Evelin Lindner’s Contributions to the World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative
• 00 The World Dignity University (WDU): How It Works, see Pdf files in English, Norsk, Deutsch, see also a Flyer in English)
The following video clips introduce the WDU initiative:
- Evelin Lindner's Invitation to Join the World Dignity University Initiative
Evelin Lindner is being interviewed by Ragnhild Nilsen about her vision of the World Dignity University. This dialogue took place on 8th February 2011 at the University in Oslo in Norway. Lasse Moer, Chief Engineer for Audiovisual Technology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University in Oslo, was the technical director of this video-take. See it also at lasse-videos.blip.tv/file/4782737/. Ragnhild Nilsen uses the artist name Arctic Queen. See also a WDU introduction in pdf format and a flyer.
- World Dignity University Initiative: Introduction by Linda Hartling and Evelin Lindner
This video clip was recorded on October 28, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is a dialogue between Linda Hartling and Evelin Lindner. Annette Engler recorded the conversation. See also a WDU introduction in pdf format and a flyer.
- World Dignity University Initiative: Introduction by Evelin Lindner
This video clip was created in Berlin, Germany by Evelin Frerk, on 5th April 2011, for the launch of the World Dignity University (WDU) initiative in June 2011. Evelin Lindner explains how the World Dignity University iniative is envisioned to unfold. See also a WDU introduction in pdf format and a flyer.
- Norwegian/Norsk: Verdensuniversitet for verdighet og likeverd: En kort innføring av Evelin Lindner
Denne videoen ble tatt opp av Evelin Lindner i New York City den 3. november 2011.
Se også teksten i pdf format.
Se også Inga Bostad, prorektor av Universitetet i Oslo, og hennes personlige videohilsen som hun sendte til oss i august 2011, når vi hadde vår 17 årlige konferanse. Hun bekreftet hvor viktig det er å arbeide for en global verdighetskultur og at å utvikle Verdensuniversitetet for verdighet og likeverd må være vår høyeste prioritet. Lasse Moer lagde videoen med Inga Bostad i Oslo.
- Norwegian/Norsk: Norge etter den 22. juli 2011: Betydningen av et Verdensuniversitet for verdighet og likeverd, av Evelin Lindner
Denne videoen ble tatt opp av Evelin Lindner i New York City den 3. november 2011.
Se også teksten i pdf format.
Se også Inga Bostad, prorektor av Universitetet i Oslo, og hennes personlige videohilsen som hun sendte til oss i august 2011, når vi hadde vår 17 årlige konferanse. Hun bekreftet hvor umåtelig viktig det er å arbeide for en global verdighetskultur og at å utvikle Verdensuniversitetet for verdighet og likeverd må være vår høyeste prioritet. Lasse Moer lagde videoen med Inga Bostad i Oslo. (Nøkkelord: Anders Behring Breivik, Utøya)
- German/Deutsch: Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies & World Dignity University: Eine kurze Einführung von Evelin Lindner
Dieser Videoclip wurde am 5. April 2011 in Berlin von Evelin Frerk aufgenommen, mit Blick auf die Lanzierung der Weltuniversität für Menschenwürde Initiative im Juni 2011. Es ist eine kurze Einführung in die Arbeit des Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) Netzwerkes und ihrer Weltuniversität für Menschenwürde/World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative. Siehe auch einen einführenden Text in Pdf Format.
- German/Deutsch: Weltuniversität für Menschenwürde Initiative: Eine kurze Einführung von Evelin Lindner
Dieser Videoclip wurde am 5. April 2011 in Berlin von Evelin Frerk aufgenommen, mit Blick auf die Lanzierung der Weltuniversität für Menschenwürde/World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative im Juni 2011. Es ist eine kurze Einführung. Siehe auch einen einführenden Text in Pdf Format.
- French/Francais: Initiative de l'Université Dignité Mondiale: Une Introduction par Evelin Lindner
Ce clip vidéo a été créée à New York City par Evelin Lindner, le 4 Novembre 2011, pour l'Université Dignité Mondiale initiative. Evelin Lindner explique comment le Université Dignité Mondiale initiative est envisagé de se dérouler. Voir aussi une introduction en format pdf.
- English: Introductory Lecture: Dignity or Humiliation: The World at a Crossroad (2 hours)
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12th January 2011
- 14th January 2009
Lecture at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo (Harald Schjelderups hus, Forskningsveien 3, as part of PSYC3203 - Anvendt sosialpsykologi). See also the video site of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Oslo.
Please see a background paper for this lecture in the first issue of the Journal of HumanDignity and Humiliation Studies, March 2007. For an earlier version for the introductory paper, see here or http://ssrn.com/abstract=668742 (this paper's SSRN ID is 668742).
For more recent papers see, among others, "The Need for a New World," and "What the World’s Cultures Can Contribute to Creating a Sustainable Future for Humankind."
See pictures and video.
The following video clips summarize Evelin Lindner's contributions as a WDU educator:
• 01 Introduction: Dignity or Humiliation: The World at a Crossroad
This video clip was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
It invites into Evelin Lindner's introductory lecture "Dignity or Humiliation: The World at a Crossroad." Please see two full lectures (two hours each) from 2009 and 2011. In these introductory lecture Evelin Lindner highlights the fact that dignity and humiliation have become more important topics for inquiry than ever before. She agrees with philosopher Avishai Margalit that the point is not justice but decency.
See also: "In Times of Globalization and Human Rights: Does Humiliation Become the Most Disruptive Force?" in the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, March 2007.
