiah Gómez
I get to be Sarah's husband and Jubilee's and Zechariah's dad. I also get to serve as lead pastor at Trinity Church, a dynamic church in the Midwest where we're diligently seeking to Love God, love others, live sent, and be transformed together in community. I love the privilege of working across differences, championing healing and reconciliation in many forms.One response to “Wyatt Earp & Willful Ignorance Meet in a Tunnel”
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Jeremiah,
Thanks for the tunnel story. I remember thinking that bridges were the same kind of thing—just waiting to collapse as our family drove over them. I would always lock the doors before the bridge. That way, at least the water could not get in as we plunged into the river!
I look forward to hearing more about the approach of your NPO in the coming months/years. With such an emotionally charged topic, how can people get to the place where they are willing to acknowledge that there is a threshold and they are liminality? Do you see a path forward at this point in your doctoral program that allows individuals to come out of there entrenchment?