{"id":14811,"date":"2017-10-26T13:30:17","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T20:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14811"},"modified":"2017-10-26T13:30:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T20:30:17","slug":"power-and-the-surrender-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/power-and-the-surrender-of-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Power, and the surrender of power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the development of our DMin research, we must not neglect the significant potential of image and video to record, track, explain, and illustrate concepts.\u00a0 Sarah Pink\u2019s book, Doing Visual Ethnography (2nd<\/sup> Edition),<\/em> advances the power of image to convey meaning; as we apply these principles, we can also communicate our ideas in a more comprehensive, and creative, fashion.<\/p>\n

Communicating meaning is laden with minefields.\u00a0 We tend to assume that we are clearly delivering a message.\u00a0 But what I think I say is often interpreted differently by another.\u00a0 Pink states, \u201cEthnographers ought to be self-conscious about how they represent themselves to informants and they ought to consider how their identities are constructed and understood by the people with whom they work.\u201d[1]<\/a> The ethnographer must understand her own power in plying her trade.<\/p>\n

The tools with which we communicate \u2013 in an ethnographer\u2019s case, the camera \u2013 wield considerable influence to tell a story that may have little to do with what is really happening.\u00a0 The one with the camera has power over the person photographed.\u00a0 Pink asserts, \u201cThe act of photography is imbued with issues of power\u201d.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 The ethnographer frames the story and tells it as their artefact is used, shared and commented upon.\u00a0 The informant traditionally had little influence on what reality was conveyed.\u00a0 This, in my opinion, is Pink\u2019s main concern and the purpose of the book \u2013 to create a more level playing field between ethnographer and informant, and in her book, she suggests multiple ways to share power with the subject.<\/p>\n

In my case, while I consider my role to be one of non-traditional ministry, others observe my role in philanthropy and interpret this ministry through a grid of wealth and privilege.\u00a0 My tools are considered powerful.\u00a0 Money has remarkable power when held and retained.\u00a0 It has potentially greater power when unleashed and directed in the form of a grant.\u00a0 The tools of my trade \u2013 philanthropic grants \u2013 shape organizational life, determine strategic direction, and influence ministry outcomes.<\/p>\n

While she touches on the power of the camera, Pink could have offered deeper analysis of its power, and of the power imbalance that comes from being a person in a power role.\u00a0 While she offers that her tool can be used as a can-opener to \u201cestablish rapport with one\u2019s informants\u201d[3]<\/a>, power dynamics are in considerable play when a camera utilized in ethnographic research is snapping merrily away. \u00a0Reviewer Gabrielle Hezekiah also critiqued Pink, believing she should have focused more on making \u201c\u2026connections between current debates on subjectivity and the gaze within \u2018subject\u2019 communities and the development of reflexive visual practice in the social sciences.\u201d[4]<\/a> \u00a0This objectifying gaze can be overcome when one begins to utilize the camera as a \u201cdemocratizing technology\u201d[5]<\/a> that strengthens relationship and respects the other.<\/p>\n

These similar distinctions between the powerful and the powerless also resonate strongly with me in my work.\u00a0 Pink struggles with the term \u201cinformant\u201d[6]<\/a> because the relationships she has with her subjects have become intimate and familiar.\u00a0 In a similar way, I struggle with the traditional term \u201cgrantee\u201d which reduces a person to a transactional construct based on the money \u2013 a grantee is one who receives a grant. \u00a0For both Pink and myself, we long to humanize the relationship, and move away from commodifying the other.<\/p>\n

So how does one break free of this power imbalance, and allow grants for ministry to become a democratizing technology?\u00a0 How can we lower the barriers that are often present between the Haves and Have Nots?\u00a0 Is it possible that just as Pink\u2019s friend\/subject roles blended as she entered into the Spanish subculture of bullfighting[7]<\/a>, so too could giver\/receiver roles blend in a ministry setting?<\/p>\n

I think it is difficult, but possible, for Christian philanthropists.\u00a0 Space limits me from going into detail, but some of the ways to lower the power imbalance include transparent and regular communication, a clear process for applying for and disbursing funds, an acknowledgment that imperfection is likely and acceptable in achieving goals, and recognizing that we, as givers, only play a minor and secondary role in advancing the outcomes desired.\u00a0 It may not feel like it if you\u2019re seeking financial aid, but if God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, our role as givers is just 1 in 1000.<\/p>\n

Andy Crouch, in his thoughtful book, Strong and Weak<\/em>, articulates that the way forward for one who follows Christ is by embracing vulnerability as He did in the kenosis[8]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. \u00a0One must not grasp at the gifts of wealth and privilege; instead their gift is held in in tension with vulnerability and surrendered with open hands. Crouch states, \u201c\u2026our hidden and obvious flaws, failures and limitations are in fact the path to true strength.\u201d[9]<\/a> In a similar vein, I\u2019m reminded by our recent Advance.\u00a0 While powerful as an influential ANC leader, Nelson Mandela chose to embrace the vulnerability and silence imposed by Robben Island, and he was later lifted up as President of the new Republic.\u00a0 A short one term later, before constitutionally mandated, he stepped down to provide a model for democratic transition in Africa.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to conclude with this brief video \u2013 a visual artefact \u2013 that tells a simple story of grace when the videographer chose to relinquish her power over her subjects.\u00a0 While those with the tools (be they cameras or grants) have inherent power, the way they administer their power in vulnerability can be a source of healing and empowerment to others.<\/p>\n