17th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies

'Enlarging the Boundaries of Compassion'
in Dunedin, New Zealand, 29th August - 1st September 2011


National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand


• 29th August - 31st August 2011, starting at 9.00 am: Three-day Workshop, room Commerce 2.20 and Commerce 2.19
• 1st September 2011, 5.15 pm -7.00 pm: Public Event "From Humiliation to Compassion and Dignity," room Commerce 203

All

Official Media Release

Brief Story for the Press
•  Newsletter 17 written after this conference

Local Host, Organiser, and Convener


Kevin P. Clements
, Director, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

clements

 

Picture and Video Gallery

(Important note to our conference particants: During our conference, we asked for your permission to be posted here, however, if you changed your mind, 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.)

Dr. Huata Holmes All

On 29th August 2011, on Day One of the conference, Dr. Huata Holmes, as a representative of the local Maori Ngai Tahu Tribe, gave the Mihi Whakatau welcoming to the conference.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.
Video clip 01 from Brian Ward's camera: Getting started (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 02 from Brian Ward's camera: Dr. Huata Holmes (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 03 from Brian Ward's camera: Kevin Clements (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 04 from Brian Ward's camera: Linda Hartling (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 05 from Brian Ward's camera: Michelle Brenner introducing Carmen Hetaraka (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 06 from Brian Ward's camera: Carmen Hetaraka (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 07 from Brian Ward's camera: Carmen Hetaraka & all participants introducing themselves (this ian "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Video clip 08 from Brian Ward's camera: All participants introducing themselves (this is "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it)
Please see also the conversation video-taped for the World Dignity University initiative with Michelle Brenner and Carmen Hetaraka on 31st August 2011, in Dunedin.

Dan Baron Cohen Monument Michael Britton
30th August 2011, Day Two of the conference, with two talks via video connection:
•  Arts-based Pedagogical Work in the Amazonian North of Brazil by Daniel Baron Cohen, known as Dan Baron in Brazil, via video connection from Brazil (6.15 pm - 7.30 pm the previous day Brazil/East time, 15 hours time difference)
•  Compassion, a Voice from the Past to Voices of the Future Presentation and discussion with Michael Britton via video connection from New Jersey, USA (6.45 pm - 7.45 pm the previous day US/Eastern time, 16 hours time difference)
Please click on the pictures to see them larger.
Video clip from Adobe Connect: Dan Baron's Presentation and Carmen Hetaraka's Haka (this is an "unlisted" video until we had time to edit it; please note that the comments to Dan from the audience were sounded out, we did not know that Dan's microphone would have had to be switched off; please note also that Carmen Hetaraka's Haka is at the very end of this video)
• Please see also the conversation video-taped for the World Dignity University initiative with Michelle Brenner and Carmen Hetaraka on 31st August 2011, in Dunedin.

All Carmen Michelle Brenner

30th August 2011, Day Two of the conference.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.

Brian Ward Brian Ward

30th August 2011, on Day Two of the conference, Brian Ward received the Beacon of Dignity Award from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network.
Please see an interview with Brian.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.
• Please see the video-taped conversation with Brian Ward for the World Dignity University initiative that took place on 5th September 2011, in Timaru, New Zealand. The interviewer is Evelin Lindner. The discussion touches on systems thinking, sustainable business principles, and equal dignity. Brian is the sole director of a startup business in the renewable energy field (in New Zealand).
Uli Spalthoff Uli Spalthoff
30th August 2011, on Day Two of the conference, Uli Spalthoff received the Beacon of Dignity Award from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.

Marae

31st August 2011, Day Three of the conference. The conference is "on the move": A visit to the local Marae (Maori community house) and a meeting with local Maori.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Three from Evelin's camera.
Monarch Monarch
31st August 2011, on Day Three, the conference was "on the move": A trip on the Monarch up the Otago Harbour to witness Albatrosses and other wildlife.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Three from Evelin's camera.
Kevin Clements All
1st September 2011, the Public Event on Day Four of the conference, where Kevin Clements received the Beacon of Dignity Award from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.
All
1st September 2011, after the Public Event on Day Four of the conference, celebrating together.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.
Rick Slaven
These are pictures from Linda's camera. You see Otago Harbour. You see also Rick Slaven with a Moa bird in the Otago Museum.
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos from Linda's camera.

Global Attendance Through Video Platform
We used Adobe Connect as a video platform for selected sections of the conference as listed below. To determine the exact time in your time zone, you needed to go to a time converter URL, such as timezoneconverter.com, enter the Adobe Connect meeting room for this conference , select the "Enter as a Guest" option and type in your name. Then you were admitted into the video conference. If you could not join us in real time, please note that we have recorded parts of the sessions so you can view them at your convenience. These will be available after the conference. You might want to learn about Adobe Connect before joining us. Lasse Moer, Chief Engineer for Audiovisual Technology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University in Oslo, who hosted the Adobe Connect Launch of our World Dignity University Initiative on 24th June 2011, sent his Greetings to the Conference Participants on 26th August 2011, and he was with us for parts of our conference from Oslo via video connection, even though it was night time in Oslo! Thank you dear Lasse!

Brian Ward's Welcome to the Conference Participants
Dear HumanDHS Friends: My name is Brian Ward and I have been an associate of HumanDHS since 2006. As a New Zealander, living in the South Island of New Zealand, I look forward to meeting everyone at the 2011 HumanDHS Conference in Dunedin! May I recommend the wider experience of the South Island both with its friendly people and beautiful scenery! For some information for intending visitors please google ‘South Island New Zealand’ or have a look at the links: http://www.dunedinnz.com/visit/home.aspx, or http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/isite.
See also, as interesting background material, the New Zealand Treasury Paper 11/02 Working Towards Higher Living Standards for New Zealanders.
You can learn more about me at the website www.fivepower.co.nz or watching my introductory video.
Kind regards, Brian
Please see also the video-taped conversation with Brian Ward for the World Dignity University initiative that took place on 5th September 2011, in Timaru, New Zealand. The interviewer is Evelin Lindner. The discussion touches on systems thinking, sustainable business principles, and equal dignity. Brian is the sole director of a startup business in the renewable energy field (in New Zealand).

Inga Bostad, Vice-Rector of the University of Oslo, Greeted the Conference Participants
Lasse Moer video-taped Inga Bostad's personal message to the conference participants on 26th August 2011. In the light of the terrible 22/7 terror attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Inga Bostad encourages and urges everybody to engage in dialogue. She urged the conference participants to work on the World Dignity University Initiative during the conference.

 


•  How you could get to Dunedin and the conference venue
You had to fly to Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand, and then proceed to the University of Otago in Dunedin, room Commerce 2.20 and Commerce 2.19 (the Commerce Building is located in the norht-east region of the Dunedin campus, on the corner of Clyde & Union Streets).

