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Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict

Submitted by ujpadmin2 on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 10:01am.
When: Sunday, November 11, 2012, 7:00 pm
Where: Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church • 10 Church Street • Gloucester
2012 Nov 11 - 7:00pm

Donna Hicks
Author and Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
The desire for dignity is universal and powerful. It is a motivating force behind all human interaction—in families, in communities, in the business world, and in relationships at the international level. When dignity is violated, the response is likely to involve aggression, even violence, hatred, and vengeance. On the other hand, when people treat one another with dignity, they become more connected and are able to create more meaningful relationships. Surprisingly, most people have little understanding of dignity, observes Donna Hicks in her book "Dignity". She examines the reasons for this gap and offers a new set of strategies for becoming aware of dignity’s vital role in our lives and learning to put dignity into practice in everyday life.

Drawing on her extensive experience in international conflict resolution and on insights from evolutionary biology, psychology, and neuroscience, Hicks explains what the elements of dignity are, how to recognize dignity violations, how to respond when we are not treated with dignity, how dignity can restore a broken relationship, why leaders must understand the concept of dignity, and more. Hicks shows that by choosing dignity as a way of life, we open the way to greater peace within ourselves and to a safer and more humane world for all.

In addition to teaching conflict resolution at Harvard, Clark and Columbia Universities, Dr. Hicks has spent nearly two decades in the field of international conflict resolution facilitating dialogue between communities in conflict in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Cuba, and Northern Ireland. She was a consultant to the BBC where she co-facilitated a television series, Facing the Truth, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which aired in the United Kingdom and on BBC World in 2006. Dr. Hicks also works as a consultant to corporations and organizations, applying her dignity model to everyday business and relational situations.

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