Cultivating the ‘Generative Gaze’

As a critically conscious global citizen, my concerns
center on issues of social justice and eradicating the toxins of racism,
misogyny, heterosexism, poverty and structural inequality, and the wanton
destruction of our planet (Bell, 2010; Essed,1991; Freire, 1970; George,
2020, 2021; Grier & Cobbs, 1992; Noguera, 2020; West, 2004; Wilkerson,
2020). Thus, if you accept the proposition concerning the foregoing toxins,
then you may agree we have an obligation to complete our Herculean
environmental clean-up mission. This is, in my view, an intergenerational
undertaking that requires, inter alia, focus, political will, drive and energy.
The complex imbroglio of existential threats confronting our world (i.e., the
climate crisis and environmental degradation, heterosexism, racism,
poverty and mass incarceration, among others) makes cultivating the
Generative Gaze an essential 21 st century leadership practice. We are

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living with the consequences of “discriminatory design” the laws and
practices that normalize “racial hierarchies––not as an ideological
aberration…but as an economic imperative that is built into the machine”
(Benjamin, 2016, p. 148). My research caused me to theorize that the
Generative Gaze centers com prosocial behavior, fierce inclusivity, justice,
and a commitment to fair play born of traditions that value the sacred within
each and every human being, no matter their station in life. My lived
experience informs me that we are at a crossroads. Indeed, this is a
profound inflection point that requires us to restructure our thinking, values,
institutions and practices. Freire (1970) insists that we center the
marginalized and exploited members of our community to become our
leaders and genuine partners.
Hartley (2018) posits that leadership praxis is complex and frequently
contested. She challenges us as leaders to “create synergies to enhance
our understanding” (p. 202). I agree and view GG as an essential approach
to apprehending and healing our world. GG draws upon resources
fashioned by my forebearers, enslaved Africans and disinherited Native
Americans, offering creative insights, practices, and medicine to heal our
broken world. This medicine incudes resources both the universal and
particular—music, story, song, and ceremony—drawn from traditions such
as the rigorous intersectional analysis of Womanist Theory (Crenshaw,
1989; Devoe, 2020; Walker, 1983) and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
Great Law of Peace which teaches that leaders must consider the
implications of their decisions for 7 generations (George, 2020; Noguera,
2020). The Generative Gaze employs circle technology to de-emphasize
hierarchy and place everyone equidistant from the center where power
resides and is exercised––the work is from center to circumference. The

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monumentally important intergenerational assignment of cultivating
leadership for a thriving future is urgent precisely because of our failure to
be truly democratic and inclusive (Wilkerson, 2020).

Finally, I flag Kotre & Kotre’s (1998) concept of generative buffering—the
commitment to disrupt and eventually end the transmission of harmful
traits, ideas, patterns, practices, and institutions. Buffering is an essential
ingredient in the Generative Gaze. reimagining leadership. The Generative
Gaze requires us to identify and uproot toxic, self-defeating practices and
patterns that cause or exacerbate the existential threats confronting our
world.

References

Benjamin, R. (2016). Catching our breath: Critical race STS and the
carceral imagination. Engaging Science, Technology, & Society, 2,
145–156. https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2016.70
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A
Black feminist critique of anti-discrimination doctrine, feminist theory
and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989,
139–167. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499142-5
Devoe, Y. A. (2020). In Pictures and Words: A Womanist Answer to
Addressing the Lived Experience of African American Women and

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Their Bodies—A Gumbo of Liberation and
Healing. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/611
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder &
Herder.

George, Atim Eneida “Generative Leadership and the Life of Aurelia
Erskine Brazeal, a Trailblazing African American Female Foreign
Service Officer” (2020). Dissertations & Theses. 549.
https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/549
Hartley, J. (2018) Ten propositions about public leadership, International
Journal of Public Leadership, Vol. 14 Issue: 4, pp. 202-217.

Noguera, J. (2020). Seeding transformation for seven generations: a case
study of roses in concrete community school (Publication No.
28095769) [Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Los
Angeles]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
Walker, A. (1983). In search of our mothers’ gardens: Womanist prose. San
Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.