• Where you could stay in Dunedin
Campus of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, see information about appropriate temporary accommodation for conference attendees.

•  Please kindly note that...
• There is no registration fee for our conferences. To cover our expenses, we always summarise 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 in our conferences 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 the 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.

•  Green conference
We strive to organize our conferences as "Green Conferences". Lynn King kindly advises us.

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

 


 

•  Frame
•  List of Conveners
•  Programme
•  List of Participants
•  Media
•  Papers
•  What happened in our previous meetings? Please see Newsletters!



 

Frame

by Linda Hartling, 2004

In our meetings we aim at creating a humiliation-free, collaborative learning environment characterised 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 emphasise 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 conceptualised as "waging good conflict" (Jean Baker Miller), 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 drain 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 read An Appreciative Frame: Beginning a Dialogue on Human Dignity and Humiliation, that Linda wrote for us in 2005.

Please see also Appreciative Facilitation: Hints for Round Table Moderators, kindly written in February 2006 by Judith Thompson to support the moderators of our workshops.

Please see furthermore Buddhist Teachings on Right Speech, kindly provided to us by Thomas Daffern in 2006, relating to our quest for appreciative enquiry, caring and being.

 


 

List of Conveners

 

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

Evelin Gerda Lindner is the Founding President of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) network and initiator of the World Dignity University initiative. She is a transdisciplinary social scientist and humanist who holds two Ph.D.s, one in medicine and one in psychology. In 1996, she designed a research project on the concept of humiliation and its role in genocide and war. German history served as starting point. She is the recipient of the 2006 SBAP Award and 2009 "Prisoner’s Testament" Peace Award. She is affiliated with the University of Oslo, Norway, with its Centre for Gender Research, and with its Department of Psychology (folk.uio.no/evelinl/), furthermore, with the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), which was superseded, in 2009, by the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4) at Columbia University, New York. She is also affiliated with the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. Lindner is teaching globally, including in South East Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Africa, and other places globally. [read more]

Linda Hartling, Ph.D., Social Psychologist, Organiser of the HumanDHS Conferences, Supporting the Local Conveners

Dr. Linda M. Hartling is the Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS). She is also a Member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board, HumanDHS Global Core Team, HumanDHS Global Coordinating Team, HumanDHS Research Team, and HumanDHS Education Team. She is the Editor of the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (JHDHS).
Hartling is affiliated with the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute (JBMTI) at the Stone Center, which is part of the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Until November 2008, she was its Associate Director. Hartling is a member of the JBMTI theory-building group advancing the practice of the Relational-Cultural Theory, which is a new model of psychological development. In addition, Hartling coordinates and contributes to training programs, publications, and special projects for the JBMTI. She holds a doctoral degree in clinical/community psychology and has published papers on resilience, substance abuse prevention, shame and humiliation, relational practice in the workplace, and Relational-Cultural Theory. [read more]
Please see:
• Humiliation: Real Pain, A Pathway to Violence, the draft of Linda's paper for Round Table 2 of our 2005 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York.
Humiliation: Assessing the Impact of Derision, Degradation, and Debasement, first published in The Journal of Primary Prevention, 19(4): 259-278, co-authored with T. Luchetta, 1999.
• Shame and Humiliation: From Isolation to Relational Transformation, the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute (JBMIT), Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College No. 88, Wellesley, MA 02481, co-authored with Wendy Rosen, Maureen Walker, Judith V. Jordan, 2000.
• Humiliation and Assistance: Telling the Truth About Power, Telling a New Story, paper prepared for the 5th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies 'Beyond Humiliation: Encouraging Human Dignity in the Lives and Work of All People', in Berlin, 15th -17th September, 2005.

Kevin Paul Clements, Host, Organiser, and Convener

Kevin Paul Clements holds the Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies, and is the Director of the newly-founded National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (see also its podcasts) at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, since January 2009. Prior to that, since September 2003, he was the Director of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (ACPACS), after being Secretary General of International Alert, in London, England. International Alert is one of the world's biggest NGO's working on Conflict Transformation in Africa, the Caucasus, Asia and Latin America. Before that, he was the Vernon and Minnie Lynch Professor of Conflict Resolution and Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia USA, and Head of the Peace Research Centre at the Australian National University, Canberra Australia, as well as Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Coordinator of Peace Studies at Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand. In the mid 1980s he was Director of the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, and a member of the New Zealand Delegation to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. He has been a Visiting Professor /Researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore, and the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia. He was a lecturer in Sociology at Hong Kong University in the early 1970s, and a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Oxford University. Kevin is a Past President of the International Peace Research Association, President of the IPRA Foundation and Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association. He was a member of the NZ Government Defence Committee of Enquiry in 1985 which explored how New Zealand could defend itself without nuclear weapons. Kevin was the inaugural President of the European Peace Building Liaison Organisation in Brussels and a Board Member of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention. He edited the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology in the late 1970s and is currently on the Editorial Boards of Peace Review, Global Change, Peace and Security, and Peace and Policy. He has been an advisor on defence, security and conflict issues to a range of governmental and non-governmental organisations in Australasia, the United States and Europe and Chairman, Facilitator and keynote speaker at many international Peace and Conflict Resolution conferences over the past 20 years. He is on the International Advisory Board of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding Amherst Mass USA, Global Action to Abolish War, the International Peace Research Association Foundation and (Ex Officio) on the Executive of the International Peace Research Association Council.
See also his work with the Global Peace Index (GPI).

 


 

Media

Official Media Release
Brief Story for the Press

22nd August 2011, From Humiliation to Dignity, press release by David Reade

23th August 2011, Evelin Lindner with Will Pollard in a ten minutes pre-recorded telephone interview, News & Editorial Director, 95bFM.
See the podcast on www.95bFM.com. Listen to the MP3 file of the interview.

25th August 2011, 10.00 am, Com or Chaos - Evelin Lindner, with Marvin Hubbard for one hour in the studio of Otago Access Radio, previously known as Toroa Radio, Dunedin. Marvin Hubbard presents Com or Chaos as"an hour of interesting and eclectic but often topical radio. Marvin interviews a wide range of people from religious leaders and teachers through to ecological activists and touring musicians."
See pictures.

28th August 2011, Sunday Morning - Dr Evelin Lindner. Dr. Evelin Lindner is a specialist on humiliation studies and believes that the corrosive effect of humiliation is the cause of much of humanity's troubles. (19′27″). Sunday, 28th August 2011, 8.40 am, Evelin Lindner in the Dunedin studio of Radio New Zealand with Chris Laidlaw (from the Wellington studio). Chris Laidlaw: "Discussion, features and ideas until midday (produced by Christine Cessford). Chris Laidlaw presents a thought provoking range of interviews, documentaries and music over four entertaining hours each Sunday Morning. Highlights include Insight at 8.15am, Mediawatch at 9.05am, extended interviews at 8.40am and 9.30am and after the news at 10am, and at 10:40am there's Trevor Reekie's Hidden Treasures, followed by listeners' feedback at 10:55am. Ideas rounds off the morning between 11am and midday."
Listen to the MP3 file of the interview.

