Glocal Matters Research

Our mission is to better understand emotions through religion and visual and material culture. We bring empathy-building workshops, lectures, and other resources to individuals, organizations, and institutions. Our academic outreach program includes integrative approaches to understanding cultural difference through masks and other performing objects. Because masks have existed throughout the world for millennia, they're meaning volleys between the local and global. Similarly, gaining mastery over highly-charged emotions, such as anger and aggression, requires balancing personal and collective dynamics. To hone in on what is deeply local—which is itself a world in miniature—increases our potential to be thoughtful global citizens. 

Our research library consists of over 3,000 books and ephemera on visual culture at the nexus of emotions, religion, and performance in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. In addition to lectures and workshops, we offer short-term housing to rural scholars as well affiliated researchers seeking a private, serene environment to conduct research and write. We also offer a small collection of books related to the above InterAsia research interests available for purchase on Biblio.com.

HOW IS WORKING WITH MASKS THERAPEUTIC? 

Carl Jung referred to the human face we show to the world as the persona, in reference to the name of a mask from the Greek theatre. He envisioned it as a self-created protective system that bridges the individual's inner life with the realities of the day. Its flip side, Jung named the shadow, in reference to the hidden, repressed parts the individual shielded from public scrutiny. The persona / shadow dyad is, in fact, realized in the construction of the mask, whose visible side is intended solely for the spectator, while its inner, hidden face is a secret to all except its wearer. In addition to the ability of the face to create roughly 3,000 expressions that pertain solely to emotions, seeing, smelling, tasting, and hearing all happen here as well. Not surprisingly, when the facial orifices are  covered, the sensory experience of, for example, smell, may be heightened, while simultaneously compromising their vision. In addition to the loss of speech, emotions are fluid and may transfer to other body parts. Native healers, actors, and others who work with masks often describe cognitive disruption, lack of inhibition, and displaced feeling behind them. These same changes that actors often consider an unfortunate distraction, can be highly valuable when incorporated into therapy. There, a non-linguistic, visceral and inhibition-free experience can be discussed in productive ways. Embodiment, then, is key to manufacturing, sustaining, and delivering emotion in verbal and non-verbal ways. This bi-directional activity releases mind-body tension in the wearer while activating empathy in observers. 

The mask’s capacity to expand skills of empathy has seen some psychotherapists and art therapists, introducing mask making into their clinical work in recent years. Here, the client or patient creates their own mask. In doing so, a trauma or difficult situation she or he is working through—sometimes for decades — can be reactivated in the safe, therapeutic environment. Mask-making has proven to be highly affective in patients with traumatic brain injuries who, for example, may otherwise be unable to articulate the original trauma. Much like any work of art that generates discussion, this is often the primary goal: a mask is considered complete when it is fully crafted and their makers’ stories experienced and expressed, visually and verbally. As art therapist, Melissa Walker, of The National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) puts it:

“Creating a mask allows the service member to explore his or her identity and begin to assimilate their experiences and feelings into the self. After completing an art product that has personal meaning, the service member can begin to process the symbolism with the art therapist and perhaps open up about content he/she couldn’t discuss with anyone before. In an integrative treatment setting, this benefits the treatment team as they receive an alternative and visual snapshot of the service member’s concerns and can assist the clinicians engaging in talk therapy.” 

Glocal Matters takes this process one step further. Utilizing both the expressive masks in the Glocal Matters research collection and those made by clients.

 

Where does it work?

Our workshops facilitate outreach and leadership in the classroom and wherever else people interact and emotions run high. In addition to the workplace, schools, and academic institutions, exercises with masks can assist rescue workers and volunteers by quickly identifying panic and distress among natural disaster and terrorism survivors. These same workers may also have a delayed traumatic response to the same experience. Masks can also be efficacious in developing empathy between incarcerated youth, and their care providers as well as benefit individuals in other restrictive environments informed by anxiety and distrust.