2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict

"From a Virus Pandemic to a Pandemic of Dignity:
How Can We Escape Complicity with Institutionalized Humiliation?"
representing the
35th Annual HumanDHS Conference and the
17th W
orkshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
December 10 – 12, 2020
Virtual, Teachers College, Columbia University

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was a virtual conference
Rather than two long days as in past years, we met for three shorter days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
each day 11.00 am – 3.30 pm New York City Time (Aotearoa/New Zealand is one day ahead)

•  You can relive this workshop by clicking on the video recordings further down on this site
•  Download the program as Pdf


•  See David Yamada's blog after the workshop "A welcomed online workshop helps to conclude a challenging year" (Link | Pdf)
•  See newsletter 35, written subsequent to the workshop by Evelin Lindner
• See the post-workshop gratitude letter sent out on January 26, 2021 "Thank You for Celebrating Our Workshop in December 2020!" (Pdf)
•  See the final invitation that was sent out prior to the workshop on 1st December 2020

All

All

All


Hosted by
The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution
(MD-ICCCR)
Columbia University, Teachers College (TC)
525 West 120th Street, New York City, NY 10027
in cooperation with the World Dignity University initiative

Honorary Convenor since 2003
Morton Deutsch
First HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award Recipient in 2009

(he sadly passed away in March 2017, and we honor his memory)

Linda Hartling & Morton Deutsch & Evelin Lindner
Evelin Lindner, Morton Deutsch, Linda Hartling
This photo was taken in 2014
Please click on the picture to it larger


Message of gratitude to Linda Hartling
from Evelin Lindner, recorded prior to this workshop on
November 25 and December 9, 2020

'
Please click on the images to see them larger

Please click on the images to see them larger


All our workshops are invitations to explore how we can best deepen, grow, and practice the global message of dignity — now and far into the future.

If you wish to participate in our workshops, please send an email to workshops@humiliationstudies.org. Please kindly include your contact information and any other details you would like to share with our community (such as CV, papers, articles, presentations, video links, etc.).

Please know that you are always invited to spend the entire workshop with us, so that true dignity-family building can emerge. All our events are part of an ongoing effort to nurture a global community of people who wish to nurture more dignity in the world. The workshop series follows a format of organic growth, and is thus different from mainstream conferences. In all our events, our aim is to create a community — rather than having an "audience" listen to "speakers" or "presenters." All participants are warmly invited to fill out our Appreciative Introduction form (Word | PDF) and send it to us or bring it with them.

There is no registration fee, we share minimal cost according to ability. 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. Our work is a labor of love and maintained entirely by those who give their time and energy as a gift. All our efforts are pro bono and not-for-profit endeavors. Everyone who participates does so because of dignity, because of their appreciation for our work for dignity. Nobody is there "for the money," nobody is being paid, there is no "paid staff." This is our way of walking our talk of "being the change we want to see in the world." We welcome all donations to this workshop, be it your time, your creativity, or, if you wish, your economic support (please see this secure link). We thank all participants in our conferences for being fully responsible for bearing the cost of their own travel, transportation, and accommodation arrangements. We also strive to organize our conferences as Green Conferences. Thank you for your loving support!

This page is part of our larger website that serves as a "virtual field journal" and an open resource, documenting all of our events and initiatives over time, always remaining available to global dignity community. Our members regularly consider a variety of electronic options for sharing our efforts on social media (see, for instance, the Digniworld initiative), and we have found it beneficial to keep the main HumanDHS website organized by posting the contents of events on extended pages, with links to additional information both on other pages of our website and on external places. The entire website resembles a large organism, a large web of content that weaves together our entire work since 2001.

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.

• See the program of this workshop further down on this site or as Pdf
• See the post-workshop gratitude letter sent out on January 26, 2021 "Thank You for Celebrating Our Workshop in December 2020!" (Pdf)

•  See the final invitation for the workshop that was sent out on 1st December 2020
•  See the invitation that was sent out on November 2, 2020
•  See the invitation was sent out on August 31, 2020, and this invitation was sent out on April 27, 2020
•  See the general invitation letter to this workshop

•  For previous workshops, see a compilation of all NY workshops and the newsletters written after these conferences. See in particular newsletter 35, written subsequent to the workshop by Evelin Lindner, who also updated this webpage.

•  This workshop was the seventeenth workshop in a series that began in 2003. See an overview over all our previous conferences and see the workshops of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.



 

Program

Thank you for reviewing the following tips for smooth zooming:


Please click on the images to see them larger. All sessions were recorded except for the Connection-Reflection Groups.
If you did not want to be recorded, you were asked to please kindly turn off your video and microphone on Zoom.
In all our gatherings, we ask you to please kindly mute your microphone and turn off your video during plenary sessions
to protect the quality of our electronic connection. Thank you!

 


 

Day One, Thursday, December 10, 2020

• 11.00 am (New York City time, EST, please calculate your local time)

• Welcome and Greetings! – Linda Hartling, Danielle Coon, Evelin Lindner (Video)



Please click on the photos to see them larger

• Introduction by Bhante Revata Dhamma, Nomad Eco-Monk (Video)

• Participants welcomed each other in the chat

Danielle Coon welcomed all participants (Video)
Danielle Coon is the Associate Director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR), Columbia University, Teachers College (TC)

Our profound gratitude goes to you, dear Danielle Coon and Peter Coleman, for hosting us also this year! What an important way to honor Morton Deutsch, and what a gift to all those who wish to bring more dignity into this world! We celebrate Morton Deutsch and the MC-ICCCR.

Linda Hartling, Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, and Evelin Lindner, Founding President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, welcomed all participants (Video)

Anna Strout gathered the participants for her group photos (long | short | Video at the end of the day)

• Linda Hartling introduced the Appreciative Frame for this workshop (Video 2020)
We use the perspective of Appreciative Enquiry as frame for our work. See introductions shared in previous workshops:
2019, 2016, 2015, 2014 (see also Pdf), 2012, 2011, and see An Appreciative Frame, written by Linda Hartling in 2005

• Meeting and Greeting: Connection-Reflection Groups — explained by Janet Gerson (Video)

• The "Digni-Gardeners" of each group shared thoughts and reflections in the chat when they returned into the main room.
Group 5, for instance, with Mara Alagic, Georg Geckler, George Wolfe, Kathy Beckwith, and Christopher Pollmann, shared this message from George Wolfe: "We need to understand the threefold definition of violence, which is physical, psychological and structural."

George Wolfe offered his Native American Flute Improvisation (Video recorded on July 12, 2020)
See also George Wolfe's improvisation with Robert Willey playing the drum (Video December 12, 2020, and pre-recorded on August 30, 2020, Video), and see also George Wolfe's saxophone play at the 2014 workshop (Video)

• 11.45 am

• Don Klein Celebration Talk — Michael Britton "From a Virus Pandemic to a Pandemic of Dignity” (Video)


Scrim

• In the annual Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict that takes place each year at Columbia University, Michael Britton holds the Don Klein Celebration Lecture in place of the lecture that Don Klein held each year until he passed away in 2007, titled The Humiliation Dynamic: Looking Back... Looking Forward

• This is Michael Britton's Don Klein Celebration Lecture of 2020 (Video)
See also the original video that was pre-recorded on October 18, 2020, and edited by Linda Hartling on December 3, 2020

• Please see all of Michael Britton's Don Klein Celebration Lectures since 2007 here

• Michael uses Don's metaphor of a scrim, a transparent stage curtain, where one believes that what one sees is reality only as long as the light shines on it in a certain way: see Don's explanation.

Harold Becker: The Love Foundation — Celebrating 20 Years (Video)

• Connection-Reflection Groups

• 12.45 pm

• Pre-Planned Dignilogue #1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises
• DigniHosts – Linda Hartling, Mara Alagic, and Evelin Lindner
• DigniContributors – David Yamada, John Bilorusky, Rosa Reinikainen, and Maggie O’Neill


Pre-Dignilogue 1: Chat

Video of Full Length of the Dignilogue
Mara Alagic (Video)
Evelin Lindner (Video)
• Introduction by Linda Hartling (Video)
David Yamada (Video)
John Bilorusky (Video)
Rosa Reinikainen (Video)
Maggie O'Neill (Video)

 

Mara Alagic (Video)

 

David Yamada (Video)


See David Yamada's wonderful post-workshop blog "A welcomed online workshop helps to conclude a challenging year" (Link | Pdf)

 

Maggie O'Neill (Video)


Dear Maggie O'Neill! Thank you for sharing the links to this work:
Participation Arts and Social Action in Research (PASAR): Theatre Making and Walking in Research with Migrant Women, with Umut Erel, Ereni Kaptani, Tracey Reynolds and Maggie O’Neill, a short film by Marcia Chandra that shares the work and importantly the process. (Video | Pdf comment | PASAR)
Walking Conversations with Maggie O’Neill, Arpad Szakaloczai, Ger Mullally, the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub and students and teachers from the Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne. Walking is a mundane activity but also fundamental to our way of being and sociality, taking a walk with someone is a powerful way of communicating about experience, we can become attuned and connected in a lived embodied way with the feelings and lived experience of another. Pioneering Anthropologist Tim Ingold talks about walking as the ‘art of paying attention’. Walking opens a space for dialogue, and embodied knowledge and experience can be shared, it is ‘convivial’ in the senses described above. This short film by Jan Haaken and Maciej Klich shares this work in progress and in process on walking conversations and the walking classroom. (Video | Pdf comment)

 

John Bilorusky (Video)


Dear John Bilorusky! Thank you for sharing your reflections on the severe coronavirus pandemic.
Thank you also for sharing this material:
The Role of Transformative Action-and-Inquiry in Dignity Studies: Beyond Personalized Education with Curiosity and Commitment, by John Bilorusky
• Two articles of potential interest, on how people sometimes change despite their racist and white supremacist views, going beyond trauma, feelings of victimization, learning from stories, and changes in emotions may be among the possible “ingredients”:
• "Deradicalization in the Deep South: How a Former Neo-Nazi Makes Amends," by DJ Cashmere, Yes Magazine, November 12, 2019.
• "Yes, You Can Change Someone’s Mind," by Amanda Abrams, Yes Magazine, November 12, 2019.

• Connection-Reflection Groups

• 1.45 pm

• DigniBreak/Bio-Break/Coffee Break (please mute) — Chat Open
• Moments of Music, Movement, and Poetry Shared Throughout the Workshop, see Contributors Below

Rick Slaven: Director of Dignifunding (Video | Video recorded in December 2020 in Portland, Oregon | gift to HumanDHS | support of Evelin)


Bonnie Selterman: Escaping Complicity — A Poem (Video | Pdf | Spoken recording on November 21, 2020)

• 2.00 pm

• Pre-Planned Dignilogue #2: Race and Policing
• DigniHost – David Yamada
• DigniContributors – Tony Gaskew, Charles Hayes, and Eunice Avilés Faria

Video of the Full Length of the Dignilogue
• Introduction by David Yamada (Video)
Tony Gaskew (Video)
Charles Hayes (Video)
Eunice Avilés (Video)

 

David Yamada (Video)

Thank you, dear David, for hosting this Dignilogue and for your wonderful post-workshop blog "A welcomed online workshop helps to conclude a challenging year" (Link | Pdf)!

Thank you, furthermore, for sharing your important work:
• "Should Public Policy Center on Society’s Well-Being?" by David Yamada, The American Commentator, October 2020 (Pdf)
• Yamada, David C. (2019). "Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Intellectual Activism and Legislation." In The Methodology and Practice of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, edited by Nigel Stobbs, Lorana Bartels, and Michel Vols. Chapter 5. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. (Pdf)
• Yamada, David C. (2018). "On Anger, Shock, Fear, and Trauma: Therapeutic Jurisprudence as a Response to Dignity Denials in Public Policy." In International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.06.009 (Pdf). This article asserts that when policymaking processes, outcomes, and implementations stoke fear, anxiety, and trauma, they often lead to denials of human dignity.

 

Tony Gaskew (Video)

Dear Tony, we look forward to your forthcoming book Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Black Liberation, Lexington Books, 2021.

 

Charles Hayes (Video)

Thank you, dear Charles, for your valuable contribution:
Dignity means being worthy of respect.

 

Eunice Avilés (Video)

Thank you, dear Eunice, for your valuable contribution:
Dignity is the idea that everyone should be valued and respected.

 

Thank you, dear John Bilorusky, for sending this along:
• Access to You Tube videos of Racist Policing Seminars offered by the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR): June 27, 2020 and August 22, 2020

• Connection-Reflection Groups

• 3.00 pm

• Concluding Connections for Day 1 and Introduction to Day 2
• Photo Session with Anna Strout


Navanita Hridy Sang Imagine by John Lennon (Video)
Navanita Hridy Sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (Video | Audio)


• Linda Hartling Wrapped Up Day One and Shared Michael Perlin's "Message to the World" (Video | Text | Video recorded on December 7, 2020)

Lyndon Harris announced his Bonus Dignilogue on Forgiveness (Video | Video of his Dignilogue | Video of his Afterthoughts | see also his "Message to the World" Video | Video recorded on December 10, 2020)

Linda Hartling thanked for Day One (Video)

Linda Hartling said good bye for Day One (Video)

Anna Strout: End of Day One Photo Session (Video | see also long | short)


Please click on the photos to see them larger

• 3.45 pm

• Bonus Session 3:45 – 4:30 pm: Deepening the Dialogue/Co-Creativity Group

Lyndon Harris: Dignilogue on Forgiveness as a Tool for Conflict Transformation "Healing the Wounds of History (Video)

• with Tony Gaskew, Mecke Nagel, Isabel Barroso, and Maria Lund

• Lyndon Harris announced his Bonus Dignilogue on Forgiveness (Video)
• Lyndon Harris shared Afterthoughts on Day Three (Video)

Thank you also for sharing this wonderful message, dear Lyndon!
• "Message to the World — Forgiveness" (Video | Video recorded on December 10, 2020)

 


 

Day Two, Friday, December 11, 2020

• 11.00 am (New York City time, EST, please calculate your local time)

• Welcome and Check In

Ikhlaq Hussain: Love Letter 3 - Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo in Raag Yaman (recorded in Geneva on August 15, 2020)

Dragvoll Music

Linda Hartling introduced Day Two (Video)

Janet Gerson explained the Connection-Reflection Groups (Video)

• Meeting and Greeting: Connection-Reflection Groups

Christine de Michele sang about the black community's significance for Jazz Music, in honor of Tony Gaskew's talk yesterday (Video)

Rick Slaven: Director of Dignifunding (Video Day Two | Video Day One | Video pre-recorded in December 2020 in Portland, Oregon | gift to HumanDHS | support of Evelin)

• 11.30 am (New York Time, in New Zealand, it is Saturday, December 12, 5.30 am

• Pre-Planned Dignilogue #3: Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom
• DigniHost – Janet Gerson
• DigniContributors – Fr. Jean d’Amour, Keri Lawson-Te Aho, and Vidya Jain

Video of the Full Length of the Dignilogue
"I Prefer to Die With Them" The Story of Rwandan Heroine Félicité Niyitegeka with Jean d'Amour (Video | original film on Gwen Gates's channel | HumanDHS channel, September 11, 2020)
Keri Lawson-Te Aho (Video)
Vidya Jain (Video)
• Post-Dignilogue 3: Janet Gerson (Video)

 

• Félicité Niyitegeka with Jean d'Amour (Video)

Dear Father Jean d'Amour! Thank you for your work!
"I Prefer to Die With Them": The Story of Rwandan Heroine Félicité Niyitegeka, written by Father Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi, narrated by Gwen Gates, September 11, 2020 (original film on Gwen Gates's channel | HumanDHS channel). Thank you for the lovely song you made! And thank you also for your "Message to the World" that you shared on Day Three of this workshop (Video)!

Felicitas Niyitegeka gave her life in the genocide that ravaged Rwanda in 1994, targetting Tutsi together with moderate Hutu who were opposed to the killing. Father Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi wrote a book about her, published in our Dignity Press, titled No Greater Love: Testimonies on the Life and Death of Felicitas Niyitegeka. Felicitas Niyitegeka was an Auxiliaire de l'Apostolat, a laïque engagée, who had dedicated herself to a celibate life to serve the common good with love. She was the responsible head of the Catholic charitable home Centre Pastoral St. Pierre of the Diocèse de Nyundo in Gisenyi. She saved the lives of many Tutsi, and, at last, she chose to die together with the Tutsi women who were in her care and whom she could not save. We held our 25th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies in Kigali, Rwanda, 2nd - 5th June 2015, as a tribute to Felicitas Niyitegeka.
• The African ubuntu philosophy says "I am because of you, we are because of each other," "Umunthu ngamunthu ngabantu": "A person is a person through other people"! Dear Jean, YOU give us hope that this Nguni motto will guide us all, all of humankind, hopefully in not too distant future!
• We thank Emmanuel Ndahimana for his the message to this workshop, where he mentions ubuntu! We thank also Bishop Desmond Tutu for his explanation of ubuntu. We are grateful to both Emmanuel Ndahimana and Bishop Desmond Tutu for their support to our dignity work! Bishop Tutu kindly contributed with the Foreword to Evelin's book on love in 2010, and Emmanuel Ndahimana hosted our 2015 Dignity Conference in Kigali that we held as a tribute to Felicitas Niyitegeka in the spirit of the United Nations agenda towards "A Life of Dignity for All," and in the spirit of umuganda, "coming together in common purpose" (the traditional practice of communities self-solving their problems).
• We thank, furthermore, scholar Joy Ndwandwe for explaining ubuntu on 26th April 2013 in our 2013 Annual Dignity Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, that was titled ‘Search for dignity’, April 24–27, 2013.