 


 

29th - 31st August 2011: Program - Non-Public Part of the Conference

University of Otago in Dunedin, room Commerce 2.20 and Commerce 2.19 (the Commerce Building is located in the north-east region of the Dunedin campus, on the corner of Clyde & Union Streets)

 

 

Day One, Monday, 29th August 2011

 

9.00 am - 9.30 am Registration, getting started, see video

 

9.30 am - 10.45 am Welcome
• Dr. Huata Holmes, as a representative of the local Maori Ngai Tahu Tribe, gave the Mihi Whakatau welcoming to the conference, see video
Kevin Clements welcomed everybody on behalf of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Linda Hartling welcomed everybody on behalf of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network. Linda also explains our appreciative frame, see the beginning on video

Linda M. Hartling usually welcomes everyody and sets the frame of our conferences within "Appreciative Enquiry" (until his passing in 2007, she did this together with Donald Klein). Please read An Appreciative Frame: Beginning a Dialogue on Human Dignity and Humiliation, that Linda wrote for us in 2005.
Linda keeps our workshops together with her continuous caring interventions and her wisdom carries our conferences through crucial moments.

Dr. Huata Holmes
• Please click on the picture or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.

10.30 am - 10.45 am Tea Break

 

10.45 am - 12.00 am Traditional Wisdom & Participants Presenting Themselves
• Carmen Hetaraka is an active bearer of Ho'hourongo traditional Maori Conflict Resolution
Michelle Brenner is a Holistic Conflict Resolution Consultant and Registered Family Dispute Resolving Practitioner
• See mediate.com for related papers


• Please click on the picture or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.
• Please see also the conversation video-taped for the World Dignity University initiative with Michelle Brenner and Carmen Hetaraka on 31st August 2011, in Dunedin.

• For more than 25 years, Taura Carmen Hetaraka has applied his extensive knowledge of tikanga in developing programmes throughout the social and criminal justice sectors. In 2002 Carmen was one of two nationwide delegates representing New Zealand on an International Cultural Advisory Committee for Healing Our Spirits: World-Wide: Indigenous Drug and Addiction conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Carmen is a fluent speaker of Maori and has developed a number of indigenous based programmes that are applied within a number of New Zealand Prisons and schools. Furthermore, Carmen is the core cultural expert - working with several native Hawaiian organizations in developing, implementing, and evaluating a cultural education curriculum based on Hohourongo (Ho’oponopono).

Holistic Law Approach to Indigenous Incarceration: Cultural Cognitive Restructuring and Restorative Justice Practices is an article that was written by Michelle Brenner with acknowledgment to Carmen Hetaraka for insights and correct use of Maori language. Acknowledgment and gratitude to Kauila Clark and all the active bearers of Hawaii for their service and practice in traditional Ho'oponopono. Published by Mediate.com, republished here with the permission from the author.
See also:
- the questionnaire to the Right of Peoples to Peace that Michelle wishes to discuss.
- Children of Peace and War: From Child Soldiers to Peace Education chaired by Dot Maver, and Ana's Playground.
- A video about Restorative Justice and schools, from the work Michelle did when she was at Marrickville Council. "This is an edited version of Walk the Talk, an inside story of Rozelle Public Primary School in Sydney Australia. Rozelle at the time of this video making was a world wide leading example of the possibility for social change. The school being an inner city public school was transformed through the leadership of the principal and the initiatives that she supported. Restorative Justice and Alternatives To Violence joined together as a foundation for experiencing peace education as a living system within the school environment. Both Lyn Doppler and Terry O'Connell are leadership examples of how as a whole school community, students staff and parents learnt to use restorative and alternative to violence language and practice to relate, think and learn together."

12.00 am - 1.30 pm Lunch

 

Who We Are and Our Latest News - Introductory Presentation

Linda Evelin
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.

Linda M. Hartling, Ph.D., Director of HumanDHS. She is also a Member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board, HumanDHS Global Core Team, HumanDHS Global Coordinating Team, HumanDHS Research Team, and HumanDHS Education Team. She is the Editor of the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (JHDHS).
Linda is affiliated with the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute (JBMTI) at the Stone Center, which is part of the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Until 2008, she was its Associate Director.

Evelin G. Lindner, Founding President of HumanDHS
This talk has two parts, as they relate to Evelin's two roles. Her first role is to be the principal convener, together with Linda M. Hartling, of this conference and our overall HumanDHS network. Her second role is to be one HumanDHS researcher among many. Respectively, the first part of her talk addresses the overall aim of our HumanDHS work (see here a transcription), while the second part gives a very brief introduction to her theory of humiliation.
The second part of this talk addressed the massacre that had occured in Norway on 22nd July 2011, less than a month after the World Dignity University initiative was launched there. The paper is titled Terror in Norway: How Can We Continue from a Point of Utter Dispair? Promoting a Dignity Culture, not Just Locally, but Globally.
Please see background material:
- In Times of Globalization and Human Rights: Does Humiliation Become the Most Disruptive Force? In: Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, March 2007. Please see an earlier version here or at http://ssrn.com/abstract=668742 (this paper's SSRN ID is 668742)
- See, furthermore, Dignity or Humiliation in Economic and Monetary Systems: Can We “Occupy Wall Street” and Transcend the Old Cs (Communism and Capitalism) through Economic Systems of True Inclusion? What about Inclusionism? Or Dignism?
- Two introductory lectures "Dignity or Humiliation: The World at a Crossroad," given at the University of Oslo, Norway, January 2011 and 2009,
at www.sv.uio.no/tjenester/kunnskap/podkast/index.html (search for Lindner).
- Invitation into the World Dignity Initiative

3.00 pm - 3.15 pm Tea Break

 

13.30 Launch of Open Space Sessions

 

Planning of the Open Space Sessions
Our Open Space Sessions are always facilitated by Linda M. Hartling. Please read here more about this approach and what it entails. Open Space means developing the programme of the conference on the first day. See further down a list of topics that had been proposed prior to the conference.


• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.

 Eduating Youth on Humiliation and Human Dignity, hosted by Prakash Bhattaral

Prakash Bhattaral
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.

