BIO
Romand Coles is an omnivorous student of ethical-political theory and practice who focuses on receptivity, dialogue and grassroots democracy. He is especially interested in how responsive relationship building across differences can generate transformative power to address inequality, ecological catastrophe, colonial legacies and malignant capitalism. His scholarly and activist sensibilities interweave a ‘fierce urgency of now’ with a ‘wild patience’. His work ranges widely, from philosophy to music, theatre and poetry, from social movements and community organizing to anthropology and theology, from neuroscience to evolutionary theory, ecological sciences, and animal studies. For decades, he has worked experimentally in embodied democratic processes that cross lines of race, class, religion, nationality and ideology to co-create commonwealth. He is a leader in higher education initiatives for community-based ‘action research’ that rearticulate teaching and learning in reciprocal relationships with myriad communities, to enhance our capacities for imagination, thought and action. Coles is a professor in the Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University in Sydney, Australia. His books include Visionary Pragmatism: Radical and Ecological Democracy in Neoliberal Times, Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy, and Christianity, Democracy and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Christian and a Radical Democrat (with Stanley Hauerwas).
ARTEFACT