ABSTRACT
In a prophetic voice, the poet Arthur Rimbaud calls out: “armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid cities,” communities where peace, justice, and love flourish. In the U.S., thousands of social and environmental justice groups are creating public homeplaces where mutual aid thrives, prefiguring the “splendid cities” Rimbaud imagined. The predominantly individualistic American culture is accustomed to turning toward dream and image to address personal woes and well-being, while often failing to understand how intimately these are tied to cultural pathology and community well-being. Practices of community dreaming, imaging, and visioning reconnect individual and community transformation, creating public spaces to hear the imaginal’s critical and creative commentary on our lives and to envision together what is most deeply desired. Underscoring the interdependence of the personal and communal, as well as psyche and culture, this essay beckons the reader to accompany it on a “moral pilgrimage” from the Montgomery of the Civil Rights Movement to the U.S.–Mexico border and migrant settlements there. Citing public artworks—murals, music, and poetry—the author shows that participatory practices of liberation psychology, such as community dreaming, imaging, and visioning, can be instrumental for social and psychic decolonization, reconciliation, and restoration.