These topics had been proposed prior to the conference:

 Topics of particular relevance for New Zealand:
The topics of particular relevance for NZ, include: the sources of domestic violence, child abuse and school bullying, adolescent transitions, youth suicide and violence, safety in the workplace and the family-worklife balance. For example, the NZ Government has just released a Green Paper on vulnerable children, and this conference provides an opportunity to discuss new ideas and approaches with experienced international experts who are dedicated to advancing human dignity.

 Appreciation: How can we actively support each other, especially when our social environments are unsupportive , by Uli Spalthoff, Linda M. Hartling, Evelin G. Lindner.
Like: "Brian Ward, to all of us, is 'the Sir Edmund Hillary of Positive Futures.'"

•  Extremism in Pakistan and India by Zahid Shahab Ahmed

•  Shame and Humiliation (in two parts) by Tony Webb
Part One: On the salutogenic view on shame
This session offers an experience of shame as ‘salutogenic’ – normal healthy functional (pure gold and so close to love and joy that it isn’t funny) rather than the usual heavy pathology of shame as toxic and needing to be got rid of – and to show how this links to some of the work on humiliation as part of the shaming end of the spectrum of shame-faced emotions
Part Two: On the definition/concepts of shame and humiliation
Tony Webb conceptualizes "humiliation at the more intense end of the shame spectrum (humility at the other end – all sharing elements of the same affect/body language) but critically humiliation has elements of being imposed on me by other – whereas modesty shyness embarrassment and much of shame is internally generated – something I do to or at least can accept for myself  - and hence have power to make changes around – rather than feeling powerless under humiliating circumstances. The other factor that is useful in distinguishing these feelings across the spectrum is duration – I may have a tendency to being embarrassed (personality) but the actual feeling of this in any given instance is relatively short duration  - feelings of humiliation (and guilt) tend to be longer lasting." This session is exploring within a frame of appreciative inquiry what others make of the various ideas. See, for example, "How the Human Rights Ideal of Equal Dignity Separates Humiliation from Shame" by Evelin Lindner, in Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, 2007 Please see the first draft here.

• World Dignity University and Dignity Press by Uli Spalthoff, Linda M. Hartling, Evelin G. Lindner and Inga Bostad (video greetings from Oslo)

• Video dialogues for our World Dignity University initiative (see example 1 and example 2) guided by Uli Spalthoff, Linda M. Hartling, Evelin G. Lindner

•  On the Concept of Dignity and Humiliation by Linda M. Hartling

•  From Anders Breivik to Riots in London to Global Economic Crisis: What Now? Harvesting Knowledge for a Sustainable Future from Indigenous Cultures, by Evelin G. Lindner

•  Francisco Gomes de Matos gifted a poster on compassion and dignity to this conference!

•  The boundaries of COMPASSION as seen by DIGNITY, version 1 and version 2
by Francisco Gomes de Matos, a peace linguist from Recife, Brazil
A founding member of The World Dignity University
29th March 2011, fcgm1933 [at] gmail.com


Rhymed reflections:

COMPASSION would have no boundaries
if the good actions of Humankind had no limitations

COMPASSION would have no boundaries
if only good actions were practiced by all nations

Every day the boundaries of COMPASSION enlarged can be
if people from East and West use DIGNITY as a humanizing sea

Every day the boundaries of COMPASSION enlarged can be
If less and less humiliation in human interaction there will be

Enlarging the boundaries of COMPASSION is more than a HUMANE
responsibility
It calls for a spirit of serving those who suffer in a world void of
solidarity

Enlarging the boundaries of COMPASSION should not be only a
quantitative action

How about engaging in it as a qualitatively transforming,  dignifying
PASSION?

•  UNLIMITED LOVE: some rhymed reflections
inspired by Stephen Post's HIDDEN GIFTS OF HELPING
by Francisco Gomes de Matos, a peace linguist from Recife, Brazil
A founding member of The World Dignity University
30th May 2011, fcgm1933 [at] gmail.com

Note:Each reflection begins with a preposition

Of UNLIMITED LOVE  we may speak:
Is it the ultimate divine blesssing we seek?

About UNLIMITED LOVE we may talk:
Is it on the road to COMPASSION to walk?

Through UNLIMITED LOVE we may change:
Is it from receiving to self-giving to exchange?

into UNLIMITED LOVE we may look:
Is it the most spiritually-inspiring kind of Book?

From UNLIMITED LOVE we may learn to dignify
and living GOD IS LOVE a new world we'll edify

With faith in UNLIMITED LOVE let's pray
and even with our limited human love, we'll find GOD's way

End of Day One

 

Rick Slaven Uli
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day One from Evelin's camera.



 

Day Two, Tuesday, 30th August 2011

 

9:00 am Welcome

 

Arts-based Pedagogical Work in the Amazonian North of Brazil by Dan Baron via video connection from Brazil (6.15 pm - 7.30 pm the previous day Brazil/East time, 15 hours time difference), see video (please note that the comments to Dan from the audience were sounded out; we did not know that Dan's microphone would have had to be switched off; please note also Carmen Hetaraka's Haka at the very end of this video)

Dan Baron Cohen
Dan Baron, please click on the picture to see it larger.
Monument
The Castanheiras of Eldorado dos Carajas 1999 (10m x 15m x 25m), please click on the picture to see it larger.

Military police is moved to sing in the school of the assassinated art educator Maria Silva, 24th August, NovaIpixuna, Para, Amazonia. Please click on the picture to see it larger. See also Colheita em Tempos de Seca or Harvest In Times of Draught, a CD that provides a celebration of the Amazon as a source of human values and rich popular culture, by those who live both everyday. But it also reminds of its vulnerability. It is an inspiring resource for all educators and communities who seek a sustainable future

Daniel Baron Cohen (known as Dan Baron in Brazil) is a playwright, community-based arts-educator and cultural activist, presently living and working in Marabá, in the Amazonian state of Pará, northern Brazil. He studied English Literature at Oxford University where he did doctoral research into theatre as popular education. After a decade of community theatre and mural collaborations dedicated to conflict transformation and social justice with excluded communities in Manchester (Northern England) and Derry (North of Ireland), in 1994 Dan accepted a permanent post in theatre and popular education at the University of Glamorgan, in Wales. He left Wales in 1998 to collaborate as a Visiting Professor at the State University of Santa Catarina and has been collaborating with communities within the Landless, Indigenous, Trade Union and University movements of Brazil ever since. His Pedagogy of Transformance emerged through these collaborations and dialogues with other cultural movements in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Two national awards in 2008 and 2010 from the Ministry of Culture and a national UNICEF award in 2011 allowed Dan to accept an invitation to live and collaborate with the Afro-Indigenous community of Cabelo Seco ("dry hair"), founding community of the city of Marabá, in the quest to develop sustainable communities through living popular culture.
Between 2004-10 Dan was the President of IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association), and Coordinator of the World Alliance for Arts Education between 2006-2010. He is a member of the World Council of the World Social Forum.

