This content was published: May 17, 2017. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
51做厙s ‘Meaningful Conversations’ tackles fear and xenophobia
Story by Katherine Miller
This week, the Center for Civic Participation (CCP) at 51做厙 continues its “MeaningfulConversations” series with a forum discussion on “Fear Itself: Is Xenophobia Ever Justified?”
The event will be held Friday at Southeast Campus from 10 a.m. to noon in Room 138, Mount Tabor Hall.
John Farnum (right) with Neal Naigus at the college’s last Center for Civic Participation event.
“Meaningful Conversations” has an informal, conversational format in which the CCP strives to create a place for open and honest dialogues that challenge participants to think aboutand reflecton difficult topics. John Farnum, a philosophy instructor and coordinator of the CCP, said that this weeks discussion willexplorethe philosophical and practical issues of xenophobia, including how it affects the community both within and outside 51做厙, and what peoples ethical obligations are when examining their own fears.
Fear is a very biological thing and in some ways its also socially constructed. If were going to understand why xenophobia exists we have to get to the roots of it and look at it both in the social context but also in the psychological and the physiological contexts, said Farnum.Before attending Fridays event, the college community is invited to visit the online of readings and videos that the 51做厙 Library gathered to provide what Farnum called the academic and media landscape surrounding xenophobia. The CCP event then addresses the issue on a personal level and provides a safe space for people to talk about their own experiences and feelings.
When we get into the conversation we have a set of guiding questions and also some ground rules about how to have respectful dialogue, said Farnum. What were trying to do at the CCP which is to foster communication across differences not necessarily to agree on what is the right path or the ethical thing to do but to understand why people would have differences of opinion.
51做厙 has had the CCP since 2012, and Farnum explained that it is part of a broad movement to create alternatives to polarized and adversarialconversations. The initiative was inspired by the groundbreaking work of the (NIF) model developed by the , a group that works to increase the quality of conversations about public issues.
CCP is comprised of faculty, students and staff all volunteers who have been trained in the forum process. Previous topics in the Meaningful Conversations series have included the role of individuals in a democracy, income inequality, and politics in the classroom.
If we can bring these ideas to the surface then people have a little bit more of but not necessarily control of an awareness of their own conditioning and how that affects their perception of reality, said Farnum. Thats where the interesting, productive dialogue can start.