Abstract:
The following essay investigates the animating force of jester-humour and trickster-critique as
necessary components of prophetic consciousness and social movement. Climate change
devastation coupled with racialised socio-economic predation today faces social movement
with a stark demand. The root-work necessary enjoins challenge of human presumption about
the meaning of life at the most basic level. The locus from which such a depth-exploration will
be elaborated here is postindustrial Detroit, on the part of a poet-activist-educator who will
insist that ‘jesterism’ as ‘prophetic animation’ cannot merely be ‘talked about’, but begs
performance and embodiment – even in the process of writing and theorising. Indigenous
wisdom and folk spirituality will supply historical perspective in asserting laughter as both
antidote to trauma and tactic of critique – whether looking at traditional African practices of
tricksterism reincarnate in everyday street life in Detroit, medieval Christian celebrations of
the Feast of Fools subverting official Church orthodoxies in feudal Europe, or the postmodern
insurgence of hip-hop beats and tags in challenging corporate gentrification and church
capitulation at the emblematic heart of de-industrialisation.
Description:
The collection entitled ‘Spirit rising: tracing movements of justice’, forms part of the ‘Faith in the City’ research project, hosted by
the Centre for Contextual Ministry in the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria. Some of the articles were papers presented at the
Biennial Consultation on Urban Ministry, hosted by the Institute for Urban Ministry, in collaboration with other organizations, from 17-20
August 2016. The theme of this Consultation was ‘#We must rise: healers - dreamers – jesters’.