Dan wrote from Cabelo Seco ("dry hair"), in Marabá, southeast of Pará, in the Amazonian north of Brazil, on 22nd August 2011:
Good morning from the Amazon! On this world day of action against the building of the hydro-electric plant, Belo Monte, on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon (to be the third largest plant in the world), with unpredictable, irreversible sociocultural and environmental damage in the region which will impact on all of our lives, we present two songs...
- Alerta Amazonia (Zequinha de Cabelo Seco)
- Clamor popular (Zequinha de Cabelo Seco)
- See the booklet of songs from the Brazilian Amazon which includes the translation of Alerta Amazonia (from the Transformance Archive)
Both songs have emerged in Cabelo Seco, an afro-indigenous community on the periphery of Marabá, Pará, where we live and work. The riverside community is already suffering serious consequences of the large dams completed in the past two years. The songs have been developed by our friend, project collaborator and art-educator Zequinha de Cabelo Seco, inside our project Backyards of Cultural Solidarity. We hope they contribute to the broadening of the international quest for a living, sustainable Pan-Amazônia.
Even if you don't understand the poetic lyrics, we believe you'll understand their emotions. Please write to us if you would like a translation, and feel free to use the songs in your own projects and community. Here are some links if you'd like more information:
www.avaaz.org/en/amazon_under_threat/
www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_amazon_a/?fp

Many thanks. An amazonian hug!
Dan Baron e Mano Souza
Cabelo Seco, Marabá
Institute Transformance/ABRA

Dan wrote on 23rd August 2011:
"The conference takes place during my final 5-day period of intensive writing (and type-setting of my new book 'Harvest in Times of Drought: a pedagogy of life for sustainable community', written with 50 rural, riverside and forest arts-educators), but I would like to make myself available for 90 minutes, if that works for you. Is there a definite open or closed space where I could share reflections on what we have learned from arts-based pedagogical work in response to the destruction of the Amazonian forests? I could speak very concretely on how a group of 50 teachers transformed a culture of collusion into an community-based ethics of co-responsibility, based on reflexive solidarity and cooperation. This could also connect to our response to the assassination of our student/grandmother/eco-pedagogue Maria Silva (on May 24). Alternatively, or within the same contribution, I could speak about our work with young people as cultural organizers and artists, transforming themselves, to transform their own afro-indigenous community, one of the poorest and allegedly most violent in Maraba, cradle of the 'industrialization of the Amazon'."

10.30 am - 10.45 am Tea Break

 

Compassion, a Voice from the Past to Voices of the Future
Presentation and discussion with Michael Britton via video connection from New Jersey, USA (6.45 pm - 7.45 pm the previous day US/Eastern time, 16 hours time difference)

Michael Britton
Michael Britton , please click on the picture to see it larger.

Michael Britton always holds our Don Klein Celebration Lecture in place for the lecture that Don usually presented in New York: The Humiliation Dynamic: Looking Back... Looking Forward
Concerned with integrative thinking across neuroscience, in-depth psychotherapies and historical/cultural living, Michael's work looks at how participation in the historical life of our times and interior life are deeply intertwined. His earlier research looked into experience by US military in planning and commanding nuclear weapons in the Cold War; kinds of parenting that help children grow to do well in love as adults; kinds of parenting that make it harder for battered women to take action on their own behalf; and psychological attitudes towards existing and hoped for worlds reflected in traditional, modern and postmodern architecture. Michael provides workshops for therapists to think about mature love and how patients are helped to get there within themselves, within relationships, and in their co-responsibility for sustaining love in the larger world. He is very concerned with supporting a culture of appreciation for what we can learn from each other, i.e. open societies rather than totalitarian, as the basis for global life. He is currently focused on the demands for psychological adaptation posed by global life and is working on two writing projects that invite taking up those challenges.  The first is on weapons of mass destruction and the psychological challenges involved in creating global safety. The second is on understanding what global life requires of us as illuminated by understanding the human brain's place in evolution, its multi-layered inclinations for rendering history in the present, and the choices among those inclinations that we face as we go about the business of everyday work as adults in the institutions of our societies.  

12.00 am - 1.00 pm Lunch

 

Beacon of Dignity Award Ceremony for Brian Ward

Brian Ward Brian Ward
• Please click on the pictures here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.
• Please see the video-taped conversation with Brian Ward for the World Dignity University initiative that took place on 5th September 2011, in Timaru, New Zealand. The interviewer is Evelin Lindner. The discussion touches on systems thinking, sustainable business principles, and equal dignity. Brian is the sole director of a startup business in the renewable energy field (in New Zealand).

Beacon of Dignity Award Ceremony for Uli Spalthoff

Uli Spalthoff Uli Spalthoff
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.

Continuation of Open Space Sessions

 

1.00 - 2.15 pm Open Space 1

 

2.15 pm - 2.30 pm Tea Break

 

2.30 - 3.45 pm Open Space 2

 

3.45 - 4.15 pm Open Space Host Sharing

 

4.15 - 4.45 pm World Dignity University Initiative Introduction

 

4.45 - 5.15 pm Closing Comments

 

5.15 pm End of Day Two


• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Two from Evelin's camera.

 


 

Day Three, Wednesday, 31st August 2011

 

08:45 am Departure to the Marae

 

• 9.45 am A visit to the local Te Runaka o Otakou Marae (Maori community house) - we thank Janine Karetai, CEO at Te Kahui Matapopere, and her colleagues, for their wonderful hospitality!

 

Marae

• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Three from Evelin's camera.

