2004 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
representing the
4th Annual HumanDHS Conference

November 18-19, 2004
New York City, Columbia University, Teachers College, 525 West 120th Street, room Horace Mann 433
(subway 1, exit 116th Street)

Morton Deutsch, Honorary Convenor

morton


• 
Two-day Workshop, Thursday and Friday, November 18-19, 2004, 10.00 am - 5.30 pm, room Horace Mann 433
•  Public Event on Thursday evening, November 18, 2004, 5.30 pm – 8.00 pm, Milbank Chapel


• Our Workshops on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict are convened by ICCCR - International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, with Morton Deutsch, its Director Emeritus, as our Honorary Convener,
on behalf of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) as part of the
Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN). We are very grateful to our hosts!
• We thank Kathryn Crawford for so kindly arranging room Horace Mann 433, Milbank Chapel, and room Horace Mann 433 for our workshop!
• To request disability-related accommodations and equipment, please contact OASID at oasid@tc.edu, (212) 678-3689, (212) 678-3853 TTY, (212) 678-3854 video phone
• This Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict has been made possible by a generous contribution from the Slifka Foundation (please see the HumanDHS' Work: Objectives and Evidence of Success, developed in cooperation between HumanDHS and ABSF in 2006)


Please click on the pictures or here to see more photos
(Important note to our conference particants: During our conference, we asked for your permission to be posted here, however, if you have changed your mind since, either in total or for specific pictures, please let us know! Thank you! Since we wish to walk the talk of dignity, it is very important for us to do our utmost in respecting everybody's privacy. We refrain from gathering written permissions from you during our conferences, since we value the building of mutual trust in relationships, and we also would like to refrain from contributing to an ever more bureaucratic and legalistic society.)

 


•  Rationale
•  Methodology
•  Frame
•  List of Conveners
•  Program
(Day One & Day Two)
•  Details of the Convening Organizations
•  Papers
•  Pictures of our meeting
•  Pictures with Morton Deutsch
•  Newsletter 3, written as report subsequent to our workshop

 


 

Rationale, Methodology, and Frame

 

Rationale

Given the current context of the field of international conflict, including the very recent illustrations of treatment of Iraqi prisoners, the impact of emotions on conflict has become one of the most important questions worldwide. However, there are only scattered publications in the research and applied literature that would address issues on conflict and emotion directly, as well as their relations and their impact on public policy.

This first two-day workshop was held at Teachers College, Columbia University, in 2004, hosted by the Columbia University's Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), with special help from SIPA – Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) and the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR).

CICR on behalf of CU-CRN and HumanDHS invites selected groups of scholars, counselors, conflict resolution practitioners, mediators, and teachers among other professions for the two-day workshops to explore issues of conflict and emotions and its application to actual negotiations and diplomacy. The aim is to particularly probe the role of the notion of humiliation from the two different angles of conflict and emotion.

The meetings are envisaged as a learning community gathering, interactive and highly participatory. The purpose is to create an open space to identify and sharpen our understanding of the discourse and debate on emotion and conflict and the role that might, or might not be played by humiliation within this field. We continue this effort in our follow-up workshops.

We see humiliation as entry point into broader analysis and not as "single interest scholarship." We are aware that most participants focus on other aspects than humiliation in their work and have not thought about humiliation much, or even at all. We do not expect anybody to do so beforehand. We would love that everybody comes with his/her background, his/her theoretical concepts and tools, and that we, during the conference, reflect together. We invite everybody to use their focus and give a thought to whether the notion of humiliation could be enriching, or not, and if yes, in what way. We warmly invited diverging and dissenting views.

Methodology

We chose a dialogical methodology that stresses interaction and participation because we wished to create an atmosphere of openness and respectful inquiry through three roundtables and the use of Open Space Technology. We believe that notions such as dignity and respect for equal dignity are important not only for conflict resolution, but also for meetings such as this workshop. The name Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies attempts to express this. We wish to strive for consistency between what we think are important values for conflict resolution and the way we conduct our work and our meetings.

