ROUNDTABLE BREAKFAST: Re-imagining Dialogue: Reflections and Insights on Convening, Circulation and Movement to Build Trust and Stitch Together Disparate Groups

ACR-GNY & CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College present

Re-imagining Dialogue: Reflections and Insights on Convening, Circulation and Movement to Build Trust and Stitch Together Disparate Groups

John Paul Lederach will discuss his reflections of decades of countless past dialogue experiences where what happened before, between and after convenings and face-to-face interaction proved highly significant but often was underestimated and under invested. He has been exploring how circulation offers a different approach to building understanding and even consensus than convening representatives. Circulation refers to a method of conflict resolution and peacebuilding that focuses on continuous, decentralized movement and connection with parties. It's a process of strategic travel, or "circulation" through communities, learning to stitch together disparate groups and share insights, much like how insects and spiders build webs and pollinate resources. This approach emphasizes building trust and relationship at the local level, and stitching, continuously sharing and connecting ideas across different spheres to build a more resilient system. Circulation is rarely perceived as a strategy, mostly it is envisioned as preparation for the real work. John Paul asks, What if the inverse were more accurate: The real genius of dialogue lies in the quality of cultivation and circulation. He will draw examples from past experiences and explore current applications.

Lederach's article in Waging Nonviolence, "Why movements need to learn to fly like bees and thread like spiders," is available here.

JOHN PAUL LEDERACH

John Paul Lederach’s vocation is a practitioner in local and national peace processes with extensive experience in Latin America, Africa, Southeast and Central Asia, and Europe. He is widely known for the development of culturally based approaches to conflict transformation and the design and implementation of integrative and strategic approaches to peacebuilding. He is a haikuist, potter, and woodworker who pursues the integration of the arts and peacebuilding.

Lederach is Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and a Senior Fellow with Humanity United. He is author and co-editor of 30 books and manuals, including The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press), Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (USIP Press), The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (Skyhorse Publishing), and The Pocket Guide for Facing Down a Civil War: Surprising ideas from everyday people who shifted the cycles of violence (self-published).

Learn more about John Paul Lederach and his contributions to the fields of peacebuilding and conflict transformation by visiting: www.johnpaullederach.com.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Roundtable Breakfasts are online meetings via Zoom. The link will change each month and will be distributed to all registrants the day before and the morning of the event. All listed times for ACR-GNY events are for Eastern Time. 8:00 am – 8:30 am | Join call to network with attendees 8:30 am – 10:00 am | Presentation and Discussion About the Roundtable Breakfasts The Roundtable Breakfasts are organized by ACR-GNY and the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College. They take place the first Thursday of the month and are ongoing since 2001. Views expressed in connection with any Roundtable event publicity or at sessions are those of the speakers and participants and not of the CUNY DRC or ACR-GNY. This program is supported by ACR-GNY's 365 Sponsor: