Interfaith Dialogue in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley, known as the technology hub of the USA, has emerged as a medley of places of religious worship. It has become a home to wealthy Indian Americas and to many gods and goddesses who have come to reside there as well. Indian Americans have contributed significantly to the mushrooming of temples in this region. This chapter attempts to answer the following questions: How does diaspora provide a space to reconstruct the identity of the women practitioners? How does religion enable them to negotiate their roles in the public space? In this chapter, the author argues that Hindu women in the diaspora play a very significant role in selectively performing religious rituals in public places of worship as brought from their homeland. In performing these rituals, women are creating a distinct space in mainstream public culture to reconstruct their identity and agency beyond their roles as homemakers and professionals. In this specific case study, Odia women living in Northern California are not only reshaping their traditions but are engaged in interreligious dialogue in Silicon Valley corporate culture.

Circle Peace-Making in Alaska

In this chapter, the authors explore the re-emergence of peace-making in a Tlingit community, its renaissance, and its value as a contemporary method of dispute resolution in rural Alaska. The circle peacemaking process (herein “circle peace-making”) works in collaboration with the State of Alaska judicial system, as a local restorative practice addressing misdemeanors and juvenile offenses. Local law enforcement and families within communities can refer misdemeanor and young offenders to circle peace-making. Local schools can also refer students who are in need of guidance and direction to address misbehaviors.

Intercultural Dialogue as Constructive and Positive Communication

This chapter conceptually highlights an important role intercultural dialogue plays in international relations as constructive and positive communication to achieve intercultural understanding and global peace-building. It also reflects on how conflicts are caused and how they could be managed across cultural boundaries. This is apparently becoming increasingly urgent as there are many intercultural conflicts, ranging from politics to diverse cultural practices. All these issues combined make intercultural relations at country level tense and in turn cause instability in some regions around the world. There are many reasons behind the situation, but one of the major reasons is lack of sufficient intercultural communication at an equal footing. It is worth reflecting on history as a guide to the present and future. Only when consistent democracy and equal rights are implemented for international community to participate in intercultural dialogue and intercultural communication in a constructive and positive manner is it conducive to international stability and global peace-building.

Refugee Education in Greece

This chapter is an original study in a new sector in education in Greece, refugee education, which probes into the challenges, needs, and priorities of teachers (N=12) who are engaged with refugee students' educational support and social integration into the Greek context. The research is grounded on fieldwork and content analysis of semi-structured interviews among teachers who work in refugee camps and non-formal educational settings. It depicts the challenges and needs in refugee education today, showing that provisions through non-formal education settings could offer significant activities and teaching services to refugee students. It highlights the importance of intercultural education in times of constant population movement, since the intercultural notion respects all students no matter nationality, religion, and socio-economic background. It raises the need for intercultural educational policies as a high priority because they can provide assistance and guidance to educators, enable social interaction amongst all diverse students, and empower social stability as well.

Linguistic and Philosophical Resources for Intercultural Dialogue on Compromise

This chapter proposes to examine compromise in its linguistic dimension, in other words, its epistemic rewording based on language resources, and in its cultural dimension (i.e., as it is culturally defined and, as such, historically variable). To do so, this research shall focus on cross-cultural encounters between European and Japanese philosophy, and more specifically on the works of Kyoto School's philosophers and the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the need to establish an intercultural dialogue on the notion of compromise and to take into account cross-fertilization between cultures in order to open new paths of inquiry and a new understanding of cultural differences.

Searching for a Positive Intercultural Transition Between Syrian Refugees and Turkish Society

Existing studies on Syrian refugees in Turkey focused either on the difficulties refugees have been experiencing or on how refugee identities have been unilaterally transformed during their interaction with the host culture. Drawing on the literature on identity and politics of recognition, this chapter argues that intercultural encounters transform the identities, values, and norms of both host communities and refugees. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with non-camp Syrian refugees and local citizens in the cities of Mersin and Adana to uncover the interactions of refugees and the host society, focusing on intercultural encounters at diverse settings, including classrooms, schools, campuses, hospitals, and neighborhoods. The chapter reveals that recognition of diverse cultures, respect, empathy, and social support influence intercultural interactions in a positive way. It also shows that reflexivity and the willingness to interact on the part of both refugees and the host culture facilitate interactions and negotiations between them.

Dialogue as Playfulness

This chapter uses Gergen's shift of focus from independent and coherent selves to relational beings and Klein and Maimon's mathematical model of consciousness and suggests a new approach to dialogue. Through the metaphor of playfulness, this chapter stresses the importance of training in perspective taking and coordinated experiences in cases of conflict. Moreover, this chapter suggests the importance of integrating other forces operating within the context of conflict into the dialogic process. The chapter demonstrates the theoretical dimensions discussed through the example of conflict over the status of refugees in a Tel-Aviv neighborhood.

Communication as Normative Dialogue

Dialogue is not simply a way to talk and to verbally convey ideas, messages, and meanings. It is more than a framework to express feelings, needs, and wishes, and more than an opportunity to interconnect or converse beyond and despite the expected challenge of bridging differences and accommodating divergence. In essence, dialogue is more about the transformation of attitudes, opinions, and practices rather than their transmission. In other words, the focus is on conversion, not on conduction. In the specific context of dialogue, the transformation pertains to an orientation or mindset—from self-centeredness to relationship, and to attitude toward the Other—from instrumentalizing to dignifying. This chapter explores communication as normative dialogue.

Everyday Religious Encounters and Inter-Faith Relations in Festac Town, Lagos (Southwest Nigeria)

This chapter examines everyday religious encounters and inter-faith relations in Festac Town, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. It explores the nature of these encounters and the factors facilitating its conduct. Globally, subjects dealing with inter-religious relations continue to elicit scholarly debates. A reason for this is linked to the intense rivalries or tensions among disparate religious groups over, for instance, the (re)affirmation of religious boundaries or the right to use the hijab in secular or missionary schools within a contentious locality. While these have often spurred serious confrontations in many areas, there are instances where this form of religious encounters manifests positively elsewhere. Festac Town, with a large mix of Muslims and Christians, satisfies the above position. Founded in 1977, religious interactions in the town have not only been fluid but exhibit a high level of tolerance. Based on extensive oral interviews and secondary sources, the chapter notes that inter-faith harmony is a key component that reinforces the town's quest for good neighborliness.

Finding a Way In

Dialogue is central to the process of deep understanding and to building true communities that not only respect cultural and spiritual/faith differences but also excel and thrive at intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels because of those differences. Although the benefits of dialogue as a pathway to authentic interfaith and intercultural communities are well documented, dialogue is not easy to develop and sustain within complex systems, such as healthcare and higher education. Thus, when dialogue as a means for deeper intercultural or interfaith understanding has not been readily agreed to by participants, the challenges met along the dialogic pathway can be difficult to sell. Following a review of the foundational literature pertaining to calling-out and calling-in, this chapter examines the lessons learned from teaching the praxis of calling-in versus calling-out as a starting point for the development and maintenance of dialogue across differences within complex systems.