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Difficult Dialogues logo--in dialogue people learn to use the energy of their differences to enhance their collective wisdom
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Co-sponsored by Higgins School of Humanities and IDCE (International Development, Community and Environment). Funded by a major grant from the Ford Foundation

Difficult Dialogues is about creating a culture of dialogue on campus in which the practice of dialogue is recognized, appreciated, and practiced both inside and outside the classroom. We hope to do this by: building skills of dialogue among a sizeable number of faculty, staff, and students; creating opportunities for the community to engage in dialogue around significant and controversial issues common to us all; and integrating dialogue into a number of academic courses across the curriculum, thus ensuring its continued practice.

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Discussion

N A T I O N A L
National Difficult Dialogues Initiative

 

 

 

why dialogue, why now


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If nature made any thing less susceptible than all others
of exclusive property, it is the thinking power of an idea.
– Thomas Jefferson

This semester we raise the question of common wealth – what it is that we
all need and value, beneath our real and perceived differences. What, in both
the natural and social realms, belongs to all of us in a common trust, and needs
to be cared for and passed on to future generations?

Please join us, as we seek out the spirit of common wealth in a series of public
events, beginning with a keynote address by Lewis Hyde, author of the classic
book on gift economy and creativity called The Gift, who is deep into a major
work on the cultural commons — “that vast store of unowned ideas, inventions,
and works of art we have inherited from the past”. Environmental humanist
Stephanie Kaza will engage us in a conversation about “unlearning consumerism”,
and painter Rob Shetterly will share his insights into what makes social change
for the common good possible in his series Americans Who Tell the Truth
(portraits above). We will seek out the spirit of common wealth in these and
other events, and I hope you will join us.

Download the complete Higgins School calendar, including all events in
the Difficult Dialogues Symposium here.

 

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Dialogue Courses
Fall '08

Can we learn to engage each other on issues on which we differ, and listen respectfully for what it is that we can learn – about the subject, about others and ourselves, about our common values? Can we learn to think critically and with discernment about contentious issues? Can we put aside our assumptions, and sit with the discomfort and creative potential of not-knowing? In this fourth semester of DD courses, seventeen courses with an emphasis on dialogue will be offered. These courses will approach the process of dialogue in a variety of ways and across a number of disciplines; they will relate as is relevant to the dialogue symposium programming.

click here for the full listings

 

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Contact Information

Sarah Buie

Director, Difficult Dialogues Project
Director, Higgins School of Humanities
Professor, V&PA
sbuie@clarku.edu

Miriam Chion

Associate Director, Difficult Dialogues Project
Assistant Professor, IDCE
mchion@clarku.edu

Jane Androski

Assistant Director, Difficult Dialogues
jandroski@clarku.edu