Toward an Expanded Conception of Power: Exploring the Concept of Moral Empowerment Emerging in the Field of Baha'i-Inspired Education

Abstract

Conceptions of power play a critical role in shaping relationships between individuals, groups, and institutions of society. In many spheres, power has been as-sumed to be associated inherently with domination, resulting in relationships being fraught with conflict. In subtle and overt ways, the premise that domination and con-flict are inherent to the operation of power has influenced certain approaches to edu-cation, particularly educational processes concerned with empowerment in different domains. The relationship between spirituality and social transformation provides an opportunity to explore efforts to articulate an expanded conception of power—one that seeks to move beyond dynamics of conflict and domination and draws on pow-ers reflecting the nobility of the human spirit—and how such a conception might find expression in the field of education. This chapter explores how an effort to articulate and draw on an expanded conception of power has influenced an educational ap-proach. We examine the discourse on power and the related concept of “moral em-powerment” emerging in the field of Baháʼí-inspired education, drawing on a concep-tual framework outlined by the educator Sona Farid-Arbab. We also discuss the pre-liminary findings of a case study exploring the approach to moral empowerment at the middle school level of a Baháʼí-inspired school in Macau.