Co-Creation in the Commonwealth: Understanding Right Relationship in Place

ABSTRACT Could public education as a cultural institution promote the commonwealth? (‘Commonwealth,’ from The Oxford English Dictionary as, ‘public welfare; general good or advantage;’ and ‘to a body or a number of persons united by some common interest.’) This paper argues proper education enfranchises the young through proper relationships to place, past and present, culture and creation, life, and work. Wendell Berry is the principal guide and standard in describing and considering proper relationships in the commonwealth and their consequences. Other major authors include Wes Jackson, Gustavo Esteva, Vine Deloria, Alan Watts, Matthew Crawford, Roger Scruton, Nablan and Trimble, Alison Gopnik. Proper relationships, defined essentially in terms of proper scale, play, and learning, preserve the means of co-creation between human culture and creation. They are measured by health, durability, beauty, harmony, resilience, fecundity, and wellbeing.