Every roundtable was opened by brief remarks by each participant to present their entry points into the inquiry. In order to facilitate feedback, we were asking that papers/notes were sent in advance. A brief synopsis of 1 to 4 pages, with only major references, was available beforehand through this site. Longer papers were welcome as well, not least for the envisaged publications of the results of the meeting.

All participants are warmly invited to send in their final papers as soon as they can. We envisage to combine your papers with the notes that were taken by Rebecca Klein during the workshop and the cards that many wrote during the "five minutes long reflective intermissions."
We would like to ask for your help with finding a publisher for an edited version.

Frame

by Linda Hartling, Ph.D., Associate Director, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Wellesley College, Boston, USA

In our meetings we aim at creating a humiliation-free, collaborative learning environment characterized by mutual respect, mutual empathy, and openness to difference. The perspective of "appreciative enquiry" is a useful frame of our work. Our HumanDHS efforts are not just about the work we do together, but also about HOW WE WORK TOGETHER. At appropriate points during our meetings, for example at the end of each day, we take a moment to reflect on the practices observed that contributed to an appreciative/humiliation-free learning experience.

It is important to emphasize that an appreciative approach is not about expecting people to agree. In fact, differences of opinion enrich the conversation and deepen people's understanding of ideas. Perhaps, this could be conceptualized as "waging good conflict," which means practicing radical respect for differences and being open to a variety of perspectives and engaging others without contempt or rankism. As we have seen in many fields, contempt and rankism drains energy away from the important work that needs to be done. Most people only know "conflict" as a form of war within a win/lose frame. "Waging good conflict," on the other side, is about being empathic and respectful, making room for authenticity, creating clarity, and growth.

•  Please kindly note that...
• There is no registration fee for our conferences. To cover our expenses, we always summarize the costs during the conference and invite participants to contribute according to their ability. This collaborative approach to financing allows us to keep the conference affordable for all.
• We like to get to know participants prior to our conferences and workshops, and prior to issuing an invitation.
• All our gatherings are by invitation only, please approach us so that we can include you and register you. Only our Public Events are open to everybody without registration.
• The Non-Public Parts of our gatherings have limited enrollment.
• Participants are encouraged to find their own sources of funding or economic support to participate in our conferences. We offer our nurturing work as our gift of love and care to you, and we
would like to lovingly invite everybody to contribute to this gift economy. If you need funding for your travels and housing, please inquire in your country and your university about possibilities. See, among others, for the US, www.supportcenter.org and www.foundationscenter.org. The Weinstein International Fellowship program, inaugurated in 2008, provides opportunities for individuals from outside the United States to visit the U.S. to learn more about dispute resolution processes and practices and to pursue a project of their own design that serves to advance the resolution of disputes in their home countries.
• Participants are kindly asked to handle all of their travel arrangements and required documentation, including requests for visas, on their side. HumanDHS is a volunteer initiative and does not have staff or resources to assist with visa requests.

•  Permissions
During our conferences, we always ask all participants for their permission to have their pictures or videos posted on our website, however, if you change your mind later, either in total or for specific pictures/videos, please let us know! Thank you! Since we wish to walk the talk of dignity, it is very important for us to do our utmost in respecting everybody's privacy. We refrain from gathering written permissions from you during our conferences, since we value the building of mutual trust in relationships, and we also would like to refrain from contributing to an ever more bureaucratic and legalistic society.

•  What happened in our previous conferences?
Please have a look at all our previous conferences and the newsletters written after these conferences.

 


 

List of Conveners

Evelin Gerda Lindner, Medical Doctor, Clinical and Social Psychologist, Ph.D. (Dr. med.), Ph.D. (Dr. psychol.), Organizer of the HumanDHS Conferences

Evelin G. Lindner is the Founding Director and President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS). She is a transdisciplinary social scientist, affiliated with the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network, New York, the University of Oslo, Norway, Department of Psychology (folk.uio.no/evelinl/), and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris. Lindner is also an Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Department of Psychology, Norway, and teaches globally, including in South East Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Africa, and other places globally. [read more]

Andrea Bartoli, Ph.D.

Andrea Bartoli is the Director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR); Chairman of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN). He was a significant force behind this workshop series from its start.

