Feb
2015
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Every day is an opportunity to bring greater dignity into the lives of others. In these troubling times, we hope your involvement with Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) strengthens your courage, inspiration, and energy to take action. Thank you for all you do to create a world that dignifies the lives of all people. Please allow us to share the latest news from HumanDHS.
Kigali Independent University
Kigali Independent
University
You're Invited!rwanda

June 5th - 8th, 2015 - Kigali, Rwanda
25th Annual Human Dignity and
Humiliation Studies Conference
We are eagerly looking forward to our 25th Annual HumanDHS Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. This gathering of our network will be convened in the spirit of the United Nations' agenda of building "A Life of Dignity for All."


Our conference will bring together a community of highly esteemed colleagues and friends from the local region and from around the world! We are delighted that John Braithwaite, distinguished law professor at the Australian National University and the recipient of numerous awards for his work on restorative justice, will be joining us. He kindly shares, "There is so much to learn from the people of Rwanda about how to restore dignity. I'm looking forward to a gathering of people of vision and wisdom in Kigali."

 

We are also delighted to welcome Magnus Haavelsrud, professor of education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. He encourages us to ask ourselves, "How could our meeting in Kigali foster constructive ways and means in the prevention of humiliation through policies and practices in formal, informal, and nonformal education?"

Emmanuel Ndahimana
We are profoundly grateful to our Conference Convener Emmanuel Ndahimana, longtime member of the HumanDHS Global Advisory Board, for graciously hosting this conference. We are also grateful for the kind support of Professor Dr. Rwigamba Balinda, founder and president of the Kigali Independent University/Université Libre de Kigali (ULK). His institution is generously providing the facilities for this conference.

If you would like to participate in this conference, please kindly send your message, along with your CV or other introductory information, to: conferences@humiliationstudies.org
December 3rd - 4th, 2015workshop2015
12th Annual Workshop on Transforming
Humiliation and Violent Conflict
Columbia University, Teachers College, New York City

Please consider joining us for our annual Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, December 3rd - 4th, 2015. This workshop provides our community with a rare opportunity to explore and discuss a multitude of topics and initiatives designed to prevent and reduce all forms of humiliation and violent conflict. Please visit last year's workshop webpage to see how we go about this event.

 

There are many ways to participate. Please let us know if you would like to join us as early as you can, particularly if you would like to contribute to one of our Dignilogue Sessions (Dignity + Dialogue Sessions). We rotate contributors, and we often find our preplanned Dignilogue Sessions are filled by May. In addition, you may enjoy being a facilitator or a contributor to our new Co-Created Dignilogue Sessions, or, in general, we would be delighted to have your participation as a supporter or observer. We invite all participants to share their reflections, abstracts, and papers with everyone by sending us their materials (Powerpoint or Word files) in advance to post on our workshop website. 

 

You are warmly invited to visit our workshop webpage to learn more about this event as it unfolds. If you would like to participate, please kindly send your message, along with your CV or other introductory information, to: workshops@humiliationstudies.org 
September 19th - 23rd, 2016Dubrovnik
27th Annual Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Conference
Cities at Risk:
From Humiliation to Dignity 
Dubrovnik, Croatia
We warmly invite you to join us for our 2016 HumanDHS Conference in Croatia. This conference will be organized in cooperation with the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik and the World Dignity University Initiative, in collaboration with the University of Dubrovnik; the University of Oslo, Norway; and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. We want to express our special appreciation to Kjell Skyllstad, a longtime member of the HumanDHS Advisory Board, for his leadership in support of this conference. Please read more about this event as it develops...
News from Dignity Pressdignitypress

As you may know, we created Dignity Press (DP) to publish books that encourage understanding and efforts to advance human dignity around the world.

 

Here are a few titles from our latest publications:

WDU Globe

These books are as multifaceted as our community. Topics range from a textbook for teachers (Hayal Köksal) and the sharing of deep reflections (David Ho, George Wolfe), to poetic and humorous essays (Arctic Queen, Petrus Ceelen). Very soon two more books will be available:

  • Unbounded Organization - Gavin Andersson and Howard Richards. This is a small textbook presenting a proven method to activate communities to take development in their own hands. The authors have built their method on the work of Clodomir Santos de Morais.

  • A Mighty Case Against War - Kathy Beckwith. This author analyzes America's history of warfare and presents what can be learned from that for a future without war.

We thank all authors who have submitted manuscripts for publication. We are looking forward to seeing more fine Dignity Press books published later this year. Please join us in thanking Uli Spalthoff, as well as all of the authors and all who donate enormous time and energy to Dignity Press! To read more...
World Dignity University Logo
wduOur World Dignity University
Project Grows:
Would You Like to Help? 
The intention of the World Dignity University Initiative is to put human dignity at the core of learning. We are happy to see growing interest in this initiative among friends of the HumanDHS network. Some of you have already approached us about helping with this initiative or offering courses. We are very thankful for your interest. 

We have setup a Learning Management System (Moodle) to manage courses. We now urgently need help to take this project to the next level: developing various course offerings. That's why we invite all interested friends of HumanDHS to let us know if you would like to join the WDU team. With your support and participation, we will help teachers develop educational programs using the Moodle system, and, of course, we would welcome a course by you! 

Some of you may have experience with Moodle. Moodle is easy to learn. If you can manage a Facebook page, you can learn Moodle. If you would like to participate in this initiative, we would be very glad if you could start by viewing the following introductory videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/moodlehq. 
Fall 2015elearning
A Graduate or Professional E-Learning Opportunity:
Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Sustainable Post-Disaster Reconstruction
University of Massachusetts, Boston
This online course provides learners with the opportunity to earn graduate or professional credit while they explore mutually dignifying and sustainable ways of responding to disasters. It is offered through the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and instructed by Linda Hartling, Evelin Lindner, Michael Britton, and Uli Spalthoff. Please feel free to download a syllabus. To learn more...
2017 - Specific Dates To Be Announced
29th Annual Human Dignity and
Humiliation Studies Conference
Dignity in Times of Globalization 
Indore, India
We are thrilled to announce that our 2017 HumanDHS Conference will be convened in Indore, India! Please join us in thanking Deepak Tripathi for having built such wonderful connections to our hosts from the Renaissance Indira Group of Institutions, Director of Public Relations Amol Mishra and Vinita Raj, our event coordinator. Their leadership and support make this conference possible.  

The Renaissance Indira Group of Institutions were established several years ago in memory of Indira Gandhi, late prime minister of India. Indore is a hub of education and industry and has an illustrious history behind it. It consists of a number of colleges, including a business school and a law school.
Journal of HumanDHS Update: Moving Forwardjhdhs
We would love to have all interested authors, reviewers, or readers register and test our website for the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies. We are finalizing the website and the format of this new e-publication. To register or to learn more...

A Review of Our 11th Annual Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict
Columbia University, Teachers College, New York City

 

  
Evelin Lindner, Morton Deutsch,
and Linda Hartling
  • Exciting news! Morton Deutsch, a founding father of the field of conflict resolution, agreed to be our first (and only) Honorary Lifetime Member of the HumanDHS Board of Directors! His work has been at the core of our efforts. We are thrilled to be able to honor his countless intellectual and inspirational contributions by recognizing him as an official Lifetime Member of the HumanDHS Board of Directors.
  • Work That Dignifies the Lives of All People was the theme of our workshop this year. It challenged us to consider how to design all aspects of our lives for equal dignity. We were grateful to our distinguished contributors David Yamada and James E. Jones who shared powerful stories of living and working in dignity at our annual Public Event. This memorable evening also included musical contributions from Fred Ellis and his students and concluded with the music of George Wolfe and Eric Edberg.
  • Our workshop program included two remarkable preplanned Dignilogue Sessions (Dignity + Dialogue). We encourage you to see Dignilogue 1: "How are human dignity and humiliation relevant to destructive conflict?" and Dignilogue 2: "How can we cultivate dignity?"
A Dignilogue Session
A Dignilogue Session
In addition, we launched a new way of "digniloguing." Phil Brown (with the support of Safa Heuer and Tonya Hammer) introduced an opportunity for participants to co-create Dignilogue Sessions. Contributors formed groups to generate conversations around important topics of interest or concern.

 

We were especially grateful to all the volunteers from each group who shared their ideas by recording short videos for the World Dignity University Initiative. We are very pleased to share a sample of this new experience of Co-Created Dignilogues: Session #1 and Session #2.

  • On the final day of the workshop, we celebrated the 60th birthday year of Founding President Evelin Lindner and the 70th birthday year of our Director of Dignifunding Richard Slaven. Both enjoyed being lovingly and playfully honored with a HumanDHS "Half-a-Lifetime" Achievement Award!
  • Please see more highlights and pictures from the workshop on our webpage.

Creating a Dignicommunity

 

As you know, this workshop is part of a larger process. It is much more than a stand-alone event. It is part of the overall mission of our global dignity movement, which is to create an atmosphere in which people can meet on a plane of mutual friendship and equality in dignity. It was profoundly touching to see how all participants worked together to build supportive relationships, striving to compassionately create unity and authentic connection enriched by diversity.

Conference Careholders
Conference Careholders

 

Special Appreciations

 

We wish to thank all of our friends at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution  and Liz Hernandez for the ongoing support of this event. We also wish to thank our collaborative team of "Conference Careholders" under the leadership of our Conference Coordinator Tonya Hammer. Their kind care made this workshop possible.


Please join us in thanking our outstanding moderators Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Phil Brown, David Yamada, and Tonya Hammer for their leadership facilitating our preplanned Dignilogue Sessions. Also, please join us in thanking Anna Strout, Hua-Chu Yen, and Christine de Michele for their valuable contributions in documenting the workshop in photos and video.


Most of all, thanks to all who made this workshop an extraordinary experience that will reverberate in our lives and in our work throughout the year!
Quick Links

Thank you for all you do to create a world of equal dignity for all! 

 

Evelin Lindner, MD, PhDs, Founding President

Linda Hartling, PhD, Director

Uli Spalthoff, PhD, Director of Project Development and Systems Administration   

Michael Britton, EdD, PhD, Board Member  

Richard Slaven, PhD, Director of Dignifunding

Hands Holding Globe

A world without humiliation dignifies us all!


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