27th Annual Conference of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, in Dubrovnik, Croatia
19th - 23rd September 2016
'Cities at Risk - From Humiliation to Dignity'
(see still pictures)

Thank you most warmly, dear Rachel Aspögård, for your hard work in documenting our conference with videos and photos!

Video Messages for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative:
• 'From Past to Present: How Writing and Writing Systems Impact Dignity in Human Interaction', Michael Schulte and Merle Lefkoff
• 'Dignifying Global Business - Fair Trade: A New Paradigm?', Ragnhild Nilsen and Avi Shahaf
• Sharing Fairytales and Fables from Different Cultures - and Learning Peace, Glyn Rimmington and Uli Spalthoff
• Climatic Theatre – Addressing World Issues through Aesthetics, Heidrun Sølna Øverby and Kjell Skyllstad
• How Do Humiliation and Dignity Contribute to Conflict? Is Dignity Given or Learnt?, Bussakorn Binson and Ljoba Jenče
• Music, Migration and Minorities: Promoting the Intercultural City, Kjell Skyllstad, Bussakorn Binson, and Svanibor Pettan
• Altruism Is Not Self-Negation, It Is Recognising the Universality of Human Anguish, Rachel Aspögård and Evelin Lindner
• How Can We Advance the Value of Human Dignity in Relation to Urban Population?, Avi Shahaf and Lasanthi Manaranjanie
• Indigenous Knowledge and the New Science of Complex Adaptive Systems, Merle Lefkoff and Kjell Skyllstad
• The Dignity Star Idea, Merle Lefkoff and Evelin Lindner
• Cultural and Community Planning: Organizing for Power and Building Local Capacity, Tom Borrup and Glyn Rimmington

Honouring Kjell Skyllstad:
• 41 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad with the HumanDHS Lifetime Achievement Award
• 42 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad: Tom Gravlie, Deeyah, and Lasanthi Manaranjanie
• 43 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad: Bussakorn Binson, Hilde Kvam, and Svanibor Pettan

Day One, 19th September 2016

• 01 Welcome Greetings
The participants were welcomed by representatives from the participating universities:
•  The host institution, the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (IUC), Nada Bruer Ljubišić
•  The University of Oslo, Norway, Kjell Skyllstad
•  Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, Bussakorn Binson
•  The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, Hilde Kvam 
•  The University in Oslo, Norway, online greeting by Celine Motzfeld Loades
•  World Dignity University initiative, Evelin Lindner

• 02 Merle Lefkoff Arrives
This video is a little clip of one of the participants of the conference, Merle Lefkoff, arriving.

• 03 A World at Risk: From Humiliation to Dignity, by Evelin Lindner (see the Powerpoint presentation of 26th September)

• 04 Art for All, Professor Dr. Channarong Pornrungroj (see also Art for All, and Art for All: Overcome Limitation),
brought to Dubrovnik by Professor Bussakorn Binson
The idea of our IUC conference came from the Urban Research Plaza (URP) of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. We welcome Professor Channarong Pornrungroj as representative of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, also in recognition of his pioneering work for dignity in an urban environment, together with Bussakorn Binson, Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology, and Professor at the Music Department at Chulalongkorn University, and Founder and Chair of its Urban Research Plaza (URP).
Comment by Kjell Skyllstad (4th September 2016): Professor Channarong's opening keynote address focuses on inclusion of minorities, the disadvantaged, the people living on the fringes, and this represents the symbioses between the best of Eastern and Western progressive cultural and social thinking, the coming together that will be required to lead us from humiliation to dignity. The political  past of both continents has taught us the devastating consequences of  ethnic and social exclusion. We must be ready to give everybody a chance to develop their creative potential. What would the world be without the handicapped thinkers changing the world  from their wheel chairs like Dr. Hawkins?

• 05 Musical Greeting by Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona, Colombo/Ljubljana
We were proud that Dr. Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona, shared her art with us. She is a Sri Lankan traditional musician living in Ljubljana and now a known cultural figure appearing at major festivals and city cultural arrangements. She is lecturer at the University of Colombo and certified artist in Indian classical music at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), while currently serving as a Visiting Professor in Ethnomusicology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She earned her B.A degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, M.Mus (Master of Music), her degree in North Indian classical music (violin) from the Banaras Hindu University, India, and her Ph.D. in musicology (with focus on medical ethnomusicology and music therapy) from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. You may hear Dr. Lasanthi Manaranjanie on YouTube playing an Indian raga Yamuna Kalyan that is based on boy god Krishna saving the river Yamuna from pollution from a snake. Today our cities like Delhi are pouring billions of liters of untreated waste daily in the rivers like Yamuna, a tributary of Ganges running beside the famous Taj Mahal. This also belongs to city threats.

• 06 Participants Present Each Other
This video shares how the participants of the conference presented each other.

• 07 Launch of Dignilogues
This video shares the launch of Dignilogue format of the first three days of the conference.

• 08 Ljoba Jenče Invites Everybody into Singing
Ljoba Jenče is a Slovenian folklorist and Director of a Slovenia-Norway Rural Development project. Please see her Appreciative Introduction and The Same Boat: Young Guardians of Heritage, 2014-2016, Heritage House.

• 09 Introduction to Dubrovnik and the Inter-University Centre by Nada Bruer Ljubišić
Nada Bruer Ljubišić is the Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (IUC).

• 10 Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona Sings a Croatian Song of Gratitude to Nada Bruer Ljubišić

• 11 Introducing the First Dignilogue: Michael Schulte

• 12 From Past to Present: How Writing and Writing Systems Impact Dignity in Human Interaction, Dignilogue with Michael Schulte (see Pdf of Powerpoint)
Michael Schulte is Professor at the Department of Nordic and Media Studies of the University of Agder in Norway. He received the Fridtjof Nansen Award for his research in the history of Germanic and old Scandinavian languages. In his paper, he will focus on the ontology of writing and its important role to create identity, stimulate creativity, human reflection and not least dignity. An issue at stake here is how different writing systems meet cultural, aesthetic and other needs to provide an agency for the people who use them ― an observation which undermines the primacy and sole efficiency of the alphabet and the rise of the alphabet as the only one "great invention" in the history of writing. Several historical tales were told. One crucial issue which he referred to, was what Jacques Derrida labelled the 'phonocentrism of western thought'. Therefore he intended to highlight different cultural scenarios where the written medium impinges upon human dignity and identity.

• 13 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: From Past to Present: How Writing and Writing Systems Impact Dignity in Human Interaction, Michael Schulte and Merle Lefkoff

• 14 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Dignifying Global Business - Fair Trade: A New Paradigm?, Ragnhild Nilsen and Avi Shahaf

Day Two, 20th September 2016

• 15 Uli Spalthoff Guides Dignilogue Preparations
Uli Spalthoff guides the process of organising the Dignilogues of the first three workshop days of this conference.

• 16 Sharing Fairytales and Fables from Different Cultures - and Learning Peace, Dignilogue with Glyn Rimmington
Glyn Rimmington joined Wichita State University in 2001 as the inaugural Boeing Distinguished Professor of Global Learning. He leads the Global Learning program (gl.wichita.edu), which is aimed at infusing intercultural communication and global learning experiences into the curriculum. The ultimate goal of global learning is to prepare graduates for life in a highly diverse, interconnected and interdependent world. [read more]

• 17 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Sharing Fairytales and Fables from Different Cultures - and Learning Peace, Glyn Rimmington and Uli Spalthoff

• 18.1 and 18.2 Climatic Theatre – Addressing World Issues through Aesthetics, Dignilogue with Heidrun Sølna Øverby (see Video 1 and Video 2)
Heidrun Sølna Øverby is a Norwegian drama educator and facilitator/director. She has an MA in theatre/drama from NTNU, Trondheim, Norway where she wrote the following thesis: Theatre as a method to communicate climatic awareness in rural areas. A study for the RASPAP project in South Africa, where she did an Internship with a South African NGO.

• 19 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Climatic Theatre – Addressing World Issues through Aesthetics, Heidrun Sølna Øverby and Kjell Skyllstad

• 20.1 and 20.2 How Do Humiliation and Dignity Contribute to Conflict? Is Dignity Given or Learnt?, Dignilogue with Bussakorn Binson and Ljoba Jenče (see Video 1 and Video 2)
Bussakorn Binson, Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology, is a Professor at the Music Department of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Founder and Chair of Urban Research Plaza (URP).
Ljoba Jenče is a Slovenian folklorist and Director of the Slovenia-Norway Rural Development project. Please see her Appreciative Introduction and The Same Boat: Young Guardians of Heritage, 2014-2016, Heritage House.

• 21 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: How Do Humiliation and Dignity Contribute to Conflict? Is Dignity Given or Learnt?, Bussakorn Binson and Ljoba Jenče

• 22 Bussakorn Binson Teaches How to Greet with 'Sawadee'
Bussakorn Binson, Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology, is a Professor at the Music Department of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Founder and Chair of Urban Research Plaza (URP).

• 23 Music, Migration and Minorities: Promoting the Intercultural City, Dignilogue with Kjell Skyllstad
Kjell Skyllstad is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Urban Culture Research. In this Dignilogue, Kjell Skyllstad shared his own school research program.

• 24 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Music, Migration and Minorities: Promoting the Intercultural City, Kjell Skyllstad, Bussakorn Binson, and Svanibor Pettan

Day Three, 21st September 2016

• 25.1 and 25.2 Altruism Is Not Self-Negation, It Is Recognising the Universality of Human Anguish, Dignilogue with Rachel Aspögård (Video 1 and Video 2)
Rachel Aspögård is a long-standing member of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), an international Nichiren Buddhist organisation founded in 1975 by Daisaku Ikeda. It is the world's largest Buddhist lay organisation, working as a global Buddhist movement for 'peace, education, and cultural exchange'. Rachel Aspögård summarised the topics addressed by Daisaku Ikeda in his proposal 'Universal Respect for Human Dignity: The Great Path to Peace' of 26th January 2016.

• 26 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Altruism Is Not Self-Negation, It Is Recognising the Universality of Human Anguish, Rachel Aspögård and Evelin Lindner

• 27 How Can We Advance the Value of Human Dignity in Relation to Urban Population? Theoretical Framework, Basic Assumptions, Guiding Principles, and Discussion, Dignilogue with Avi Shahaf (see Powerpoint)
Avi Shahaf was born (1951) and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. He completed his BA in Sociology and Anthropology and his MA in Organizational Development – both in Tel Aviv University. Avi Shahaf has been dedicating most of his adult life to working as an organizational consultant who specializes in facilitating processes for advancing human dignity in different organizations. For seven years, Avi managed an institute which focused on the development of managers and workers handling youth at risk. [read more]

• 28 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: How Can We Advance the Value of Human Dignity in Relation to Urban Population?, Avi Shahaf and Lasanthi Manaranjanie

• 29 Indigenous Knowledge and the New Science of Complex Adaptive Systems, Dignilogue with Merle Lefkoff
Merle Lefkoff holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is President of the Center for Emergent Diplomacy, a non-governmental social-profit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, applying the science of Complex Adaptive Systems to the transformation of diplomatic negotiations and peacebuilding. The Center will be convening and facilitating a gathering of global grass-roots activists and thought leaders in Santa Fe in April, 2017. Delegates will meet to scale up direct action campaigns to confront growing inequality and the global economic paradigm that is pushing climate change. [read more]
Please see The Ecos Gathering, April 21-28, 2017, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

• 30 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Indigenous Knowledge and the New Science of Complex Adaptive Systems, Merle Lefkoff and Kjell Skyllstad

• 31 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: The Dignity Star Idea, Merle Lefkoff and Evelin Lindner

• 32 Cultural and Community Planning: Organizing for Power and Building Local Capacity, Dignilogue with Tom Borrup (see Pdf of Abstract | Powerpoint)

• 33 Video Message for the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative: Cultural and Community Planning: Organizing for Power and Building Local Capacity, Tom Borrup and Glyn Rimmington

• 34 Lasanthi Manaranjanie Rounds up Day Three with a Song

Day Four, 22nd September 2016

• 35 Musical Greeting by Lasanthi Manaranjanie, Colombo/Ljubljana

• 36 Welcome and Greetings by Nada Bruer Ljubišić, Executive Secretary, Inter-University Centre (IUC) Dubrovnik

