London calling

[Patricia Haines]

for CPARN: this Open Space listserv is wroth knowing about - see below.

for OS folks:
I am new to the Open Space listserv, but just the one day has brought me much to think about and I
thank you all.

I also thank Steve Cochran of the U.S. Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development for introducing me to Open Space in the first place. 

Because Chris' comments below resonate with key conversations within the Participatory Action
Research community, I'm passing this message along to the Cornell Participatory Action Research
Network.  CPARN and its website - PARNet - is a key voice in the global PAR conversation, and I will
encourage my colleagues to subscribe to your listserv.

My own work is closer to Participatory Action PLANNING than 'research' per se - but what I like
about PAR is that - like Open Space - it is an approach to generating knowledge and understanding
collectively. It is grounded in commitment to surfacing voices that are usually ignored; validating
results by how they work in action, rather than through abstractions and theory; and putting
scholarship in service to social, economic and environmental justice through campus/community
reflection/action collaborations. 

"Participation" has come to be one of those buzz words that even the World Bank has come to honor,
at least in theory - but the 'real' PAR community is made up of passionate, committed folks who put
their academic (in my case, scholar/activist) lives on the line for a world that can work for
everyone.

Patricia Haines
Co-Chair, Adult & Community Learning, U.S. Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development
Director, Level Green Institute, Ithaca, NY
(on leave from PhD program in Adult Education, Cornell University - because PAR dissertations don't
follow academic timelines!)

---- Original Message -----
From: Chris Kloth <chris at got2change.com>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent:         Tue, 12 Jul 2005 21:43:42 -0400
Subject: Re: London calling

> Steve Gawron wrote:
> 
> > Hello All,
> >  
> >
> > I am disappointed at the politicization of this Open Space group.  
> > Perhaps I can give a perspective that is more objective.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> Two thoughts...
> 
> 
> 1.
> 
> 
> I sometimes think that we like to believe that when we have embraced 
> Open Space Technology (or future search or appreciative inquiry or...) 
> and the deeper values, beliefs and principles that go along with it 
> (them) that somehow we are above having specific issues that "hook" us 
> the way others get hooked or above discovering that there are people or 
> groups about whom, despite our highest aspirations and intentions, we 
> experience "-isms" and reactions to them. 
> 
> 
> 
> Like many (most) of you I have spent quite a bit of my work and personal 
> life focused on issues related to marginalized groups and I still find 
> myself in situations when, to my surprise and disappointment, I find I 
> still have another layer of my own shit I need to take responsibility 
> for, learn more about...  I also find myself outraged by certain 
> situations and find it harder to engage, listen, speak in  the spirit of 
> dialogue.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if some of what was called "politicization" is really some of 
> us running into our own -isms or having our buttons pushed.  I have 
> noticed some comments posted that seem to ask in the spirit of curiosity 
> and answer in the spirit of building understanding.  Others seem rooted 
> in fear, defensiveness, anger, judgment and misunderstanding.  I guess 
> that makes us a diverse community like other diverse communities. 
> 
> 
> 
> I appreciate the diversity of that community.  I hope others appreciate 
> my limits as a human being and help me learn from it.  I hope I can do 
> the same for others.
> 
> 
> 
> 2.
> 
> 
> I am not sure I am interested in an objective perspective.  I am not 
> even sure objectivity is possible.  Especially in the face of matters 
> that have the deep impact individually and collectively of the London 
> Calling thread.   Fairness may be possible.  One of the images I like 
> best from the dialogue section of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook is the 
> "Ladder of Inference."  It helps us understand and take ownership of the 
> filters (values, beliefs, principles, experiences, etc.) that affect how 
> we perceive and make meaning of anything we experience and appreciate 
> how others make different meanings.
> 
> 
> 
> One of the things I respect about the European press is that newspapers 
> own their biases.  I read a periodical in the US that takes a news item 
> and selects stories written by a so-called liberal, conservative and 
> centrist newspapers from Europe and puts the stories next to one 
> another.  I get to draw my own conclusions.
> 
> 
> 
> I think my best Open Space experiences were not driven by objective 
> perspectives but by respectful listening to diverse perspectives that 
> lead to learning and new ideas.  One of the essential principles of 
> dialogue is to suspend assumptions and certainties...holding them out 
> for others to see...owning where we got them and being willing to listen 
> to how others have come to different conclusions.
> 
> 
> 
> I look forward to continuing to "hear" all the perspectives and having 
> us explore and learn.  At this point I don't feel a need to come to any 
> common understanding of whatever "it" is that we are exploring.   I need 
> some time, perspective, context...
> 
> 
> 
> Chris  Kloth
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

--
This email was brought to you by Kaxy Mail http://www.kaxy.com/free_email_account.htm

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist