{"id":32745,"date":"2023-08-28T12:14:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32745"},"modified":"2023-08-28T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:14:27","slug":"context-is-everything-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/context-is-everything-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Context Is Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

Context Is Everything<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first time I heard about Cecil Rhodes and his longer history was during a visit to Oxford, England in September 2017 with a group of CCCU leaders for the Oxford Onclave. \u00a0Standing before us was the Dean of Corpus Christi, who detailed the problems her college officials were facing as students angrily protested the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue. It all started on March 9, 2015. The movement known as Rhodes Must Fall\u00a0<\/span><\/em>began with a protest at the University of Cape Town and eventually spread to Oxford University, gaining enormous public attention. \u00a0Even though it felt like these battles had been going on for far longer than 2015\u2019s staging, the removal of the large statue of Cecil Rhodes from the University of Cape Town happened at lightning speed. \u00a0However, at Oxford University\u2019s Oriel College, a statue of Rhodes still stands. \u00a0Journalist Amit Chaudhuri[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0claims it\u2019s still standing as an acknowledgement of the $100,000 he (Rhodes) left the college in his will.[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 I listened curiously as the Dean expressed her position on the matter with forthrightness unearthing many questions for me\u2013yet, one thing was for sure: on multiple levels, I lacked context.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0As I was reading\u00a0The Secret History of Oxford\u00a0<\/span>by Paul Sullivan, I was pleasantly surprised by how the historical contents of the book provided context. \u00a0As I recalled the Dean\u2019s forthrightness for why Oxford chose to keep the Rhodes statue, I wondered how often I might be in danger of missing something important in my reading? <\/span><\/p>\n

How Vital is Context?<\/p>\n

Looking back, I remember the Dean\u2019s first statement after telling the story of Rhodes:<\/p>\n

We need more history, not less.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How does this statement resonate with me? Truth be told, Sullivan\u2019s sixty summary pages of the Oxford colleges might have been repetitive and dry if not for the fact that Magdalen College held such famous names as Dudley Moore, Oscar Wilde and C.S. Lewis. \u00a0Or, to my surprise, Balliol College was famous for John Wycliffe, King Olav, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Graham Greene and Richard Dawson. Knowing that Somerville College sprung from an association of higher education for women[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0endears Dorothy Sayer\u2019s writing and work to me all the more. Gaining more history of the colleges and not less, brings us an awareness of how diverse[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0the student body of Oxford University truly was through the centuries; I imagine Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher studying in the same library. But I am still left with this question:\u00a0Is context closely related to how history is told?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Best practice is to leave the artifacts and talk about it in context,<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0was the Dean\u2019s second point or as she called them, lessons. \u00a0The controversy surrounding the Rhodes\u2019s statue is steeped in the argument that he was racist. One\u00a0New York Times<\/span><\/em>\u00a0journalist writes, \u201cBiographers and critics have highlighted his racist views saying his discriminatory policies against native residents paved the way for apartheid.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Or what about the school board leaders in San Francisco who changed the names of the schools because past presidents Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and poet Robert Louis Stevenson didn\u2019t meet their standards? \u00a0The decision process, however, was considered a joke as a cursory Google search was used and, \u201cHistorians were not consulted.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

How do we talk (in context) about the historical figures of whom schools are named? Or is it better for unity within community to change the names? Reading Sullivan\u2019s chapter on Statues and Memorials<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>helped me remember people who did both good and evil, kind and sinful things along with remembering the context. \u00a0Might remembering the context help us not repeat the parts of history that are pure evil? Or does elevating someone\u2019s name send an altogether different message?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The dean\u2019s final words as we left that day were more of a question and one I will keep close in mind as we prepare to spend a week in Oxford, England:<\/p>\n

Why do we \u201cstatutize\u201d people?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it a form of judging? Might putting people on pedestals be to our peril? In the Preface to Paul Sullivan\u2019s book, he writes about how he came to learn of the \u201csecrets of Oxford,\u201d on his way to explore a castle. \u00a0While he\u2019s sitting on a small boat, someone\u2019s floating home, he discovers the local beer, the Kite Public House and the American Crayfish that infest the river. \u00a0This tiny, introductory story gives us context of why he wrote the book and gave it the title he did. \u00a0To answer the question above about why we “statutize” people, remember them, talk about their heroic or horrible deeds, I believe Paul Sullivan prepares a space for readers (particularly for us) to listen and learn with our most authentic selves while we are posed with the question, \u201cWhat does this history mean for us today as we study leadership?\u201d \u00a0How might we be so very careful about talking about our values and applying them? May I be aware, more than before, that context is everything. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>\u00a0Admit Chaudhuri is listed as an alum of Oxford University in Sullivan\u2019s book,\u00a0<\/span>The Secret History of Oxford.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a>\u00a0Chaudhuri, \u201cThe Real Meaning of Rhodes Must Fall.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a>\u00a0Sullivan,\u00a0<\/span>The Secret History of Oxford<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/a>\u00a0Dr. Jason Clark\u2019s comment during today\u2019s (8\/28\/23) chat puts my use of \u201cdiverse\u201d in even more context.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a>\u00a0Peltier, \u201cScholars at Oxford University Refuse to Teach Under Statue of Colonialist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[6]<\/a>\u00a0Kamiya, \u201cThe Holier-Than-Thou Crusade in San Francisco.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Context Is Everything The first time I heard about Cecil Rhodes and his longer history was during a visit to Oxford, England in September 2017 with a group of CCCU leaders for the Oxford Onclave. \u00a0Standing before us was the Dean of Corpus Christi, who detailed the problems her college officials were facing as students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2802,2489,2799,2800,2801,2798],"class_list":["post-32745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-contextiseverything","tag-dlgp02","tag-oxford-sullivan","tag-oxforduniversity","tag-rhodesmustfall","tag-secrethistoryofoxford","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32746,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32745\/revisions\/32746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}