Judit Révész

Judit Révész is a lawyer, researcher, and the NY Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, as well as a Member of the HumanDHS Core Team.
The participants of this workshop thank Judit Révész most warmly for her untiring work to make this workshop a success.

 


 

Program

Day One, Thursday, November 18, 2004


10:00 am Welcoming All Participants

Donald Klein and Linda Hartling set the frame of our meeting within "Appreciative Enquiry" and we created a list of agreed upon norms having to do with the nature and tone of our dialogue.

10:15 am Participants Presented Themselves



11:00 am Round Table 1 (2 hours): What's Relevant in a Destructive Conflict?


Moderator: Beth Fisher-Yoshida
Participants:

- Morton Deutsch, Columbia University, Destructive Conflict and Oppression

- Andrea Bartoli, Columbia University, Deconstructing International Deadly Conflicts

- Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Columbia University, Cultural Conflicts As An Opportunity for Transformative Learning

- Heidi and Guy Burgess, University of Colorado, Conflict Research, Introduction to Their Work (2004)

Project Overview: Advancing the Peace and Conflict Resolution Fields: A Next-generation Brainstorming Project
Developing 20-year Strategies for Addressing the Hard Questions

Conflict Information Systems


Taking the Peace and Conflict Resolution Fields Outside the "Box"

Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project and CRInfo –The Conflict Resolution Information Source

- Philip Brown, New Jersey Center for Character Education, Humiliation, Bullying and Caring in School Communities

- Lourdes Quisumbing, Asia-Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education (APNIEVE), Former Education Minister of the Philippines, Education and Conflict (C) & her granddaughter Jennifer, Columbia student
Citizenship Education for Better World Societies: A Holistic Approach
Paper read at the 8th UNESCO APEID International Conference on Education
29 November 2002, Bangkok
and
Educating Young Children for a Peaceful World
Second World Forum on Early Care and Education
16-19 May 2000, Singapore

- Hroar Klempe, Trondheim University, Norway, Symbols and Conflict

- James E. Jones, Manhattanville College, CUNY, The Third Force: A Practical, Community-Building: Approach to Settling Destructive Conflicts (C)

- Roberta L. Kosberg, Department of Communication, Curry College, Milton, MA, Communication and Conflict

- Joshua Weiss, Harvard University, The Role of the Third Side (TBC)

Susan L. Podziba, Program On Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON), The Human Side of Complex Public Policy Mediation

1:00 pm Lunch



2:00 pm Round Table 2 (2 hours): Is Humiliation Relevant in a Destructive Conflict?

 

Moderators: Carlos Sluzki and Donald C. Klein
Participants:

- Carlos Sluzki, George Mason University, Elements of Humiliation-Shame Dynamics for Computational Modeling and Analysis of Real-Life Scenarios

- Donald Klein, Union Institute and University, Appreciative Psychology and Humiliation & his granddaughter Rebecca Klein

- Linda Hartling, Wellesley College, Boston, Shame and Humiliation From Isolation to Relational Transformation

- Paul A. Stokes, National University of Ireland, Dublin, We Are All Humiliated

- Bertram Wyatt-Brown, University of Florida, Honor, Shame, and Iraq in American Foreign Policy

- Peter T. Coleman, Columbia University, Conflict and Humiliation (together with Jennifer Goldman)

- Jennifer Goldman, Columbia University, Conflict and Humiliation (together with Peter T. Coleman)

- Gay Rosenblum-Kumar, Public Administration officer in the Governance and Public Administration Branch of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Humiliation, Conflict and Public Policy
and Aurora Deuss

- Evelin Lindner, Columbia University, Humiliation in a Globalizing World: Does Humiliation Become the Most Disruptive Force?

- Victoria Firmo-Fontan, Iraq and Humiliation (only Thursday)


4:00 pm - 5:30 pm Wrapping up the Day

 

5:30 pm - 8:00 pm Networking Reception at Milbank Chapel - Open to the Public


We had a general discussion on the future of our network's work.

 



Day Two, Friday, November 19, 2004

 

10:00 am Welcome



10:30 am Round Table 3 (2 hours): Can the Notion of Humiliation be Useful for Public Policy Planning? What Can We Envisage As Best Practice Models?