 

Keri Lawson-Te Aho (Video)

Thank you so much, dear Keri, for your description of dignity:
I translate dignity as a combination of mauri, mana and tapu. Mauri is the life-force. Tapu is sacredness and mana is power used for good. Mana is conveyed to an individual as a result of kindness and humanitarian actions for the good of all people. Mana is given by the people on the strength of good deeds towards others. Mauri is something we are born with. Mana, mauri and tapu come together as a result of actions and behaviours towards others, that come from a deep place of aroha/aloha/love and compassion. Tapu recognises that everyone is sacred.
I would like to first and foremost, listen to the stories of others who believe in the kaupapa/purpose of ending humiliation and violence and to meet the people who are part of this incredible network, to tell you how much I respect you all. I would also like to learn new skills, share our experiences here in Aotearoa/New Zealand to breathe in the magnificence of the kaupapa of our movement. I would also like to discuss strategy and ways to build our international community.
Thank you so much for sharing, dear Keri:
Keri Lawson-Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Ko te Amorangi (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)
Keri Lawson-Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Whakataka te hau (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)
• Dear Keri, we look forward to your kōrero (a talk) that speaks about upholding the dignity of Māori women through story-telling and ancestral connections that re-dignify Māori women!

 

Vidya Jain (Video)

Thank you for your important work, dear Vidya!
Gandhian Model of Sustainable Individual, Convener of the Nonviolence and Peace Movements Commission of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), and Former Director of the Centre for Gandhian Studies at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

 

Janet Gerson (Video)

We so much look forward to a continuation of this wonderful Dignilogue, dear Janet!

• Connection-Reflection Groups

Messages from the groups:
• Peter Barus : for our group: We heard powerful indigenous voices, and speakers from very different backgrounds; all around the world, no matter circumstances, there are universal truths and intuitive knowledge that binds the human race; if you connect with nature, compassion arises for other human beings, you end up wanting to protect the people around you; Gandhi, like other famous spiritual leaders, transcended personal experience and inspires everyone; looking forward to learning more about his feminism; don't like to divide genders, creates divisions, separates us from others.
• Antoinette Errante : A dignilogue waiting to become sounds like a great idea!
• Susan Misra : 1 idea from our group - Does gender influence how people approach war? Does gender - namely female-identified folks - offer a way to make sense of violence across the world? What does it mean to be a feminist and how do respect feminism that uplifts some in a country while also oppresses others in the same country?
• Lucien Lombardo : Great discussion in Group 10 of the layering of generations and the role of the state in ‘causing trouble’ for families of marginalized groups across generations! Also of Ubuntu and Gandhian thought!
• George Wolfe : Umbutu I think is best understood as relationship. We need to strive to live in “compassionate relationship.”
• Martha Eddy : Group 7: The importance of humility in overcoming gender stereotypes - finding common ground of caring in order to move out of humiliating behaviors or policies. For men and women to equally experience their own anima and animus - internal male and female energies in each of us.
• Elaine Meis : Some thoughts from our group: All of these practices are couched in culture.
• Elaine Meis : ...more thoughts . Dialogue across cultures. What moral courage looks like. Freedom of thought.
• Group with Olav Ofstad, Isabel Barroso, Fatma Tufan, Georg Geckler, Veronica Bruer: Interest in education

• 12.30 pm

• Pre-Planned Dignilogue #4: Religion, Covid-19, and Human Dignity: How Does Religion Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic?
• DigniHost – Phil Brown
• DigniContributors – Chipamong "Chipa" Chowdhury Bhante Revata Dhamma, Zaynab El Bernoussi, Mugdha Yeolekar, and Reverend Darrell Daniel for Michelle Daniel Jones

• Full Length with Introduction by Phil Brown (Video)
Zaynab El Bernoussi (Video)
Mugdha Yeolekar (Video)
Chipamong "Chipa" Chowdhury Bhante Revata Dhamma (Video | On Dignity Video)
• Darrell Daniel for Michelle Daniel Jones (Video)

 

• Introduction by Phil Brown (Video)

Dr. Philip Brown is a Coach for the National School Climate Center and President of the newly reorganized International Center for Assault Prevention.

 

Zaynab El Bernoussi (Video)

Thank you for sharing this article, dear Zaynab!
• "World War C: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Should Teach Us to Consume Less and Cooperate More?" by Zaynab El Bernoussi, Tribune Libre, Number 5, August 2020

 

Mugdha Yeolekar (Video)

Mugdha Yeolekar is an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton Hawthorne, California, United States

 

Bhante (Video | On Dignity Video)


Thank you for your wonderful meditations, dear Bhante!
On Dignity (Video)

Thank you, dear Bhante, for your inspiring life as a nomad monk!
Bhante Revata Dhamma: The Nomad Monk (Videos recorded in 2020, brought together by Linda Hartling on December 3, 2020)
Bhante Revata Dhamma: Poetry 2 (Video recorded in 2020)
Bhante Revata Dhamma: Poetry 3 (Video recorded in 2020)
The above listed videos of Bhante Revata were only shared during the workshop (Bhante Revata Dhamma is the monk's name used in the monastic communities for Chipamong Chowdhury, which is his family name, known only to close friends)
See also his Monk's Winter Hike, January 23, 2021, and his Nomad Monk YouTube channel.

 

• Darrell Daniel for Michelle Daniel Jones (Video)


Thank you, dear Darrell, for stepping in for your wife Michelle!

Michelle Daniel Jones is interested in critical prison studies, collateral consequences of criminal conviction, and leadership.

• Connection-Reflection Groups

• 1.30 pm

• DigniBreak/Bio-Break/Coffee Break (please mute) — Chat Open
• Moments of Music, Movement, and Poetry Shared Throughout the Workshop, see Contributors Below


• Welcome back by Linda Hartling
(Video)


Bhante Revata Dhamma: On Dignity (Video)


Martha Eddy offered a DigniStretch activity (Video) followed by How to Be Alone and Water Dance (see also DigniCalm and DigniStretch activities pre-recorded on December 4, 2020)

Audrey Hurley: The Lord's Prayer (Audio recorded on November 20, 2020)

• 1.45 pm

• Appreciations and 2020 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award

Peter Coleman Is Being Honored with the 2020 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award
Video edited by Linda Hartling on December 16, 2020



Award Ceremony (Video)
Message of Appreciation from Evelin Lindner (Pdf)
Peter Coleman's Remarks in Appreciation of the 2020 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award, recorded on December 11, 2020 (Video)
• See also Peter Coleman’s Life Story in "Fundamentals of Conflict Resolution, Instructor Peter Coleman Highlights #ScholarStrike," MD-ICCCR at Teachers College, Columbia University, September 11, 2020 (Video)

Peter T. Coleman is Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University where he holds a joint-appointment at Teachers College and The Earth Institute. Dr. Coleman directs the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR), is founding director of the Institute for Psychological Science and Practice (IPSP), and is executive director of Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4). His next book titled, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization will be released in 2021.

• 2.15 pm

Messages to the World — Introduction and Dialogue: Sharing and Recording, see Contributors Below


• Evelin Lindner invited into the "Message to the World" (Video 2020)
• Michael Britton and Evelin Lindner offered guidelines for the "World Dignity University (WDU) Messages to the World" (Video 2019)
• Evelin Lindner explained the concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)
• Michael Britton explained the concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)


Kathy Beckwith: "Message to the World — Dignity through Kindness, Respect, and Peace" (Video recorded on November 26, 2020)

Congratulations with your book, dear Kathy!
Beckwith, Kathy (2015). A Mighty Case Against War: What America Missed in U.S. History Class and What We (All) Can Do Now, Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press


Marilyn Langlois: "Message to the World" (Video)

Lucien Lombardo: "Message to the World — Learning about Dignity" (Text | Video recorded on December 5, 2020)

Vinod Verma: "Message to the World" (Video | see also Call the Whistle, Documentary shared on December 11, 2020 | see his Gift of Singing on the last day Video)

Christopher Pollmann: "Message to the World — About a Vicious Spiral against Muslims in France" (Text | Video | Short Video | Long Video recorded on December 7, 2020)


Gershon Mitchel: "Message to the World" (Video | see also his Note of Appreciation Video | First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem Spoken recording on December 4, 2020)


Lyndon Harris: "Message to the World" (Video | Video pre-recorded on December 10, 2020) See also his Dignilogue on Forgiveness (Video | Video of his Announcement | Video of his Afterthoughts)


His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal: "Message to the World" (Video edited by Linda Hartling on January 3, 2021)

See the original Video that His Royal Highness pre-recorded in the Majlis in Amman, Jordan, on December 10, 2020.

A statesman and peacemaker, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has worked for decades to promote peace, interfaith dialogue, and humanitarian justice. He has served as the president of the Club of Rome from 1999 to 2007, the board of directors for the Center for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the University of Oklahoma, the Parliament of Cultures, the Royal Jordanian Polo Club, and the International Tolerance Foundation for Humanities and Social Studies, and is honorary president of the Euro-Mediterranean Association for Cooperation and Development since 2012.
Prince El Hassan bin Talal is a member of the Jordanian royal family, he is the brother of King Hussein, who was King of Jordan until his death in 1999, and he is the uncle of King Abdullah II, the present King of Jordan, who reigns since February 7, 1999.

• 3.15 pm

• Concluding Connections for Day 2 and Introduction to Day 3 – Chat Open Until 4 pm
• Photo Session with Anna Strout



Please click on the photos to see them larger

Andrea and Regina: Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz.
See also:
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)

• Peace Philosopher Howard Richards is one of the deepest thinkers of our time (Video Day Two | Video Day Three)

Howard Richards recommended two appendices, one titled "ending poverty" and the other "a plan for peace" from his book Understanding the Global Economy. Santa Barbara, CA: Peace Education Books, 2004 (Preface). He explained that these two pieces had been published independently in The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence.

• Concluding Connections for Day 2 and Introduction to Day 3

• 3.45 pm

• Bonus Session 3:45 – 4:30 pm: Deepening the Dialogue/Co-Creativity Group

Seema Shekhawat: Dignilogue: Making Dignity Inclusive: Bringing in Women and Other Vulnerable Groups

Seema kindly explained: "I would like to engage participants on how important it is to include (consciously) women and other vulnerable groups in the global struggle for dignity for all, especially in the pandemic scenario.”

 


 

Day Three, Saturday, December 12, 2020

'

• 11.00 am (New York City time, EST, please calculate your local time)

• Welcome and Check In

• We thank Emmanuel Ndahimana for his message to the participants of this workshop, where he mentions ubuntu! We thank also Bishop Desmond Tutu for his explanation of ubuntu. (Listen to Desmond Tutu explaining Ubuntu). We are grateful to both Emmanuel Ndahimana and Bishop Desmond Tutu for their support to our dignity work! Bishop Tutu kindly contributed with the Foreword to Evelin's book on love in 2010, and Emmanuel Ndahimana hosted our 2015 Dignity Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, June 2–5, 2015, that we held as a tribute to Felicitas Niyitegeka in the spirit of the United Nations agenda towards "A Life of Dignity for All," and in the spirit of umuganda, "coming together in common purpose" (the traditional practice of communities self-solving their problems).
• We thank, furthermore, scholar Joy Ndwandwe for explaining ubuntu on 26th April 2013 in our 2013 Annual Dignity Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, that was titled ‘Search for dignity’, April 24–27, 2013.

George Wolfe: Native American Flute Improvisation (with Robert Willey playing the drum Video | Video pre-recorded on August 30, 2020 | Video of another improvisation recorded on July 12, 2020 | see also George Wolfe's saxophone play at the 2014 workshop Video)

Congratulations with your book, dear George!
• Wolfe, George W. (2015). Meditations on Mystery: Science, Paradox and Contemplative Spirituality. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press.

• Meeting and Greeting: Connection-Reflection Groups

• 11.30 am

From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity — From a Virus Pandemic to a Pandemic of Dignity: How Can We Escape Complicity with Institutionalized Humiliation?Evelin Lindner (Video edited by Linda Hartling on December 18, 2020)



Please click on the photos to see them larger

• Evelin Lindner's 2020 lecture (Pdf | Video)

See several previous versions, all recorded in Germany:
• Version of 45 minutes recorded on December 8, 2020 (Video)
• Version of 48 minutes recorded on December 6, 2020 (Video)
• Version of 51 minutes recorded on December 5, 2020 (Video)
• See a presentation titled "A Meta-Narrative for Times of Radical Transformation" of one hour and ten minutes recorded on November 17, 2020 (Pdf | Video)
• See also a presentation with a similar title prepared for another conference recorded on November 16, 2020, with one version of 25 minutes (Video) and a longer version of one hour (Video)

• Connection-Reflection Groups

Kathy Beckwith: Child of the Earth (Video on Day Three | Audio recorded on November 5, 2020)

• 12.30 pm



• Pre-Planned Dignilogue #5: Continuing Connections: Dignity Now Groups for Developing Ongoing Dialogue
• DigniHost – Elaine Meis, supported by Linda Hartling, Janet Gerson, and Evelin Lindner
• Contributors: The Dignity Now New York Group & the Dignity Now Hameln (Hamelin) Group

• The Dignity Now New York City Group presented itself, introduced by Linda Hartling, Elaine Meis, and Janet Gerson (Video)
• The Dignity Now Hameln Group was introduced by Evelin Lindner (Video)
• Contribution from Hameln: Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (Digniworld channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
• Michael Boyer's Digniworld (Video)
• Ideas for the Future (Video)
• Photos (Video)

 

• Dignity Now New York City Group (Video)

Dear Dignity Now NYC group! Thank you so much for your profound dignity work! (PowerPoint)

• We had the first meeting in Janet Gerson's NYC art gallery home on November 14, 2015!

 

• Dignity Now Hameln Group
(Video)

Dear Dignity Now Hameln group! Thank you for your profound dignity work!

• Evelin Lindner introduced the Dignity Now Hameln Group (Video)
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (see it on the World Dignity Movement channel or on the HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)

See more in detail:
• 01 Marienhof (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
• 02 Unverpackt Laden (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
• 03 Song Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)

Listen to more beautiful voices and lyrics from Hameln!
Andrea and Regina: Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz.

See also:
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)
Michael Boyer's Digniworld (Video)

 

Michael Boyer's Digniworld and Musical Art
(Video)

• Dear Michael Boyer, thank you so much for your Digniworld initiative that you created in 2019: Digniworld WordPress | Digniworld Facebook | Digniworld Twitter | Digniworld Instagram | World Dignity Movement (on YouTube)

• Dear Michael, thank you also for your wonderful vocal interlude! (Video at the end)

 

• Ideas for the Future
(Video)

 

• Photo Session with Anna Strout
(Video)

• Connection-Reflection Groups

• 1.30 pm

• DigniBreak/Bio-Break/Coffee Break (please mute) — Chat Open
• Moments of Music, Movement, and Poetry Shared Throughout the Workshop, see Contributors Below

• Linda Hartling invited into the DigniBreak (Video)


Gershon Mitchel: First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem (Spoken recording on December 4, 2020 | see also his "Message to the World" Video | his Note of Appreciation Video)

Georg Geckler: "Message to the World" (Text | Video recorded on November 30, 2020)

 

• 1.45 pm

Messages to the World — Introduction and Dialogue: Sharing and Recording, see Contributors Below


• Evelin Lindner invited into the "Message to the World" (Video 2020)
• Michael Britton and Evelin Lindner offered guidelines for the "World Dignity University (WDU) Messages to the World" (Video 2019)
• Evelin Lindner explained the concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)
• Michael Britton explained the concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)


Ani Kalayjian: "Message to the World — Transforming Humiliation Through Meaningful World Mindful Actions" (Video Day Three | HumanDHS channel | Meaningful World channel, video recorded on December 8, 2020)

Father Jean d'Amour: "Message to the World" (Video)
See also his contribution to Dignilogue 3: "I Prefer to Die With Them" The Story of Rwandan Heroine Félicité Niyitegeka (Video | original film on Gwen Gates's channel | HumanDHS channel, September 11, 2020)


Peter Barus: "Message to the World" (Video)

Virginia Swain: "Message to the World" (Video)

Harold Becker: "Message to the World" (Video | see also The Love Foundation — Celebrating 20 Years and We Are Love, Orlando, Florida, September 30, 2020)

• Honoring Howard Richards (Video | see also Video of Day Two)
Thank you so much for your seminal work, dear Howard! Thank you for allowing us to honor you!

George Iheanacho: "Message to the World" (Video)


• Dear Anna Strout, you have no idea what your support for our dignity work since 2012 means to us!
YOU are our dignity angel!
• Photo Session with Anna Strout and "Message to the World — Prevent Domestic Violence" (Video | Video of the original Message to the World created on November 15, 2020)




His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal: "Message to the World"
Video edited by Linda Hartling on January 3, 2021

See the original Video that His Royal Highness pre-recorded in the Majlis in Amman, Jordan, on December 10, 2020.

A statesman and peacemaker, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has worked for decades to promote peace, interfaith dialogue, and humanitarian justice. He has served as the president of the Club of Rome from 1999 to 2007, the board of directors for the Center for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the University of Oklahoma, the Parliament of Cultures, the Royal Jordanian Polo Club, and the International Tolerance Foundation for Humanities and Social Studies, and is honorary president of the Euro-Mediterranean Association for Cooperation and Development since 2012.
Prince El Hassan bin Talal is a member of the Jordanian royal family, he is the brother of King Hussein, who was King of Jordan until his death in 1999, and he is the uncle of King Abdullah II, the present King of Jordan, who reigns since February 7, 1999.

As to HRH's mention of a "second adulthood," please see:
Mary Catherine Bateson (2010). Composing a further life: The age of active wisdom. New York: Knopf.
Mary Catherine Bateson sees aging today as an “improvisational art form calling for imagination and willingness to learn,” and in this ardent, affirming study, she relates the experiences of men and women — herself included — who, upon entering this second adulthood, have found new meaning and new ways to contribute, composing their lives in new patterns.
We send condolences to Mary's family on her passing on January 2, 2021.

• 2.45 pm

• Concluding Connections for Day 3 and Moving into the World: 2:45 – 3:30 pm

• Photo Session with Anna Strout (Video)



Please click on the photos to see them larger

Notes of Gratitude and Appreciation


Please download your certificate, fill in your name, and print it out!

• Gratitude to the Digni-Gardeners (Video)
• This was Linda Hartling's message to the Digni-Gardeners: "Thank you for being our relational role models, encouraging participants to practice the best skills for dignifying differences through curiosity and conversation, rather than confrontation. Thank you for being our dignity angels in the room!" The role of Digni-Gardener means cultivating a relationally replenishing climate in the Co-Created Dignilogues and the Connection-Reflection groups, especially important this year, a year that drained the energy of many. Beyond listening and participating, the aim is to nurture and even encourage the conversation in a dignifying direction, if this is needed.

