Stretching the Boundaries of Citizenship

Around the world, the modern experience of citizenship has sometimes been reduced to voting, paying taxes, lobbying the government for (or against) a particular policy, or requesting resources from a government body. Many feel disenchanted with this "thin democracy" and excluded from any real decision-making and control over the future. And so they have turned to other personal or social matters and left the political game for the select few to play — an attitude which fuels disaffection, apathy and hopelessness, rather than generating a sense of self-efficacy and community transformation.

To constitute a rich culture of democratic participation requires imaginative, effective citizens — people who can act with others to effect positive change of their own design, people with the commitment, skills, persistence and courage to actively shape their community’s future. Over the last 10 years, Imagine Chicago has been exploring what it means to be a citizen and how the boundaries of citizenship can be expanded.

Part of the stretching of citizenship has come from Imagine Chicago’s support of learning communities that make it possible to have positive, constructive experiences with people from different cultures or neighborhoods, among different professions, or across generations. Interacting in situations that may be new, unnatural, or unusual for us helps to challenge our prior assumptions and beliefs. We engage in deeper levels of learning in order to resolve these ‘disturbances’ and to regain a sense of balance and meaning. Reflecting on what is happening in these diverse exchanges, and sharing these reflections with each other, leads to the development of new understanding, skills, values and attitudes. Many times, the learning we gain from dissonant but constructive contexts can take us into new directions and help us to transcend our limitations, fears and insecurities.

The Greeks in early Athens recognized that cities and citizens are constituted through public conversations. As we name what we want for our communities, and work together on behalf of those hopes, we come to realize that each of our futures is intimately connected with others’; we find language which bridges difference, and we expand our sense of the community to which we belong. As we move to the edge of our narrow circles to engage in this broader conversation and action, we find ourselves standing at the center of a much larger circle.

Finally, citizenship is stretched by our sharing in public why civic engagement matters. Imagine Chicago encourages discussion of what motivates us to act in community, valuing whatever inner or ‘spiritual’ strength sustains a commitment to the common good. For citizens to actively shape the future, they must see purpose in and derive meaning from their work. Rather than ignore this deepest desire, Imagine Chicago has sought ways to ignite it and to make it public. It is this elevation of what makes us human that takes citizenship, in a movement of imagination, to a whole new level.