Spaces and Liberation
Safety's Impact on Creativity and Thriving, by Amanda Bolaños
In the mid-90s, a new economic theory came to fruition focusing on how countries can produce economic growth. Economists had previously said that there were only two ways to make an economy grow: to invest in capital or invest in labor. Paul Romer, economist and professor at Boston College, offered a revolutionary third way to grow: to invest in innovation. A major key to make this was to pass strong patent laws so that ideas can be protected and monetized. If you pass these laws, innovation will follow. Romer eventually won the Nobel prize for this.
Years later, Lisa Cook, currently a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, challenged this. There can be great, incredible laws on the book; yet, if they are not enforced, growth will never occur. Romer’s theory assumes that law is enforced and practiced equally. However, for innovation to be facilitated, safety and equality must be demanded. Cook looked back historically to prove this thesis. She connects fluctuations in black patent filings to spikes in racial strife in history and found a huge stunt in innovation from black inventors in 1921. This was the year of the Tulsa Race Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. With this evidence, Cook seeks to challenge and improve Romer’s theory by centering personal security in economics.
I offer this story to think about spaces in this season of Advent.
When considering liberation, one must center space as a crucial category to be considered.
Spaces inform, form, and transform our hearts, minds, and souls. And the role of safety in these spaces are of utmost importance in this formation.
Once safety is established, productive growth can occur; it is safety that allows creativity to flourish, and this link between safety and creativity needs more meditation when considering how to practice liberation. In this season of Advent, what factors determine if you feel safe in a space? How can we commit ourselves to cultivate safe spaces? How do we meet each other in these spaces?
Editor’s Note: Through the Benedictine Peacemakers Monastic Immersion, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie are working to create a supportive, generative, and creative space for young women to have the safety to create and thrive that Amanda describes here. Through a year of living at the monastery, there is room to grow, learn, and become your most whole self. Apply now for the 2025-2026 cohort!
AUTHOR:
Amanda Bolaños is currently a third year Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) student at Duke Divinity School studying Theological Ethics. She is interested in researching the intersection between virtue theory and liberation theology, yearning to offer a real, pastoral, and critical perspective in looking at the systematic success and harm of religion in communities. Amanda lived in Erie, PA in July 2022 with the Benedictine Sisters as the Joan Chittister Writer-in-Residence, working on a project on Dorothy Day.