2008 Woodie Awards
In depth with Dr. Robert Crawford: A founding UWT faculty member and campus political activist
Michele Brittany
Issue date: 4/21/05 Section: Campus News
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The Early Years
Crawford's formative years were spent mostly in Utah and California. He attended Whittier College, in Southern California, on a track scholarship. He was admitted on provisional status because, as Crawford relates with a chuckle, "my academics were not very good."
In 1963-1964, Crawford was in Africa. He was attending the University of Ghana. Ghana had just won its independence in 1957. There was a lot of energy. The atmosphere was one of possibilities. This was before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) imposed huge structural adjustments on African countries where the spread of neo-market policies began to hurt the economies of Africa. This was also before the AIDS epidemic. Crawford loved the Ghanaian spirit.
"Travel always opens one to new perspectives and new ways of seeing ," Crawford said.
In Ghana, he discovered the importance of civil liberties and due process. Before the year was out, he left the country in protest against the detention without trial or charges of several of his friends who were the leaders of the university's student organization.
"There, I also discovered how student activism could make a difference in the larger political arena," Crawford says.
On return to Whittier College, Crawford became active on campus in the Civil Rights Movement and the Student Movement.
As a graduate student, Crawford attended the University of Chicago and pursued African Studies for the first year or two. He also became involved in the anti-war movement, which became central to him. And he would continue to work for peace in Vietnam for the next nine years.
During this time, Crawford was also involved in welfare rights organizing.
Crawford's graduate studies were deeply influenced by his politics. He shifted out of African and Comparative politics and took up Community Organization and Poverty Politics.
"My primary interest has been how politics work through culture and the importance of culture for understanding ideology," Crawford says of the past twenty years.
These concerns forced Crawford to become an interdisciplinary scholar. He taught himself the conceptual tools he needed from cultural anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.
The Call of Washington
Crawford moved to Washington in January 1986. Without a job at the time, and wanting to live for a spell in the wild, he settled in a cabin located in the rainforest.
A few months later, he met Merna, his future wife. "I fell for her immediately," Crawford shyly smiles, adding that he had to convince her it should be mutual.
He taught at Evergreen State College for almost three years through yearly appointments. The college simply did not have any full-time faculty positions. Fortunately, he saw an advertisement in the newspaper for faculty positions at the newly established UWT. Attracted to the innovative interdisciplinary blueprint imagined for the new campus, he applied and was hired. That was 1990.
"It was really quite fortuitous," Crawford said of the opportunity to work as a founding faculty member of the campus. "I had never been associated with a new campus."
The early years of UWT were varied and demanding. Just as Crawford had experienced in Ghana, there was that same energy of possibilities at UWT.
While Crawford threw his energies into UWT, his political activism waned.
"I was mobilized at various moments. I've always been one for a good demonstration," Crawford says with a grin on his face.
9/11
"I shared with most Americans the shock, horror, and a deep sense of grief at the loss of life - stunned really and not knowing how to make sense of it," Crawford relates of those events of September 11.
The attack was just before the autumn quarter. Crawford held discussions in his classes about the event but he says he took several months to compose his thoughts and develop a perspective.
"Yet, it seemed suddenly, dramatically, we were in a new era that demanded a change in my teaching focus. It demanded a response to what, in my perception, was rapidly developing to be a very dangerous situation for our country and the world," Crawford said.
He relates how some people were talking about World War III and how patriotism was being hijacked with President Bush's war rhetoric including identifying a group of people as the enemy that must be destroyed and that anyone that wasn't with Bush and his administration was also the enemy. To Crawford, this was no time to be complacent.
Crawford says that a historical perspective reveals that the country has been moving towards the right, starting back in 1968 with the presidential victory of Richard Nixon. The movement continued to build momentum during the 1980s and 1990s. Yet,Crawford admits, he never anticipated that the shift to the right would be as radical as it has been in the last four plus years.
Crawford, along with several others at UWT, responded to the new post-9/11 militarism, and especially the War in Iraq, by forming the Peace and Justice Advocacy Group (PJAG).
Post 9/11 Culture Course
Crawford relates that with his first Post-9/11 Culture course, he was reading the books right along with the students and teaching as he went. He points out that it is important to address the significance of such transformative events by asking what political leaders and citizens make of the event and what it is used for. September 11 has become useful for advancing a right political agenda, Crawford states.
For Crawford, teaching a new course is a way to become more informed, to teach and learn at the same time. In addition to teaching from a deep knowledge base, he also believes that teaching is a process of exploration. It was the same belief that motivated his courses that explore the Holocaust and the AIDS epidemic.
Yet, when asking himself "where are we now," Crawford falls to the side of optimism. He says that one must remember that 48 percent plus of the country did vote against President Bush in the last election. Although he despairs about the popular move to the right, he believes that people are waking up to the importance of politics, the need for more knowledge, and the need for being involved.
Teaching
"Teaching is at the heart of what I do," Crawford states. "It's who I am."
Sometimes, Crawford finds it challenging to present materials and describe it as objectively as possible and yet remain true to his own assessments.
"The challenge is too big, so I can only work at it in bits," Crawford says. He works diligently to encourage students to express opposing points of views in his classes.
"I've been only partially successful," Crawford relates.
He has also seen how important education is to the students on this campus, and the sacrifices they make to come to the university. He believes that most are highly motivated and fascinated with learning and, like other teachers at UWT, hopes that the thirst will continue after students leave the university.
Finding Balance in Life
Because Crawford teaches courses that delve into particularly difficult topics, and because, as he says, we all work too hard, he tries to find balance in his life away from work.
Foremost, his relationship with his wife Merna is the number one positive influence in his life, along with a few close friendships he has developed over the years.
He also loves listening to music and playing improvisational piano. He relates that music is magical to him.
Every winter he prunes a large portion of the 230 blueberry bushes on their land. He says that the task is meditative and allows him to become totally engrossed in the activity.
Lastly, he walks, hikes and loves being close to nature. Solitary hikes allow Crawford to "commune with the gods."
In Closing
Crawford mentions having countless heroes and heroines, people who have lived courageously, people who have gotten past their fears to speak out at critical times of our history, when most opted for silence; people who have both contributed through their scholarship and teaching but who have somehow managed to be life-long activists as well. And to the millions of unknown heroes and heroines who live their life in dignity in the face of more adversity than most of us can imagine.
"The most important thing is to take a stand on the great moral issues of our time, rather than be a bystander," Crawford concludes.
Dr. Crawford Tips
When asked what advice he could give the student body at UWT, Crawford had to pause several moments, saying that it's a difficult task-this business of giving advice. He suggests:
* Turn off the television.
* Remember, it is an extraordinary privilege to learn, study, read. For many, this may be the only time in their life for serious, sustained study.
* "Reading is crucial for expanding one's horizons."
* Don't work so hard. We all need to spend some time building and creating community at UWT or elsewhere and we cannot shortchange time for intimate friendships and solitude.