Choosing Materials

The role of the text in civic reflection is to facilitate rich conversation about the basic questions of the group. Good texts illuminate larger traditions of understanding about human experience and the enduring questions embedded in those traditions. Once a group's own questions begin to emerge in planning conversations, look for readings (literary, historical, spiritual, philosophical) that take up the same or similar questions.

In our experience, some kinds of texts are more useful in civic reflection conversations than others. Good texts invite a variety of responses from participants and don't necessarily contain answers to be uncovered. For this reason "classic" texts often work best. They have what has been called "an excess of meaning"–their meaning always exceeds any one person's interpretation.

It pays to be cautious about texts that at first glance seem to be "natural" choices.

Inspirational texts–readings that have an uplifting message ("lessons about life") or present a particular model of leadership ("seven habits," "six steps," etc.) –may not leave room for disagreement or provide opportunities for differences in interpretation. A good text will be complex, unsentimental, invite controversy and even elicit discomfort.

Popular texts (i.e., current bestsellers) may initially attract folks, too, but because interpretations and meanings of these texts are "out there" in the culture already, it may be more difficult for people to have fresh, imaginative responses to them. In our experience, literature and essays that are less well known often surprise people, and because of their unfamiliarity, are more likely to invite a wide range of interpretations.

Professional literature is also tempting. Why not use this precious reading time to catch up on the latest study, technique or theory? Nonprofit executives, philanthropic leaders and social service providers all have literature that is highly specific to their respective fields of work–a literature that is useful and with which people are familiar. But in civic reflection, the aim is to provide opportunities for colleagues to pay a different kind of attention to familiar work, a kind of attention that imaginative literature, philosophy, history, and religious writing elicits more easily.

The readings you select are critical not for the answers they contain, but for the interpretations they invite. Shared among members of a group, these interpretations suggest differences of value, belief, and experience; and those differences, in turn, point to deeper questions rumbling underneath the common work of the group.

For these reasons, there is no set canon of readings for civic reflection. All sorts of texts have proven useful, from classic works of literature or philosophy to movies and children's books. The Resource Library of this website includes a large selection of texts, organized by topic and question, along with a growing body of observations about using these texts in civic reflection programs. Two anthologies, The Civically Engaged Reader (Great Books Foundation, 2006) and The Perfect Gift (Indiana University Press, 2002), contain many useful readings and questions for civic reflection conversations. Our Short List offers several good readings that can be read "on the spot" along with questions for discussion.

Please tell us about the readings you choose and share your experiences with us so we can let others know, too!