Abstract
In today’s civic sphere, anxiety regarding the “threats” of authoritarianism, migration, economic disruption, multiculturalism, globalization, identity, etc. permeates political and public life as division and fear reverberate through media broadcast and local conversation. The “threat” discourse is pervasive, persistent, and often paralyzing. Questions linger regarding where we go from here. This chapter focuses on the exploration of envisioning a spiritual democracy, specifically the cultivation of a democratic spirit through exploring ideas that inform art, poetry, teaching, and literature to stage a reimagining of Walt Whitman’s seminal work, Democratic Vistas. Using Whitman’s manuscript, and related foundational writings to set the historical and social context, this chapter aims to build on Whitman’s vision to construct an artistic pathway forward, embracing democratic living through love, expression, community, and citizenship.
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Swarts, G.P. (2018). Revisiting a Spiritual Democracy: In Search of Whitman’s Democratic Vistas. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_28-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_28-1
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