 

Moderators: Donald C. Klein and Linda Hartling
Participants:

- Donald Klein, Union Institute and University, Appreciative Psychology and Humiliation

- Linda Hartling, Wellesley College, Boston, Shame and Humiliation: From Isolation to Relational Transformation

- Daniel L. Shapiro, Harvard University, The Nature of Humiliation (only Friday)

- Arie Nadler, Tel Aviv University, How Dynamics of Humiliation Can Be Overcome by Apology

- Richard Slaven, Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Humiliation from the Business and Financing Perspective

- Neil Altman, New York University, Humiliation, Retaliation and Violence (only Friday)

- Brigid Donelan, Chief and Focal Point on Conflict Resolution and Peace-building in the UN's Division for Social Policy and Development, DESA (New York), and Patricia O'Hagan, Humiliation and Resiliency in the Social Integration Process: Towards a model framework and policy dialogue at the United Nations (only Friday)

- Kathleen Modrowski, Long Island University, and Shulamit Koenig, People's Movement for Human Rights Education, Human Rights Education: From Humiliation towards Living in Dignity (The Human Rights Cities Model)

- Elisabeth Scheper, Harvard University, The Role of Humiliation in Asian State-Civil Society Relationship in Historic Perspective

- Duke Duchscherer, Center for Nonviolent Communication, Nonviolent Communication as Core Principle for any Public Policy to Prevent Humiliation Dynamics

12:30 pm Lunch

 

2:30 pm "Open Space" (2 1/2 hours) on Future Directions of Our Work
(interrupted by small pauses, facilitated by Alan Klein)

Donald Klein explained the Open Space design as follows: It involves creating a kind of "marketplace" of possibilities based on topics nominated by participants. The only requirement is that whoever nominates the topic, acts as the convener of the discussion of the topic and takes responsibility for having notes taken. A report is subsequently made about the essence of what was discussed, including any conclusions or recommendations, at a plenary session following the topic groups.
The Open Space design has the advantage of focussing on whatever is of greatest interest to participants at the moment. It allows for parallel discussion of multiple topics, followed by a period of sharing and general discussion.

5:00 pm - 5.30 pm Conclusion




 

Details of the Convening Organizations

The Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) is part of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), as is the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR), and Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) that aims at contributing to the resolution of international deadly conflict through research, teaching and fieldwork.

CICR's location within the Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University 's School of Public and International Affairs allows for research collaborations inside and outside of the university with academics and practitioners from governmental, non-governmental and international organizations. The CICR faculty advisory includes Professors Richard Betts, Page Fortna, Robert Jervis and Jack Snyder. Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell joined the Center as a Senior Fellow in July 2002.

The Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN) was founded in 1997 by a voluntary group of faculty members from throughout the University interested in conflict resolution. The result of their efforts was a broad-based multidisciplinary conflict resolution resource for the entire Columbia community to use to strengthen the research, teaching and training initiatives of its independent schools and departments.

The International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR) was founded in 1986 by Morton Deutsch. It is at present headed by Peter Coleman, with Beth Fisher-Yoshida as Associate Director. ICCCR is an innovative Center dedicated to advancing the study and practice of conflict resolution. ICCCR's mission is an educational one: to help individuals, schools, communities, businesses and governments better understand the nature of conflict and develop the skills and settings that enable them to resolve conflict constructively.

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) was founded by Evelin Lindner in 2002 as a partner institute of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network. HumanDHS's mission is to contribute to reducing - and ultimately eliminating - destructive disrespect and humiliation around the world. HumanDHS's efforts focus on generating research, disseminating information, applying creative educational methods, as well as devising pilot projects and policy strategies.

 


 

Papers

All participants are warmly invited to send in their papers as soon as they can. We envisage combining your papers with the notes that were taken by Rebecca Klein during the workshop and the cards that many wrote during the "five minutes long reflective intermissions."
We would like to ask for your help with finding a publisher for an edited version.

Please see further down the papers/notes that participants sent in prior to the workshop so that everybody could get acquainted with all others beforehand.

Please ask the authors for their authorization if you wish to quote them!