Abstract: This article is about humiliation, globalization, human rights, and dignity. The central question is the following: Could it be the case in a globalizing world in which people are increasingly exposed to human rights advocacy, that acts of humiliation and feelings of humiliation emerge as the most significant phenomena to resolve? This paper suggests that this is the case. It claims that all humans share a common ground, namely a yearning for recognition and respect that connects them and draws them into relationships. The paper argues that many of the observable rifts among people may stem from the humiliation that is felt when recognition and respect are lacking. The article proposes that only if the human desire for respect is cherished, respected, and nurtured, and if people are attributed equal dignity in this process, can differences turn into valuable diversities and sources of enrichment—both globally and locally—instead of sources of disruption.
• 02 Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict
This video clip was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
In her first book on dignity and humiliation, Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict (2006), Evelin Lindner describes how we can envision a more dignified world. The Foreword was written by Morton Deutsch. It is the first book on dignity and humiliation and how we may envisage a more dignified world, and it has been characterized as a path-breaking book and been honored as "Outstanding Academic Title" by the journal Choice for 2007 in the USA. This book discusses dignity and humiliation and how we may envisage a more dignified world. It first lays out a theory of the mental and social dynamics humiliation and proposes the need for "egalization" (the undoing of humiliation) for a healthy global society. It then presents chapters on the role of misunderstandings in fostering feelings of humiliation; the role of humiliation in international conflict; and the relationship of humiliation to terrorism and torture. It concludes with a discussion of how to defuse feelings of humiliation and create a dignified world.
In her second book, Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict (2009), Lindner describes how realizing the promise of equality in dignity can help improve the human condition at all levels—from micro to meso to macro levels. This book uses a broad historical perspective that captures all of human history, from its hunter-gatherer origins to the promise of a globally united knowledge society in the future. It emphasizes the need to recognize and leave behind malign cultural, social, and psychological effects of the past. The book calls upon the world community, academics and lay people alike, to own up to the opportunities offered by increasing global interdependence.
• 03 Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security
This video clip was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security: Dignifying Relationships from Love, Sex, and Parenthood to World Affairs (2010) is Evelin Lindner's third book. Archbishop Desmond Tutu contributed with a Foreword. The book rounds off with an Afterword by Linda Hartling in honor of Jean Baker Miller and Don Klein. The book examines the social and political ramifications of human violations and world crises related to humiliation. It charts how humiliation is conditioned into individuals by large-scale, and systemic social forces. It offers ideas for counteracting the powerful psychological effects of humiliation in order to encourage constructive social, political, and cultural change.
The book is being "highly recommended" by Choice (in July 2010).
In her second book, Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict (2009), Lindner described how realizing the promise of equality in dignity can help improve the human condition at all levels—from micro to meso to macro levels. This book uses a broad historical perspective that captures all of human history, from its hunter-gatherer origins to the promise of a globally united knowledge society in the future. It emphasizes the need to recognize and leave behind malign cultural, social, and psychological effects of the past. The book calls upon the world community, academics and lay people alike, to own up to the opportunities offered by increasing global interdependence.
• 04 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Intercultural Communication and Global Interhuman Communication
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Intercultural Communication and Global Interhuman Communication" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
See, among others, the article "Avoiding Humiliation - From Intercultural Communication to Global Interhuman Communication," in the Journal of Intercultural Communication, SIETAR Japan, Number 10, June 2007, pp. 21-38. See a draft for this lecture, which was revised and published in the Journal of Intercultural Communication, SIETAR Japan in June 2007.
• Abstract: Intercultural communication has the potential to fertilize transformative learning due to its power to unsettle us. This article suggests that we may go beyond being unsettled ourselves and let the very field of intercultural communication be unsettled. This article puts forward the proposal to inscribe intercultural communication into global interhuman communication. We suggest founding a new field, the field of “Global Interhuman Communication.”...
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 05 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Trauma Therapy
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Trauma Therapy" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
See, among others, the article "Humiliation - Trauma that Has Been Overlooked: An Analysis Based on Fieldwork in Germany, Rwanda / Burundi, and Somalia," in TRAUMATOLOGYe, 7 (1), 2001, Article 3 (32 pages), tmt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/1/43, or www.fsu.edu/%7Etrauma/v7/Humiliation.pdf.
Abstract: What differentiates trauma from humiliation? This is one of the questions this article tries to answer. Trauma may occur without humiliation, as in the case of natural disaster, however, humiliation may be the core agent of trauma. Furthermore, this paper suggests that the role and significance of humiliation for traumatic experiences has long been overlooked by researchers and practitioners. The paper highlights the macro-historical backdrop for this neglect. It is the unfolding of human rights as opposed to more traditional honour codes at all levels of society both national and international. This change is a major force in making the category of trauma increasingly important, and in moving such practices as 'breaking the will of the child,' that were once legitimate and even prescribed, into the category of trauma. The paper also addresses the fact that social science is part of this transition and would benefit from making more visible how it is deeply interlinked with this process.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 06 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Terrorism
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Terrorism" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
We are still all shocked and profoundly saddened that Norway, where we had the most wonderful and peaceful launch of our World Dignity University initiative (on 24th June 2011), has been struck by such violence.
The rose-processions in July in Norway gave us all courage. They highlighted that the future lies in the mobilization of responsible citizens who stand together in solidarity. Today, there is no place on this earth that is not affected by what happens in the rest of the world, be it that people are opening up or closing themselves off to this larger world.
Inga Bostad, Vice-Rector of the University of Oslo, greeted the conference participants of the 17th Annual Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Conference in Dunedin, New Zealand. Lasse Moer video-taped Inga Bostad's personal message to the conference participants on 26th August 2011. In the light of the terrible 22/7 terror attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Inga Bostad encourages and urges everybody to engage in dialogue. She urged the conference participants to work on the World Dignity University Initiative during the conference.
Her words confirm that we must work locally and globally: Dignity must be a movement, a culture, a spirit, both locally and globally.
And this is precisely what we work for in our Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network and with our World Dignity University initiative.
Joining hands, nurturing a culture of mutual care, working for dignity, locally and globally, is what we need to invest all our energy in. Even though it cannot undo any harm that has happened in the past, it will, hopefully, help contribute to preventing more harm being perpetrated in the future. Never has work for dignity been more important.
In our work, we see it as our responsibility to create and disseminate narratives that respect the grievances that stand behind such violent narratives, yet, lead them into the direction of the dignity of a Mandela, rather than the direction of terror, genocide, and war.
We believe that the terrible tragedy that happened in Oslo and on Utøya is not just a Norwegian "problem" but a call that we, as humankind, have to show much more civic responsibility. The dignity of "unity in diversity" is the path to go, rather than "uniformity in division," or one camp trying to achieve "strength" through inner uniformity, in hostile division to the "enemy" camp that responds in kind (Christian versus Muslim, for example). Global interdependence, and the need for global cooperation in the face of global challenges, requires that we understand that narratives of hostile division bring demise to all of us, from whatever background such narratives may originate.
We are with you in Norway now, all of us, from all around the world, with our hearts and our tears, and, let us all understand that here we face a global responsibility, for all of humankind!
See also a chapter written by Evelin Lindner earlier (among others), "The Relevance of Humiliation Studies for the Prevention of Terrorism," in Pick, Thomas M., Speckhard, Anne, and Beatrice Jacuch (Eds.), Home-Grown Terrorism: Understanding and Addressing the Root Causes of Radicalisation among Groups with an Immigrant Heritage in Europe, Section 3.1: The Societal Subsoil Nurturing Intolerant Militancy and Terrorism, as Against Measures and Processes Nurturing Tolerance, Section 3.1, pp. 163-188, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IOS Press, supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, E: Human and Societal Dynamics, Vol. 60, 2009. These are Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop Indigenous Terrorism: Understanding and Addressing the Root Causes of Radicalisation Among Groups with an Immigrant Heritage in Europe, Budapest, Hungary, 7-9th March, 2008. Please see a long first draft of this paper, and see also some pictures of the event at www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
Abstract: Why do young people who grew up in Europe kill innocent citizens in suicide attacks? In her paper, the author makes a link between the deep structure of terrorism and genocide, and offers humiliation as an explanation for both—feelings of humiliation, which carry the potential to lead to acts of humiliation and cycles of humiliation. Current historic times are characterised by two historically novel trends, first, rapidly increasing global interdependence, and second, a growing impact of the human rights message. Furthermore, new research indicates that one can feel as humiliated on behalf of victims one identifies with, as if one were to suffer this pain oneself, a phenomenon that is magnified when media give access to the suffering of people in far-flung places. Human rights ideals also compound this effect because humiliation represents the core violation of the human rights ideal of equality in dignity for all human beings. In the context of globalisation and human rights, therefore, humiliating people no longer produces humble underlings but risks fostering angry 'terrorists,' who have yet to realise that equal rights and dignity for all can only be attained by non-humiliating means. The Nelson-Mandela path out of humiliation, namely his strategy of embarking on proactive constructive social change instead of re-active cycles of humiliation, requires the nurturing, locally and globally, of a social and societal climate of mature differentiation, embedded into respect for the equality in dignity of all.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
See also Norway and the World after the 22nd of July 2011: The Significance of the World Dignity University Initiative (in Norwegian)
Norge og verden etter den 22. juli 2011: Betydningen av et Verdensuniversitet for verdighet og likeverd, av Evelin Lindner
Denne videoen ble tatt opp av Evelin Lindner i New York City den 3. november 2011.
Se også teksten i pdf format.
Se også Inga Bostad, prorektor av Universitetet i Oslo, og hennes personlige videohilsen som hun sendte til oss i august 2011, når vi hadde vår 17 årlige konferanse. Hun bekreftet hvor umåtelig viktig det er å arbeide for en global verdighetskultur og at å utvikle Verdensuniversitetet for verdighet og likeverd må være vår høyeste prioritet. Lasse Moer lagde videoen med Inga Bostad i Oslo. (Nøkkelord: Anders Behring Breivik, Utøya)
• 07 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Genocide
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Genocide" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
See, among others, article titled "Genocide, Humiliation, and Inferiority: An Interdisciplinary Perspective," in Robins, Nicholas and Adam Jones (Eds.), Genocides by the Oppressed: Subaltern Genocide in Theory and Practice, Bloomington, chapter 7, pp. 138-158. IN: Indiana University Press, 2009.
Abstract: Genocide has many perplexing characteristics. For example, is it solely and fundamentally about killing? If so, why are so many genocide victims not “merely” killed, but elaborately humiliated beforehand? Furthermore, are the victims of genocide not members of rather powerless minorities whose significance is blown up artificially? If so, why are resources mobilized to humiliate and kill people who are already powerless? Why, in short, are the powerless perceived as a threat? This chapter draws on the author’s work on humiliation studies, and other analyses of humiliation in the genocide-studies literature. It suggests that neither ethnic fault lines, nor dwindling resources or other “rational” conflicts of interest, nor simple scapegoating, nor any general “evilness” of human nature may lie at the heart of genocide. Rather, complex psychological mindsets and behavioral clusters operate according to their own “rationality.” These may entail acts of humiliation as a response to fear of humiliation – or, more precisely, to an imagined fear of future humiliations, based on past ones. Accordingly, genocide’s perpetrators may be drawn not only from elites, but also from a recently risen underclass exhibiting a complex web of features, sometimes labeled as an “inferiority complex.” These dynamics are relevant not only for genocide, but also for global terrorism and thus represent an important field of inquiry not only locally but also for global human security.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 08 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for War
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for War" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Evelin Lindner's reflections derive from close to forty years of international experience, first as a clinical psychologist, then coupled with social psychological research on humiliation. Her four-year doctoral research project in social psychology was titled The Feeling of Being Humiliated: A Central Theme in Armed Conflicts. A Study of the Role of Humiliation in Somalia, and Rwanda/Burundi, Between the Warring Parties, and in Relation to Third Intervening Parties (2000, University of Oslo). See also the chapter titled "Emotion and Conflict: Why It Is Important to Understand How Emotions Affect Conflict and How Conflict Affects Emotions," in Deutsch, Morton, Coleman, Peter T. and Eric C. Marcus (Eds.), The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. (2nd ed.), Chapter Twelve, pp. 268-293, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.
