BEI Fellows gather annually and at meetings throughout the year with scholars to learn and discuss areas relevant to our Mission and Commitments. Fellows then integrate this work with their work as writers and artists within their home communities. See Events.

THEMES, 2005-2016

2016

Borders, Boundaries and Bridges: separateness and commonness of communities

Readings:

  • The Carnivore Way by BEI Scholar Cristina Eisenberg
  • Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy
  • The Politics of Resentment, Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker by Katherine Cramer

 

2015

New voices, new opportunities

 

Unexpected voices and why-Nikki Haley and WalMart on lowering and taking off the shelves the Confederate battle

 

Survey by the American Academy of Religions on views on environmental issues by religion and political party

 

Possible effects of Pope Francis and Laudato Si on spreading the word on effects of climate change on our home, earth

 

2014

Effects of greenery on reducing fear near public housing

Problems with the environmental moment and peoples of color-Presented in Black Faces, White Spaces

Performance and political art- a play by Eve Ensler

 

2013

“Spirituality,” “religiosity,” and how the two terms intersect and diverge

History of faith leaders in social movements

Spiritual legacy of Occupy movements

 

2012

No meeting due to illness of Patricia Monaghan

2011

Resilience in field biology and human social systems

 

2010

Food and energy

The sacred table

The gift economy: Lewis Hyde, Genevieve Vaughan and others

Raymond Williams and Chinua Achebe: town and country

“The Colors of Nature”

 

2009

Commodification and the arts

Alternative economic structures

Bell Hooks’ ideas on place

Mirror neurons and empathy

 

2008

Trophic cascades and keystone predation

The Communist Manifesto

Place and history

 

2007

Aldo Leopold’s vision

Standpoint and feminist epistomology

Wallace Stegner on place

Aristotelian and non-Aristotelian narrative structures

 

2006

The Second Great Awakening

Native American environmental philosophy

The Chatauqua movement

Transcendentalism vs Puritanism in American culture

 

2005

Philosophy of George Lakov

Framing, metaphor and embodiment in art

Alternative images of artists’ connection to society

Chaos theory and art

Influence of think-tanks on American politics

mary swanderBEI is a dynamic collective of artists, writers, and scholars who are dedicated to integrating concepts of earth, arts, spirituality, and society. BEI has provided a sage network of supportive activists with whom to share my work, deepen my consciousness of social justice, and become inspired to action. As a BEI fellow, I have made friendships with some of the most talented writers and probing scholars throughout the U.S. and abroad. – Mary Swander