Sunday, October 17, 2010

Using Dialogue Deliberation and Public Engagement for social justice

As I get closer to defining my dissertation, I am beginning to focus in on how to use dialogic practices to increase social justice in the world. I am currently working on a knowledge area for my doctorate in social change and my recent research has helped me focus on world-systems theory and gender and globalization. These tie closely together. First to explain a knowledge area. Fielding Graduate University is not a bricks and mortar framework where you go and sit in class, listen to a lecture, and test out. We have knowledge areas that we must research and demonstrate in the form of scholarly papers and projects our deep understanding of that knowledge area. There are many required and then others that can be added to inform the thesis. We contract with faculty, we have 40 or so, that specifically have the background to help us with our chosen direction. We chose our topics and focus, it is not dictated to us. We are a multi-disciplinary PhD program and I can draw off of multiple fields of social science to further my practice and studies. A very powerful paradigm.

World-systems theory is interested in economic inequality in the world and gender and globalization is concerned with women and girls and their role in the world. These are very important research topics to me and I am combining them and exploring how dialogue can help create social justice for women and girls in the world. Critical theory and feminist epistemology are also closely related to this work and I will draw heavily off of them.

Keep up the conversations to help heal our world.

John

Friday, October 15, 2010

A wonderful team of dialogue professionals

I just invested three full days in Baltimore with 8 other dialogue professionals who are joining with me in the journey to dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement certification. One faculty who led our cohort and 8 of us on the certification journey had a wonderful experience. It never ceases to amaze me just how talented others are. Being in three days of intimate dialogue around questions that matter was a fantastic experience. Each person was so talented and offered so much. We as well visited NTL Institute and AmericaSpeaks in Washington D.C. and had wonderful receptions by the teams at both groups. We also visited the Library of Congress and the rare book manager provided a tour and examples of rare texts on town hall meetings from the founding of our nation. Wonderful. Although I dialogue is a part of who I am this certification process is fantastic and this trip was a real treat.

Continue the conversations,

John