1st SESSION: 9:00 AM- 10:30 AM
A. Complete Don't Compete! A New Approach to Dialoguing with Conflict
East Side Institute
Most of conversations (even the best ones) are scripted, with each person competing (saying “what they believe”) rather than completing (building on) what is being said to create something new. This leaves us all especially vulnerable to, and fearful of, situations that are (or might become) conflict-laden. The social therapeutic approach is used around the globe in therapy offices, schools, corporate offices and community organizations to help people use everything available (including conflict) to create more intimate and nurturing conversational environments. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to use this improvisational, performance-based method to create conversations that transform relationships and the environments in which they take place.
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B. A Relational Mindful Awareness Practice
Dr. Marvin Belzer
Dr. Belzer will describe a relational mindful awareness practice (MAP) and discuss some of its practical and theoretical implications. Whereas the experiential effects of solitary mindfulness meditation have been documented for many years, this relational form is new. Participation in the relational MAP encourages mental activities that are similar to those in solitary practices, including those that deepen concentration and mindfulness. He will discuss issues pertaining to confirmation of these benefits, which would be expected if, as Dan Siegel conjectures, heightened self awareness in solitary practice is associated with the brain activity underlying social attunement.
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C. Youth Dialogue for Human Rights
Global Kids Inc.
Students from the High School for Global Citizenship in Brooklyn, New York will present work that they have done to bring awareness to the issue of poverty and its effect on education. Through their program, the Human Rights Activist Project, they have educated themselves and other youth about this issue and have tried to create projects to push forward change throughout their communities. They will share strategies for dialoguing about human rights issues with youth and speak about the reasons dialogue about human rights is so important.
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D. Achieving Transformation: Dialogue through Music
Riverbrook Residence for Women
At Riverbrook Residence in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a unique music program is allowing women with developmental disabilities to express disarming creativity, subtlety and beauty. A short DVD from a recent Riverbrook performance will be shown, followed by a discussion with Jessica Roemischer who will then improvise on the piano with members of the audience. This will allow participants, regardless of musical background, to experience firsthand this powerful and transformative mode of dialogue.
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E. Healing a Nation: The Place for Dialogue in Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Liberia
Mediators Beyond Borders
Five years after the peace accords, Liberians are moving toward rebuilding life, community, and their nation. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission fosters necessary fact-finding, much more is needed for true reconciliation. The extraordinary partnership of National Ex-Combatants Peacebuilding Initiative (NEPI), Mediators Beyond Borders (MBB), and Public Conversations Project (PCP) uses dialogue to contribute to the healing of a nation. Beginning with reintegrating former child soldiers into communities and moving toward a nationwide plan for trauma healing, this 10-year project draws on multiple methodologies to generate forgiveness and collective strength in service of a lasting peace. Participants will engage in discussions and exercises to generate ideas and learn about skills needed to address issues of rehabilitation, community preparation, reintegration, and reconciliation in post-conflict societies.
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2nd SESSION 10:45 AM- 12:15 PM
A. Armenian/Turkish Dialogue: Lessons Learned
Dr. Ani Kalayjian
The traditional response from both sides of the dispute is to maintain their positions staunchly, thus perpetuating more than 93 years of discord. However, an ideological shift is occurring and has yielded both Armenian and Turkish individuals who seek to surmount previous divisive efforts that focused on recognition and denial, respectively. Experts from historical, psychological, and sociological fields agree that these events have generated trauma that has reverberated across generations of survivors and their descendants. Both Armenians and Turks bear the scars of trauma of genocide. Dr. Kalayjian’s Seven-Step Model addresses the Biopsychosocial, and Eco-Spiritual needs of individuals to let go of and transform feelings of anger, sadness, and humiliation.
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B. --NO SESSION -- OPPORTUNITY FOR SELF-ORGANIZING--
C. Israeli & Palestinian Voices From the Field
An interactive workshop using Just Vision's Online Portraits of Peacebuilders
Just Vision is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about under-documented Palestinian and Israeli civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Just Vision produces and distributes media and educational resources to communities, educators and other leaders in the US, Palestine, Israel and the Arab World, and encourages civic participation in grassroots peacebuilding. As part of these efforts, Just Vision created an archive of Online Portraits of Peacebuilders which includes in-depth full-length interviews with dozens of Palestinian and Israeli peacebuilders in many fields. This session will introduce a new, non-divisive way for facilitators and community leaders to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our Online Portraits of Peacebuilders will be used as a catalyst for dialogue in this experiential workshop, which presents under-documented stories of Palestinians and Israelis who have been deeply touched by violence but who nonetheless struggle to stem hatred and promote reconciliation, understanding and nonviolence. Workshop participants will be introduced to these portraits and excerpts (www.justvision.org/en/profile/highlights
) in an interactive session, and to tools for using them as a catalyst for dialogue.
