blueprints

the three goat story
Notes on Poetry and Diplomacy—University of Iowa
International Writing Program
Christopher merrill
First, a disclaimer: I am not a diplomat, just a poet who happens to work
in the field of cultural diplomacy, which is defined as “the exchange of
ideas, information, art, and other aspects of culture among nations and
their people in order to foster mutual understanding.” Cultural diplomacy
falls under the rubric of public diplomacy, which is sometimes described
as the art of winning hearts and minds. Since 9/11, these forms
of what the political theorist Joseph Nye calls “soft power” (in contrast
to the exercise of hard—military and economic—power) have generated
considerable debate in foreign policy circles. The University of Iowa’s
International Writing Program (IWP) has played a role in these debates,
developing models of soft power rooted in the practice and pedagogy of
creative writing, in artistic exploration, which may offer an alternative to
the dictates of extremist ideologies. In these reflections, I wish to share
stories from the front lines of what has been called a war of ideas, a clash of
civilizations. This is in my view not a war, at least not yet (though war is
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