"Visiting Puketeraki Marae at Karitane," a personal letter kindly shared with us by Birgit Brock-Utne in April 2012, when she spent time at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in Dunedin as a Visiting Professor:                                                    
The day after Anzac day, on Thursday, the 26th of April 2012, 20 people from the Centre visited Visiting Puketeraki Marae at Karitane and stayed overnight there. Marae are Māori community facilities that usually consist of a carved meeting house, a dining hall and cooking area and the marae ātea (sacred space in front of the meeting house).
Marae are symbols of tribal identity. They are meeting places where people can discuss and debate issues. Marae are considered by Māori as tūrangawaewae - standing places, places of belonging.  We arrived at the Puketeraki Marae by 2pm. Hather picked me up in her car. We were welcomed on to the Marae with  a powhiri (formal welcome ceremony). The tangata whenua (local people of the marae) initiated the pōwhiri by issuing a karanga (formal welcoming call).  We had beforehand organised a kaikaranga (response to the call of welcome) led by Rosemary and sung in Māori. It is part of Māori culture to sing a lot. Before and after each speech there have to be waiata (songs) to support the speaker. This is the sheet music of the waiata which we sang at the powhiri.
The Māori lawyer  Maui Solomon who is closely connected to our Centre delivered the whaikōrero (thanking for the inivitation)on behalf of our group and then delivered koha  (a donation of money placed in an envelope) to be given to the people of the marae. Kevin then gave a speech starting with a couple of sentences in Māori which he readout and then switched to English. He ended his speech by deliverig another koha from us. Before a most delicious home cooked meal a Māori woman told us something about Māori customs. The Māori language does not have any word for enemy (the Eskimos have no word for war). The closest one comes to enmey is to say “an angry friend” or “a friend with whom there are disagreements”. After the nice meal the lawyer Maui Solomon from the Hokotehi Moriori Trust spoke about the Moriori a totally peaceful tribe that lived in peace for 500 years on Chatham islands. When they were attcked by another Māori tribe and the young men wanted to fight bak, the elders forbid them to do so. They were killed and the grandfather of Maui Solomon is said to have been the last Moriori living. When he died, it was claimed that the tribe was extinct along with its language and culture. This is also what it says in history books and the Kiwi have learnt. But descendants of the Moriori are claiming their history, land and culture back. Some years ago hundred of them gathered and organised themselves in a Moriori Trust. A couple of years ago the Moriori Trust counted more then 1000 members. Now they are mare than 3 000. Maui Solomon said that they were bent on restore their culture and heritage. They wanted to show the world than non-violence wins in the end.

• Continuation of Open Space Session while the conference was "on the move": A trip on the Monarch up the Otago Harbour to witness Albatrosses and other wildlife

Monarch
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Three from Evelin's camera.

End of Day Three

 

 

Public Event "From Humiliation to Dignity," Thursday, 1st September 2011, 5.15 pm - 7.00 pm
University of Otago in Dunedin, Room Commerce 203
(the Commerce Building is located in the north-east region of the Dunedin campus, on the corner of Clyde & Union Streets)

 

•  5.15 pm Welcome

 

•  Welcoming everybody to the public event of our conference

• Kevin Clements, Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, Director of the newly-founded National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand [read more]

Beacon of Dignity Award Ceremony for Kevin Clements

Kevin Clements Kevin Clements
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.

•  Appreciative Enquiry and Humiliation

by Linda Hartling, Ph.D., Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS), former Associate Director, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Wellesley College, Boston, USA

In our conferences we aim at creating a humiliation-free, collaborative learning environment characterised 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 conferences, 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.
Please read An Appreciative Frame: Beginning a Dialogue on Human Dignity and Humiliation, that Linda wrote for us in 2005.

Linda Hartling
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.

•  Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security

Evelin Lindner, Founding President of HumanDHS

If you wish to learn more about the overall aim of the HumanDHS work, please read a transcription of Evelin's explanations that were part of her introductory presentation this morning. If you wish to see a brief introduction to her theory of humiliation, please see the first issue of the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, March 2007.

All
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.

7.00 pm Closing of the event

All All
• Please click on the pictures or here to see all the photos of Day Four from Evelin's camera.

 


 

Participants

• Kevin Clements, Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, Director of the newly-founded National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand

• Dr. Huata Holmes, as a representative of the local Maori Ngai Tahu Tribe, gave the Mihi Whakatau welcoming to the conference

Linda Hartling & • Richard Slaven

Linda Hartling & Evelin Lindner

Brigitte Volz & Uli Spalthoff

Michael Britton, from New Jersey, USA, via video connection

Michael Britton

Dan Baron, from the Amazonian North of Brazil, via video connection

Dan Baron Cohen

Brian Ward

Brian Ward

• Rebecca Bradley & Daniel Francesc Benson-Guiu

• Peni Connolly

• Amie Kirkham

• Maria Dorsey, PhD student in the Tourism Department at the University of Otago, in which Kevin Clements is one of her supervisors

• Prakash Bhattarai

Prakash Bhattaral

• Sean Linton

• Claudia Ammann

Michelle Brenner


Michelle is a Holistic Conflict Resolution Consultant and Registered Family Dispute Resolving Practitioner in
Sydney, Australia. Holistic Law Approach to Indigenous Incarceration: Cultural Cognitive Restructuring and Restorative Justice Practices is an article that was written by Michelle Brenner with acknowledgment to Carmen Hetaraka for insights and correct use of Maori language. Acknowledgment and gratitude to Kauila Clark and all the active bearers of Hawaii for their service and practice in traditional Ho'oponopono. Published by Mediate.com, republished here with the permission from the author.

• Carmen Hetaraka


Carmen is an active bearer of Ho'hourongo traditional Maori Conflict Resolution. For more than 25 years, Taura Carmen Hetaraka has applied his extensive knowledge of tikanga in developing programmes throughout the social and criminal justice sectors. In 2002 Carmen was one of two nationwide delegates representing New Zealand on an International Cultural Advisory Committee for „Healing Our Spirits: World-Wide: Indigenous Drug and Addiction conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Carmen is a fluent speaker of Maori and has developed a number of indigenous based programmes that are applied within a number of New Zealand Prisons and schools. Furthermore, Carmen is the core cultural expert - working with several native Hawaiian organizations in developing, implementing, and evaluating a cultural education curriculum based on Hohourongo (Ho’oponopono).

Tony Webb

• David Adair

David Adair - Inequality and Humiliation
The strongest original influence that led me to this conference was my involvement from about 2000 with the Tasmanian Men’s Health and Wellbeing group (Tasmen), with their annual men’s gatherings and community men’s groups. Tasmen are about personal and community growth, helping to heal our social ills through improving the wellbeing of men. It was at one of these gatherings that I happened upon Tony Webb’s Working With Shame workshop. Its poster was amongst others advertising a choice of workshops, and initially I hurried past – I’d had enough of shame, thank you very much! But something bade me return, and register…
All these experiences led me to change my vocation from a laid-back, subsistence lifestyle of sail making, fishing and growing my own food on Bruny Island, Tasmania, to community work in nearby Hobart. Following some re-training I began with men’s family abuse group work, and discovered the sector was hampered by an inadequate working theory of the social problem. This led me to to a coursework Masters in Criminology and Corrections, within which I was able to develop and hone my own approach to various social conflicts. My research project focused on school conflict and proposed a peacemaking approach to what are generally viewed as ‘student behaviour problems’ (often in fact institutional behaviour problems!) In the midst of these studies I worked in a ‘home and school support’ program for boys having trouble with school and initiated a two-worker conflict resolution model for the agency that employed me. The respect accorded to all parties in this approach could work wonders, if not blocked by institutional inertia.
A high mark for my research report won me a scholarship for my current PhD, which has developed into a study of the humiliations of inequality in a community setting. And so here I am!

