Depolarized communication helps in functional communication with people whom you disagree with. It offers skills to individuals, to seek out, engage with and start a dialogue with people whose views (radically) differ from their own. In the process, we generate a deeper understanding of polarization to build on the core of polarized discussions - the questions of identity, belonging, discrimination, globalization, and power inequalities.
- ‘Across Divides - Depolarization of Communication’ is a methodology toolkit developed by Dr. Maja Nenadovic, applied in critically reflective and capacity-building workshops. It consists of multiple exercises and skill-building activities. For example, the exercise ‘The Power of Definition’ provided below is an exercise in depolarizing conversations that are centered around polarizing topics. Its structure and downloadable pdfs are given below.
- Depolarized communication has different kinds of trainings for different situations such as – rhetorical self-defense, ‘talking to racists’, and fostering self-reflection.
Each activity in the exercise of ‘The Power of Definition’ is focused on achieving different skills. Some of them are as follows:
- To explore thinking outside of the box of assumed shared meaning.
- To foster creativity and intellectual emancipation
- To evoke (self-) reflection and foster critical thinking
- To build (situational) awareness and personal agency.