Giving Voice to Values: Having Difficult Conversations in a Polarized World (Zoom)
Spring (9 - 13 hours) | Registration opens 3/6/2025 12:00 AM EST
This course will help individuals understand personal values, the ways such values contribute to polarization, and to bridge the divisions that have become part of our civic discourse. There are many techniques one can learn to help manage conversations with people different from you as well as organizations that are working to change the conversation so that we can work toward more civil discourse.
This course will both outline and provide opportunities to practice skills for having conversations that can be used to engage in public political debates, write op-eds in a local newspaper, or just to converse civilly with your own family at Thanksgiving. If you’re interested in changing the conversation about our political divides in your own family, community groups, or nationally, then this is the course for you!
Shawn Martin
Shawn Martin is a librarian at Dartmouth College, where, among other things, he works to create a more viable academic publishing system. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in history and a Ph.D. in information science and the history and philosophy of science. For many years, Shawn has also worked on political campaigns, interfaith dialogue initiatives, and currently serves as the New Hampshire Coordinator for Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to bridge the divides between Americans.