BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Recently, I had gotten the wonderful opportunity to hear Dr. Dan Haumschild give an engaging presentation through volunteering at my high school. In this blog post, I will try my best to explain what Dr. Haumschild taught me during this lecture as I believe this information is very valuable and should be shared with others. Dr. Haumschild is a Holocaust Education Fellow for HERC and Cardinal Stritch University and serves as a Lecturer for the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in the Honors College where he offers interdisciplinary courses that revolve around issues related to genocide, civil strife, memory, and narrative.
UNIVERSE OF OBLIGATION
Sociologist Helen Fein created a concept called the Universe of Obligation where people fall into specific orbits based off of our sense of "whom obligations are owed, to whom rules apply, and to those injury calls for amends". Those who we feel more connected to are closer to the center of the universe (self or "me") and their gravitational pull affects us more.
Ask yourself, what influences our sense of connection to others? Well, it may be your values, morals, or bias towards others. An example that Dr. Dan Haumschild used related to the Nazis, as they would judge citizens based off of if they "fit their rubric of good" (aka Aryan/Nordic).
The Universe of Obligation is meant to always be dynamic, however, when the dynamic universe turns static this causes an "US vs THEM" mentality which causes conflict. Research shows that insecurity, fear, uncertainty, hunger, economic crisis, and proximity to violence are what contribute to this "US vs THEM" mentality.
COMMUNITY
When we think about the word "community" we tend to think of it as a noun and define it by characteristics such as similarities, geographical location, and shared values/morals. When we look at the etymology behind the word "community" we find the root word "munis". The root word "munis" means "to give, to share; duty to do so" which is very similar to having the obligation to share and to be open to another (relates to Universe of Obligation). Instead, we should think of "community" as a verb. We build community through our actions and interactions between others.
COMMUNITY VS IMMUNITY
Community is the shared experience of giving/sharing with another while immunity is withdrawing from sharing and exempting self from obligation. To be immune means to enclose one's self from others and creating the noun form of "community". Closing yourself off to protect the self causes negative results as the only way to be fully immune is to execute death. The universe is always interactive with the self and there is no reasonable way to be fully immune.
If you would like to contact Dr. Dan Haumschild his current business email address is DanH@milwaukeejewish.org, please send kind regards!
Komentáře