Blog from Antonio López, Associate Professor, Department of English, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
I value how GWALA defamiliarized the work of university leadership and administration. The concept of defamiliarization comes from literary studies, where it means the way a poem or a story makes the things of everyday life look recognizable and strange at one and the same time, thereby provoking new insights about the nature of art, the world, and ourselves. It’s a portable concept, so I offer it here to address two leadership categories which GWALA has defamiliarized especially well this year: emotions and cohort.
Emotions: We spent a lot of time this year talking about the challenge of recognizing and acknowledging the feelings people have about work, especially when a desire to help temps us to slalom around someone’s frustration, sadness, and so on. This means not just appreciating how emotions (good, bad, and everything in between) affect others; it’s also more than just appreciating how emotions affect us, too. It’s about knowing how you communicate and offer help in both good moods and bad, always trying to do better at both. And, finally, easier said than done, it’s also about not dwelling on the negatives, especially, as one of our cohort memorably put it, when those negatives are trying to keep you up at 3 AM.
Cohort: Speaking of GWALA peers, many have said that getting to know the cohort is perhaps the best thing about the experience, and I agree. The collective wisdom, good cheer, and mutual support of my fellow GWALA participants is something that will stay with me. Here’s the defamiliarization: It’s OK if you don’t see these great folks often (or at all) after the program’s over. At least for me, knowing how busy everyone is, the cohort’s power resides in the abstract, and that just might be enough: I know these wise folks, brimming with bonhomie and representing every kind of discipline at the university, are somewhere out there on campus, often just a floor or building away, experiencing professional challenges and successes like me. Though I may not be in touch with them, I know they’re there. That feels supportive—and good.