Duke Students & Faculty Brainstorm on Strategies for Engaging Difference

authentic conversations

What are the specific skills we need to develop in order to communicate thoughtfully, respectfully, and inclusively with the people we don't always agree with? Duke students and faculty shared their experiences, questions and strategies during a student-centered conversation entitled "Sustaining Dialogue Around Values, Beliefs, Meaning and Purpose in a Time of Polarization".

David Malone, Director of Duke Service-Learning, facilitated the conversation which featured Dean of Arts and Sciences Valerie Ashby and other leaders including Brandon Hudson, Duke Alumni and Director of Durham’s Urban Hope, Jayne Ifekwunigwe from Duke’s Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, Sam Miglarese, Director of the Duke/Durham Neighborhood Partnership, and Mohamad Chamas, a Duke senior currently studying Education, Literature, and Neuroscience.

“This is a topic that is a high priority for me personally, and also for Trinity,” said Ashby, who challenged students to lean into discomfort, cultivate a sense of curiosity about other people’s point of view, eschew echo chambers, and to launch an all-out effort to intentionally engage difference.

Click on the image below to read the photo essay:

authentic conversations