Lyndon Harris' Afterthoughts (Video)

• Thank you, dear Lyndon, for your gift of a Dignilogue on Forgiveness on Day One! (Video of Announcement of his Dignilogue | Video of the Dignilogue)

• Thank you also so much for sharing this wonderful "Message to the World — Forgiveness" (Video | Video recorded on December 10, 2020)



• Gratitude to the Digni-Artists (Video)

• Linda Hartling expressed her gratitude to all the wonderful and amazing contributors to moments of music, movement, and poetry throughout the workshop, see contributors below!

• Gratitude to the Digni-Planners (Video)

• Linda Hartling expressed her deep gratitude to the wonderful Digni-Planning team of this workshop, all holding hands, albeit virtually!

Linda Hartling and "Heroes" (Video)

• As sign of her gratitude to all who helped her make this workshop possible, Linda Hartling sang the song "Heroes"! Thank YOU, dear Linda!!!

Andrea and Regina: Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz. See also all vocal interludes from Hameln brought together (Video)

Vinod Verma's Gift of Singing (Video)

The lyrics of Vinod's song translated in English: "Friends, don't bid me good bye, we don't know when we will meet again, I say you stay, and we still have roses and flowers and our feelings to share with."

See also Vinod's "Message to the World" (Video) and Call the Whistle (Documentary shared on December 11, 2020)

• Thank you so much, dear Isabel Barroso, for kindly offering your support for our planned Dignity Conference in Madrid (Video)

• Note of Appreciation from Gershon Mitchel (Video)

Thank you, dear Gershon, for your "Message to the World" (Video) and First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem (Spoken recording on December 4, 2020)!

• Post-Conference Connections (Video)

• If you wish to stay in touch after our workshops, please send us an email at workshops@humiliationstudies.org

• Dear Janet Gerson, we so much look forward to a continuation of your wonderful Dignilogue 3 titled Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom (Video)!

• Thank you to all, for reflecting on how to live an integral life, how to dignify all aspects of life, and all ages (Video including a prayer of Evelin's Father)


• Message of Gratitude to Linda Hartling (Video)
Evelin Lindner and David Yamada, together with all other participants, express their deep gratitude and admiration for the leadership of Linda Hartling, who made this workshop possible. At the end Fred Ellis performs, with a recording of his song So Long, See You Soon that he sang on December 5, 2019, at the end of the Public Event of the 16th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, which took place at Columbia University in New York City, December 5 – 6, 2019. See also the message of gratitude to Linda Hartling that Evelin Lindner recorded prior to the workshop, on November 25, 2020, and December 9, 2020 (Video)


• Thank you so much, dear David Yamada, for singing A Wonderful World as a tradition at the end of every annual workshop (Text | Video)
Thank you also for your touching blog after the workshop "A welcomed online workshop helps to conclude a challenging year" (Link | Pdf)

• Concluding Connections for Day 3

• 3.45 pm

• BYOP: Bring Your Own Pizza Party! (Video)

 


 

Messages to the World

A big thank you to all creators of
"Messages to the World"!

"Messages to the World" are a contribution to the World Dignity University initiative's Library of Ideas to be shared with the world and, hopefully, inspirational for future generations.
See also the virtual book table of Dignity Press with its imprint World Dignity University Press. Thanks to Uli Spalthoff, our not-for-profit Dignity Press has published almost 30 books in the past years! Please note that we are looking for a successor for our dear Uli now, who has given his all over so many years!
• Evelin Lindner Invites into the "Message to the World" (Video 2020)
• Michael Britton and Evelin Lindner Offer Guidelines for the "World Dignity University (WDU) Message to the World" (Video 2019)
• Evelin Lindner Explains the Concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)
• Michael Britton Explains the Concept of the "Dignivideos - Messages to the World" (Video 2017)
 
His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal
"Message to the World" (Video edited by Linda Hartling on January 3, 2021 | original Video recorded by His Royal Highness in the Majlis in Amman, Jordan, on December 10, 2020 | unedited Video of how his message was embedded into Day Three of this workshop). Prince El Hassan bin Talal has served as the president of the Club of Rome from 1999 to 2007, and is a member of the Jordanian royal family, he is the uncle of King Abdullah II, the present King of Jordan
 
Pre-recorded messages

Kathy Beckwith: "Message to the World — Dignity through Kindness, Respect, and Peace" (Video | Video recorded on November 26, 2020)
Linda Hartling and Evelin Lindner: "Message to the World" (Video recorded on October 25, 2020)
• Evelin Lindner: English, German/deutsch, Norwegian/norsk, French/français (recorded on October 30, 2020)
Hayal Köksal: "Message to the World" (Video recorded on November 28, 2020)
Georg Geckler: "Message to the World" (Text | Video | Video recorded on November 30, 2020)
Lucien Lombardo: "Message to the World — Learning about Dignity" (Text | Video | Video recorded on December 5, 2020)
Michael Perlin: "Message to the World" (Text | Video | Video recorded on December 7, 2020)
Christopher Pollmann: "Message to the World — About a Vicious Spiral against Muslims in France" (Text | Video | Short Video | Long Video recorded on December 7, 2020)
Message to the World — Prevent Domestic Violence (a PSA shared by Anna Strout on November 15, 2020 | Small poster) (PSA = a public service announcement in the public interest disseminated without charge, with the objective of raising awareness)
Ani Kalayjian: "Message to the World — Transforming Humiliation Through Meaningful World Mindful Actions" (Video Day Three | HumanDHS channel | Meaningful World channel, video recorded on December 8, 2020)
Lyndon Harris: "Message to the World — Forgiveness" (Video | Video recorded on December 10, 2020 | see also his Dignilogue on Forgiveness on Day One of the workshop, its Announcement, and Afterthoughts)
 
Messages created during the workshop

Marilyn Langlois: "Message to the World" (Video)
Vinod Verma: "Message to the World" (Video | see also Call the Whistle, Documentary shared on December 11, 2020 | see his Gift of Singing Video)
Gershon Mitchel: "Message to the World" (Video | see also his Note of Appreciation Video | and First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem Spoken recording on December 4, 2020)
• Message from Emmanuel Ndahimana (Video| Bishop Desmond Tutu Explains Ubuntu Video)
Father Jean d'Amour: "Message to the World" (Video | see also his contribution to Dignilogue 3: "I Prefer to Die With Them" The Story of Rwandan Heroine Félicité Niyitegeka Video | original film on Gwen Gates's channel | HumanDHS channel, September 11, 2020)
Peter Barus: "Message to the World" (Video)
Virginia Swain: "Message to the World" (Video)
Harold Becker: "Message to the World" (Video | see also The Love Foundation — Celebrating 20 Years and We Are Love, Orlando, Florida, September 30, 2020)
George Iheanacho: "Message to the World" (Video)



 

Music, Movement, and Poetry

A big thank you to all
music, movement, and poetry contributors
throughout the workshop!

Musical contributions

David Yamada: What a Wonderful World (Text | Video)
Ikhlaq Hussain: Love Letter 3 - Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo in Raag Yaman (recorded in Geneva on August 15, 2020)
Die Gedanken sind frei / Thoughts are Unchained by the DignityNowHameln group (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
Andrea and Regina: Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz.
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)
Audrey Hurley: The Lord's Prayer (Audio recorded on November 20, 2020)
Kathy Beckwith: Child of the Earth (Video on Day Three | Audio, recorded on November 5, 2020)
George Wolfe: Native American Flute Improvisation (with Robert Willey playing the drum Video | Video pre-recorded August 30, 2020 | Video of another improvisation recorded on July 12, 2020 | see also George Wolfe's saxophone play at the 2014 workshop Video)
Navanita Hridy Sings Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (Video | Audio)
Keri Lawson-Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Ko te Amorangi (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)
Keri Lawson-Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Whakataka te hau (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)
Dragvoll Music
Christine de Michele Sings About the Black Community's Significance for Jazz Music on Day Two, in Honor of Tony Gaskew's Talk the Day Before (Video)
Fred Ellis Sings So Long, See You Soon (Video 2020 | Video 2019)
 

Movement

Martha Eddy Offers a DigniStretch Activity on Day Two (Video | see also DigniCalm and DigniStretch activities pre-recorded on December 4, 2020)
As introduction, Martha Eddy suggests How to Be Alone
See also: Somatic Resources for Stressful Times | Global Water Dances Mission | Global Water Dances (GWD) YouTube Channel | Global Water Dance: Documentary, 3 minutes | Global Water Dance, 12 minutes

 
Meditation

Bhante Revata Dhamma: On Dignity (Video)
The videos further down were only shared during the workshop
Bhante Revata Dhamma: The Nomad Monk (Videos recorded in 2020, brought together by Linda Hartling on December 3, 2020)
Bhante Revata Dhamma: Poetry 2 (Video recorded on December 6, 2020)
Bhante Revata Dhamma: Poetry 3 (Video recorded on December 6, 2020)
 
Poetry

Bonnie Selterman: Escaping Complicity — A Poem (Video | Pdf | Spoken recording on November 21, 2020)
Gershon Mitchel: First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem (Spoken recording on December 4, 2020 | see also his "Message to the World" Video | his Note of Appreciation Video)

 


 

Participants (alphabetical according to the first names)

In the registration form, participants were warmly invited to reflect on the following question: What does dignity mean to you?
Many participants kindly offered their conceptualization of dignity and their responses are listed below. Furthermore, the relational nature of our dignity work is made visible by small personal "love letters" that honor the dignifying connectivity that forms the foundation of the global dignity fellowship.

Abhishek Kumar Jain, Bhopal, India

"Dignity: In my opinion, Dignity is the acknowledgement of coexistence. Humans and other living species are all living together on this planet and the mother nature has given us a balanced environment to survive and thrive. In this coexistence with so many people and other living creatures, we have a moral obligation to respect the existence of others. I think dignity is closely related with a sense of empathy. Only when we put ourselves into the shoes of others, we realize the impact of any action or reaction. Dignity is about looking at both sides of the coin and realizing the importance listening more than talking."

Dear Katyayani Singh, we thank you most warmly for introducing us to your esteemed colleague Abhishek Kumar Jain in 2019. Professor Abhishek Kumar Jain kindly invited Evelin Lindner to share a talk titled From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity (Video | Pdf) as part of the 'International Igniting Mind Lecture Series' for the 500 students at Jagran Lakecity University in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, 10th September 2020.
It is a privilege to have both of you, dear Katyayani and dear Abhishek, as messengers and nurturers of dignity in our global dignity community!

   

Amin Husnul, Pakistan, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Respecting one's reputation both at individual and social levels."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Amin Husnul!

 

Ananta Kumar Giri, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Dear Ananta Kumar Giri, we very much thank Dr. Tholana Ashok Chakravarthy for bringing you to our dignity work in January 2009. A very warm welcome to this workshop!

   

Andrea Brenker-Pegesa, Weserbergland, Lower Saxony, Germany

Thank you, dear Andrea and Regina, for your amazing work with our DignityNowHameln group!
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained sung by the DignityNowHameln group
This is the contribution of the DignityNowHameln group that was recorded in October and November 2020, and finalized on November 21, 2020 (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)

Thank you so much, dear Andrea and Regina, also for sharing your wonderful art with us!
Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz.
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)

   
 

Andrea Valente, Toronto, Canada

"Dignity is part of human rights,  based on respect and care of an individual to themselves and to the other, which creates an accountability that involves relationality between a state and an action of holding agency."

Message from Evelin Lindner: Dear Andrea, it was great to meet you in Panel 20 titled "Solidarity, Accessibility and Self" on May 30, 2020, as part of the virtual conference The Psychology of Global Crises convened by the American University of Paris, May 20–30th, 2020. Your contribution was titled #MascaraSalva: Redefining the Self amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, my contribution was From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity — The Coronavirus Pandemic as Opportunity in the Midst of Suffering.

A very warm welcome to our workshop, dear Andrea!

   

Ani Kalayjian, New York City

"Dignity is nurtured through Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence; through learning to cultivate our positive emotions and transforming the negative ones, and through spiritually grounding ourselves to embrace Mother Earth and humanity at large fully and unconditionally."

Thank you for sharing, dear Ani!
"Message to the World — Transforming Humiliation Through Meaningful World Mindful Actions" (Video Day Three | HumanDHS channel | Meaningful World channel, video recorded on December 8, 2020)
2020 Meaningful World Free Support in Times of Global Challenges

Dear Ani, how wonderful that our dear Sharon Burde brought you to us in 2005! You joined us in our 2005 workshop, and in the following years, you came either personally to each of our December workshops, or you invited your wonderful interns and students! We were particularly touched by your contribution to our 2014 workshop, when you presented your Integrative Healing Model in the Co-Created Dignilogue 4 on the afternoon of December 5, 2014.

Your caring and loving work for more dignity in the world is deeply touching.

   

Anke Winchenbach, Guildford, England

A very warm welcome to our workshop, dear Anke!

   

Anna Strout, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dear Anna! We have many names for you, and all the names we have for you express our love, gratitude, and admiration for you! We have names such as Dignity Angel...!
How can we ever thank you enough for your wonderful presence, including your gift of photography! We cannot imagine our workshops without your presence anymore, since Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite brought you to us in 2012!

Thank you so much for jumping in and doing Zoom photography in these times of a pandemic where everything had to be virtual:
• Photo Session on Day One, December 10, 2020 (Video | see also long | short)
• Photo Session at the end of Dignilogue 5 on Day Three (Video)
• Photo Session at the end of Day Three (Video)

• Thanks so much also for sharing this Message to the World — Prevent Domestic Violence (a PSA shared on November 15, 2020 | Small poster) (PSA = a public service announcement in the public interest disseminated without charge, with the objective of raising awareness)

   

Anne Wyatt Brown, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Dear Anne, you and your husband Bert were our 2010 Lifetime Commitment Award recipients!

In 1997, Dov Cohen, co-author of the book Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South (Westview Press, 1996), recommended to Evelin Lindner to get in touch with Bert Wyatt-Brown as a historian who had done work on honor and the South. Cohen recommended this book:
• Wyatt-Brown, Bertram (1982). Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dear Anne, you and your husband Bert kindly attended our 2004 workshop, and since 2004, you honored us with your presence in each of our December workshops in New York City!
In 2005, Bert published this book:
• Wyatt-Brown, Bertram (2005). The Changing Faces of Honor in National Crises: Civil War, Vietnam, Iraq, and the Southern Factor. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins History Seminar, Fall 2005.

Sadly, we lost our dear Bert in 2012, but you continue to be with us every year for our workshop and for our board meeting the day before the workshop! We are deeply thankful to you!

Our dear Bert worked until the last day of his life on his publications and we admire him deeply:
• Wyatt-Brown, Bertram (2014). A Warring Nation: Honor, Race, and Humiliation in America and Abroad. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

   

Anoop Swarup, Bhopal, India

"Dignity to me implies respect for all humans irrespective of race, color or creed."

Esteemed Professor Anoop Swarup, it was a privilege to have your mentor Glenn Paige with us in our 2009 Dignity Conference in Hawai'i and we were so happy to see you at our 2017 Dignity Conference in Indore, India! Thank you for bringing your wonderful student Katyayani Singh to our work as well!

Congratulations with your joint publications:
• Singh, Katyayani, and Anoop Swarup (2019). "Progress and Peace: Enlightenment Now from Both Science and Religion." In International Journal on World Peace, 36 (4), p. 31–49
• Singh, Katyayani, and Anoop Swarup (2018). "A Global Nonkilling Index as a Critical Measure of Human Development and Progress." In International Journal on World Peace, 35 (3), p. 45–68
See also:
• Studies on Setting up a Nonkilling Index as an Approach to Nonviolence and Global Peace, Dignilogue facilitated by Katyayani Singh on 17th August 2017 at the 29th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies 'Dignity in Times of Globalisation', in Indore, India, 16th – 19th August 2017 (Video of the Introduction into the Dignilogue | Video of the Dignilogue | WDU Message| Pdf co-authored by Anoop Swarup and Katyayani Singh)

• Thank you for sharing this article with us:
"No enlightenment yet: affirmative nonkilling for Positive Peace," by Anoop Swarup, Vision of Humanity: Economists on Peace, 2020: Economists on Peace contributor Dr Anoop Swarup on the influence of faith on enlightenment and why we need a Global Non-killing Index.

   

Antoinette "Nietta" Errante, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A., and Mozambique

"Dignity is the inherent worth in all creation."

Dear Antoinette, you are a great gift to our dignity work since we first met in 2006! We loved having you with us in our workshops of 2007 and 2008, and in 2013, you sent us your paper Inequality, the Achievement Gap and Overcoming Institutionalized Humiliation: A Tale of Four Middle Schools.

Thank you for your seminal dignity work, dear Antoinette, and we so much look forward to future collaboration!

   

"Archer" Natasha Archer, Oregon, U.S.A.

"Dignity: The allowance of one to be their full self with the respect of others; dignity does not mean tolerance, as tolerance does not encompass respect, acceptance, and inherent humiliation around difference."

Dear Archer, a very warm welcome to our workshop!

   

Ariel Lublin, New York City

Message from Evelin: Dearest Ariel, we wish you all the strength you need now! I will never forget our first meeting, it was for lunch at the Columbus Cafe in Manhattan on December 12, 2005, after you had contacted Judit Révész in November 2004 for our 2004 workshop. When we met in 2005, you were the Mediation Coordinator for the Center for Court Innovation's Midtown Community Court in Manhattan and facilitated group panels modeled on victim-offender dialogues that include defendants, community residents, and police officers. You also facilitated multi-party conflict resolution for neighborhoods and businesses in conflict, led mediation trainings, and directed a community and court-based mediation program.
Our 2005 meeting, dear Ariel, laid the foundation for a deep I-Thou connection, as philosopher Martin Buber would say, for the past fifteen years, for which I have no words to thank you! Your presence in many of our workshops since 2005, and in our Dignity Now New York City group that exists since 2015, is of priceless value!

   

Audrey Hurley, New York City

Dear Audrey, we are great admirers of your art! It was such a gift that you came to our 2019 workshop and shared your powerful and beautiful voice with us!