Introduction to Evelin Lindner's chapter: We have all experienced strong emotions related to conflict. Our emotions affect the conflicts in our lives and conflict, in turn, influences our emotions. This chapter begins with two brief examples, one international and one personal, to show the interaction between emotions and conflict. For the international example, let us look at World War II. Hitler was an isolated and alienated loner obsessed by the weakness of Germany during World War I and after. At some point, however, his obsessions began to resonate with the feelings of what was called in Germany "the little people" (die kleinen Leute, or the powerless). He offered a grand narrative of national humiliation and invited "the little people" to join in with the personal grievances they suffered due to the general political and economic misery. "The little people" occupied a distinctly subordinated position in Germany 's social hierarchy prior to Hitler's rise. They rallied to Hitler's cause because he provided them with a sense of importance. He was greeted as a savior, as a new kind of leader promising them love and unprecedented significance instead of insignificance. Only after World War II did they have to painfully recognize how he had abused their loyalty. As soon as he had enough popular support, Hitler built institutions that forced his manipulation on everybody, evoking noble feelings of loyalty and heroic resistance against humiliation, convincing the German people that the Aryan race was meant to lead and save the world. Hitler was an expert on feelings. Many Germans put such faith in Hitler that they followed him until 1945, even when it became clear that the situation was doomed. Intense loyalty and highly emotional participation in a collective obsession undercut even the most basic rational and ethical considerations. See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 09 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for World Economy
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for World Economy" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
A Dignity Economy is Evelin Lindner's fourth book (2012). Please read here a quote from this book: "Linda Hartling and I, since we are not economists, hesitate to analyze economic topics. On the other hand, we cannot avoid witnessing the humiliating effects of existing economic practices and institutions. Furthermore, since economic structures represent the largest frames within which human activities are played out, they are of utmost importance and cannot be overlooked. If the largest frames were to introduce systemic humiliation, in the way apartheid did, this would be extremely significant. Under apartheid, since it was an all-encompassing system, all lives and relationships were tainted with humiliation. It was impossible to dignify apartheid by merely being kinder to each other or creating well-intentioned small-scale initiatives: the entire system had to be shaped anew at the appropriate large-scale level. What if today's apartheid is represented by the fact that (exponential) growth is incompatible with sustainability?
Or should we encourage everybody to agree with Herman Cain, United States Republican presidential candidate, to individualize systemic problems? He said on October 5, 2011: "Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself." Should we follow Cain and try to make people fitter for a rat race that might be unfeasible and damaging for us all and our environment?
We often feel as helpless as the Archbishop of Canterbury, who called for a "rehumanising of economics", and a "discussion on the relationship between wealth and well-being," in a debate at the British Library on Tuesday evening, on October 1, 2010. "The Archbishop described himself as an 'economic illiterate.' He said the Church had been 'hypnotised by the assertion of expertise' on issues related to the economy."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin043.php and www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 10 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for National Sovereignty
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for National Sovereignty" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Evelin Lindner's reflections derive from close to forty years of international experience. These are some of her reflections: Throughout history, leaders were known to "unite" countries or even world regions. Unification, wherever it was undertaken, usually had "good" and "bad" aspects: there was the newly-found unity to be celebrated, yet, also oppressive uniformity to be decried. It was not unity in diversity that manifested, but uniformity without diversity. It is not impossible to propose that we, as a human family, find ourselves in a similar situation with respect to globalization today. A fragmented world is being united, globalized, however, this brings not just unity to the fore, also uniformity, in this case it is the uniformity by way of global corporation. The "king" who unites, is now the global corporation. Colonization started with trade, and trade typically treats all players as equal partners. Yet, throughout history, economic power has at some point been translated into political power. This is where we are now: Corporate power is being translated into global political power. National sovereignty is no longer sovereign, but a tool for global power to divide and rule.
What is the solution? A multitude of concepts have been proposed, all with the aim to honor the common interest of all of the human family. Cosmopolitanism, or world federalism are just two concepts to be mentioned. However, as it seems, the most important innovation will be to think in fluid and self-learning systems rather than the traditional rigid fixity. Democracy is already more flexible and adaptable than totalitarian systems, yet, it is not yet adaptable and resilient enough and needs to be developed further. "Harvesting" best practices for consensus building from all cultures around the world is the call of our time (see Lindners' article "Avoiding Humiliation - From Intercultural Communication to Global Interhuman Communication," in the Journal of Intercultural Communication, SIETAR Japan, Number 10, June 2007, pp. 21-38. See a draft for this lecture, which was revised and published in the Journal of Intercultural Communication, SIETAR Japan in June 2007.)