They could unfortunately not be with us:

• Miliana

• Victoria C. Fontan

• Edward P. Borloh

Adenrele Awotona

Jacqueline Howell Wasilewski

Glyn Rimmington

Carol Smaldino

Anoop Swarup

Zahid Shahab Ahmed

• Sudhir K Samantaray, Asst. Professor, Psychology, Post Graduate Govt. College, Sector-11, Chandigarh-160 011, India

• James Njenga introduced himself (2nd December 2010): "Being brought up in a religious and humble background buttressed my belief in inspiring and aspiring for a better tomorrow... I cherish intergrity and as a practical being, I pursue challenges to logical conclusions. It is my compassionate nature and desire to share that propels my goal for a better tomorrow and the best possible future."

• Muhammad Derfish Ilyas, Lawyer, Human Rights and Peace activist from Lahore, Pakistan

Naseer A Ganai

• Richard Evanoff, Aoyama University, Tokyo, is unfortunately hindered to attend. He planned to speak on intercultural ethics & Echiko Evanoff, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan
• Richard Evanoff teaches International Communication in the School of International Politics and Economics at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. from the Institute for Environment, Philosophy, and Public Policy at Lancaster University in the U.K. His main research interest is intercultural ethics and how dialogue on environmental and development issues can be effectively conducted across cultures. He was a speaker at the U.N. Conference on Dialogue Among Civilizations in 2001. His publications include "Universalist, relativist, and constructivist approaches to intercultural ethics" (in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations 28, 2004), Thinking About the Environment (Macmillan, 1996), and Bioregionalism and Global Ethics (Routledge 2011). He formerly served on the staff of Japan Environment Monitor, and continues to be active in various NGOs and grassroots organizations concerned with social and environmental issues, including Friends of the Earth Japan.
• Echiko Evanoff is a painter and artist, who also teaches English and intercultural communication at Tokyo Jogakkan College and Teikyo University in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from East Tennessee State University, an M.A. in art theory and art history from the University of Leeds in the U.K., and has done post-graduate studies at the Chicago Art Institute. Her paintings have been exhibited in the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, including a display at the 49th Peace Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo. Her publications include "Preparation for IELTS (International English Language Testing System)" in IELTS: Methods and Study Techniques (Aruku, 2006).

 


 

Open Space and What It Entails

Donald Klein explained the Open Space design as follows (2006): 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.

Alan Klein kindly wrote (31/10/2005): One of the key elements in making an OS event successful is the focusing of the question that the participants respond to. Another is being clear about what will be done with the information presented and/or decisions made in the OS event itself.

I would like you all (and any others who should be involved in this as well) to begin thinking and dialoguing about what would be the most question that you would most like to see grappled with by the participants. This may or may not include a sense of the decision(s), or type of decision(s) that you want the participants to come to or you may decide that the OS event is just for gathering and focusing energy and not to some to any decisions.
Thanks,
~Alan

On 14th December, 2005, we had a Board Meeting in NY:
We discussed our Open Space Section. Don explained that we could have different levels, a more open and general level and a more focused level. At the more open level we would discuss what is on our minds, at the more focused level, we would form 'buzzgroups' on particular topics, such as business, research, education, fundraising, non-profit.

Don Klein kindly wrote (30/12/2005):
[...] The main point I recall dwelling on at some length had to do with deciding first on the content of a session and its purpose; then deciding what meeting technology to use. Open Space is often used when the purpose is to make it possible for individuals to focus on aspects of a general topic that are of special interest to them. The participants themselves choose what they want to discuss.  No one knows in advance how many groups there will be and what they'll be  discussing.
Buzz groups are used as a way to break a large meeting down into smaller sections (usually from six to twelve or so people). All the buzz groups can be assigned the same topic; or different buzz groups can be assigned different aspects of the same topic; or buzz groups may be divided among two or more different - usually related - topics.
The main point is to decide what is to be the topical focus and what outcomes are desired from a session.  Then pick the technique that promises to help us achieve the purpose.
Love, Don

Sophie Schaarschmidt kindly wrote (02/01/2006):
What I would suggest for a following workshop (and this is my very personal view) is to create discussion forums as open choices. The open space technology as I know it, and as it is used mainly in the field of training involves participants in a unique way. The first step is like an open brainstorm session involving all participants. In this session, participants can come up with a topic that they want to (present and) discuss. All topics are written down and similar topics might be combined into one topic. This process can happen either beforehand via email or a web-forum or at the workshop on a blackboard. Once the discussion topics are defined the person that proposed a certain topic would announce a time and a space when and where the topic will be discussed. In a full day of open-space, up to 50 topics could be discussed. People are free to join and leave a discussion. As a metaphor, people are like bees flying from one topic to another, participating in a discussion as long as it feeds their interest and taking the honey from it as well as contributing to it, and leaving the discussion when it takes a turn into a direction that they are less interested in or when they wish to participate in other discussions on other topics as well. Normally people take part in 3 to 10 discussions a day. Therefore, people are free to select the topics they are interested in and move to other discussions, as listener or both, listener and contributor. Each discussion group is also free in putting their time frame, and scheduling breaks. Of course, there should be a time frame for the open-space session, let's say it would take place from 1pm to 5pm in the afternoon. Yet, discussion groups can schedule their space (location), time frame (a discussion could last half an hour or three hours: as much as it takes to explore the issue) and breaks themselves. The only condition is that the discussion topic, its location and starting time will be announced (or written down on a public board) so that all participants know when which subject will be discussed where.
I participated twice in such an open-space session and I was very much impressed by its power and evolving possibilities. Not only were people more active, excited and engaged, taking little breaks, but also people felt they could gain and contribute most in this process. They felt they were free to choose which discussions to engage in, and it was an easy way to make contacts with those people interested and engaged in topics similar to one's own. By being able to set an own time frame discussions were deeper than usual, and by participants moving from one topic to another, joining (and making new contributions) or leaving a discussion the discussions stayed vivid and interesting, and many perspectives could be shared. At the end of a discussion each group filled in an A4 page which contained the title of the discussion group, a list of the names of the people who contributed in the discussion, and a summary of what was discussed (the main stances). All the discussion summaries can be combined to a book at the end of the conference providing people with a tremendous treasure of topics and insights.
Another advantage of the open-space technology (as I experienced it) is that people stay 'fresh' in the workshop. The discussion excites and revives people and forms a good basis for getting to know each other and going on with the discussions at a later time in the workshop (e.g. during lunch).
It might be worthy to try the open-space technology in a HumanDHS workshop meeting substituting the round table sessions, or in addition to them. The only difficulty I'm aware of might be that we would need many spaces (rooms) where the discussion groups could spread for their discussions.
[...]
Good luck for your work in 2006!
Yours warmly,
Sophie Schaarschmidt