Thank you for your wonderful sharing also this year!
The Lord's Prayer (Audio recorded November 20, 2020)

   

Azad Mohammad Abul Kalam, Dhaka, Bangladesh

"Dignity: Ensure the rights of the people and treat people equally as well as equity."

Dearest Azad! How wonderful that we first met you in our 2006 Dignity Conference in Costa Rica, and then you came to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand for our 2014 Dignity Conference! How wonderful to have this long-standing loving connection with you!

   

Barbara Barnes, New York City

Message from Evelin: Dearest Barbara, it was wonderful to have you with us in this workshop and in our 2018 workshop, almost twenty years after we first met! Thank you that you attended the special workshop I gave at the MD-ICCCR "Conflict Resolution and the Psychology of Humiliation" on June 19, 2002!

   

Bill and Joni Baird, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Bill Baird: "Dignity recognizes the right of individuals to be free to be who they are and to not impede the rights of others to do the same."
Joni Baird: "Dignity recognizes the inherent worth and equality of every inhabitant of our earth including all living creatures and the environment."

Message from Evelin: Thank you, dear Joni and Bill, for being equalists! Thank you for your life mission of working for equal dignity! In the book that I am finalizing now, I am widely quoting you, among others this paragraph:
"As Equalists, we believe that ‘labels disable’ and create ‘us versus them’ dynamics unnecessarily fragmenting movements. Therefore, Equalists focus on the content rather than the form of the world’s many imbalanced, fear-based paradigms. Equalists believe all human beings are citizens of Planet Earth and set multiple goals for their liberation. We believe that in order to be collectively harmonious, abundant and balanced, certain universal tenets apply. Those tenets are inherently feminist with regard to our desire to radically change the current domination paradigm (occupied by all genders) to allow for equal pay, freedom from aggression, child friendly work environments, and gender diversity. Through this shift, matriarchy and patriarchy are changed to ‘humanarchy’."

   

Bishnu Pathak, Kathmandu, Nepal

"Dignity is a quality of being worthy of honor. The concept of dignity expresses the innate idea of rights to valued, respected and ethical treatment for each and every citizen of the nation. Thus, the dignity is a non-derogatory, inalienable and inherent right. The prime duty of state is to respect, protect and promote human dignity without distinction of caste, ethnicity, race, sex, age, religion, class, geography, color and profession."

Dear Chandra Siwakoti, you are working as a lawyer with social issues since 1992, and it was a great privilege that you and your daughter Mamta joined us in our 2017 Dignity Conference in India! Thank you so much for also introducing us to Professor Pathak!

Dear Professor Pathak, thank you for sharing your work!
• Pathak, Bishnu (2016). "World’s Disappearance Commissions: An Inhumanious Quest for Truth." In World Journal of Social Science Research, 3 (3), p. 274. doi: 10.22158/wjssr.v3n3p274.
• Pathak, Bishnu (2017). "A Comparative Study of World’s Truth Commissions — From Madness to Hope." In World Journal of Social Science Research, 4 (3), p. 192. doi: 10.22158/wjssr.v4n3p192.
• Pathak, Bishnu (2019). "Generations of Transitional Justice in the World." In Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 6 (7). doi: 10.14738/assrj.67.6728.
• Pathak, Bishnu (2020). "Critiques on the Tribunals and The Hague Court." In Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7 (7), pp. 445–91. doi: 10.14738/assrj.77.8636.
• "Nuremberg Tribunal: A Precedent for Victor’s Justice," by Professor Bishnu Pathak, TRANSCEND Media Service, September 21, 2020.

   

Bob Kaplan, Bronx, New York City

"Dignity: Seeing the creator in all and lending this recognition to all we encounter and interface with."

Dear Bob, it was a privilege to meet you for the first time in the office of Maria Volpe on August 1, 2002! Thank you for kindly writing to us on December 7, 2020: "I am the director of the Center for Community Leadership at the JCRC-NY. Been engaged in community building and conflict prevention for close to three decades and have engaged the concept of Dignity as human right in all my work spirituality. I am a father, grandfather and on the journey."

   

Bonnie Selterman, New York, U.S.A.

You are among our deepest and most complex thinkers and most loving nurturers of dignity, dear Bonnie! We cannot imagine our workshop series without you anymore! You generously joined us in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019!
Thank you for sharing your profound reflections also in this workshop, as always!
Escaping Complicity — A Poem (Video | Pdf | Spoken recording on November 21, 2020)

Message from Evelin: I am so thankful to Maria Volpe for bringing us together, dear Bonnie! Thank you for coming to my talk Understanding and Addressing Humiliation, December 2, 2010, 8-10 am, convened by our esteemed Maria Volpe at her monthly breakfast meeting (since 9/11 on the first Thursday of each month) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City (see the 2010 pictures)! I will never forget when you took me to hear Bill McKibben speak in the Tishman Auditorium at the New School University Center, on November 10, 2016, and our conversation afterwards. In the book that I am finalizing now, I am widely quoting you, among others from the questions you asked us in 2018.

• Selterman, Bonnie (2019)
Notes on Human Dignity as a Concept That Can Be Taught
Reflections prepared in May 2019 for the 2019 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York City, December 5 – 6, 2019.

   

Brian Gerrard, Florida, U.S.A.

"Dignity: To be treated with respect. I also like the Biblical version: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'."

Dear Brian, we are deeply thankful to the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) for bringing us together! Thank you for your work with Disastershock — How to cope with the emotional stress of a major disaster: A practical resource for coping with stress caused by the 2020 covid 19 pandemic. Thank you for your lifesaving work!

   

Camille Butterfield Elliott, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

A very warm welcome to you, dear Camille!

   

Carl Jennings, Derwood, Maryland, U.S.A.

It is a privilege, dear Carl, that Judit Révész introduced us in 2010! What a joy that you were a friend of Don Klein, member of the Founding Board of Directors of the Lewin Center, mentor and doctoral supervisor of Linda Hartling and founding member of our dignity work! Dear Carl, you were a member of the National Training Laboratory (NTL), and the Director of the first virtual group dynamics conference! Your support is invaluable to us, dear Carl!

• "In Celebration of the Life and Work of Donald C. Klein," by Preston A. Britner, Martin Bloom & Alan Klein, The Journal of Primary Prevention, Volume 30, Article number 732, November 12, 2009 (Pdf)

   

Carol Osler, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Dignity: The inherent worth in every individual, and the awareness of that worth by themselves and others.

Dear Carol, you co-chair a Task Force to design policies and procedures relevant to workplace bullying and we are very glad that John Wardle made you aware of our work in 2018! A very warm welcome to this workshop!

   

Carol Smaldino, Colorado, U.S.A., Italy

"Dignity: The right to be respected as a matter of being alive, human and otherwise. And to give that respect as well."

Your wisdom enriches us, dear Carol, since you first found our work in 2009! We so much appreciate your kind way of throwing light on our dark sides, on our shadows! Your pieces on the platforms of Huffington Post and Medium are must-reads for everyone! Here are three examples:

• "Mental Health Awareness Month in a Climate of Denial," by Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post, May 11, 2016
• "In Every Generation: What Independence Day Means to Me," by Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post, June 29, 2017
• "Addressing the 'Toxins in Our Hearts': A Conversation with Mary Gordon, Founder of Roots of Empathy," by Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post, December 21, 2017

We are very proud to have your book published in Dignity Press:
Smaldino, Carol (2019). The Human Climate: Facing the Divisions Inside Us and Between Us. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press.

We cannot imagine our workshop series without you and your husband anymore, dear Carol, since you first joined us in 2010, then in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and now! Our deep gratitude goes to you!

   

Catharina Carvalho, Brazil, U.S.A.

Dear Catharina, please convey our sincere appreciation to your father Eduardo Carvalho, Director of ABA-Associação Brasil América, and to our cherished peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos, who so kindly hosted our dignity work in 2012 in Recife, Brazil! A very warm welcome to our workshop, dear Catharina!

   

Chaime Marcuello-Servós, Zaragoza, Spain

"Dignity is a necessary condition, a starting point and a goal always at risk of human life. People's dignity is inalienable and cannot be renounced, but it is not guaranteed in itself. It is a daily conquest in a system of complex relationships where nothing is immovable."

Dear Chaime, thank you so much for connecting with us! What a fascinating combination: You research in sociocybernetics and complexity, you are an apprentice luthier (you are finishing a cello), and you work and research on disability issues! We applaud you!

   

Charles Hayes, Alaska, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Being worthy of respect."

• Thank you so much, dear David Yamada, for the gift of inviting Charles to contribute to Dignilogue 2 (Video)! Thank you, dear Charles, for offering us your most valuable insights!

   

Charlott Macek, New York City

Thank you so much, dear Charlott, for your untiring support to our dignity work since you began working with the MD-ICCCR in 2013, after your time at the book shop of Teachers College! Each year, you give us great courage! What would we do without your expert caring hand in the background and your wonderful presence!

   

Chipamong (Chipa) Chowdhury, or Bhante Revata Dhamma (monk's name, known in the monastic communities), Nomad Monk

Thank you so much, dear Bhante, for your most inspiring life as a "nomad eco-monk"! We remember that you wrote to us in 2008 after you got to know about our work in the United Nations Indigenous Forum in 2008, in the Seventh Session “Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: The stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges,” April 21 – May 2, 2008. Your wish was to participate in our 2008 Norway conference, however, you were ultimately hindered to join us, and we were delighted to have you with us in our 2008 workshop in New York City! From then on you have been a gift of dignity in every single of our workshops, every year! By now, you have grown to be a core member of our dignity nurturing team, and we thank you for being such a gift to the world!

Bhante Revata Dhamma: The Nomad Monk (Videos recorded in 2020, brought together by Linda Hartling on December 3, 2020)

   

Christine Lior Locher, Germany, U.S.A.

Dear Christine, it was wonderful that you participated in our 2005 Dignity Conference in Berlin, Germany! Welcome to this workshop!

   

Christine de Michele, North Carolina, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Equity and a good life for all living beings."

Thank you so much for bringing your amazing art to our workshop every year since 2014, dear Christine! How happy we are that Anna Strout brought you to us!

Thank you so much for your contribution to this workshop:
Christine de Michele Sings About the Black Community's Significance for Jazz Music on Day Two of this Workshop, in Honor of Tony Gaskew's Talk the Day Before (Video)

Message from Evelin: Dearest Christine, I will never forget how you lifted our spirits with just your voice, without words, in an interlude during our 2016 workshop!

   

Christopher Pollmann, Metz, France

It was great that Azza Karam introduced us to you in 2008, dear Christopher, and thank you for sharing your work now, and for your "Message to the World"!

• "Message to the World — About a Vicious Spiral against Muslims in France" (Text | Video | Short Video | Long Video recorded on December 7, 2020)
• "The Attacks of September 11: Suicidal Tendencies of “Technicized” and Atomized Society," in Asia University Law Review, vol. 39, Jan. 2005, no. 2, p. 166-140. Different versions of this paper have been presented at Asia University, Tokyo, 9/8/2004, Metz University, France, 3/21/2003, the Fernand Braudel Center, Binghamton University, 9/26/2002, in Winthrop House, Harvard University, 2/1/2002, and at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville, 12/4/2001.

   

Clark McCauley, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Decent respect."

Thank you for being a pillar of dignity our work since 2005, dear Clark, when Paul Rozin invited Evelin to the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on November 28, 2005!

Thanks a lot for sharing your most recent work:
McCauley, Clark (2020). "The Essence of Hate and Love." In Perspectives on Hate: How It Originates, Develops, Manifests, and Spreads, edited by Robert J. Sternberg. Chapter 3, pp. 43–64. (Washington, DC: APA Books.

Thanks a lot also for your article in American Psychologist that inspired us to build on it, dear Clark:
• McCauley, Clark (2017). "Toward a Psychology of Humiliation in Asymmetric Conflict." In American Psychologist, 72 (3, Special Issue: Psychology of Terrorism), 255–65. doi: 10.1037/amp0000063.
• Hartling, Linda, and Evelin Lindner (2017). Toward a Globally Informed Psychology of Humiliation: Comment on McCauley. In American Psychologist, 72 (7), 705–06. doi: 10.1037/amp0000188.

We so much valued also your earlier contributions to our work, dear Clark:
Understanding Humiliation As Suppressed Anger, contribution shared at the 2006 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York City, December 14–15, 2006.

Humiliation in Asymmetric Conflict, contribution shared at the 2008 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York City, December 11–12, 2008.

   

Claudia Lutschewitz, Cologne area, Germany

"Dignity: Everything — because we need dignity to live in peace and we need dignity to value Earth and human beings."

Message from Evelin: Dear Claudia, it was a great gift to meet you on October 11, 2015, when you came to my talk titled Von Demütigung zu Terror und Krieg: Erniedrigung kann zu Gewalt führen, kann sie auch zu Liebe führen? as part of the 2015 Symposium "Gehirne zwischen Liebe und Krieg – Menschlichkeit in Zeiten der Neurowissenschaften", convened by Turm der Sinne / Tower of the Senses in Nürnberg, Germany.
Afterwards, you invited me to an interview, where I learned a lot from you:
Menschlichkeit und Mediation: Ein Leben für Würde und gegen Demütigung, ein Interview mit Claudia Lutschewitz, in Mediator 01/2016, Seiten 4-9. It was a great privilege that you and your husband came to Hameln to conduct this interview on 12th January 2016. See the little video that we created at the end of our conversation.

A very warm welcome to this workshop, dear Claudia!

   

Claudia Thimm and Gisela Michalik, Hameln (Hamelin), Germany

Claudia: "Dignity: A connection by heart, to see every person in his/her humanity."
Gisela: "Behandle die Welt so, wie Du selbst behandelt werden möchtest, mit Würde! (Treat the world the way you want to be treated yourself, with dignity!)"

Please click on the image to see it larger!

Thank you, dear Claudia and Gisela, for your amazing work with our DignityNowHameln group! What a gift to have you with us!
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained sung by the DignityNowHameln group
This is the contribution of the DignityNowHameln group that was recorded in October and November 2020, and finalized on November 21, 2020 (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)

   
 

Clement Niyukuri, Rwanda / Burundi

   

Connie Dawson, Washington, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Respect, empathy, safety, balance/authenticity."

Dearest Connie, you connected with us in 2010, and you participated in this workshop series in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and now! We wish you all the strength you need! Please know that your dignifying care and loving nurturing is a gift to the world!

   

Crain Soudien, Cape Town, South Africa

Dear Howard Richards, thank you so much for introducing us to Crain Soudien in 2015!
Dear Crain, please be warmly welcome to this workshop!

   

Cris Prade, Brazil, England

"Dignity means a person being treated in a respectful way validating our shared humanity."

It is great that you connected with us in2017, dear Cris, welcome to this workshop!

   

Danielle Coon, New York City

Dearest Danielle, ever since you took over as Associate Director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation & Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR) in 2015, you grew very close to our hearts! What a beacon of dignity you are! We are deeply grateful to you for your untiring ongoing loving support! We are very glad that we could honor MC-ICCCR's director, our dear Peter Coleman, with our Lifetime Commitment Award this year!

   

David Yamada, Boston, U.S.A.

David C. Yamada is the recipient of the 2015 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award. David is a professor of law and director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. David is a globally recognized scholar and authority on workplace bullying and worker dignity. At our annual workshops, he has frequently shared topics such as workplace bullying and abuse, dignity at work, and therapeutic jurisprudence.

Thank you, dear David, for being a beacon of dignity in the world, a pillar of our global dignity work, and a pillar of this workshop series since 2007! Thank you so much for your important contribution to this book:
"Growing Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies: Without Falling Prey to Neoliberal Norms." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 2. (Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019).

This year you were a pillar of Dignilogue 1 and Dignilogue 2 in particular! And again we had the privilege of enjoying your wonderful musical voice (Text | Video)! We have no words to thank you!

Thank you, dear David, also for your wonderful post-workshop blog "A welcomed online workshop helps to conclude a challenging year" (Link | Pdf)

Thank you sharing your work, dear David:
• "Should Public Policy Center on Society’s Well-Being?" by David Yamada, The American Commentator, October 2020 (Pdf)
• Yamada, David C. (2019). "Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Intellectual Activism and Legislation." In The Methodology and Practice of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, edited by Nigel Stobbs, Lorana Bartels, and Michel Vols. Chapter 5. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. (Pdf)
• Yamada, David C. (2018). "On Anger, Shock, Fear, and Trauma: Therapeutic Jurisprudence as a Response to Dignity Denials in Public Policy." In International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.06.009 (Pdf). This article asserts that when policymaking processes, outcomes, and implementations stoke fear, anxiety, and trauma, they often lead to denials of human dignity.

   

Eddy Setia, Medan, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia

"Dignity: When I can help people even a small help and it can improve their quality of life."

Dear Eddy, we are privileged to be connected with you since 2011! Welcome!  

   

Elaine Meis, New York City

Thank you so much, dear Elaine, for being a pillar of the Digniplanning Team and for hosting Dignilogue 5: Continuing Connections: Dignity Now Groups for Developing Ongoing Dialogue (Video)

Message from Evelin: Dear Elaine, how happy we are that we met you in the evening of November 18, 2018, at our dear Carol's Nanlaoshu Center in New York City, to which our dear Judit Révész had invited us, an evening of wonderful sitar music plus meditation plus taiji! We are so privileged to have you in our dignity family!

   

Ella Nygård, Finland

"Dignity for me is very practical, treating other people with respect and with acceptance."

Dearest Ella, what a gift you are to our dignity work! We simply love what you have created!


   

Emmanuel Ndahimana, Rwanda

• Thank you, dear Emmanuel Ndahimana, for writing to us so kindly on December 12, 2020 (Video| Bishop Desmond Tutu Explains Ubuntu Video):
"The theme of the conference is very inspiring. Indeed transforming humiliation into a pandemic of dignity for every one should be a mission of all of us. As someone said, we are one, united by our essence, by our humanity, our Ubuntu. We are also different by our forms, the circumstances of our developments, our experiences, our colors, talents. These differences make the creation even more artistic, beautiful in the Planet garden. That perspective should lead us to more admiration and respect rather than humiliation and conflicts. Not easy!! Félicité is among the few who have reached that level of maturity and understanding. She has left to all of us a living example that even big challenges can be overcome. Making this known is a good contribution to the world. We are grateful to Father Jean D'Amour who has offered this example, grateful to HDHS for making Félicité an example of humanity, dignity and compassion!"

• The African ubuntu philosophy says "I am because of you, we are because of each other," "Umunthu ngamunthu ngabantu": "A person is a person through other people"!
• We thank Bishop Desmond Tutu for his explanation of ubuntu. We are grateful to both Emmanuel Ndahimana and Bishop Desmond Tutu for their wonderful support to our dignity work! Bishop Tutu kindly contributed with the Foreword to Evelin's book on love in 2010, and Emmanuel Ndahimana hosted our 2015 Dignity Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, June 2–5, 2015, that we held as a tribute to Felicitas Niyitegeka in the spirit of the United Nations agenda towards "A Life of Dignity for All," and in the spirit of umuganda, "coming together in common purpose" (the traditional practice of communities self-solving their problems).
• We thank, furthermore, scholar Joy Ndwandwe for explaining ubuntu on 26th April 2013 in our 2013 Annual Dignity Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, that was titled ‘Search for dignity’, April 24–27, 2013.

   

Eunice Avilés Faria, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico

"Dignity: Is the idea that everyone should be valued and respected."

Thank you so much, dear David Yamada, for inviting Eunice to contribute to Dignilogue 2 (Video)!
Welcome to our dignity family, dear Eunice!

   

Evelin Lindner, Global

"Dignity, for me, is the ability to stand tall with open arms, lovingly welcoming all others as equals in worthiness."

From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity – The Coronavirus Pandemic as Opportunity in the Midst of Suffering (Original | Pdf), in InterViews: An Interdisciplinary Journal in Social Sciences, 7 (1), 2020, pp. 30–50, doi: 10.36061/IV.7.1.20.30.50
• Synopsis: From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity. Lake Oswego, OR: World Dignity University Press, Dignity Press, 2021 (Pdf)
Bringing Dignity to Globalisation: A Psychologist’s Personal Experience as a Global Citizen - Evelin Lindner’s Global Life. Book proposal created in response to an invitation by Louise Sundararajan, Series Editor of the Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology, 2019

   

Fatma Susan Tufan, Turkey, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Respecting and embracing everyone as who they are."

Dearest Fatma! Thank you for being such a wise, patient, and loving nurturer of dignity wherever you go, even in the most challenging circumstances. Ever since you came to our 2018 and 2019 workshops, we admire your loving and dignifying strength!

   

Francisco Cardoso, Vila Real, Portugal

Thank you, dear Francisco, for your excellent scholarship! You translated Linda Hartling's Humiliation Inventory into Portuguese and build your research on it.

   
 

Gabriela Hofmeyer, San Francisco, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Human agency and autonomy, thoughtful kind interaction with integrity."

Thank you, dear friends from the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) for bringing Gabriela to us!

   

Gabriela Saab, São Paulo, Brazil, New York City

"Dignity is the central value of humanity!"

Message from Evelin: Dearest Gaby, what a gift our esteemed peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos gave us when he "sent" you to us in 2009! It was lovely to welcome you to our 2009 workshop in New York City, and from then on, we stayed together! You and your family included me most lovingly in 2012 in São Paulo — it was an immeasurable gift to me personally! We had the great joy of having you with us in our workshops in New York City in 2015, 2016, and 2019, and you came to our 2012 Dignity Conference in Oslo, Norway, and then, you co-hosted our 2019 Dignity Conference in the Brazilian Amazon! In 2015, it was due to YOUR arrival in New York City that our Dignity Now New York City group began to meet! And you created a World Dignity University YouTube channel, and you most generously offer to be part of our Digni-Leadership Team of our World Dignity University initiative in the future! What a gift you are, dearest Gaby, a great gift to dignity in the world!

   

Gay Rosenblum-Kumar, New York City

Message from Evelin: Dear Gay, your support for our dignity work since 2001 has been immensely enriching and of exceptional substance! Every fall, when I was in New York City, we met in the UN cafeteria for lunch and we shared past year's insights! And you joined our workshops in 2004 2007, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019!

Dear Gay, I learned so much each time you invited me to share my reflections:
How Are Dignity and Humiliation Relevant in Our Lives, Our Societies, and for the United Nations?
The UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action cordially invited to a brown bag lunch event on Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 1pm – 2.30 pm at 1 UN Plaza (DC-1), 20th Floor Conference Room. The host is Gay Rosenblum-Kumar.
Understanding and Addressing Humiliation and Conflict
Brown Bag Lunch at the UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action, December 2, 2010, 12-2.30 pm, convened at the United Nations, New York City, U.S.A., organized by Gay Rosenblum-Kumar
See pictures.
• These talks connected back to Humiliation, Conflict Management, and Policy Making, brown bag lunch at the Governance and Public Administration Branch, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, on December 15, 2004.

   

Georg Geckler, Hameln (Hamelin), Germany

"For me dignity is a condition of a person who is respected and can live in freedom, peace, with good nutrition, a safe home, and without physical or psychical violation. Dignity could be the attitude of a person that is recognized by others as a proud and decent human being."

Thank you for accepting the task of recording our workshop, dear Georg!
Equally thank you for your important messages!
• "Message to the World" (Text | Video recorded on November 30, 2020)
Reduce Overproduction! Hameln, Germany, November 2020

Thank you, dear Georg, also for your amazing work with our DignityNowHameln group, since 2019!
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained sung by the DignityNowHameln group
This is the contribution of the DignityNowHameln group that was recorded in October and November 2020, and finalized on November 21, 2020 (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)

   

George Chidieber Iheanacho

Thank you so much, dear George, for sharing your "Message to the World"! Thank you for the immense trouble you took to be with us in our workshop! You participated during the pauses at your workplace, faithfully wearing a mask...

Thank you so much for your "Message to the World": "We have a World that it is our purpose to change for better. Let us not shy a bid despite pushbacks. Let us continue to express our commitment for a world of dignity. Dignity is the greatest and best recipe that we can apply to humanize our humanity and our world. Let every person, family, and community work for the peace and propagation of communal dignity for all. We are the world."

Thank you, dear Georg Geckler, for reading George's message for us aloud!

   

George Wolfe, Indiana, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Respect, collaboration, cooperation, living in right relationship."

Dear George, we are glad we found you in 2011 on the Culturalecon list through Howard Richards, and through Arun Gandhi and peace educator Michael Nagler who all endorsed your work!

Congratulations with your book in our Dignity Press, dear George!
• Wolfe, George W. (2015). Meditations on Mystery: Science, Paradox and Contemplative Spirituality. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press.


Thank you so much for contributing with wonderful Native American flute improvisations during the Creativity, Music and Moments of this workshop, dear George!
• Native American Flute Improvisation
(with Robert Willey playing the drum Video | Video pre-recorded August 30, 2020 | Video of another improvisation recorded on July 12, 2020 | >

Thank you also your lovely saxophone play at our 2014 workshop (Video)!

   

Gershon Mitchel, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

"Dignity is the loam of the seedbed from which grow some of the finest virtues that ennoble humankind, and before brotherhood comes dignity, where all are deemed worthy of respect — Martin Luther King, 'good sportsmanship'."

Thank you so much for finding our dignity work, dear Gershon, and for sharing your deep reflections and messages!
• "Message to the World" (Video)
• Note of Appreciation on Day Three (Video)
Thank you for sharing your poem, dear Gershon!
First Things First: A Universal Truth — A Poem (Spoken recording on December 4, 2020)

   

Gordana Jovanovic, Serbia, Global

"I understand dignity as a mutual respect."

Message from Evelin: Dear Gordana, how wonderful it was to connect with you on May 30, 2020, after my contribution titled From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity — The Coronavirus Pandemic as Opportunity in the Midst of Suffering, to Panel 20 "Solidarity, Accessibility and Self," of the virtual conference The Psychology of Global Crises, convened by the American University of Paris, 20th–30th May 2020.

Welcome to our global dignity community, dear Gordana!

   

Grace Feuerverger, Toronto, Canada

"Dignity: compassion for oneself and others, reconciliation, an open heart and mind."

Message from Evelin: How wonderful that our dear Sharon Burde brought us together in 2002, dear Grace, and that I had the privilege of paying you a visit in your home in Toronto on August 26, 2002! What a gift you have been to us in our workshops in New York City in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2016, and our 2009 Dignity Conference in Hawai'i!

Thank you for your important work, dear Grace!
• Feuerverger, Grace (2001). Oasis of Dreams: Teaching and Learning Peace in a Jewish-Palestinian Village in Israel. London, New York: Routledge/Falmer.
The "School For Peace": A Conflict Resolution Program in a Jewish-Palestinian Village (2005)

   

Harold Becker and John Goltz, Florida, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Harold: Honoring and loving ourselves and thus loving our collective humanity. John: Self-love, self-awareness, self-respect."

Message from Evelin: Dear Harold, we were connected digitally already in 2006, yet, I will never forget our Skype meeting on February 6, 2008! The way you explained your work was phenomenal and deeply touching! It is such a gift to have you and dear John in our dignity family for more than ten years now!

Thank you for sharing your reflections and messages, dear Harold and John!
• "Message to the World" (Video)
We Are Love, Orlando, Florida, September 30, 2020
The Love Foundation — Celebrating 20 Years

   

Hayal Köksal, Istanbul, Turkey

"Dignity: The quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Being satisfied with self and working to bring sistership/brotherhood to the world people for the sake of happy and healthy future generations."

Dearest Hayal, we will never forget the loving care with which you hosted our 2010 Dignity Conference in Istanbul, Turkey! And then you came to New York City for our 2014 workshop! We are deeply thankful to you!

Thank you so much, dear Hayal for your "Message to the World" (recorded on November 28, 2020), and for sending us this link for our workshop, dear Hayal: Seagulls Project 2021

   

Peace Philosopher Howard Richards, Chile, South Africa, and California (Justine Richards)

"Dignity: Respect, esteem, self-esteem, security."

Thank you so much for your seminal work over so many decades, dear Howard, throughout your entire lifetime! Thank you for allowing us to honor you on Day Three of the workshop (Video)

You kindly wrote on December 3, 2020, when you registered for this workshop: "I have written a lot of books and I wish people knew about them and would read them, Some are described in a Wikipedia article about me. Understanding the Global Economy is a google e book. Several are on the Dignity Press site. Several are on Amazon. I can also send PDF or word copies to anybody who sends me an e mail. I might also mention that I lived through the military coup in Chile and that I was a volunteer lawyer for Cesar Chavez when he first started organizing and that I have been a lifelong student at high prestige universities, starting with Yale."

• "Embrace Communities to Save Humanity and the Planet," by Howard Richards, TRANSCEND Media Service, Editorial #673, December 28, 2020.

• On Day Two (Video), Howard Richards recommended two appendices, one titled "ending poverty" and the other "a plan for peace" from his book Understanding the Global Economy. Santa Barbara, CA: Peace Education Books, 2004 (Preface). He explained that these two pieces had been published independently in The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence.

• Howard Richards has published The Nurturing of Time Future in Dignity Press in 2012, and together with Joanna Swanger, and edited by Ivo Coelho, Gandhi and the Future of Economics in 2013.
Following Foucault: The Trail of the Fox, lectures by Howard Richards with dialogues among Evelin Lindner, Howard Richards, and Catherine Odora Hoppers, Foreword by Crain Soudien (CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa) and an Introduction by Magnus Haavelsrud, Stellenbosch, South Africa: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, 2018. The book can be ordered from the publisher. The book is based on "Against Foucault" – A series of presentations by Howard Richards, in dialogue with Catherine Odora Hoppers and Evelin Lindner carried out in Pretoria in 2013.

   

Ikhlaq Hussain

YOU are our wonderful Dignity-Musician since 2006! Thank you for giving your life to dignity and music! Thank you for sharing your art also this year, dear Ikhlaq!

Love Letter 3 - Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo in Raag Yaman (recorded in Geneva on August 15, 2020)

   
 

Isabel Barroso, Tarragona, Catalunya

"Dignity: The only way to attain self-respect."

You have no idea how much we valued your participation in this workshop, dear Isabel, and we can't wait to read your doctoral dissertation titled The Concept of Self-respect and Dignity — Comparing the East and the West!

Thank you so much, dear Isabel, for offering your support for our planned Dignity Conference in Madrid!

   

Jana Jakob, Sweden

Brian Palmer brought you to our dignity work in 2016, dear Jana, and Anita Leifall brought Brian to us in 2011! What a lovely dignity web of connections! Welcome to our workshop, dear Jana!

   

Janet Gerson, New York City

"Dignity is inherent in each person and is operationalized interpersonally as respect. Dignity is moral autonomy in which each person is an end in herself, recognized as the author of his own story, and as a subject in society where dignity is operationalized as equality, inclusion, freedom, fulfillment and well-being. Dignity is blighted when persons are treated instrumentally as means to ends, subjected to domination, humiliation and other forms of violence."

Dearest Janet, you are a pillar of our dignity work all the way back to 2001, when you came to the talk titled Humiliation and the Roots of Violence that Evelin gave at Teachers College, Columbia University, on December 17, 2001, 3.30 pm, upon the invitation of our dear Betty Reardon, and attended also by our dear Morton Deutsch, among others.

Thank you so much, dearest Janet, for being a pillar of our work every year since 2001! Not least now, as a core member of the Digni-Planning Team for this workshop, and then you wonderfully explained the Connection-Reflection groups, and hosted Dignilogue 3: Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom (Video of the Full Length of the Dignilogue)! Unending gratitude!

   

Jean d’Amour Dusengumuremyi, Rwanda

Thank you so much, dear Father Jean d'Amour, for contributing to Dignilogue 3 with "I Prefer to Die With Them": The Story of Rwandan Heroine Félicité Niyitegeka, written by you, narrated by Gwen Gates, September 11, 2020 (Video | see the original film on Gwen Gates's channel | HumanDHS channel, September 11, 2020)

Felicitas Niyitegeka gave her life in the genocide that ravaged Rwanda in 1994, targeting Tutsi, together with moderate Hutu who were opposed to the killing. Father Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi wrote a book about her, published in our Dignity Press, titled No Greater Love: Testimonies on the Life and Death of Felicitas Niyitegeka. Felicitas Niyitegeka was an Auxiliaire de l'Apostolat, a laïque engagée, who had dedicated herself to a celibate life to serve the common good with love. She was the responsible head of the Catholic charitable home Centre Pastoral St. Pierre of the Diocèse de Nyundo in Gisenyi. She saved the lives of many Tutsi, and, at last, she chose to die together with the Tutsi women who were in her care and whom she could not save. We held our 25th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies in Kigali, Rwanda 2nd - 5th June 2015, as a tribute to Felicitas Niyitegeka.

Another thank you, dear Father Jean d'Amour, for your "Message to the World" shared on Day Three of this workshop (Video)

   

Jeffrey Mensendiek, U.S.A., Kobe, Japan

"Dignity: The value and vulnerability of all living things as defined by Donna Hicks."

Dear Jeffrey, we are very happy that our dear Donna Hicks inspired you and brought you to us! Welcome!

   

Jennifer Lynne, Texas, U.S.A.

Dear Jennifer, we are so glad that you came to our 2013 workshop! You came through several introductions — through Barry Hart, who kindly attended our 2006 workshop, and you came also through Hizkias Assefa and Merle Lefkoff! It was a gift to have you with us in 2013, and we welcome you also to this workshop, dear Jennifer!

   

John Bilorusky, Berkeley, California, in the midst of the severe coronavirus pandemic

Thank you so much, dear David Yamada, for bringing John to us in 2015! Dear John, you are President and Faculty Member of the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) and we have no words to express our admiration for your life work! Few people succeed in doing what you have achieved, namely, creating an organization in the spirit of dignity and embedding it in the highly complex institutional contexts of our times!

We are so thankful, dear John, for your contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Pdf | Video)!

Thank you for your important reflections titled The Role of Transformative Action-and-Inquiry in Dignity Studies: Beyond Personalized Education with Curiosity and Commitment !

   

John Borst, California, U.S.A.

Dignity: "A dictionary definition I am partial to is: 'the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect,' as in 'our honored guest recognizes the inherent dignity of all despite our vast ethnic and religious differences'."

How great that you found our dignity work, dear John! It was lovely to have you with us in our workshop! Thank you!

   

John Carter, Ohio, U.S.A.

Welcome to our workshop, dear John!

   

Judit Révész, Hungary, New York City, Geneva, Switzerland

Message from Evelin: Dearest Judit, I will never forget the day when you welcomed me to Teachers College, Columbia University, on December 17, 2001, just before I gave the talk titled Humiliation and the Roots of Violence at 3.30 pm, upon the invitation of Betty Reardon, attended, among others, by Morton Deutsch!

Since 2001, you are a pillar of our dignity work, and since the inception of this website in 2003, you offer your time and energy to reply when people click on the "contact us" button! Over the years, you often worked late at night for us, even while holding two jobs and being a student. Words will never suffice to express our gratitude and admiration to you! Your deeply deeply thankful Evelin!

Thank you so much for your important contribution to this book:
"Full Circle: With Gratitude to Our Dearest Evelin Lindner." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 14. (Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019)

   
 

Kai Kunze, Lower Saxony, Germany

"Dignity: Think the Wikipedia definition hits the point."

Thank you for your important work with environment and sustainability education! It was great to meet you for the first time at the Fridays for Future demonstration in Hameln on September 20, 2019!

   

Karen Ferraz, Brazil, Tennessee, U.S.A.

"Dignity is a human right."

Message from Evelin: Dear Karen! What a gift it was to have you in my lecture and seminar titled Post-Conflict, Reconstruction, and Reconciliation — The Case of Rwanda at the University of Oslo, Department of Psychology, Norway, as part of PSY4506 – Human Rights, Democracy and Reconstruction after Conflict; A community based approach by Nora Sveaass and Inger Skjelsbæk, 21st March 2019!

Please be warmly welcome to our dignity family and dignity work, dear Karen!

   

Karin Dremel, Colorado, U.S.A.

What a gift, dear Karin, that John Bilorusky, President and Faculty Member of the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) brought you to us in 2018! We are blessed by your dignifying support!

   

Katherine Stoessel, New York City

Dear Katherine, you are a graduate, in the late nineties, of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation & Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR), and then, for 15 years you lived in the UK and worked as a mediator, trainer and restorative justice facilitator in the criminal justice and education sectors, before you came back to New York and blessed us with your participation in our 2017, 2018, and 2019 workshops! Thank you so much!

   

Kathy Beckwith, Oregon, U.S.A.

"Dignity: The acknowledgement and kind celebration of our preciousness — each to the other."

Congratulations with your book, dear Kathy! You contacted us in 2014, and a year later, we had your book come out! What a gift to the world!
Beckwith, Kathy (2015). A Mighty Case Against War: What America Missed in U.S. History Class and What We (All) Can Do Now, Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press

Thank you so much for sharing so much of your creative dignity work, dear Kathy:
• "Message to the World — Dignity through Kindness, Respect, and Peace" (Video, recorded on November 26, 2020). Kathy kindly wrote on November 27, 2020: "If it would inspire just a few people to think of the potential for peer mediation and abandoning war, and "being nice first" it would be so worth our time..."
Child of the Earth (Video on Day Three | Audio, recorded on November 5, 2020)

   

Kathy Orchen, Accord, New York

"Dignity: Mutual respect and reciprocity; annihilate dominance and power in human interactions."

Dearest Kathy, it was a privilege to welcome you to our 2014 workshop together with Susan Smith, at a time when you were part of the Humanitarian Training Program of our dear Ani Kalayjian to become Meaningfulworld Ambassadors!

   

Katyayani Singh, Bhopal, India

"Dignity means respect for an individual by virtue of being a human being."

Dearest Katyayani, what a gift that our esteemed Professor Anoop Swarup brought you to us! How wonderful that you and your father and Professor Swarup came to our 2017 Dignity Conference in Indore, India! It was a privilege to have Glenn Paige, the mentor of Anoop Swarup, with us in our 2009 Dignity Conference in Hawai'i!

Thank you for sharing your work, together with your mentor Anoop Swarup, dear Katyayani!
• Singh, Katyayani, and Anoop Swarup (2019). "Progress and Peace: Enlightenment Now from Both Science and Religion." In International Journal on World Peace, 36 (4), p. 31–49
• Singh, Katyayani, and Anoop Swarup (2018). "A Global Nonkilling Index as a Critical Measure of Human Development and Progress." In International Journal on World Peace, 35 (3), p. 45–68
See also:
• Studies on Setting up a Nonkilling Index as an Approach to Nonviolence and Global Peace (Video of the Introduction into the Dignilogue | Video of the Dignilogue | WDU Message| Pdf co-authored with Anoop Swarup), Dignilogue facilitated by Katyayani Singh on 17th August 2017 at the 29th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies 'Dignity in Times of Globalisation', in Indore, India, 16th – 19th August 2017

   

Keenan Powers, New York City

Dearest Keenan, what a gift to meet you at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation & Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR) in 2019! Welcome to our workshop!

   
 

Kel Boyles, New York City

Welcome to this workshop, dear Kel!

   

Keri Lawson-Te Aho, Aotearoa New Zealand

Thank you so much, dear Keri, for explaining dignity to us as follows on November 2, 2020: "I translate dignity as a combination of mauri, mana and tapu. Mauri is the life-force. Tapu is sacredness and mana is power used for good. Mana is conveyed to an individual as a result of kindness and humanitarian actions for the good of all people. Mana is given by the people on the strength of good deeds towards others. Mauri is something we are born with. Mana, mauri and tapu come together as a result of actions and behaviours towards others, that come from a deep place of aroha/aloha/love and compassion. Tapu recognises that everyone is sacred.
I am the daughter of a Māori woman Huriana Te Aho who died from cancer at 56. My mother was in state care from the age of 7, for 10 years. My father was a communist/socialist Scotsman who had a very kind heart and a deep sense of compassion. Both were low paid cleaners. I am a legacy bearer of their pain but also of their compassion and aroha. I am a story-teller and poet. I am an activist and can't bear to see others suffer needlessly especially in a country like Aotearoa/New Zealand.
I would like to first and foremost, listen to the stories of others who believe in the kaupapa/purpose of ending humiliation and violence and to meet the people who are part of this incredible network, to tell you how much I respect you all. I would also like to learn new skills, share our experiences here in Aotearoa/New Zealand to breathe in the magnificence of the kaupapa of our movement. I would also like to discuss strategy and ways to build our international community."

We are so thankful, dear Keri, that we connected through Louise Sundararajan's Indigenous Psychology network in 2014! Thank you so much for your touching contribution to Dignilogue 3: Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom (Video)

Thank you so much for your wonderful sharing, dear Keri!
Keri Lawson - Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Ko te Amorangi (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)

Keri Lawson - Te Aho and Mr. Paikea Tamuera Ariki Sing Whakataka te hau (Text | Video, recorded on December 9, 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand)

Please see also:
Whāia Te Mauriora — In Pursuit of Healing: Theorising Connections between Soul Healing, Tribal Self-Determination and Māori Suicide Prevention in Aotearoa/New Zealand, a thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, 2013.

   

Kim Nguyen, New York City, France

Dearest Kim, what a gift that our dear Danielle Coon introduced us at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation & Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR) on November 13, 2015! We celebrate you!

   

Leland R. Beaumont, Middletown, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Thank you so very much, dear Lee, for your life work! We are happy that you found our work in 2007, and that you came to our workshops in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010! Thank you so much for sharing your valuable work over all these years!

Wisdompage: “I wonder how that works?” is the question that has propelled much of the life and career of Leland R. Beaumont. Expressed early on as an interest in science, math, engineering, and computer science, he obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering as he began his career at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies.

   

Linda Hartling, Oregon, principle convener of this workshop

Dignity? "A world without humiliation dignifies us all!"

Dearest Linda, no message of gratitude will ever be enough to express how we — the entire global dignity community — feel about your immeasurable work of love and dignity!
• See your Message of Gratitude that Evelin recorded prior to the workshop, on November 25, 2020, and December 9, 2020 (Video)
• And then see another Message of Gratitude at the end of the workshop (Video), where all participants express their deep gratitude and admiration for your leadership, as, after all, YOU made this workshop possible!

Thank you so much, dear Linda, for co-editing this important and most touching book, and for writing the Foreword and the final chapter:
"Moving Beyond Humiliation: A Relational Conceptualization of Human Rights." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 15. (Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019)

   
 

Lindsay Lennertz, Albuquerque, New Mexico

"Dignity: Preserving the free right to live and act as you truly are (assuming no intentional harm is done to others)."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Lindsay!

   

Lucien Xavier Lombardo, Virginia, U.S.A.

"Dignity: An essence of our lives that connects with its meaning and others. It exists in experience and does not need to be judged, measured or defined. Unlike justice, equality, fairness, equality, dignity does not yield to power; it is not subject to measurement; it is not based on a judgment; it is not political! Dignity is!"

Dearest Lou, we are privileged that you found our work in 2013! Thank you so much for sharing your work since then at each of our workshops, dear Lucien, and also this time!
• "Message to the World — Learning about Dignity" (Text | Video recorded on December 5, 2020)
Thank you also for:
Human Dignity and Childhood, Workshop with Leadership Team, Auburn Enlarged City School District, Auburn, NY, November 18, 2019
Finding My Way to Questions about Violence, prepared for Senior Scholar Lecture, College of Arts and Letters, November 4, 2006... Dr. Lombardo's Journey: It's Never Been Just Academic — Was It Following Me Around?

   

Lyndon Harris and Maria Lund, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Lyndon: "Dignity is respect and lovingkindness."
Maria: "Dignity is honoring with deep respect."

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful message, dear Lyndon!
• "Message to the World — Forgiveness" (Video | Video recorded on December 10, 2020)

Thank you for your gift of a Dignilogue on Forgiveness!
• Lyndon Harris Announces his Dignilogue on Forgiveness (Video)
• Lyndon Harris' Dignilogue on Forgiveness (Video)
• Lynda Harris Shares Afterthoughts on Day Three (Video)

Message from Evelin: It was such a privilege, dear Lyndon, to meet you, and get to know your important work, in 2004 at a Luncheon at the United Nations in New York City — it was when the 2004 Global Peace and Tolerance Awards were presented to three initiatives: the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, and "In the Continuum," by Holocaust and genocide survivors David Gewirtzman and Jacqueline Murekatete.

Dear Lyndon, since 2004, you have been a pillar of our work, a guardian of our dignity spirit, you always teach us "to become better ancestors"! Thank you!

Finally, we congratulate you, dear Lyndon! We lovingly welcome your wife Maria! Welcome!

   

Maggie O'Neill, Ireland, England

What a gift, dear Maggie, that esteemed Ruth Lister brought you to us in 2005, and that you came all across the Atlantic to our workshops in New York City in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, and 2013! How WONDERFUL to have you with us now again!

Thank you so much, dear Maggie, for your contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Video)

Thank you for sharing your work, dear Maggie:
Participation Arts and Social Action in Research (PASAR): Theatre Making and Walking in Research with Migrant Women, with Umut Erel, Ereni Kaptani, Tracey Reynolds and Maggie O’Neill, a short film by Marcia Chandra that shares the work and importantly the process, (Video | Pdf comment | PASAR)

Walking Conversations with Maggie O’Neill, Arpad Szakaloczai, Ger Mullally, the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub and students and teachers from the Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne. Walking is a mundane activity but also fundamental to our way of being and sociality, taking a walk with someone is a powerful way of communicating about experience, we can become attuned and connected in a lived embodied way with the feelings and lived experience of another. Pioneering Anthropologist Tim Ingold talks about walking as the ‘art of paying attention’. Walking opens a space for dialogue, and embodied knowledge and experience can be shared, it is ‘convivial’ in the senses described above. This short film by Jan Haaken and Maciej Klich shares this work in progress and in process on walking conversations and the walking classroom. (Video | Pdf comment)

Thank you so much for your wonderful contribution to this book:
• "Humiliation, Social Justice, and Ethno-Mimesis." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 7. (Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019)

   

Mara Alagic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kansas, U.S.A.

"Dignity: A way of human existence..."

Dear Mara, we are very thankful to Adair Linn Nagata for bringing you to us in 2008! Thank you for being a pillar of our work since then, and for being a core member of the Digni-Planning Team for this workshop!

Thank you so much for your contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Video)

   

María Cristina Azcona, Buenos Aires, Argentina

"Dignity is the right to deserve respect from others and regarding social groups, it means respect to human rights. In the sense of children, it means respect to their bodies and not only their souls."

Dear María, so good that our Ada Aharoni brought you to us in 2005! All your life you have generously woven global dignity networks! Thank you!

Thank you for sharing the Mission of the Worldwide Peace Organization (English and Spanish) for this workshop, dear María!
Education for a New Millennium, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018
The Education of Morality for Parents and Children, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 10, 2020

Thank you for sharing earlier:
Dignity and Humiliation in Argentina, a paper written by María for HumanDHS in 2005

   

Marilyn Langlois, California, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Getting up each morning and facing the tasks of the day with joy, connection and purpose. Living in mutually supportive communities where everyone is valued and all basic needs are met."

Dear Marilyn, it was a great gift to get to know you through your article "Divide and Conquer, Cui Bono? – The US and Former Yugoslavia," in TRANSCEND Media Service, October 23, 2017!

Thank you for participating in this workshop and thank you in particular for your "Message to the World" (Video) that you delivered on Day Two of our workshop, dear Marilyn!

   

Marta Carlson, Illinois, U.S.A.

"Dignity means living one’s purpose in peace and joy."

Dear Marta, in 2005, Cora, the daughter of our Lourdes Quisumbing, introduced you to our work, and we are so thankful to have your inspiration with us since then!

   

Martha Eddy, New York City

"Dignity is internal – I know I have value and purpose. external – I can dignify others by being caring and curious without judgement."

Dearest Martha, what a gift that Pascal Rocha and Karen Bradley brought you to us in 2010! Thank you for offering a DigniStretch Activity to us on Day Two (Video) and thank you so much for pre-recording also DigniCalm and DigniStretch activities on December 4, 2020!

As introduction, you recommended How to Be Alone...
Thank you for your profound global dignity work: Somatic Resources for Stressful Times | Global Water Dances Mission | Global Water Dances (GWD) YouTube Channel | Global Water Dance: Documentary, 3 minutes | Global Water Dance, 12 minutes

   

Matthew Rich-Tolsma, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, South Africa

Dear Matthew, welcome to our workshop!

Thank you for inviting us to contribute with this chapter:
"Beyond Humiliation: Toward Learning That Dignifies the Lives of All People" (Pdf), by Linda M. Hartling, Evelin G. Lindner, Michael F. Britton, and Ulrich J. Spalthoff, in Gary P. Hampson and Matthew Rich-Tolsma (Eds.), Leading Transformative Higher Education Volume Two: Studies, Reflections, Questions, second volume of the three volume series Leadership in Transformation of Worldview and Higher Education, chapter 8, pp. 134-146, Olomouc, Czech Republic: Palacký University Olomouc Press, 2013

   

Mauro Guilherme Pinheiro Koury, Recife, Brazil

Dear Mauro, let us thank Dennis Smith for bringing us together, it must have been in 1997!
We thank you for your untiring dignity work throughout all your life and your work!

Thank you for sharing:
• Koury, Mauro Guilherme Pinheiro, and Raoni Borges Barbosa (2018). "Violent Action among Friends: An Ethnographic Reflection on Processes of Moral and Emotional Perceptions and Justifications of Conduct." In Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, 14 (3). doi: 10.1590/1809-43412017v14n3p171 (Pdf)

   

Mecke Nagel, Germany, Cortland, New York

"Dignity: compassionate way with all there is."

Dear Mechthild, how wonderful that Lucien Lombardo brought you to us in 2016!

Thank you so much for sharing your work!
• Nagel, Mechthild (2018). "Policing Families: The Many-Headed Hydra of Surveillance", in Feminism and Psychology, 17 (2), pp. 2–11.

   
 

Mehmoona Javad, Pakistan, Ireland

"Dignity: All humans are equal, everyone contributes to life with what they have, no one is less or more because of any material possessions or positions. Our purpose in life is to share each other’s burden to make it lighter and the journey of life easier."

Dearest Mehmoona, it is a privilege to be connected with you since 2013!

   

Melinda Zalma, New York City

"Dignity: Seeing the inherent worth in every human being and starting our interactions with each other."

Dear Melinda, it was wonderful to have you with us in our workshop!

   
 

Melissa Baxter, Maryland, U.S.A.

Welcome to our workshop, dear Melissa!

   
 

Melvy Murguia, Los Angeles, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

Welcome to our workshop, dear Melvy!

   

Michael Boyer, Hameln (Hamelin), Germany

Dignity: "Dignism!"

Thank you, dear Michael, for your loving support for dignity and your amazing work with our DignityNowHameln group! Thank you for your Digniworld initiative that you created in 2019 (Video): Digniworld WordPress | Digniworld Facebook | Digniworld Twitter | Digniworld Instagram | World Dignity Movement (on YouTube)

All these lovely contributions to our workshop from Hameln came true due to your untiring support:
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
This is the contribution of the DignityNowHameln group that was recorded in October and November 2020, and finalized on November 21, 2020 (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
See more in detail:
• 01 Marienhof (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
• 02 Unverpackt Laden (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
• 03 Song Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)
• Dear Michael, thank you also for your wonderful vocal interlude! (Video at the end)
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)

   

Michael F. Britton, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Dearest Michael! What a gift it is to have you as a core pillar of our dignity work since 2006! Thank you so much for kindly accepting that we honored you with our 2017 Lifetime Commitment Award!

In the annual Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict that takes place each year at Columbia University, you hold the Don Klein Celebration Lecture in place of the lecture that Don Klein held each year until he passed away in 2007, titled The Humiliation Dynamic: Looking Back... Looking Forward

This year this was Michael Britton's Don Klein Celebration Lecture: Video | Video recorded on October 18, 2020 | Video recorded on October 18, 2020, and edited by Linda Hartling on December 3, 2020
All of your Don Klein Celebration Lectures since 2007 are listed here

Message from Evelin: Dear Michael, I will never forget how we met on November 14, 2006, when you kindly attended my presentation titled Humiliation and the Roots of Violence: Human Conflict in a Globalizing World, to which our dear Philip Brown had invited me at the New Jersey Center for Character Education, Center for Applied Psychology, Rutgers University, New Jersey. I still have some pictures.

Thank you so much, dear Michael, for co-editing this important and most touching book, and for writing the Introduction:
Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael F. Britton, and Linda M. Hartling. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019.

   

Michael B. Greene, New Jersey, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Respect for the humanity in each of us: we are all more human than not (paraphrase of Harry Stack Sullivan)"

Thank you, dear Phil Brown, for bringing Michael Greene to us in 2007, and that you invited Michael in 2008 to contribute with the article "School Violence, Human Rights, Dignity and Humiliation" to the Special Symposium Issue of ‘Experiments in Education’ whose editor was D. Raja Ganesan.

Thank you so much, dear Michael, for joining us in almost all of our December workshops in New York City since and for sharing this year:
• "Police Reform Without Accountability Will Fail," by Michael B. Greene, The Hill, June 27, 2020 (Pdf)

   

Michael Perlin, New York City, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Dear Michael! What a pillar of our dignity work you have been since our dear George Woods brought you to us in 2006! Thank you so much for kindly accepting that we honored you with our 2012 Lifetime Commitment Award!

You wrote about dignity: "I have been writing about this for years. See my articles, among others, my chapter "Dignity and Therapeutic Jurisprudence: How We Can Best End Shame and Humiliation," in Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations 113 (Chipamong Chowdhury and Michael Britton eds. 2019) (Dignity Press); See more here."

Thank you so much for sharing your "Message to the World", dear Michael! (Text | Video | Video recorded on December 7, 2020)

   

Michelle Daniel Jones, and her husband Reverend Darrell Daniel, Indianapolis, U.S.A.

"Dignity is Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging for all, particularly where they intersect public institutions."

What an honor, dear Michelle, that our dear Chipamong "Chipa" Chowdhury Bhante Revata Dhamma brought you to our 2017 workshop! Thank you so much that your husband now kindly contributed to Dignilogue 4 of this year's workshop: Religion, Covid-19, and Human Dignity: How Does Religion Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic? (Video)

   

Milind Wani, Pune, India

"Dignity is innate quality signifying our inner divinity."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Milind! We thank Ashish Kothari, Founder-member of the Indian environmental group Kalpavriksh, and Howard Richards, for bringing you to our work in April 2015!

   

Mohammed Al-Qussari, Amman, Jordan

"Dignity is the top human rights to any person which everyone has and expected others to respect."

Welcome to our workshop! Thank you for working with the United Nations in the fields of peace, security and development particularly conflict prevention!

   

Moustafa Hedayah, Cairo, Egypt

"Dignity: It means everything to me."

Message from Evelin: Dear Moustafa! What an honor it is to know you since 1984, when I lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt! You are working with water management as an engineer in Cairo, and it was great to welcome you in our 2018 Dignity Conference in Sekem in the Nile Delta in September 2018!

We wish you all the strength you need in these difficult times of a coronavirus pandemic!

   

Mugdha Yeolekar, India, U.S.A.

To me, dignity means a capacity to make your decisions without anybody's pressure. To me, dignity means feeling equal in a social space.

What an honor, dear Mugdha, to meet you through our dear Chipamong "Chipa" Chowdhury Bhante Revata Dhamma! Thank you so much for your contribution to Dignilogue 4: Religion, Covid-19, and Human Dignity: How Does Religion Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic? (Video)

   

Muna Killingback, Boston

We thank you, dear Adenrele Awotona, for bringing Muna to us in 2008, when she coordinated your international conference on "Rebuilding Sustainable Communities for Children and their Families after Disasters," November 16-19, 2008. Muna attended Evelin's session "Disasters and innovative solutions," on Tuesday, November 18, and she invited Evelin to a wonderful interview at the Boston train station on November 20, 2008! Thank you!

   

Navanita Hridy, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

"Dignity is self-reliance!"

Dear Navanita, thank you so much for coming to our workshop upon the invitation of our dear Bhante Revata Dhamma, and to offer a spontaneous contribution of your lovely singing art on our first workshop day!
Navanita Hridy Sings Imagine by John Lennon (Video)
Navanita Hridy Sings Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (Video | Audio)

   

Natália Viana Brasil, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil

"Dignity means being respected and able to live with all natural rights."

How wonderful it was, dear Nati, to meet you in São Paulo in 2012 through our dear Gaby Saab!

   

Noha Tarek, Alexandria, Egypt, Seattle, U.S.A.

"Dignity mainly means to feel included & belonging to the community of earth... that one's differences are viewed as unique characteristics rather than disabilities..."

Dear Noha, it was great to meet you in 2018 as participant in Paul Raskin's Great Transition Network (GTN) discussion on the topic of "Feminism and Revolution: Looking Back, Looking Ahead" in May 13, 2018, in response to the essay of the same title by Julie Matthaei, 2018. You wrote:

The "Great Chain of Being," in which human dominates over life / nature / animals and plants, man dominates over woman, adult dominates over child, the able-bodies / healthy / powerful dominates over the disabled / ill / weak, the White dominates over the Black (and this is not only in Western societies, but in all societies), the wealthy / elite dominates over the poor / mass, the citizen / national dominates over the immigrant / stranger / foreigner, (recently) the Northerner dominates over the Southerner, & finally God ‘AlMighty & Powerful’ dominates over everyone else!

Thank you for sharing this with us for this workshop now, dear Noha!
My Cosmic Story: The Dark Energy, written for WGSS 495/597, Fall 2018

We wish you all the strength you need in these difficult times of a coronavirus pandemic!

   

Noriko Ishihara, Tokyo, Japan

"Dignity: Having our human rights respected and respecting others' rights at the same time."

Thank you for your many gifts to our work, dear Noriko! We thank our esteemed peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos for bringing you to us in 2016 and that you joined us for our 2016 workshop! Thank you so much for contributing with a wonderful chapter to this book:
Chowdhury, Chipamong, Michael Britton, and Linda Margaret Hartling (Eds.) (2019). Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations. Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press

Thank you so much for sharing:
• "Teaching to Develop Learners’ Sociocultural Competence," by Noriko Ishihara, Hosei University, Columbia University Teachers College Tokyo, Soleado, Spring, 2011
• Ishihara, Noriko (2017). "Teaching Pragmatics in Support of Learner Subjectivity and Global Communicative Needs: A Peace Linguistics Perspective." In Idee in form@zione, 6 (5), pp. 17–32. doi: 10.4399/97888548998652

   

Olav Ofstad, Norway, India

"Dignity: Respect, self realisation, inspiration, happiness, freedom."

Dear Olav, it was a gift to meet you in 1997 or 1998 in Norway! Thank you so much that you have nurtured our global dignity work since then, and that you joined us, for instance, in our 2008 Dignity Conference in Oslo, Norway!

   

Peter Barus, Vermont, U.S.A.

Dignity: A question in which to live.

Thank you very much, dear Peter, for coming to us through our dear Howard Richards, and for sharing your touching and profound "Message to the World" (Video)

   

Peter Pollard, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Positive self-regard - a birth right."

We are so glad, dear Peter, that Donna Hicks brought you to us, and we thank you for joining us in our 2018 workshop! Thank you for sharing:
1in6 Thursday: "Good" and "Evil"...Not So Fast, by Peter Pollard, Joyful Heart Foundation, March 22, 2012 (Pdf)
1in6 Thursday: Decriminalizing Trauma: Some New Alternatives to “Fight, Flight or Freeze,” by Peter Pollard, Joyful Heart Foundation, October 23, 2014 (Pdf)
• "Fighting a Contagious Disease in Boston," by Peter Pollard, Social Innovations Journal, December 4, 2017 (Pdf)

   

Phil Brown, New Jersey, Colorado, U.S.A.

"Dignity: Opportunities for genuine connection with other's humanity under the umbrella of egalitarian principles and respect for all sentient beings."

Thank you, dear Phil, for being a pillar of our dignity work since 2004, when our esteemed Don Klein brought you to us and you joined our 2004 workshop! Thank you for kindly accepting that we honored you with our 2016 Lifetime Commitment Award!

Thank you for sharing:
Summary of a Human Rights Based Child Protection Prevention and Early Intervention Program "Empowering Children, Parents and Schools to Be Safe, Strong and Free", The International Center for Assault Prevention (ICAP), October 2020

   

Pradeep N'Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka

Welcome to our workshop, dear Pradeep N'Weerasinghe!

   

Qin Shao, China, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

How can we ever thank Michael Perlin enough, dear Qin, for bringing us together in 2014! Thank you for your loving and dignifying support!

Thank you so much for sharing, dear Qin!
The Pursuit of Transitional Justice from Below: A Case Study from Shanghai, by Qin Shao, 2020

   

Rachel Aspögård, Sweden

"Dignity: To respect one's own life and the that of others without judgements."

Dear Rachel, what a gift you are to our dignity work since you first came to us in 2005! Thank you so much for joining us in many of our dignity conferences and events on several continents, among others, in our 2012 Dignity Conference in Oslo, Norway, and our 2016 Dignity Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia!

   

Rangga Radityaputra, South Sulawesi, Southeast Asia, Indonesia

"Dignity: the right of every human being to be respected and treated ethically according to principles of humanity and human rights."

Dear Rangga, a very warm welcome to this workshop!

   

Regina, Hameln, Germany

"Dignity means to me to respect people the way they are and live with their light and dark sides."

Thank you, dear Andrea and Regina, for your amazing work with our DignityNowHameln group!
Dignity Now: Hameln Presents Good Ideas from the Past and the Future for a More Sustainable Future. Thoughts Are Unchained (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel, recorded in October and November 2020, finalized on November 21, 2020)
Die Gedanken sind Frei / Thoughts are Unchained sung by the DignityNowHameln group
This is the contribution of the DignityNowHameln group that was recorded in October and November 2020, and finalized on November 21, 2020 (World Dignity Movement channel | HumanDHS channel)

Thank you so much, dear Andrea and Regina, for sharing your wonderful art with us!
Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Video of verse 1 on Day Two | Video of verse 2 on Day Three | Video of verse 1 + 2) Der Mond ist aufgegangen wurde 1790 vom Matthias Claudius als religiöses Abendlied geschrieben, vertont wurde es noch im selben Jahr vom Hofkapellmeister Johann A. P. Schulz. English: The moon has risen was written by Matthias Claudius in 1790 as a religious evening song, and it was set to music in the same year by the court conductor Johann A. P. Schulz.
• Hameln Sings (all vocal interludes brought together) (Video)

   

Rita Anita Linger, North Carolina, U.S.A.

"Dignity to me is a quality of life, of being. It is a state of consciousness which is worthy of respect. It is about seeing my worth and the worth of others and holding space for myself and others with love and care."

Dear Rita, what a gift you have been to our dignity work since our dear Annette Anderson-Engler brought you to us in 2010! We are so glad that you joined our workshops in 2011 and 2015!

   
 

Robin Edgar, South Carolina, U.S.A.

"Dignity: The ability to feel safe and comfortable and to have hope."

Dear Robin, a warm welcome to this workshop!

   

Roger Dennis, New York area

Dear Roger, we will never forget how you and your Indigenous American wife Yvonne Wakim Dennis joined us in our 2012 workshop! Your wife works with Nitchen ("our children" in the Lenape language), a community based, non-profit corporation comprised of American Indian parents from North, South, and Central America. Thank you!

   

Rosa Reinikainen, Sebastopol, CA, U.S.A.

We are so glad, dear Rosa, that our esteemed John Bilorusky brought you to us! Thank you for your great contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Video)
Thank you also for this link to videos on Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, May 5, 2020

   

Samuel Muderhwa, Bukavo, Congo

"Dignity is respect and safety for you and others."

Thank you so much for sharing, dear Samuel!
Qualitative Research Approaches: PCR’s Works in Trauma-Healing, Peace and Conflict Resolution, PCR Foundation, 2019

   

Sandra Eliyahu, Great Neck, New York

"Dignity: To live from our essence."

It is lovely to be in touch with you since 2013, dear Sandra, welcome also to this workshop!

   

Sandra Liliana Rojas Molina, Bogota, Colombia

"Dignity is being respected, honored by what you are, feel, think."

So good, dear Sandra, that you found our work in 2018! Thank you so much for sharing:
Peace Linguistics in the Language Classroom: A Document Analysis Research, by Sandra Rojas, Working Paper – Resultado de Investigación Grupo de Investigación, Innovation on Bilingual Education - INNOBED Categoría B Colciencias Dirección de Investigaciones y Sostenibilidad, Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana (ÚNICA), Bogota, Colombia, DOI: https://doi.org/10.26817/paper.08 (Pdf)

   

Seema Shekhawat, India, U.S.A.

How wonderful, dearest Seema, to have you and your dear husband Aurobinda with us since you first contacted our dear Judit Révész in 2006!

Thank you for offering your Dignilogue: Making Dignity Inclusive: Bringing in Women and Other Vulnerable Groups. Thank you for explaining: "I would like to engage participants on how important it is to include (consciously) women and other vulnerable groups in the global struggle for dignity for all, especially in the pandemic scenario.”

   

Sharif Shaikh Awais Anwar, Pakistan

"Dignity: Its respect to everyone at every level."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Sharif Shaikh Awais Anwar!

   

Spes Gaudence Manirakiza, Canada

"Dignity: To respect and to give value each human being starting by oneself."

We will never forget your great presence in our 2017 workshop, dear Spes! We very much thank Rigmor Johnsen for bringing you to us in 2014!

   

Stanley Henkeman, Cape Town, South Africa

"Dignity: The ability to live a life that allows you to be the best that you can be."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Stanley!

   

Stephen Post, Stony Brook, New York

Thank you, dear Stephen, for your impressive contributions to our 2018 and 2019 workshops! So good that our esteemed peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos brought you to us in 2007!

Thank you so much for your valuable contributions:
God and Love on Route 80: The Hidden Mystery of Human Connectedness (2019) (Pdf | Video)
See his book God and Love on Route 80: The Hidden Mystery of Human Connectedness (Coral Gables, FL: Mango, 2019)
Dignity, Humiliation and Deeply Forgetful People (2018) (Video | Pdf)

   

Susan Misra, Bronx, New York City

"Dignity: Being valuable and worthy as is."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Susan!

   
 

Susanna Pearce, Ithaca, New York

Welcome to our workshop, dear Susanna!

   
 

Suzanne Rienks, Southern Cross University, Australia

"Dignity: To be acknowledged as an individual who has a name, a history and an emotional life and to be treated carefully, kindly, respectfully, with the reverence that I believe is due to all living beings."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Suzanne!

   

Talia Werber, New York City

"Dignity: That by virtue of simply being, we all deserve to be able to hold ourselves in esteem, and that we look at others with esteem, and they back at us. Also I think "dignity" is a wordless feeling, it can be sensed when it is within someone or a relationship, and it lifts us all up in mutuality and pride."

We are so good, dear Talia, that you came to us in 2018 through our Maria Volpe's NYC-DR listserv! Thank you!

   

Terry Dean Beitzel, Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S.A.

Welcome, dear Terry Dean Beitzel! Thank you so much for your important work as Director of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence!

   
 

Thea Torek

Welcome, dear Thea Torek!

   

Tomas Kral, Czechia, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia

"Dignity: Treating others respectfully and unbiasedly."

Welcome, dear Tomas Kral!

   

Tony Gaskew, Pittsburgh, New York City

Thank you so much, dear Tony, for being our inspiration in all of our workshops since our Annette Anderson-Engler brought you to us in 2008! Thank you so much for your important contribution to Dignilogue 2 (Video)!

Dear Tony, we so much look forward to your forthcoming book Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Black Liberation, Lexington Books, 2021

Thank you for your many gifts to our work, dear Tony! Thank you so much for contributing with a wonderful chapter to this book:
Chowdhury, Chipamong, Michael Britton, and Linda Margaret Hartling (Eds.) (2019). Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations. Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press

   

Vegar Jordanger, Trondheim, Norway

"Dignity means respect for the autonomy and sacredness of living beings."

What a gift that our beloved Kjell Skyllstad brought you to us in 2005, dear Vegar! Thank you!

   

Veronica Fynn Bruey, global, Seattle, WA

What a gift you made us, dear Michael Perlin, when you brought Veronica to us in 2009! It was great to have both of you with us in this workshop now, even with little Eaden, dear Veronica! Congratulations! (Video)

   

Vidya Jain, Jaipur, India

"Dignity: Fundamental attribute of one's existence. It is a higher value than liberty, equality and justice."

Thank you so much, dear Janet Gerson, for bringing Vidya to us, and thank you, dear Vidya, for your wonderful contribution to Dignilogue 3: Unity in Adversity and Dignity: War, Women, and Indigenous Wisdom (Video)!

Thank you also for sharing:
Gandhian Model of Sustainable Individual, Convener of the Nonviolence and Peace Movements Commission of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), and Former Director of the Centre for Gandhian Studies at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

   

Vinod Verma, Delhi, India

"Dignity is an outcome of social interaction. Social interactions shape and reshape dignity."

Thank you so much for your "Message to the World" (Video), dear Vinod, that you delivered on Day Two of our workshop!

Thank you also for sharing this profoundly telling silent documentary, dear Vinod!
Call the Whistle (Documentary shared on December 11, 2020)

• Thank you, furthermore, for your wonderful gift of singing on the last day, dear Vinod! (Video)
• See also Ram's Sparrows, Ram Is Farmer, February 21, 2021

   
 

Virginia Hankins, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

"Dignity: The ability to be seen as an individual with equal respect and consideration that others would give to themselves."

Welcome to our workshop, dear Virginia!

   

Virginia Swain, Worcester, MA, U.S.A.

Thank you so much, dear Virginia, for your wonderful dignity support all the way back to 2002, when two of your students came to Evelin's talk at NYU! The talk was titled Conflict and Humiliation and part of the discussion series "Seeing Coexistence" organized by the Coexistence Initiative and the International Trauma Center at New York University, New York City, June 25, 2002.

Thank you in particular for this invitation:
Imagine Worcester #70 Linda Hartling and Evelin Lindner: Interview with Virginia Swain
Virginia Swain is the host of Imagine Worcester and the World, WCCA TV, a public access TV station and community media center in Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A., October 17, 2011.

Thank you so much, dear Virginia, for sharing your "Message to the World" (Video)

   

Volker Berghahn, New York City

Dear Judit Révész, we are deeply grateful to you for introducing us to Volker in 2004! And thank you, dear Volker, for your invaluable loving support since then! We have no words to thank you!

   

Wael Mohamed, Egypt and Malaysia

"Dignity: Freedom."

Thank you so much, dear Wael, for being in touch since we connected through your 2012 text "Psychology in Egypt: Challenges and hopes"!

   

Whitney Hess, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, U.S.A.

"Dignity is the self-respect that is both the cause and effect of respectful treatment from others. I believe dignity is a universal human need that, when we aim to meet it, can heal us from our illusions of separation of self and other."

A very warm welcome to our workshop, dear Whitney!

   

Will Hall, Oakland, CA, U.S.A.

Thank you most lovingly, dear Will, for hosting Evelin in 2019: Dignity and Humiliation, Will Hall with Evelin Lindner in Madness Radio, interview conducted on January 22, 2019, first aired on August 8, 2019

   

Zachary L. Beaudoin, Columbia University, NYC, Rockville, Maryland, U.S.A.

Welcome to our workshop, dear Zach!

   

Zaynab El Bernoussi, Z, Morocco

"Dignity: compassion."

Esteemed Zaynab, it was wonderful to have you with us in our 2017 workshop and our 2018 Dignity conference in Egypt!

Thank you for being with us again in this workshop!
• Contribution to Dignilogue 4: Religion, Covid-19, and Human Dignity: How Does Religion Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic? (Video) on Day Two of this workshop

Thank you so much for your wonderful contribution to this book:
• "Human Dignity and Human Rights Terms in Transition." (Pdf) In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 11. (Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019.