Final Papers

Morton Deutsch
Oppression and Conflict
Paper presented at the Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice Working Conference at ICCCR, NY, February 27-29, 2004.

Jennifer S. Goldman, Peter T. Coleman
How Humiliation Fuels Intractable Conflict: The Effects of Emotional Roles on Recall and Reactions to Conflictual Encounters
Work in progress, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2005.

Evelin Lindner
Humiliation in a Globalizing World: Does Humiliation Become the Most Disruptive Force? (2004)
See the same text here, as short summary, and longer paper (not to be cited without author's authorization).

 


 

Papers/Notes of 2004


Please see further down the papers/notes that participants sent in prior to the workshop so that everybody could get acquainted with all others beforehand.

Please ask the authors for their authorisation if you wish to quote them!

See here the work by:
Andrea Bartoli
Linda Hartling
Donald Klein

Paul A. Stokes

Victoria Firmo-Fontan

Morton Deutsch
Destructive Conflict and Oppression
(2004)

See for the long version
Oppression and Conflict
Paper presented at the Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice Working Conference at ICCCR, NY, February 27-29, 2004.

Peter T. Coleman and Jennifer Goldman
Conflict and Humiliation (2004)

Sara Cobb
"Humiliation" as Positions in Narratives: Implications for Policy Development
(2004)

Carlos Sluzki
Elements of Humiliation-Shame Dynamics for Computational Modeling and Analysis of Real-Life Scenarios
(2004)

Bertram Wyatt-Brown
Honor, Shame, and Iraq in American Foreign Policy (2004)

Paul A. Stokes
We Are All Humiliated (2004)

Daniel L. Shapiro
The Nature of Humiliation (2004)

Lourdes R. Quisumbing
Citizenship Education for Better World Societies: A Holistic Approach
Paper read at the 8th UNESCO APEID International Conference on Education, 29 November 2002, Bangkok

Educating Young Children for a Peaceful World
Second World Forum on Early Care and Education
16-19 May 2000, Singapore

Values Education for Human Solidarity

Arie Nadler
Going beyond guilt and revenge: The effects of admitting responsibility and expressing empathy for the enemy's suffering on inter-group reconciliation (2004)

Heidi and Guy Burgess
Introduction to Their Work (2004)

Project Overview: Advancing the Peace and Conflict Resolution Fields. A Next-generation Brainstorming Project
Developing 20-year Strategies for Addressing the Hard Questions

Conflict Information Systems


Taking the Peace and Conflict Resolution Fields Outside the "Box"

Hroar Klempe
Reflections on ‘Conflict’ in Cultural Perspective (2004)

Philip Brown
Humiliation, Bullying and Caring in School Communities (2004)

Susan L. Podziba
The Human Side of Complex Public Policy Mediation (2004)

James E. Jones
The Third Force: A Practical, Community-Building: Approach to Settling Destructive Conflicts
(2004)

Muslim Peacebuilding after 9/11

Paper presented at The Islamic Society of North America Fourth Annual Islamic Conflict Resolution Symposium. "Muslim Peacebuilding after 9/11." Westin O'Hare, Chicago IL, April 18 – 20, 2003.

Neil Altman
Humiliation, Retaliation, and Violence, in Tikkun Magazine, January/February 2004

Gay Rosenblum-Kumar
Humiliation, Conflict and Public Policy (2004)

Brigid Donelan and Patricia O'Hagan
Humiliation and Resiliency in the Social Integration Process: Towards a model framework and policy dialogue at the United Nations (2004)

Joshua Weiss
The Role of the Third Side (2004)

Annette Anderson-Engler
Humiliation and Displaced Identity (2004)

Miriam Marton
Relevance of Sexual Violence Against Female Noncombatant Victims of Destructive Conflict in the Study of Humiliation (2004)

Duke Duchscherer
Nonviolent Communication as Core Principle for Any Public Policy
to Prevent Humiliation Dynamics
(2004)

Kathleen Modrowski
Human Rights Education: From Humiliation towards Living in Dignity (The Human Rights Cities Model) (2004)

Thomas J. Scheff
Thoughts in Response to Blind Trust (2004) by V. Volkan, a Theory of Collective Violence (2004)