A quote from Lindner's Dignity Economy book: "The transition that is needed at this historical juncture, seems to require two core moves (using Max Weber's ideal-type approach (Lewis A. Coser, 1977, p. 224.): (1) a large enough group of committed citizens at all levels, from civil society to the gatekeepers of political and economic institutions, must muster sufficient awareness of global responsibility to implement (2) new global institutional frames of inclusionism and dignism, new frames that give new form to global institutions, form that would be truly functional for an interdependent world and would serve the interests of all of humankind, not the interests of a few. Institutions (2) have preeminence because decent institutions can drive feedback loops that foster global cooperation in a systemic rather than haphazard way. Any subsequent move will have the advantage of enjoying the support from the system, no longer depending on a few gifted individuals."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 11 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Peace, Harmony, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Peace, Harmony, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
See, among others, the article titled "Why There Can Be No Conflict Resolution as Long as People Are Being Humiliated," with the short version of a response by Finn Tschudi and a rejoinder by the author, see here the long version of A review by Finn Tschudi & Evelin Lindner's responses, July and August 2008, in the International Review of Education, Special Issue on Education for Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution edited by Birgit Brock-Utne, Volume 55 (2-3, May): 157-184, 2009, published in OnlineFirst on 27th December 2008, with DOI 10.1007/s11159-008-9125-9, and ISSN 0020-8566 (Print) and 1573-0638 (Online). Published by Springer (Dordrecht), with the original publication available at www.springerlink.com.
See a quote from Lindner's writing on harmony. "At present, we, the human family on planet Earth, take part in a large-scale historical Zeitgeist shift. It is the transition from unequal to equal worthiness, away from social arrangements where “higher” beings preside over “lesser” beings, toward ranking everybody as equally worthy. The first sentence of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” This represents also a transition from one definition of harmony to a new definition. Traditionally harmony is being defined as quiet submission of underlings in rigid authoritarian dominator systems (Riane Eisler’s coinage). The new definition acknowledges life as being a process, reality as being in flow, and it manifests itself through a never-ending dialogue between equals who nurture relationships of mutual respect and partnership.
A harmony revolution is profoundly different to former revolutions. In past times, revolutionaries simply replaced their former masters as new dominators, maintaining the same authoritarian style as their former masters, dominating underlings and militating against the "enemy camp." A harmony revolution means more. It means co-creating new forms of living together, as a united human family, in never-ending dialogues between equals who nurture relationships of mutual respect and partnership."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 12 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for a Sustainable World Future
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for a Sustainable World Future" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Linda Hartling and Evelin Lindner are the co-authors of the book The Moment Is Now (2012), which explains: "We live in extraordinary times. Never before in history have we, as human species, been presented with a window of opportunity as wide as now. None of our ancestors was able to see pictures of our Blue Planet from the perspective of an astronaut and see how we humans are one species living on one little planet. None of our ancestors lived in a world with such a comprehensive knowledge base, knowledge that - if we decide to use itis substantial enough to tackle all our challenges.
In a shrunk world, in contrast, we are now faced with the undeniable reality of global interdependence, a reality that is making itself felt in ways that would astonish our forefathers. Living on one planet has never been about anything else but interdependence—a planetary ecosphere is interconnected by default—however, this fact was obscured by lack of knowledge and by the dynamics of the security dilemma. Today, human interdependence must be taken seriously, it must be addressed with urgency. We now have the means to understand and to act upon the new reality that the world has grown too small for walls and too small for wars. Security is no longer to be had in the same ways as in the past. In the past, contention and enforced separation sometimes did bring a certain measure of security, at least temporarily. Powerful empires did succeed in giving their citizens a sense of security, at least as long as they had rulers who guarded and expanded the empire’s borders with due ruthlessness and cunning. In contrast, security in an interconnected world can only be had by nurturing relationships of global cohesion. Cohesion that is informed by equal dignity for all, a dignity that is manifested through the principle of unity in diversity."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 13 The Role of Human Rights Ideals for Honor, Dignity, Shame, and Humiliation
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Peace, Harmony, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
See, among others, the article titled "How the Human Rights Ideal of Equal Dignity Separates Humiliation from Shame," written for the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies in 2007. Please see the first draft here.
Abstract: Usually, science, at least until recently, has been dominated by Western scholars. Therefore, much research is situated in Western cultural contexts. A Western scholar typically begins research within his or her own cultural setting and then makes some allowances for historic and cultural variations. In the case of research on emotions, the focus is usually on affect, feeling, emotion, script, character and personality, while larger cultural contexts and an analysis of historic periods in human history are less emphasized. Dialogue and bridge-building with other academic fields and other cultural realms are not easy to achieve even in today’s increasingly connected world.
The author of this article has lived as a global citizen for more than thirty years (due to being born into a displaced family) and has thus acquired an understanding not just for one or two cultural realms, but for many. The result is that she paints a broad picture that includes historic and transcultural dimensions. In this article the usual approach is inversed: Larger cultural contexts as they were shaped throughout human history are used as a lens to understand emotions, with particular emphasis, in this article, on humiliation and shame. This is not to deny the importance of research on affect, feeling, emotion, script, character and personality, but to expand it.
Subsequent to the conclusion of the doctoral dissertation on humiliation in 2001, the author has expanded her studies, among others, in Europe, South East Asia, and the United States. She is currently building a theory of humiliation that is transcultural and transdisciplinary, entailing elements from anthropology, history, social philosophy, social psychology, sociology, and political science.
The central point of this article is that shame and humiliation are not a-historic emotional processes, but historical-cultural-social-emotional constructs that change over time. Humiliation began to separate out from the humility-shame-humiliation continuum around three hundred years ago, and there are two mutually excluding concepts of humiliation in use today around the world, one that is old, and one that is new.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 14 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Conflict
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Conflict" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
In her second book, Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict (2009), Lindner describes how realizing the promise of equality in dignity can help improve the human condition at all levels—from micro to meso to macro levels. This book uses a broad historical perspective that captures all of human history, from its hunter-gatherer origins to the promise of a globally united knowledge society in the future. It emphasizes the need to recognize and leave behind malign cultural, social, and psychological effects of the past. The book calls upon the world community, academics and lay people alike, to own up to the opportunities offered by increasing global interdependence. Please see more details on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin041.php.