• 37 Welcome and Greetings by Ana Hilje, Head of Department of Culture of the City of Dubrovnik

• 38 Welcome and Greetings by Bussakorn Binson, Professor at the Music Department of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Founder and Chair of Urban Research Plaza (URP)

• 39 Welcome and Greetings by Kjell Skyllstad, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

• 40 Honouring Nada Bruer Ljubišić and Tomislav Kvesić

• 41 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad with the HumanDHS Lifetime Achievement Award

• 42 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad: Tom Gravlie, Deeyah, and Lasanthi Manaranjanie

• 43 Honouring Kjell Skyllstad: Bussakorn Binson, Hilde Kvam, and Svanibor Pettan

• 44 Cities at Risk – From Humiliation to Dignity, by Evelin Lindner (long paper | Powerpoint presentation of 26th September)
Evelin Lindner, Founder and President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies and Co-founder World Dignity University initiative, keynote address given on 22nd September 2016. See the abstract written with Kjell Skyllstad prior to the conference in 2015.

• 45 Managing Diversity as a Resource: The Win-Win Approach to Dignity, by Francesca Lionetti
Francesca Lionetti, Project Manager, Intercultural Cities in Southern Mediterranean, Council of Europe
The presentation focuses on the policy paradigm for inclusive diversity developed in the context of the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities’ programme. The key concept of the policy paradigm – diversity advantage – and the research evidence for it, as well examples of policies applied by cities which have adopted the approach, and their impact, constitute the main elements of the presentation.

• 46 Music in Development Cooperation and Conflict Transformation, by Tom Gravlie (see Pdf of Powerpoint)
Tom Gravlie, Arts for Young Audiences, Norway.

• 47 Applied Ethnomusicology and Urban Outreach, by Svanibor Pettan (see Powerpoint)
Svanibor Pettan is Professor at the Department of Musicology, and General Secretary of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM).

• 48 Educational Strategies Supporting Cultural Preservation: The Case of Bangkok's Living Local Culture, by Bussakorn Binson (see Powerpoint)
Bussakorn Binson, Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology, Professor at the Music Department of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Founder and Chair of Urban Research Plaza (URP).

• 49 Music and Urban Activism – Building Intercultural Bridges, by Deeyah Khan
Deeyah Khan is a Documentary Film Director and Producer in England, Founder and Director of Fuuse - Art and Activism and Sister-hood.

• 50 Kjell Skyllstad's Comments
Kjell Skyllstad is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Urban Culture Research.

• 51 Merle Lefkoff Opens the Town Hall Meeting

• 52 Town Hall Meeting As Samoan Circle 'Dubrovnik Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Creating Vibrant Social Spaces – New Avenues to Urban and Suburban Renewal'
Merle Lefkoff invited everybody into a Samoan Circle. See a description: "The Samoan circle is a leaderless meeting intended to help negotiations in controversial issues. While there is no ‘leader’, a professional facilitator can welcome participants and explain the seating arrangements, rules, timelines and the process. As with the Fishbowl process, the Samoan circle has people seated in a circle within a circle, however only those in the inner circle are allowed to speak. The inner circle should represent all the different viewpoints present, and all others must remain silent. The process offers others a chance to speak only if they join the ‘inner circle’."
A Town Hall meeting is a forum that invites every citizen to share their experiences. Everyone is invited to write down which city they represent, tell shortly about their experiences, what risks their city has encountered and will encounter in the future and what opportunities it should seize for the benefit of all its citizens. These handouts are then collected and given to the panel to give direction to the proceedings and discussions. The citizens' contributions are intended to give an indication of the situation as experienced, and mobilize for cooperative action. No names are required or disclosed if known, thereby guaranteeing full anonymity.

• 53 After Showing Her 2015 Documentary Film Jihad, Deeyah Khan Shares Her Reflections on Cities at Risk - How Do We Address Social Polarisation and Radicalisation of Urban and Suburban Youth
Jihad: A Story of the Others, 2015 documentary film presentation by Deeyah Khan, Documentary Film Director and Producer, England, Founder and Director Fuuse and Sister-hood (Art and Activism). See also: What We Don’t Know About Europe’s Muslim Kids and Why We Should Care, by Deeyah Khan, TEDxExeter Talk, published on 13 May 2016: 'Aged 17, Deeyah fled from Norway confused, lost and torn between cultures. Unlike some young Muslims she picked up a camera instead of a gun. She now uses her camera (and her superpower) to shed light on the clash of cultures between Muslim parents who prioritise honour and their children's desire for freedom. She argues that we need to understand what is happening to fight the pull to extremism'.

Day Five, 23rd September 2016

• 54 Announcements

• 55 Kjell Skyllstad Introduces the Researcher Meeting

• 56 Creating Vibrant Spaces for and through the Arts, by Lasanthi Manaranjanie (see Pdf of Powerpoint)
Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona is an intercultural music researcher and director, and a Visiting Professor at the Department of Musicology at the University of Ljubljana.

• 57 Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Methods and Practices, by Atle Ove Martinussen (see Powerpoint)
Atle Ove Martinussen is Museum Director in Hordaland, Norway.

• 58 A Model of Transmission of Intangible Heritage (CIH) from the Old to the New Generation, by Ljoba Jenče (see Powerpoint)
Ljoba Jenče is a Slovenian folklorist and Director of the Slovenia-Norway Rural Development project. Please see The Same Boat: Young Guardians of Heritage, 2014-2016, Heritage House.

• 59 Bridging Urban Divides and Breaking the Cycle of Humiliation: Adaptive Leadership Approach, by Mara Alagic (see Pdf | Powerpoint)
Mara Alagic is Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator for Master of Education in Learning and Instructional Design, and Glyn Rimmington is a Distinguished Professor of Global Learning at the Global Learning Center of Wichita University, Kansas, USA.

• 60 Ljoba Jenče Shares Her Art
Ljoba Jenče is a Slovenian folklorist and Director of the Slovenia-Norway Rural Development project. Please see The Same Boat: Young Guardians of Heritage, 2014-2016, Heritage House.

• 61 Critical Perspectives on the Transformation of Urban Localities, by Dalibor Prancevic and Alemka Djivoje (see Pdf)
Dalibor Prancevic and Alemka Djivoje are part of the OUR Research group at the Department of Arts History of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Split in Croatia.

• 62 Bridge Building at the Market Place, by Tom Borrup (see Pdf | Powerpoint)
Tom Borrup is the Faculty Director of the Arts and Leadership Program at the University of Minnesota, and Director of the Creative Community Builders in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

• 63 The Zagreb City Making Project, by Jasna Capo (see Powerpoint)
Jasna Capo is a Senior Researcher in Cultural Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research of the University of Zagreb.

• 64 Balkan Dances for Social Sharing: Reflections on Urban Traditions and Cultural Renewal, by Muhamed Tufekčić (see Powerpoint)
Muhamed Tufekcic is a Choreographer and Dance Instructor in Oslo, Norway.

• 65.1 and 65.2 Killing History and World Heritage: Urban Tragedies of Syria (Aleppo and Palmyra), by Marie Ingand (see Video 1 | Video 2 Dance | Powerpoint)
Marie Ingand is an Historian of Art of the Arab World, and an Instructor at the Refugee Reception Center in Bærum, Norway.

• 66 Religious Radicalism and Cultural Loss, by Hilde Kvam (see Powerpoint)
Hilde Kvam is Associate Professor at the Department of Art and Media Studies of the University of Trondheim (NTNU), Norway.

• 67 Polyscopy: Rediscovering a Way to Community Change, by Dino Karabeg (see Powerpoint recording)
Dino Karabeg, University of Oslo, Norway.

• 68 Industry 4.0. Where Does This Leave the Human Factor? by Holger Kinzel (see Pdf | Powerpoint)
Holger Kinzel is a Researcher at the Technical University Freiburg (Bergakademie) in Germany.

• 69 Ljoba Jenče Leads Us in Singing Good-Bye

• 70 Saying Good-Bye to Each Other

Day Eight, 26th September 2016

• 71 From Systemic Humiliation to Systemic Dignity, by Evelin Lindner (see Powerpoint)
It was a great privilege to be invited to 'Tools and Practices for the Collective Mind Revolution', the 5th biennial meeting of the Knowledge Federation, a conference held at the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, 25th September – 1st October, 2016.