Transformative Language artists envision a merger of the the language arts with individual and collective liberation: writing, storytelling, theatre, and music can work towards community-building, cultural and ecological restoration, and personal development. Transformative Language artists, scholars, facilitators, and consultants facilitate creative and language arts in many venues, including community centers, schools, prisons, health centers and hospitals, businesses, research facilities, and retreat centers. The following are real-life examples of TLA, used by permission:
Transformative
Language Arts is a profoundly radical response to the fragmentation,
isolation, violence, hopelessness and despair of our culture. In the
same way, the word "radical" comes from the word "roots," TLA brings
people literally back to their roots, and from that perspective, gives
them a wider view of what they and what their communities might be. For
one thing, TLA is inherently egalitarian for most of the population in
this very literate society. It's also egalitarian economically since
writing, speaking, telling stories and singing are activities available
to most people, regardless of their circumstances. The roots of all
cultures sink deeply into the oral tradition, from which come all the
modalities and expressions of TLA Examples of TLA can be found in
cultures around the world — from the talk therapists who incorporate
journal writing into their work with clients, to tribal songs to pas on
traditions. The cultural differences, however, in how TLA is manifest
are wide, and it's important for people studying TLA to understand that
not all cultures favor self-disclosure as a means of personal growth.
Indeed, the very ways that "growth" or "transformation" are defined vary
deeply among different peoples, and even within communities. In the
last few decades, the theory and practice of TLA has grown in many
areas:
TLA
embraces all these inroads in addition to new and emerging paths. The
growth of TLA as a movement and academic field is having, and can
further catalyze, profound effects on our culture, such as exploring how language can begin to break through cultural, political
and historic agendas, and through the personal fear, rage and despair
that disempower individuals and communities. TLA seeks to preserve the richness and diversity of language
itself, and the intimacy of human-to-human contact in an increasingly
technological age.
Read more about TLA in The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader, edited by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Janet Tallman, published by the TLA Network as the landmark collection on TLA in theory and practice. Also see Transformative Language Arts in Action, edited by Ruth Farmer and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, published by Rowman and Little.