Oct
2015

Take a Look!

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Warmest Greetings!

Each day, new developments around the globe remind us of the urgency of our efforts. The Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS) network is committed to bringing dignity into the lives of all people, and there is a world of work to be done.

Thank you for all you do for dignity and for joining us in this challenging endeavor. We hope this edition of "Take a Look" will encourage and energize your efforts to keep going forward.

Celebrating the 25th Annual Human Dignity Conference in Kigali, Rwanda

It was the greatest honor to host our 25th Human Dignity Conference in Rwanda, in June! We are humbly aware that without the remarkable efforts of our hosts, it would not have been possible to bring our community together in this nation at the forefront of difficult social transformation.

Rwanda is one of the most important global locations for learning about the suffering that stems from cycles of humiliation. Thinking as a global family, we need to learn how to cultivate social infrastructures that heal the wounds of history and encourage a new world of mutually dignifying opportunities.

There are not enough words to express our gratitude to all of our Rwandan colleagues and friends who trusted the integrity of HumanDHS's efforts, both prior to this conference and throughout it. There are not enough words to describe our gratitude to all who helped build the relational bridges that led us to many deep dialogues and happy outcomes.

Emmanuel Ndahimana

In particular, we are forever grateful to our inspirer and convener Emmanuel Ndahimana. It was his visionary leadership that encouraged us to organize our conference in Kigali. We would equally like to convey our profound gratitude to the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) for hosting our conference with such visionary and extraordinarily generous support. In particular, we are grateful for the support of Bishop John Rucyahana, the NURC President, and Dr. Jean Baptiste Habyalimana, its Executive Secretary, with Johnson Mugaga kindly standing in for Jean Baptiste Habyalimana while he was away (in the weeks following the conference, we were pleased to learn that Dr. Habyalimana was appointed Ambassador of Rwanda to Congo Brazzaville).

In addition, Professor of Anthropology D�o Mbonyinkebe Sebahire and Fr. Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi played extremely important roles in making this event possible. In appreciation of the support of the NURC, it will be our community's ongoing honor and duty to spread the word about the outstanding efforts of this organization that we had the privilege of experiencing firsthand.

National Unity and Reconciliation Commission

Republic of Rwanda

Our Public Event on Day 3 of the conference was an example of the rich intellectual sharing offered by those who attended. Bishop Rucyahana opened this day with a remarkable talk and also concluded the day. The list below illustrates the far-reaching topics discussed:

What the World Can Learn from Rwanda's Experience - Johnson Mugaga, on behalf of Dr. Jean Baptiste Habyalimana
Restorative Justice in Rwanda: The Gacaca Experience - Odette Yankulije, Principal State Attorney, Ministry of Justice
Fighting the Genocide Ideology and Denial - Jean-Damasc�ne Gasanabo, Director General of Research and Documentation, Centre on Genocide, National Commission for the Fight against Genocide
Healing the Wounds of Humiliation - H�l�ne Lewis, psychotherapist, South Africa
Preventing Humiliation Through Education - Professor Magnus Haavelsrud, Global Peace Education, Norway
Honoring Felicitas Niyitegeka, a Martyr of Genocide - Fr. Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi

Our media appearances in Rwanda were widely acclaimed. HumanDHS President Evelin Lindner recommended that all participants be interviewed by local journalists. Please see the media clip that Evelin received on June 22nd, with interviews of H�l�ne Lewis, Magnus Haavelsrud, and D�o Mbonyinkebe Sebahire, among others. We also invite you to read the reflections published in our community report on this conference.

Memories of this conference will stay with us for the rest of our lives, and we will always consider those who joined us heroes of human dignity.

2014 Workshop at Columbia University

December 3rd - 4th, 2015

12th Annual Workshop on
Transforming Humiliation
and Violent Conflict

Honoring Alfred Nobel's Message

Columbia University, Teachers College, New York City

We are looking forward to seeing many of you at our annual Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, December 3rd - 4th, 2015. We are especially excited because we will be Honoring Alfred Nobel's Message and all who have been nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize that includes our HumanDHS Founding President Evelin Lindner.

This workshop provides us with a special opportunity to build creative collaboration grounded in mutual care and dignity. Please visit last year's workshop webpage to see how we go about this event.

2014 Workshop - Team of Careholders

We are especially grateful to our leadership team of "Careholders" who make this program possible. Careholders oversee crucial components of the workshop, including welcoming and registration; meeting/greeting; videography/photography; music/movement; moderating/facilitating; and time keeping. Their efforts nurture the unique relational climate that encourages rich, empathic, and energized engagement.

If you would like to join our Careholder Team this year, we would be delighted to hear from you!

We are looking forward to another year of fascinating Dignilogue Sessions (Dignity + Dialogue discussions). Each year we rotate contributors to our preplanned Dignilogue Sessions, which are typically filled early in the year.

If our preplanned Dignilogue Sessions are full, you are invited to be a facilitator or a contributor to our Co-Created Dignilogue Sessions. Please bring your ideas for discussion. Also, we always warmly welcome your participation as a supporter or observer.

Prior to the workshop, you are invited to share your abstracts, papers, or other related materials with everyone by emailing these items to us in advance. We look forward to posting your contributions (e.g., PowerPoint, Word docs, etc.) on our workshop website. Thank you, too, for checking your brief biography on the website; please let us know if your biography needs to be updated. Finally, we encourage you to download, print, and complete your Appreciative Introduction. These introductions give everyone an opportunity to learn about you and your valuable work in the world. Thank you for bringing it with you!

Dear friend, we hope you will visit our workshop webpage regularly as it is continuously updated as this event unfolds. If you are new to our network and you would like to participate, we thank you for emailing your inquiry, along with your CV or other introductory information, to: workshops@humiliationstudies.org.

You are also invited to mark your calendars to join us for this annual workshop in December of 2016 and 2017.

Announcing a New Collaboration in Higher Education

The World Dignity University Initiative Is Joining Hands with the Western Institute of Social Research to Offer Dignity Studies

The World Dignity University (WDU) Initiative and the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) are pleased to announce a partnership that will provide adult learners the opportunity to pursue the multidisciplinary study of topics related to human dignity and social change. This collaboration will provide individuals with flexible, learner-centered graduate degree programs.

The WDU Initiative is an affiliate of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS), a global, multidisciplinary network of scholars, practitioners, activists, and students committed to the advancement of human dignity around the world. WDU was initiated in 2011 to foster educational programs related to human dignity, both independently and in ongoing and temporary partnerships with other institutions and individuals.

The WISR is a small, nontraditional, nonprofit university in Berkeley, California, founded in 1975 to offer innovative degree programs emphasizing social change, community involvement, and multiculturalism. WISR's interdisciplinary and personalized degree programs include Master's programs in Education, in Community Leadership and Justice, and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program.

The WDU-WISR collaboration will allow students to pursue a WISR graduate degree, based largely on multidisciplinary readings, learning projects, and a thesis or dissertation on topics related to human dignity. Students will be working with faculty drawn from WISR's core faculty and from the WDU and HumanDHS communities to serve as adjunct WISR faculty for this purpose. Three current WISR graduate degree programs are eligible for this "Dignity Studies" specialization:

M.S. in Community Leadership and Justice
M.S. in Education
Ed.D. in Higher Education and Social Change

In exceptional cases, people may be able to pursue a BS degree (in Community Leadership and Justice) if they can demonstrate prior extensive experience and expertise in community and/or professional involvement.

All three programs have a small number of required courses, each of which has some required readings, but primarily involves learner-defined action and/or research projects culminating in papers related to the student's purposes and interests. Students pursuing a Dignity Studies specialization would take a 5-credit course, "Dignity Studies," as part of their required courses.

For more information, please contact John Bilorusky, PhD, at: johnb@wisr.edu

Dignity Press: Please See Our New Webpage

We are pleased to announce a new look for the Dignity Press (DP) webpage! Now visitors can easily scroll through the covers of each book and instantly click on a specific book to read a description.

We are deeply grateful to Uli Spalthoff, DP Executive Director of Operations, for creating this wonderful, user-friendly feature that allows everyone to explore all of the remarkable books in the DP collection.

DP publishes books that encourage understanding and efforts to advance human dignity around the world. As indicated by our logo, we look at human dignity from a global perspective. Our authors are from all over the world, and our books address human dignity and humiliation from a variety of perspectives.

Our Latest Publication:

No Greater Love: Testimonies on the Life and Death of Felicitas Niyitegeka - Jean d'Amour Dusengumuremyi. Sister Felicitas Niyitegeka was the director of the Centre Saint-Pierre in Giseny, Rwanda. It was there that she and her sisters sheltered Tutsi refugees during the 1994 genocide. Shortly before she was killed she wrote this letter to her brother: "Dearest brother, Thank you for your willingness to save me. But instead of saving my life by abandoning the 43 people about to die, I prefer to die with them. Pray for us that we may arrive in heaven and say goodbye for me to our mother, brother and sisters..."

This book may be ordered from our website. The author and Dignity Press will use the income from this book to support extremely poor communities in Rwanda. During their visit to Rwanda this summer, Uli Spalthoff and his wife had the privilege to visit some of these communities together with the author.

We invite you to visit our webpage to learn more about this and other DP publications!

Please Make Plans to Join Us for Our 2016 Conference in Dubrovnik

September 19th - 23rd, 2016

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.

Appreciating the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Recipients and Nominees

This year we are recognizing all of the remarkable individuals and groups who were nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize! You can see a list of nominees here.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. We warmly congratulate the Quartet for their crucially important work!

Evelin Lindner, MD, PhDs

Our entire community was delighted to learn that our Founding President Evelin Lindner, as representative of our HumanDHS network, was included among the nominees. Her nomination is an affirmation of our global dignity work and her forty years of service and action to bring peace and dignity into the lives of all people. Please see her nomination here.

You are invited to attend Evelin's upcoming talks at the University of Oslo, Norway, in March 2016:

March 2nd - Guest lecture on the dynamics of humiliation in countries in transition (case of Rwanda) at the Department of Psychology.
March 7th, 12:00 PM - Brown bag lunch talk at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights
(a few participants from outside may participate; if you are interested, please contact Catherine Kullgreen about availability).

We also invite you to read Evelin's reflections about her Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

Each of us plays a vital role in bringing greater dignity and peace into the world.

In recognition and appreciation of our global collaboration, we would love to hear your reflections; that is, what inspires your efforts and ongoing commitment to cultivating dignity and peace in the world? Thank you for allowing us to share your reflections with the many members of our global dignity family. You are warmly invited to post your message here.

Your words will encourage our HumanDHS community and encourage all who work for a world of peace, a world that dignifies the lives of all people.

Rajwada Palace

Announcing Our 2017 Conference in Indore, India

August 2017

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, organized in cooperation with our World Dignity University

Initiative, will be convened in Indore, India! Please join us in thanking Deepak Tripathi for having built such wonderful connections to our hosts, the Indore Indira Business School. The leadership and support of its Director of Public Relations, Amol Mishra, and its Event Coordinator, Vinita Raj, make this conference possible. Indore is a hub of education and industry and has an illustrious history.