10/04/2010

Dialogue

Definition: Ledwith (2005), adopts a Freireian definition of dialogue. In her words, dialogue is a mutual respectful communication between witch engages the heart and mind, the intellect and the emotions.
Apply: dialogue is essential to community development. if the point of community development is to increase awareness and empower people into action, then the absolute basis for that is a open, honest, and respectful communication between people. unfortunately this type of communication is harder to achieve that just saying, i will be honest, open and respectful of the people around me. true honesty and respect requires that we know ourselves, our subconscious stereotypes, and hidden emotions, and that is harder that we might think. it is especially hard because true dialogue makes you vulnerable, and people in our society anyway don't necessarily appreciate that.
Adapt: i think dialogue (in the Freireian understanding) should be the basis of all human interactions. but if i am to apply it to any one field, i think it is especially required for people engaged in peace, and conflict resolution work. war is a trauma that dehumanizes probably more than anything else, and having people that are skilled in listening, and dialogue-ing in a Freireian is the first step toward re-humanizing people.

4 comments:

  1. Apply: In social work it is essential to accept and start dialogue about important issues that arise. As social workers, how can we create change without discussing the issues at hand? Open dialogue is important when developing rapport in community development work. There needs to be a space where community participants feel safe and are able to express how they feel without being judged.

    Adapt: Everyone is society should understand the important role dialogue plays. Dialogue can used as a useful tool to hear each other's views, opinions. If we take a look at the conflict we are seeing in the Middleast. Maybe, the problem is that people are not listening the voices of those who are oppressed and treated with injustice. I agree, that there needs to be more focus on open dialogue so peace can be possible.

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  2. Apply: Dialogue is important in community organizing. A community organizer must respectfully engage in dialogue with the citizens. By focusing on issues with the citizens of their community they will hopefully discuss their thoughts and feelings which is important to understand how the community acts as a whole. Opposing thoughts could also upset certain citizens and cause them to lash out verbally but people must attempt to respectfully engage in dialogue no matter how upset they become.

    Adapt: Dialogue is very important in many settings. This can be applied to the governors debates that will be happening in the near future. Dialogue is very important to discuss their thoughts and feelings to help voters realize what they are passionate about and what they can change or continue in the future. Debates would also run more effectively if the candidates respected each other and respected what the others were saying.

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  3. Apply: Effective community development can only occur through dialogue and clear communication between parties. Often times, projects and tasks are not carried out well because members, leaders, and organizers are not able to engage in proper dialogue that fosters clear communication of expectations and responsibilities of participants. Moreover, dialogue may also contribute to the problems found in communities, as members or residents may not discuss or relay their concerns to leaders or city officials. This is also evident when considering gaps found in communities due to cultural barriers. In most incidences where cultural gaps are in existence, members within the community have not partaken in dialogue with each other, which could resolve many of the conflicts.

    Adapt: In the majority of bureaucratic systems, dialogue or communication is fundamental. If communication did not occur, pertinent information would not be received for individuals to carry out their work. Therefore, the system would collapse. However, some communication may be more effective than other types of communication. Businesses may tend to use unilateral or one-way communication while organization may tend to use two-way communication. Nevertheless, both systems use dialogue in order to ensure that productivity can occur because without dialogue nothing would be accomplished.

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  4. I am conducting a research on Community dialogue and I consider this book useful. may I have it please?

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