Thanks also for sharing:
• "World War C: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Should Teach Us to Consume Less and Cooperate More?" by Zaynab El Bernoussi, Tribune Libre, Number 5, August 2020


 


 

Rationale, Methodology, and Frame

 

Rationale

This workshop series is part of a larger process. Each workshop is much more than a stand-alone event. It is part of the overall mission of our global dignity movement, which is to create an atmosphere in which people can meet on a plane of mutual friendship and equality in dignity. The workshop invites its participants to experiment with creating a new culture of global cohesion and togetherness, and to nurture a global family of dignity, a family that truly acts like a good family should act and protects and cherishes our unity in diversity. The workshop invites into enlarging and transcending concepts such private versus public, or family/friends/good neighbors versus "bad neighbors" (or even "enemies"), as well as concepts such as life mission versus job/hobby..

Given the current context of the field of international conflict, 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.

The first one-day meeting was held at Teachers College, Columbia University, in 2002, convened by Morton Deutsch personally, the first two-day workshop in 2004, hosted by the Columbia University's Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), since 2009, AC4 stepped into the place of CU-CRN), with special help from SIPA – Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) and The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR)

Since 2004, CICR on behalf of CU-CRN and later AC4, together with the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) network and, since 2011, also the World Dignity University (WDU) initiative, invites selected groups of scholars, counselors, conflict resolution practitioners, mediators, and teachers among other professions for a two-day workshop every year 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 workshops 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 hope to be able to continue this effort in follow-up workshops in the future.

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 encourage 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 invite diverging and dissenting views.

How We Go About

In our conferences, we choose a dialogical methodology that stresses interaction and participation, because we wish to create an atmosphere of openness and respectful inquiry through "dignity dialogues" or dignilogues and, when appropriate, 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 conferences such as our workshops. 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 conferences.

We believe in "waging good conflict" (Jean Baker Miller). We believe that diverging opinions and perspectives need to be expressed and not avoided, because diversity enriches. However, diversity only enriches if embedded into mutual connection and appreciation. If not harnessed lovingly and caringly, diversity has the potential to divide, create hostility, and foster hatred and even violence. In the spirit of our vision, we, the HumanDHS network, wish therefore to avoid the latter and foster an atmosphere of common ground and mutually caring connections as a space for the safe expression of even the deepest differences and disagreements, and the toughest questions of humiliation, trauma, and injustice.

Every dignilogue is being opened by brief remarks by each participant to present their entry points into the inquiry. In order to facilitate feedback, we wish to make available a brief synopsis of 1 to 4 pages, preferably with references, from each participant, prior to the workshop through this site so that all participants can meet virtually before meeting in person. Longer papers are welcome as well both prior and subsequent to our workshops, not least for the envisaged publications of the results of our conferences. Please notify us, if you wish to submit any of your papers also as a book chapter or as a journal article in our Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies.

All participants are warmly invited to send in their papers as soon as they can. We would be grateful if you could help us by formatting your contribution as follows:
1. Title: bold and in a large font.
2. The author's name under the title, proceeded by a copyright sign Creative Commona.
3. In case the text is longer than one page: A footer for the name of the author, and a header for the title and the page number (in Word, you can use View > Header and Footer > Page Setup > Different first page, etc.).
4. Spacing: Single-spacing.
5. For non-natural English speakers who need support to make a text readable, please let us know and we try to find help.
5. The final Word document needs to be transformed into a Pdf file (use, for example, convert.neevia.com), and given a name. Please use your family name, and then identify the conference, in case of the 2008 NY workshop, this would read as follows: "FamilynameNY08meeting."
6. Please send us both you Word and Pdf files. Thank you!

Peace Linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos commented on this format as follows (May 2, 2012): "It enhances RELATIONAL DIGNITY. Everyone will make the most of such dignifyingly used time! A great humanizing, interactive format: a little bit of MONOlogue, followed by much DIALOGUE, will help create DIGNILOGUE."

Frame

by Linda M. Hartling, Ph.D., Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (until 2008 Associate Director of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College in Boston, USA)

In our conferences 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 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.

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. This could be conceptualized 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 see also the following background material, mainly created by Linda Hartling:
Dignilogue Tips and Dynamic Dignilogue List, created on October 10, 2015, for the 2015 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, in New York City, December 3 – 4, 2015.
Dignilogue: An Introduction to Dignity + Dialogue, created on 31th May 2015 for the 2015 Kigali Conference
Greetings to All (short version), created on 16h April 2013 for the 2013 South Africa Conference
Greetings to All (long version), created on 16h April 2013 for the 2013 South Africa Conference
Welcome to Everybody, created on 12th August 2012 for the 2012 Norway Conference
Our Open Space Dignilogue Format, created on 12th August 2012 for the 2012 Norway Conference
• A Summary of Our Dignilogue Format for you to download
An Appreciative Frame: Beginning a Dialogue on Human Dignity and Humiliation, written by Linda Hartling in 2005
Appreciative Facilitation: Hints for Dignilogue Moderators, written by Judith Thompson in February 2006 to support the moderators of our workshops
Buddhist Teachings on Right Speech, kindly provided to us by Thomas Daffern in 2006, relating to our quest for appreciative enquiry, caring and being

• Please see also the videos on our Appreciative Frame, created by Linda Hartling:
- Linda Hartling Introduces the Appreciative Frame of the Workshop (2019)
- Appreciative Frame, by Linda Hartling on December 8, 2016, at the 2016 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, in New York City, December 8 – 9, 2016.
- Appreciative Enquiry 4, a video that was recorded on May 27, 2015, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the 25th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, in Kigali, Rwanda, 2nd - 5th June 2015.
- Our Appreciative Frame 3, a video created in December 2014 (see also Pdf), for the 2014 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, in New York City, December 4–5, 2014.
- Appreciative Enquiry 2, a video that was uploaded onto YouTube on August 11, 2012, in preparation of the 19th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, 27th-30th August 2012, in Oslo, Norway.
- Appreciative Enquiry 1, a video that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Evelin Lindner, for the World Dignity University initiative.

 



List of Conveners

Honorary Convener 2003 – 2017: Morton Deutsch (February 4, 1920 – March 13, 2017), E. L. Thorndike Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education, and Director Emeritus of The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR), Teachers College, Columbia University

Morton Deutsch has been one of the world's most respected scholars and the founder of The Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR). MD-ICCCR was part of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), and since 2009 co-founded the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4). Professor Deutsch has been widely honored for his scientific contributions involving research on cooperation and competition, social justice, group dynamics, and conflict resolution. He has published extensively and is well known for his pioneering studies in intergroup relations, social conformity, and the social psychology of justice. His books include: Interracial Housing (1951); Theories in Social Psychology (1965); The Resolution of Conflict (1973); Distributive Justice (1985); and The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (2000, 2nd edition 2006). Please note, in particular, Morton Deutsch's pledge titled Imagine a Global Human Community and its progress.
Morton Deutsch has been a Member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board since the inception of our dignity work in 2001, and, in 2014, he accepted, "with delight," our invitation to be our HumanDHS Board of Directors Honorary Lifetime Member. Morton Deutsch has also been the first recipient of the HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award, which he received at the 2009 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict. Furthermore, Morton Deutsch has been a Founding Member of the World Dignity University initiative.
Morton Deutsch founded this workshop series in 2003 and has been its Honorary Convener until his passing in 2017. We will honor his memory by conducting this workshop also in the future. The first "Annual Round Table of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies" (as we called it then) was convened by Morton Deutsch at the MC-ICCCR on July 7, 2003, with Peter T. Coleman, Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Janet Gerson, Andrea Bartoli, Michelle Fine, and Susan Opotow and as participants.
We wish to give special thanks to Peter Coleman, Beth Fisher-Yoshida, and Janet Gerson for their ongoing substantive support for our dignity work since 2001. Andrea Bartoli inspired this workshop series and helped design it in 2003. He was at that time the Director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and Chairman of the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN). Andrea Bartoli is a Member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board since its inception. Also his successor, Aldo Civico, kindly supported this workshop, as did his successor, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who became the President of the International Crisis Group in 2014. We wish to give special thanks to all three for their kind support. Since 2015, CIRC is dormant and the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies (SIWPS) at the School of International and Public Affairs offers courses in specialization in conflict resolution (ICR Concentration).

Linda M. Hartling, Ph.D., Social Psychologist, organizer of the HumanDHS conferences, in support of the local conveners

Linda M. Hartling, Ph.D., is the recipient of the 2015 Human Dignity (Half!) Lifetime Commitment Award.
She is the Director of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) and contributes to the leadership and development of workshops, conferences, Dignity Press publications, and the World Dignity University initiative. She works in daily collaboration with HumanDHS Founding President Evelin Lindner and is the orchestrator and key creator of the Dignity Letter. 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.
Linda Hartling's husband Richard Slaven, formerly Brandeis University, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is the Director of HumanDHS Dignifunding. Richard Slaven is a Member of the Board of Directors of HumanDHS, he is a member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board and a Member of the HumanDHS Planning Committee. He is the recipient of the 2014 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award.
Prior to the founding of HumanDHS, Linda Hartling was the Associate Director the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute (JBMTI) at the Stone Center, which was part of the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She worked closely with Jean Baker Miller, MD, and other colleagues on the development of Relational-Cultural Theory. She holds a doctoral degree in clinical/community psychology and she developed the first scale to assess the internal experience of humiliation in 1996, which has been translated into many languages. In addition, she has published papers and chapters on resilience, substance abuse prevention, shame and humiliation, relational practice in the workplace, and Relational-Cultural Theory. [read more]
Linda Hartling kindly co-edited this book, wrote the Foreword and the final chapter:
"Moving Beyond Humiliation: A Relational Conceptualization of Human Rights." In Human Dignity: Practices, Discourses, and Transformations: Essays on Dignity Studies in Honor of Evelin G. Lindner. Edited by Chipamong Chowdhury, Michael Britton, and Linda Hartling. Chapter 15. Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press, 2019.
Please see also:
• 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 City.
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.
•  Our Appreciative Frame, created on 12th August 2012 for our 2012 Norway Conference
•  Our Open Space Dignilogue Format, created on August 12, 2012 for our 2012 Norway Conference
•  Our Appreciative Frame, created in December 2014 for our 2014 New York Workshop (Pdf)
•  Appreciative Enquiry 4, a video that was recorded on May 27, 2015, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the 25th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, in Kigali, Rwanda, June 2 – 5, 2015.
•  Appreciative Frame shared on December 8, 2016, at the 2016 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, in New York City, December 8 – 9, 2016.
•  Dignilogue Tips and Dynamic Dignilogue List, created by Linda Hartling on October 10, 2015, for the 2015 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, in New York City, December 3 – 4, 2015.
Mini-Documentary of the Annual Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict "The Globalization of Dignity," December 8 - 9, 2016
[read more]

Evelin Gerda Lindner, Medical Doctor, Clinical and Social Psychologist, Ph.D. (Dr. med.), Ph.D. (Dr. psychol.), organizer of the HumanDHS conferences, in supporting of 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, the 2009 "Prisoner’s Testament" Peace Award, the 2014 HumanDHS Lifetime Commitment Award, and she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She is affiliated 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 City. She is also affiliated with the University of Oslo, Norway, with its Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, and with its Department of Psychology (folk.uio.no/evelinl/), and, furthermore, 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]
Please see:
Interview with Evelin Lindner - Challenges of our Time; Learning to Connect, December 8, 2016
Mini-Documentary of the Annual Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict "The Globalization of Dignity," December 8 - 9, 2016

 


 

Participants in all NY workshops since 2003

 


 

Papers

All participants are warmly invited to send in full papers after the workshop.
Please notify us, if you wish to submit any of your papers also as a book chapter or as a journal article in our Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies.

Please see earlier submitted papers here:
•  List of all Publications
•  2004 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2005 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2006 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2007 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2008 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2009 Workshop on Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2010 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2011 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2012 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2013 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2014 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2015 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2016 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2017 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2018 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
•  2019 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict

 

Abstracts/Notes/Papers of 2020

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

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

Victoria C. Fontan

Evelin G. Lindner

Maggie O'Neill (2020)
Participation Arts and Social Action in Research (PASAR): Theatre Making and Walking in Research with Migrant Women, with Umut Erel, Ereni Kaptani, Tracey Reynolds and Maggie O’Neill, a short film by Marcia Chandra that shares the work and importantly the process (Video | Pdf comment | PASAR)
A contribution to the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

Maggie O'Neill (2020)
Walking Conversations with Maggie O’Neill, Arpad Szakaloczai, Ger Mullally, the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub and students and teachers from the Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne (Video | Pdf comment)
A contribution to the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

Maggie O'Neill (2020)
Contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Video) on Day One of the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

John Bilorusky (2020)
Contribution to Dignilogue 1: Dignity Studies: Reimagining Learning in of World of Crises (Pdf | Video) on Day One of the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

John Bilorusky (2020)
The Role of Transformative Action-and-Inquiry in Dignity Studies: Beyond Personalized Education with Curiosity and Commitment
Contribution to the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

Evelin Lindner (2020)
From Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity — From a Virus Pandemic to a Pandemic of Dignity: How Can We Escape Complicity with Institutionalized Humiliation? (Pdf | | Video December 12, 2020 | Version of 45 minutes pre-recorded on December 8, 2020 | Version of 48 minutes pre-recorded on December 6, 2020 | Version of 51 minutes pre-recorded on December 5, 2020, all in Germany)
This presentation was prepared for the 17th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, titled "From a Virus Pandemic to a Pandemic of Dignity: How Can We Escape Complicity with Institutionalized Humiliation?" representing the 35th Annual HumanDHS Conference, December 10 – 12, 2020

Bonnie Selterman (2020)
Escaping Complicity — A Poem (Video | Pdf | Spoken recording on November 21, 2020)
A contribution to the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual, Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020.

 


 

Ideas for Dignilogue Topics

Your input is very welcome!

Ani Kalayjian kindly wrote (July 9, 2009):
Can we have a special section at the December Conference for highlighting both of these volumes, as well as the forgiveness book which will be in print on Aug 4th right at the APA Convention in Toronto. We could get some of the authors of the forgiveness book on a panel addressing: Slavery, denial, US prisoners, Sudan Genocide (these authors are living in this geographic area). We can also do the same another panel on the II volumes that you contributed in focusing on rituals to transform humiliation into empowerment.

Karen Murphy kindly wrote (November 25, 2009):
I was thinking that CBS’ 60 Minutes Investigation of Congo’s Conflict Minerals on November 29, 2009 (see Enough's new Conflict Minerals web portal), would be a very interesting opportunity/resource for a roundtable, evening event, that is, using the 60 Minutes episode to raise awareness and to provide a context for discussion about the ways that we can make a difference in our daily lives to improve (even, in this case, save) the lives of others. Wishing you well and very grateful for you and your work--Karen
60 Minutes Episode on Conflict Minerals
If you have a cell phone in your pocket or a gold ring on your finger, you are directly linked to the deadliest war in the world. How is that possible? For over a century, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly scramble for its vast natural resources. The conflict in eastern Congo today – the deadliest since World War II – is fueled in significant part by a multi-million dollar trade in minerals. Armed groups generate an estimated $180 million each year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce the metals tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the armed groups to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of rape and brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas. After passing through traders, smelters, and component manufacturers, these materials are placed in jewelry and electronic devices, such as cell phones, portable music players, and computers, and sold in the United States. See also www.enoughproject.org/conflict-minerals.

Karen Murphy kindly wrote (January 28, 2009):
I am writing with an idea for the conference.
Have you had the chance to read Samantha Power's book Chasing the Flame? It's about Sergio Vieira de Mello and his work in various countries emerging from mass violence. Based on his life's work, Power proposes several key principles. One of them is dignity.
The book is the first product in a campaign that focuses on foreign policy. There is also a documentary (premiering this month at Sundance film festival) and a feature film by Terry George. In addition, there is a website that explores the key issues, www.chasingtheflame.org, and www.chasingtheflame.org/2008/08/the-principle-o.html (for an example of one of my blogs).
I was thinking that it would be so interesting to loop your work into this campaign. Perhaps members of the conference could read the book and then discuss it at a roundtable. You could then post blogs on the site or write in other forums.
It would be so interesting to bring your research into this conversation on foreign policy, nation building, national reconstruction and reconciliation, etc. As you might know, Samantha Power has played and continues to play a key role in Obama's foreign policy – looping your work into the website would be a way to bring it to a wider audience and a way to help shape this emerging conversation.
January 29, 2009:
I'm sure we can get copies of the book at a discounted price for conference attendees – and I'd love to think about how you might take the foreign policy lens and apply your scholarship – and perhaps then post as blogs for www.chasingtheflame.org, thus broadening their audience and yours. Best, Karen

Floyd Webster Rudmin:
"Asymmetries in self-perceptions of being the humiliatee versus the humiliator"
"Archetypal humiliation in literature: A survey of English literature teachers"

Annette Anderson-Engler:
"Constructing Narratives after Violent Conflict"
Annette kindly wrote on March 31, 2006: "I would like to discuss how individuals construct their narratives after traumatic experiences or event."

Dharm P. S. Bhawuk:
"Theory, Method, and Practice of Humiliation Research"
This could also be a topic for our Open Space

Ana Ljubinkovic:
"Assistance and Humiliation"

Varda Mühlbauer:
"Humiliation/Dignity in the Workplace"
"Humiliation/Dignity in the Family"

Zahid Shahab Ahmed:
"Humiliation and Child Sexual Abuse"

Victoria C. Fontan:
"Terrorism and Humiliation" and
"Armed Conflict, Escalation and Humiliation"

Miriam Marton:
"Consequences of Humiliation"

Jörg Calliess:
"How to Prepare 'Non-Psychologists' (Human Rights Defenders, Peace Keepers, etc.) for Dealing with the Trauma of Humiliation in Victims"

Emmanuel Ndahimana:
"Ignorance and Humiliation"

Arie Nadler:
"Justice and Humiliation"

Alicia Cabezudo:
"Interlinking Peace Education and Humiliation Studies: A Bridge for Crossing Borders"

 


 

Material