Quoted from the Emotion and Conflict book (p. xv): "Imagine that you are a social worker and Eve is a woman in your district. She is regularly and severely beaten by her husband, Adam. You are afraid that Eve might not survive the abuse. Neighbors describe scenes of shouting and crying, and the bruises on Eve’s body are only too obvious. You visit her as frequently as your schedule permits. You try to convince her to protect herself better, for example by leaving her unsafe home and seeking refuge in protected housing designed for cases like hers. You consider her a victim and her husband a perpetrator. You explain that “domestic chastisement” has long been outlawed. You suggest that Adam’s behavior humiliates her and urge her to develop a “healthy” rage as a first step toward collecting sufficient strength to change her life for the better. In your eyes, this situation clearly represents a destructive conflict loaded with hot and violent emotion and you wish to contribute to its constructive resolution.
Sometimes, Eve is so exhausted that she seems to listen to you. At other times, however, she resists you, arguing: “Beating me is my husband’s way of loving me! I am not a victim! It is all my fault! I bring it upon myself! My grandmother taught me that arrogant women sin against divine traditions! We have to respect our traditions!” Her husband, of course, adamantly refuses to be labeled a perpetrator. He accuses you of viciously disturbing the peace of his home, of violating his male honor. To Adam, there is no destructive conflict, no suffering victim, no violent perpetrator—except in your mind, the mind of the social worker, a third party.
You cannot help remembering the South African elite and its defensiveness about apartheid. You also think of the current attention to so-called honor killings and how this practice has recently moved from the neutral category of cultural practice to the accusatory category of violation of human rights. Or the Indian caste system, that has only recently been renamed “Indian apartheid.” All such framings—unsurprisingly—do not meet with friendly acceptance from the supposed perpetrators."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 15. The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Love, Hate, and Other Emotions
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Love, Hate, and Other Emotions" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
For Evelin Lindner, feelings of humiliation are "the nuclear bomb of the emotions." In her doctoral research, she analyzes how, during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, were forced to "choose" between two "loves" in the service of cycles of humiliation. Her four-year doctoral research project in social psychology was titled The Feeling of Being Humiliated: A Central Theme in Armed Conflicts. A Study of the Role of Humiliation in Somalia, and Rwanda/Burundi, Between the Warring Parties, and in Relation to Third Intervening Parties (2000, University of Oslo).
In her second book, Emotion and Conflict: How Human Rights Can Dignify Emotion and Help Us Wage Good Conflict (2009), Lindner describes how realizing the promise of equality in dignity can help improve the human condition at all levels—from micro to meso to macro levels. This book uses a broad historical perspective that captures all of human history, from its hunter-gatherer origins to the promise of a globally united knowledge society in the future. It emphasizes the need to recognize and leave behind malign cultural, social, and psychological effects of the past. The book calls upon the world community, academics and lay people alike, to own up to the opportunities offered by increasing global interdependence. Please see more details on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin041.php.
She wrote, among others, in her Emotion and Conflict book (2009): "In Kenya, I heard stories of Hutu genocidaires who were in hiding and needed psychotherapy because they could not eat without seeing the small fingers of children on their plates. Many Hutus had been forced to kill their own families, their Tutsi spouses and Tutsi-looking children, to show their allegiance to the Hutu cause. Their love for the Hutu cause became pitted against their love for their family. After the genocide, they were alone, deprived of their beloved family-and the killers were none but themselves. The International Panel of Eminent Personalities confirms: "Hutu women married to Tutsi men were sometimes compelled to murder their Tutsi children to demonstrate their commitment to Hutu Power. The effect on these mothers is . . . beyond imagining."
...
This book attempts to show how the concept of ranked honor is the single largest “master manipulation” ever perpetrated (and still virulent, see more in Chapter 8). The driving force is the hideous suggestion entailed in ranked honor that it is unavoidable, either divinely ordained or nature’s order, that dignity is not equal but that “higher” beings are meant to preside over “lower” beings who are expected to subject themselves to their masters’ belief systems and decisions. In this way, ranked honor underlies and facilitates all other manipulations—it gives the power to define what is and what ought to be to a small master elite.
...
Only if we deeply understand the ideals of ranked honor versus equality in dignity can we forge a constructive transition to the latter. It is encouraging that slavery and apartheid are no longer regarded as legitimate almost everywhere on the globe. Or, for the most recent success on this path, it is a step forward that more than one hundred nations agreed in Dublin on May 30, 2008, on a treaty that will ban current designs of cluster bombs. Yet our psyches—even among the most enlightened human rights advocates—are still filled with bits and pieces of the emotional cluster bombs that our past cultural and social environments placed there. Inside ourselves and between ourselves, myriad destructive processes are still at work—we have yet to fully grasp the opportunities that human rights offer.
...
Throughout history, underlings have died for the honor of their masters, advised to define their own honor as faithful identification with their masters, without regard for their own health and survival and without questioning the reality of honor. Adolf Hitler required his followers to be ready to die for him “with enthusiasm” (“begeistert sterben”) Interview with Paul Lindner, July 22, 2008. And at the end, even the powerful themselves may pay with their own lives. Hitler’s “glory” ultimately ended in wretched death also for him personally.
...
Masters want their underlings to love them, and to hate their master's enemies. Love and hatred are being prescribed within a dominator context.