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D. Reflective Practice – Being Peace In Order To Bring Peace
Consensus
Who are we when we walk into the room to resolve conflict? What do we bring with us that will influence the direction of the conversation and what the participants experience? What set of personal characteristics, attitudes or beliefs might we aim to embody in order to best do this work? These questions, and more, will be examined through a series of exercises and facilitated dialogue designed to enable practitioner self-reflection.
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E. Successful Dialogues Require More than Talking and Technique
Richmond Dialogue Community
Join the Richmond Dialogue Community and learn how to create a safe and welcoming environment to cultivate meaningful dialogue. Become knowledgeable about preconditions and subtle dynamics that awaken new possibilities of creative thinking together. Use the impact of “presence”. Observe the effects of “intention”. Experience the power of silence. Explore the paradox of embodying peace while inspiring activism. This group will offer experiential processes and present a model dialogue that will provide practical tools to enhance your future dialogues.
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F. Is Dialogue with Evil Possible?
Marymount Manhattan College: Professor Bradley Herling
In conjunction with a course Professor Herling teaches at Marymount Manhattan College, The Nature of Evil, he would like to propose a panel that tests the boundaries and possibilities of dialogue with evil, both at a philosophical level and an interpersonal one. First, Professor Herling will aim for his student panelists to engage the audience on the question of whether it is even possible to think/define evil. Then, by thinking through historical examples (e.g., the Holocaust, Rwandan genocide, etc.) and directly confronting the audience with performative examples, the group will explore the problem of dialogue with perpetrators who seem to reside outside of the realm of rational moral discourse.
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LUNCH 12:15 PM- 1:30 PM
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3rd SESSION 1:30 PM- 2:30 PM
A. Setting the Conditions for Dialogue in State Level Policy Discussion
Forums Institute for Public Policy
For over a decade, the New Jersey Policy Forums developed the conditions for successful dialogue on complicated policy issues by bringing together state policymakers in a politically-neutral setting for off-the-record, candid discussion and problem identification. This case study focuses on the conditions for dialogue at the state policy level. The session itself will include two exercises: developing ground rules and key points to consider in planning.
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B. Dialogue & Its Prerequisites in an Inmate Setting
Conflict Resolution Program, Portland State University
Dialogue has the ability to facilitate some of the most profound changes within willing individuals. This session will focus on how dialogue within an inmate setting can be the basis for the development of pro-social skills, nonviolent communication, accountability, and perspective change. More specifically, this session will look at how setting up the structure and prerequisites of dialogue with inmates was achieved and what lessons were learned during a 10 week insight development group at Oregon State Correctional Institute. The topics will be addressed in both an interactive and presentation format. Participants will also receive a copy of the paper on which this workshop is based.
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C. Structuring Dialogue for Youth Peacebuilding & Leadership Programs
SIT Graduate Institute: Dr. John Ungerleider
This session provides the model for, and an opportunity to participate in, structured youth dialogue used in the SIT Youth Peacebuilding and Leadership Programs. Dialogue sessions integrated into these intercultural youth programs create a structured, safe context for teenage leaders from communities in conflict to share about issues of common concern. This approach to youth dialogue has emerged from running programs since 1990 in groups which have included youth from Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Iraq, Northern Uganda, Serbia, Algeria, Turkey, Germany, England, and the US. Participants in this session will join in dialogue about the types of issues addressed by youth participants.
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D. The Arts and Civic Dialogue - Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities
Rosalie Uyola
Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror examined Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as a contested urban space in which all voices struggled to assert their identities and have an impact on those in the center (media, government, and law), who, frequently in the name of tradition, tried to keep the margins at a distance. Refusing to be satisfied with a convenient black/white dichotomy, Smith enabled the characters to shed light on the "in-between" aspects of race, class, gender, and ethnicity within identity formation. The group will explore the tension of identity in motion as presented in Smith's one-woman performance.
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E. Lessons from Online Dialogue: The Shaping Our Future Experience
Network for Peace through Dialogue
Since its inception in 2006, Shaping Our Future has focused on addressing significant issues facing our global community through online dialogues. Most recently, it has begun to emphasize methods through which we can move from dialogue to action and expand the reach of dialogue beyond those individuals already predisposed to leaning from and engaging with “others”. In this session, this group will explore some of the lessons learned from the Shaping Our Future experience and together focus on finding ways to overcome the challenges inherent in moving from dialogue to action.
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F. Room at the Well – Lending Authenticity to Every Voice at the Table - CANCELLED
Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute (PRASI)
Dialogue processes should by default demand or at least subscribe to the belief that every voice is valuable. What happens in the process when voices go unheard or challenge the norm, thereby minimizing their value? What damage is done when the process allows their truths to be sanitized? How is the meaning changed when the process alters the way truths are presented? Using dialogue and innovative approaches, participants explore the roles of authenticity, validation & engagement. Attendees will leave with practical advice, resources and tools for developing a framework for dialogue that invites every voice to be fully present.
