Enlarging the Tent by Jonathan Doering and Nim Njuguna

Authors: Jonathan Doering and Nim NjReview by Ruth Tod

Enlarging the Tent: Two Quakers in conversation about racial justice offers an insightful approach for individual and group consideration of racial justice issues. In eight tender and thoughtful conversations, Jonathan Doering and Nim Njuguna raise important questions about anti-racism and how to respond to it. Each conversation deserves time for reflection.

As I read them, I feel part of their quest for mutual understanding, and wish I could join in. Perhaps the loose, open approach they offer is a kind of model of how to talk about this difficult subject from different perspectives.

Both authors are Quakers and, as they speak, I think there is an assumption that they are mainly addressing Quakers (though there is a glossary of Quaker terms at the end, for those who might need it). Nim, a black Kenyan, is a seasoned activist who sees a continuum of learning from the first position of ‘novice’ through to that of ‘expert’, always open to learning more. Jonathan, a white Briton, seems to identify as a novice, seeking to unpack his beliefs and examine his efforts. Enlarging the Tent invites us to go on a journey with them to see how our Meetings can be more consciously diverse and inclusive, particularly, though not exclusively, in relation to race and ethnicity.

One of the tasks that Nim and Jonathan set themselves is to explore the spiritual underpinning of effective work – the ‘hidden gems’. It is not enough to plunge into action nor simply to reflect for ourselves. We need to do both, and learn how to ‘live from the inside out’. This principle colours our perceptions as well as our actions. Careful listening to ourselves and others is the key to discovering unconscious bias, so that we can see what informs our views. We are not asked to deny differences but to stop them from shaping our responses and relationships. When we are truly listening to ourselves, we see ourselves as whole human beings, with complex, varied lives.

Most of us have experienced, at some time in our lives, being excluded or threatened, so we can empathise when these things happen to others. Acknowledging our wholeness means all of us accepting all our emotions: our defensiveness, grief, anger or sadness, and also our joy, generosity and compassion. In place of the victim-rescuer-persecutor mindset, think equality and mutual respect. In place of ‘othering’, embrace our common humanity and belonging.

Diversity is enriching. Each of us is a unique beautiful person on a journey. Knowing this, Nim reminds us, is one of the most important building blocks for creating a just society.

As the conversations weave around, Jonathan and Nim consider how to influence and enthuse others. How do we ‘move from good intentions to impact’? Nim offers another continuum divided into three parts: those who are already on board; those in the middle ground, who are potentially open; and those who are actively against. It is the middle that interests the authors most. Once people acknowledge the issues, what then? What stops people making changes? Why do we so often make new resolutions and fail to follow them through? A timely New Year question, this, for which the Guardian author Oliver Burkeman had a few answers recently (‘The key to keeping new year resolutions? Don’t make them in the first place’, December 30). For example, where possible, stop doing things you no longer want to do and take small steps, preferably enjoyable ones, in your new direction. Enthusiasm sticks far more effectively than duty.

The conversations in this book meander round these and other threads. I am only familiar with two Area Meetings, and I find myself wondering what other Meetings are like and what Friends in those Meetings would think as they read. Nim and Jonathan talk about breaking out of silos and being willing to embrace discomfort and change. They recognise that some people are unable to do this because they only have one narrative and cannot imagine thinking differently. Stories, poems, biographies and performances can all help us widen our horizons. Nim quotes the writer and activist Audre Lourde, who said ‘the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house’. What are our tools and resources? The authors also refer to the Quaker writer Helen Morgan Brooks, who writes eloquently about pain and love, as shown by this extract from her poem ‘The Bus Comes’:

Love lives and is vital
in the mien of those
who sit on facing benches
in quiet meeting houses,
Praying in silence,
in strong silence,
that reaches out and embraces
all gypsying thoughts
and gathers them in
to be blessed.

Love is the promise,
“I will not leave you comfortless.”
Comfortless in a deep shadowed crevice,
deprived of the newness of morning,
The arch of noon,
The purpose royal,
Surrounding the pin oaks at evening.

I must believe in love
As a testimony against madness
and war and broken promises.
I choose love.

Is it through storytelling, poetry, music and art that hearts are transformed? As well as through real shared experience out on the streets and workplaces?

Jonathan and Nim acknowledge that much of their analysis also applies to other social issues. The structural default position that upholds power and privilege is not confined to the area of racial justice. Wherever we look, there are interconnections on a political as well as on a social and personal level. The challenge is to figure out what we are led to do. In this context the idea of ‘enlarging the tent’ is helpful because it offers a way of engaging collectively, feeling both safe and being open at the same time. Jonathan imagines the tent having flaps that we can open or close, as we chose. This is one of the points at which I’d like to join in because I think the question of ‘enlarging the tent’, among British Quakers also raises questions about our limited appeal and how we reach out to others generally.

In the nine worksheets that follow the book, Nim and Jonathan invite Friends to be part of a community of anti-racist practitioners for social justice. The worksheets seem to assume the participants are white, which may be realistic to begin with, but there is a point at which the conversations need to open up. We are asked, ‘How can we share with others the beauty as well as the cruelty of our world? How do we perceive others and how do they perceive us?’ Inner exploration such as this is the foundation of a theology of solidarity and the basis of our actions. They ask, ‘Where are you led?’

At the end we are invited to send feedback, with the concluding reminder that those committed to anti-racism are in for a long haul. We are encouraged to keep talking and listening.

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