In short, honor (or, more precisely, the ranking order that is entailed in systems of honor and often in systems of power in general—read more in Chapter 5), driven by emotions, can have horrendous outcomes. Its potential for dismal destructiveness was always apparent, even in the past; however, its occasional successes worked to outweigh the perception of risk. Yet in today’s interdependent world, the concept of honor (and concepts of power that define power as “power over others”) is no longer suitable, and its outfall is even more negative. Destructive conflict is created unnecessarily when honor steers conflict resolution today. Today, global interdependence represents the ultimate deterrent for violent conflict resolution informed by honor—we need to learn much more constructive approaches to conflict."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 16 The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Love and Sexuality
"The Role of Dignity and Humiliation for Love and Sexuality" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security: Dignifying Relationships from Love, Sex, and Parenthood to World Affairs (2010) is Evelin Lindner's third book. Archbishop Desmond Tutu contributed with a Foreword. The book rounds off with an Afterword by Linda Hartling in honor of Jean Baker Miller and Don Klein. The book examines the social and political ramifications of human violations and world crises related to humiliation. It charts how humiliation is conditioned into individuals by large-scale, and systemic social forces. It offers ideas for counteracting the powerful psychological effects of humiliation in order to encourage constructive social, political, and cultural change.
The book is being "highly recommended" by Choice (in July 2010).
Quoted from the Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security book (p. 96): "Humankind learned to make fire; we learned to burn fossil fuel and utilize its force. We still have a long way to go until we efficiently make use of the force of nonfinite and nonpolluting resources such as the sun, the wind, the movement of waves and tides, geothermal heat, or perhaps even of the zero-point field.
With love, we have not yet even succeeded in making fire. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin opened the Introduction to this book by saying, “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
Our relationship with love is unsophisticated and wasteful. Early hominids were presumably impressed by the force of the fires that at times ravaged the savannah. Likewise, we are impressed by the force of love when it comes down on us like wildfire. Early hominids could not imagine that their successors in the 21st century would succeed in using this force to change almost all aspects of our lives, from powering airplanes to staying connected through the Internet. Similarly, we cannot imagine today that the use of the force of love will change all aspects of human life in the future (under the condition that humankind has not annihilated itself before reaching this new level of expertise)."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin042.php, and www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 17 Evelin Lindner: Global Research Experience: Egypt, Rwanda-Burundi, Somalia, Japan, China, USA, Europe
"Global Research Experience" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Evelin Lindner was interviewed by The Muses Journal: Love, Peace and Wisdom in 2005, and said: "'Never again' was to become central for my life. My life has turned out to be a 'project' rather than a 'normal life,' a project with the aim to learn about the world in order to apply lessons for 'never again.' My medical studies are part of this larger project. Already as a schoolgirl, I was interested in the world's cultures and languages and I eventually learned to familiarise myself with around 12 languages, among them the key languages of the world. My aim was to become part of other cultures, not only 'visit' 'them.' I wanted to develop a gut feeling for how people in different cultures define life and death, conflict and peace, love and hate, and how they look at 'others.' As a medical student, I was able to work in many parts of the world and immerse myself into various cultures."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 18 Evelin Lindner: A Personal Path From Humiliating Displacement to the Dignity of Global Citizenship
"A Personal Path From Humiliating Displacement to the Dignity of Global Citizenship" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Evelin Lindner's aim it to help increase awareness that we, as a human species, form one singe human family on a tiny home planet, whose stewardship is our shared responsibility. See her reflections on her website:
"It is important for me to make clear that my global life is not a homeless or restless life. I do not even use the term "travel," since I live in the global village and in a village one does not travel, one lives there, even if one moves around in it. When I look for cultural templates for my life, which treats our planet as one undivided locality, I can think of migrating animist hunter-gatherers, a way of life that defined being human prior to 10,000 years ago. I resonate with what indigenous native American leader Sitting Bull (1831-1890) said: "White men like to dig in the ground for their food. My people prefer to hunt the buffalo… White men like to stay in one place. My people want to move their tepees here and there to different hunting grounds. The life of white men is slavery. They are prisoners in their towns or farms. The life my people want is freedom." Clearly, I do not hunt buffalo, and I do not have a teepee. Yet, what I do is refraining from defining a small geographical locality as "my home." My home is the entire global village, or more precisely, the people I love in that village. I do not even see my life as nomadic, and, as mentioned above, I do not resonate with the notion of travel. To my view, I "stay in love," rather than "travel in circles in a caged rat race." In other words, I see myself being much more "still" and true to "my place," namely love, than those who sell out their soul for a rat race that is defined by large-scale societal frames that have increasingly become toxic during the past decades. I see many people travel extensively, yet, usually, they have a "caged rat race" frame within which they travel. I prefer to "stay still" in the realm of love. I am closer to a person who chooses to opt out of the rat race to live a simpler life nearer to nature, for example, than to a frequent business flyer who travels in circles in the isolated elite bubble of international hotels. I never search for a "place to stay." I move between different relational contexts of love and "a place to stay" is secondary to being embedded into relationships of mutual care."
Please see also "How Becoming a Global Citizen Can Have a Healing Effect," a paper presented at the 2006 ICU-COE Northeast Asian Dialogue: Sharing Narratives, Weaving/Mapping History, February 3-5, 2006, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo, Japan.
See also Jackie Wasilewski's invitation, pictures from Evelin's camera, and the organizers' pictures.