Linda M. Hartling kindly wrote in response to a message from Carlos Sluzki (21/01/2006):
How do we maximize the quality of work together when we are a group of individuals with dramatically varying levels of experience? This is such an important topic I think we should discuss it at our next meeting in Costa Rica. Perhaps, we could use some of our Board meeting time to discuss this? In addition, perhaps we could use some of our 'open space' time to explore people's view of this dilemma? I suspect that all of us involved with the operations of this network share a desire to optimize our efforts, to move the work forward efficiently and effectively. When we use an all-inclusive format at our meetings, we risk back tracking and dealing with questions that have obvious answers (e.g., convincing some newer attendees of the significance humiliating behavior). (...) In the words of Peter Drucker, I would like to see our group create conditions that 'strengthen our effectiveness and make our weaknesses irrelevant'. But, how do we do this in a way that promotes the dignity of all the people who attend our meetings?  I'm trying to think of some examples of organizations that do this... perhaps, Linda Stout's Piedmont Peace Project? Not too long ago I read a book entitled, 'The Wisdom of Crowds', which I think is relevant to our questions about inclusion/exclusion. It
describes the conditions for 'wise crowds'. (Surowiecki, J. (2004). The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations. New York: Doubleday.)

Don Klein kindly responded (28/01/2006):
I very much support the focus on where we want to go. Suggest working in interest groups part of the time: i.e., education, research, civic action, global community building. And include a way for groups to emerge around other areas of interest.  for that matter, if only one person had an
interest and wanted to develop it further and then share his/her thoughts with us, that might also be possible.
Love, Don

Don Klein kindly wrote (28/01/2006):
I'd like to offer some experiences with the network originally known as National Training Laboratories.  This network, begun around 1950, is sstill in existence today; it has changed, however, in ways that seem relevant to the issues raised.
The network originally was a group of 'originators' of theory and practice in the area of group dynamics.  Most of them had participated in the discovery of 'sensitivity groups' or the t=group method.  After almost a decade, the more experienced people in the network became Fellows, as distinct from ordinary Members of the network.  To admit someone to their membership, all the Fellows had to agree that the applicant's credentials merited inclusion in the Fellows.  During t his initial period, which lasted about ten years, selected members of the network participated as staff members of two and three-week training programs for the general public, using the t-group method.  An enormous amount of theory building took place as faculty spent three or four days preparing each of the training labs.  It should be noted that most of the network were academics engaged in one or another of the social sciences, in areas related to democratic participation in social change.  They were all motivated by their common passion and some of them felt that the two or three weeks they spent with their  colleagues from around the country were the most meaningful and exciting of the entire year.
In the 1960s, questions arose about the suitability of having a 'class' system in the network.  The Fellows were seen as an anti-democratic perversion of the ideals and purposes of NTL.  And so the Fellows class was discontinued.
At about the same time, financial difficulties led to a reorganization of NTL, which included dissolution of the existing netework and inviting a more diverse group (sex, race, and ethnically) to form a new network.  The theory and practice of Organization Development, meanwhile, had emerged and more and more of NTLs network members became engaged in OD practice, while fewer and fewer network members were engaged in academic pursuits.
In my view the social impact and creativity of the current network have been reduced by NTL's growing emphasis on operating profitably as a 'business'.
There is currently an upsurge (how strong we don't know) of those wishing to advocate working on participative ways to democratize our institutions and our society.  Some of the network members are placing an increased emphasis on creating an international network and of promoting global community.
A major point in all of this history for me is that there is no 'ideal' and certainly no 'absolute' way of resolving questions having to do with competency, interest, and inclusion.  Based on the above history, my inclination is to favor the 'class' system; i.s., creating a group of qualified researchers, practitioners, and policy shapers to work together to shape, participate in, and contribute knowledge and skills to the work of HDHS network, including those activities that enable it to raise money by grants, contracts, income from training programs, and contributions.
These comments are lengthy. I hope they're helpful.
Love,
Don

Linda M. Hartling kindly wrote (27/04/2006):
In terms of Open Space...I think we should have some of the same groups we had in Berlin, with room for a couple of new groups. For example, we could have an education group, a research group, a business group, etc. It would be helpful to have these key groups continue their discussions, rather than creating all new groups. Didn't we talk about having 'buzz groups', meaning groups addressing topics that people want to continue to move forward? The education, research, and business groups could be buzz groups.

The following Dignilogue topics were proposed in different conferences, yet, the facilitators are unable to come. The topics are listed here, because they might inspire you.

•  Giving Voices to the Environmentally Humiliated and Misrecognized: Nature and Women by Keitaro Morita (adapted from a similar presentation at the 9th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies in Hangzhou, China, 13th-16th April 2007)

•  Peace: A World History, by Antony Adolf (2009)

•  Native Hawaiian and Polynesian Communities, by Dharm P. S. Bhawuk and Neil Ryan Walsh (Neil was unfortunately hindered to join us) (2009)

•  Familiarization and Its Ways: Is Ragging/Bullying an Archaic Method of Interaction, by Harsh Agarwal (2009)

•  Humiliation and Dreams, a talk/session by Dakshinamoorthi Raja Ganesan (2009)

•  Asian Religious Worldviews and Alienation, and/or Alienation and Dreams, a talk/session by Dakshinamoorthi Raja Ganesan (2009)

•  Video Series of the Causes and Patterns of Humiliating Experiences Through Role Play by Dakshinamoorthi Raja Ganesan (2009)
D. Raja Ganesan kindly wrote on January 15, 2009: 'I take this opportunity to suggest that a video series of the causes and patterns of humiliating experiences through role play of well established principles of social psychology--both culture free and culture fair--through role play and simulation be taken under the auspices of our group'.

•  Intercultural Research, faciliated by International Academy of Intercultural Research (IAIR) researchers (2009)

•  The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for How We Relate to Other Animals by Michael W. Fox (2010)

 


 

Papers

All participants are warmly invited to send in papers.
Please notify us, if you wish to submit any of your papers also as a book chapter or as a journal article.

Please see earlier submitted papers here:
• List of All Publications

Evelin Lindner (2011)
Terror in Norway: How Can We Continue from a Point of Utter Dispair? Promoting a Dignity Culture, not Just Locally, but Globally
Paper prepared for the 17th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies "Enlarging the Boundaries of Compassion," in Dunedin, New Zealand, 29th August - 1st September 2011.

David Adair (2011)
Inequality and Humiliation
Abstract prepared for the 17th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies "Enlarging the Boundaries of Compassion," in Dunedin, New Zealand, 29th August - 1st September 2011.

Brian Ward (2011)
Submission to New Zealand Green Paper on Vulnerable Children
Submission shared at the 17th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies "Enlarging the Boundaries of Compassion," in Dunedin, New Zealand, 29th August - 1st September 2011.