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4th SESSION 2:45 PM- 4:15PM
A. Cafe U: Experience of a World Café - CANCELED
Northeast Region for the World Café
Café U will delve into Otto Scharmer’s theory in a World Café format simulating the deep dive experience of the Theory U. Applying the Café framework, three rounds of questions and a final culmination, participants will create a microcosm in which all participants can show up, connect, and transform the structure of their relationship. The first round of conversation will help us suspend judgment, begin seeing with fresh eyes, and listen with fresh ears. Then we will move deeper in round two, where the “magic in the middle” appears. There, we will begin to connect to the source-- places and practices of stillness and presence. And, finally, in round three, we will emerge into bold new possibilities and future actions. Our journey through Theory U during this session will provide an authentic example of co-sensing, co-presencing and co-creating.
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B. Convicted Civility in Religious Dialogue: A Mormon/Evangelical Case Study
Standing Together
Few matters are more difficult to discuss than religion and religious differences. This session will explain and demonstrate how a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Professor of Religion and an Evangelical Christian minister have sought to engage but transcend doctrinal differences through the development of a genuine and trusting friendship, through rigorous but respectful dialogue. As a part of the presentation, there will be an exercise in dialogue among those attending our session. After we have set forth certain guiding principles learned in our effort to practice "convicted civility," we will provide questions for the attendees to work on together-- issues that are sensitive but reasonable, and capable of resolution, or at least further conversation.
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C. Ten Techniques to Have Talks with Teens
Network for Peace through Dialogue, Confronting Concerns Program
In this session, youth from the Network for Peace Confronting Concerns program will share strategies and tactics for engaging young people in dialogue about issues important to them. The session will showcase the work the teens of the Confronting Concerns program have done to involve over 50 Harlem youths in dialogue programs over the last two years. It will also share the knowledge the teens have gained for conducting successful programs with young people. This workshop will be for any adult or young person who is hoping to create dialogues with young people in their communities.
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D. De-Polarizing the Clash: 20,000 Dialogues using Documentaries about Muslims to Build Greater Understanding
Unity Productions Foundation, 20,000 Dialogues
This workshop will present20,000 Dialogues, a nationwide initiative that uses discussions about films to promote civic engagement. It seeks to build greater understanding of Muslims and Islam at a time of misunderstanding. Through collaboration with partnering organizations and using Unity Productions Foundation’s (UPF) award-winning PBS documentary films: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; Prince Among Slaves; On a Wing and a Prayer; Talking Through Walls, and most recently Allah Made Me Funny, the first ever Muslim comedy film. The session will include the opportunity to dialogue and screen films designed for facilitators to utilize in one’s own community.
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E. Moving from Dialogue to Action
Sandy Heierbacher
Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)
We may agree that dialogue is much more than “just talk,” but how can we increase the likelihood that dialogue will really have an impact? Utilizing the presenter's Masters research (her thesis focused on moving race dialogue groups from talk to action), NCDD's Engagement Streams framework (which helps people match dialogue processes to their goals), and your experiences and knowledge, we will explore the relationship between dialogue and various kinds of action--individual change, conflict resolution, collective action, policy change, etc. In this interactive workshop, we will explore our “theory of change” for dialogue work and identify concrete strategies for moving from dialogue to action.
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F. Qualitative and Quantitative Measures of Conversational Effectiveness - CANECELED
Marymount Manhattan College: Ann Jablon, Sue Behrens
People in dialogue follow implicit linguistic rules of conversational structure embedded in cultural and institutional norms. However, what is implicit can benefit from explicit exploration. Our work considers conversational patterns between teachers and students, dyads with power differentials but shared goals. Our measures are both qualitative and quantitative as we look for alignment of perceptions of effective communication as well as discourse markers that add to successful communication. It has been found that both conversational partners benefit from uncovering and reflecting on their own patterns of directness and indirectness, pacing and pausing, and turn-taking.
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G. Jewish and Palestinian New Yorkers Breaking Down Walls: Building Sustained Dialogue as the Foundation for Activism
The Dialogue Project
The Middle East conflict is one of the world's most protracted and drawn out disputes. The Dialogue Project engages hundreds of Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, Christian, and other interested New Yorkers in sustained monthly dialogue. Dialogue challenges participants not only to accept the experiences of the other, but also to respect those experiences in their human totality. The group will practice generous listening and active reflection techniques that are essential for effective activism. Drawing from experiences as Palestinian and Jewish American women, the presenters will engage with you to explore both the benefits and the significant risks of dialogue.
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