Introduction to the paper: "First versions of this paper were written for the 2006 ICU-COE Northeast Asian Boundary-spanning Dialogue Project (" Sharing Narratives, Weaving/Mapping History," February 3-5, 2006, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan). The participants were divided into four circles and encouraged to present their personal histories. A great sense of enthusiasm, almost exhilaration, permeated the Dialogue weekend. One of the most exiting aspects was that everybody had the permission to be a "human being" - as opposed to "a Chinese," or "a Korean," or "a Japanese." Usually, by stepping out of in-group definitions, one has to pay by sacrificing one's sense of belonging and mutual connection. During the Dialogue weekend, nobody was punished for failing to be adequately "loyal" to their in-group; nobody was ostracized for failing to be sufficiently "Japanese," or "Korean," or "Chinese." On the contrary, a new "in-group membership" was on offer - the membership in all humankind. No longer had the participants to carefully hide "unfitting" aspects of themselves; on the contrary, everybody was encouraged to just be "me" and would still be connected and loved. In the Dialogue weekend, everybody was allowed to break out of narrow in-group boundaries and forge a new in-group community, humankind.
In this paper I first outline how I initially felt a painful sense of not-belonging (I am born into a refugee family) and how I proceeded to building a deeply fulfilling and satisfying global identity. In the subsequent section I discuss what I gained with this approach. I conclude with advocating that we all need to cooperate in building an inclusive world for all."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 19 Global Citizenship as Path to Dignity and Prevention of Humiliation
"Global Citizenship as Path to Dignity and Prevention of Humiliation" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Evelin Lindner writes (in one of her upcoming books on dignity): "The caring element in anthropologist Alan Page Fiske's communal sharing (CS) template is currently stepping into the limelight and is taken more seriously, however, it needs to be highlighted and prioritized more, and more systematically.
The global village is currently acquiring a life of its own, beyond McLuhan’s initial connotations, but this process needs to be guided proactively. Citizens increasingly relate to each other across borders, states are losing their status as more or less isolated entities that constrain and define their citizens’ global relationships, however, such relationships can turn sour. Global terrorism is only one example for the fact that globalization does not necessarily lead to global friendship.
Even though a global 'supranational We-feeling' is in the making, and the 'struggle for recognition' by individuals alongside that of states is emerging as a force at the system level, such tendencies need to be nurtured and helped forward more systematically. We do see postindividual consciousness emerge (G. Heard, The Five Ages of Man, 1963), or unity consciousness (M. Hollick, The Science of Oneness: A Worldview for the Twenty-First Century, 2006), or a “Kantian culture” of collective security or “friendship” (A. Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics, 1999), or a global civic culture (E. Boulding, Building a Global Civic Culture: Education for an Interdependent World, 1988), or a world society (Alexander Wendt’s stage three).
A growing number of people are now joining the so-called cultural creatives movement and refuse “cynical realism” (P. H. Ray and S. R. Anderson, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World, 2000). Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson identify three main cultural tendencies: firstly moderns (endorsing the “realist” worldview of Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, big government, big business, big media, or past socialist, communist, and fascist movements); second, the first countermovement against moderns, the traditionals (the religious right and rural populations); and third, the most recent countermovement, the cultural creatives (valuing strong ecological sustainability for the planet, liberal on women’s issues, personal growth, authenticity, and antibig business). In the United States, traditionals comprise about 24-26 percent of the adult population (approximately 48 million people), moderns about 47-49 percent (approximately 95 million) and cultural creatives are about 26-28 percent (approximately 50 million). In the European Union, the cultural creatives are about 30-35 percent of the adult population.
What is lacking at the current point in human history is global leadership that informs the creation of a decent global community of social and ecological sustainability, following the call for a decent society by philosopher Avishai Margalit (The Decent Society, 1996). Viable global superordinate institutional structures are still lacking, structures that can effectively overcome Hobbesian anarchy among citizens and states and that can successfully attend to the wounds humankind has inflicted on its ecological environment."
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
• 20 How to Be a Mandela and Create a World of Freedom and Dignity instead of Fighting for Individual Freedom in an Undignified World?
"How to Be a Mandela and Create a World of Freedom and Dignity instead of Fighting for Individual Freedom in an Undignified World?" is a video clip that was recorded on October 30, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Linda Hartling, for the World Dignity University initiative.
Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Evelin Lindner, together with her colleagues, aim to act on Margaret Mead's saying when they work to manifest equal dignity for all living beings as a two-tiered refolution (Timothy Ash), or a two-tiered evolutionary reconstruction (Gar Alperovitz), and it must become a continuous, never-ending refolution. It is a two-tiered process because not just dominators are to be taken down, the dominator model itself is to be taken down. In former times, when rulers were toppled by revolution, their usurpers kept the system in place without reforming it; former underlings became the new dominators. The new partnership model, in contrast, calls for entirely new ways of living together.
The new ways are those of equal dignity manifested through unity in diversity, rather than uniformity and division. The new ways emphasize continuous process and fluidity, rather than rigidity. They emphasize learning, co-creating, moving ahead together. Partnership cannot be forced, it cannot be commanded, it cannot be straight jacketed into rigid rules. Partnership must be nudged and nurtured, through lovingly asking questions, through creating common ground, through forming relationships of social cohesion, from where we can walk together toward a more favorable future for all.
The Emotion and Conflict book recommends an action plan for humankind with two core loops to travel, (1) acquiring new awareness for global responsibility, (2) acquiring new personal skills of cooperation, and (3) creating new global institutional frames that enable new forms of global and local cooperation. Institutions (3) have preeminence because decent institutions can drive feedback loops that foster (1) and (2) in systemic rather than haphazard ways. The first loop, the initial realization of new institutions, depends on a few Nelson Mandela-like individuals, who “nudge” the world’s systems into a more constructive frame. The second and subsequent loops will have the advantage of enjoying the support from the system, no longer only depending on a few gifted individuals. A new culture has to emerge, locally and globally, at all societal, social, and psychological levels, a truly humane culture of Unity in Diversity, where people have access to the full range of their emotions and learn to regulate them so that their motivational force can drive the creation of an ecologically and socially sustainable world rather than a world of destruction.
See more on www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php.
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