Exploring Identity & Voices in an Uncertain World

Dana PenriceEvents, Updates, Workshops

Human Venture Workshop Series presented by Dana Penrice and Natalie Muyres

The world is in a state of heightened uncertainty and anxiety. Our ability to manage the challenges facing our species is being undermined. We are experiencing increased polarization and tribalization. We are seeing factionalization spill over into horrific conflicts. At the same time, we have an increasingly crowded informationscape that pulls our attention away from the issues at hand or pushes us towards partisan politics and disinformation. The Human Venture Institute has been tracking these developments to better understand their consequences and what it will take to reverse them. 

About the Workshops:
Join Dana Penrice and Natalie Muyres, Associates of the Human Venture Institute, for a series of workshops to explore these topics. Dana and Natalie will share historical and current case studies that help reveal the  roots of polarizing and tribalizing dynamics and use Human Learning Ecology concepts to explore how we can strive to detect, correct, and prevent them. We encourage you to bring stories of how you have been learning to be more aware of and question your own thinking, and share what you are paying attention to. 

What to expect:
These discussions will be based on the principle that we are all more ignorant than we are wise. There is so much more that could be learned that would be helpful and these workshops will support collective sense-making from participant contributions. We have provided resources for each workshop. They don’t all need to be read in order to participate. We will also provide reflection questions to support your explorations. 

Who should join:
These workshops are designed for people who are concerned about how we shape our own attention, caring, and responsibility. Human Venture program alumni and their guests are invited to join this workshop series. 

Cost:
By donation. We suggest $25 per workshop. Join one or more of the sessions. 

Register here

“Othering” Workshop – Tuesday, January 28, 6:30 – 8:30 MT

In this session we will focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the processes of “othering” that have led to fractionalization and dehumanization. We will explore concepts covered in the book The Wall Between: What Jews and Palestinians Don’t Want to Know About Each Other to think about the process of identity formation and how shifting identity can help to change how one thinks about “the other.” 

Reading, listening, and viewing resources: 

“Polarization & Tribal Allegiances” Workshop – Tuesday, February 25, 6:30 – 8:30 MT

It seems that for many, the political party you identify with is more important than what the party is saying or their policies. This workshop will dive into the link between politics and identity. It will draw on the state of politics today in the U.S., Canada, and globally. We will discuss what we as individuals and as a community can practically do to shape the identity narratives in politics. 

Reading, listening and viewing resources: 

  • Book: “How Civil Wars Star: And How to Stop Themt” by Barbara F. Walter. Crown, 2023.  Join us for the Book Club on January 25th.
  • Book: “Tribalism: The Evolutionary Origins of Fear Politics” by Stevan E. Hobfoll. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 
  • Podcast: TBD

“The Informationscape in the Age of AI” Workshop – Tuesday, March 25, 6:30 – 8:30 MT

Advances in technologies have the potential to enable and amplify the voices in the informationscape. Done poorly, we can be amplifying misinformation and disinformation. Done well, we could be amplifying the voices of humanity and the voices of life that are critical to us tackling our species-level challenges. This workshop will focus on understanding these new technologies and the dynamics they bring with them. 

Reading, listening and viewing resources: 

Register here