IDEAS, NEWS AND RESOURCES | February 2021
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The Taos Institute's mission is to bring together scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value, and their application in relational, collaborative and appreciative practices around the world. |
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The Many Ways to Get Involved! |
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Brief Encounter with The Taos Institute |
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"That’s your story”
can be a way of dismissing the other, but for a constructionist it is to recognize the possibility of multiple realities.
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After listening with respect and voicing our understanding of each other's thinking, we became creative. |
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That’s Just Your Story
and Taos China co-founder
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Like most people living in cement forests in big cities, I always dreamed of having a small yard full of flowers, bathed in rosy morning clouds and sunsets, watching the flowers bud and bloom. This dream finally came true in the spring of 2019, after we moved from the 29th floor apartment of a skyscraper in central Nanjing to a small villa in the suburbs.
After settling down, our new life began and my husband was keen to begin gardening. He also liked flowers, and soon I could see the results of his efforts: a yard full of different colors and types of flowers. I wasn’t happy! The garden looked so disorganized and incoherent. And there were even white gardenias, a sign of bad luck in traditional Chinese culture. I tried to persuade my husband to change his planning, but he didn’t seem to listen. My impatience grew, and finally he responded “That’s just your story” and walked away.
In the days that followed, we didn't speak to each other, each thinking the other unreasonable. Slowly we also realized that the sentence “that’s your story” has two meanings. Yes, it can be a way of dismissing the other, but for a constructionist it is to recognize the possibility of multiple realities. And in this recognition we also reduce the tendency to blame each other or ourselves.
So we began to dialogue. My husband first explained that, “If we plant only one or two kinds of flowers, we are likely to have flowers blooming in only one season. But my hope is that we can enjoy different flowers in different seasons. Moreover, flowers of all colors and appearances symbolize the richness and happiness of life.” All of this seemed very reasonable to me, and I began to soften. Then he asked me, "Why do you prefer such order and uniformity over variety?” Here I had to reflect. As a female, I was taught from an early age to keep my living environment clean and tidy. Chaos and disorder were always criticized as uncivilized and unsanitary, while simplicity and consistency represented purity and cleanliness. And in my academic community, I had come to appreciate the values of simplicity and consistency in research.
After listening with respect and voicing our understanding of each other's thinking, we became creative. Why not combine our perspectives? We could have a variety of different flowers in the yard, but on the fence around the yard, we would plant only climbing roses. As for thinking that white flowers are unlucky, we also agreed it is only a superstition. Later we even planted some vegetables and fruits. Most important, by listening with curiosity to each other’s stories our partnership blossomed.
I also shared this story with my students and many wrote to me about how it helped them. A student who had been frustrated by her grandparents’ frugality with food, wrote about how it encouraged her to listen to her grandparents. “After I heard the story of their starving, because of food shortage when they were young, I understood their treasuring of food.” A student who had been treated harshly by a supervisor wrote of her discomfort, until “I used this sentence to effectively protect myself…I said in my heart, ‘that's your story.’ And with a smile on my face, my mood mellowed.” To understand the possibility of multiple stories is invaluable.
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Dialogue with the Authors |
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About the Dialogue
This dialogue with Dan Wulff Ph.D. and Sally St. George, Ph.D. who explore the ideas and practices in Section 3 - Practices in Therapeutic Professions of The SAGE Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice. This new book is a celebration of voices from the Taos Institute and offers a major review of social construction. It showcases the latest theory and application of social construction across a range of disciplines. This review of the field is timely while also pointing to future directions in practice. The focus in each chapter is on real-world practice in addition to theoretical work, thus making it useful for advanced students, scholars, and practitioners alike.
“Practices in the Therapeutic Professions” is a deliciously inviting and inclusive section of the Handbook grounded in curiosity and dedicated toward generativity from which you can learn and add to your own practices.
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Future Dialogues with Authors of The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice:
March 19 – Section 4: Practices in Organization Development with Diana Whitney (Register)
April 23 – Section 5: Practices in Educational with Thalia Dragonas (Register)
May 20 – Section 6: Practices in Healthcare with Murilo Moscheta (Register)
June 24 – Section 7: Community Practices with Marie Hoskins (Register)
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About the Dialogue
Join the authors, Jan N. DeFehr, Cynthia Loreto Sosa Infante, & Christian Israel Lizama Valladares, as they share their excitement for this new book which draws on social construction theory, collaborative-dialogic practices, and the particularity of two master’s degree theses to show how dialogic social inquiry can produce its own unrepeatable process. Dialogic social inquiry comes from, and remains connected with, the participant community at the core of the inquiry effort. When a research process derives from its own living social ecology, it can more sensitively and boldly do justice to the dynamic requirements and transformative possibilities embedded in the work.
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Professional Development Opportunities |
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Spanish - March 5-6, 2021
10:00 am - 1:00 pm US Eastern (New York) time
English - March 12-13, 2021
10:00 am - 1:00 pm US Eastern (New York) time
In this 6-hour Zoom seminar spread over 2 days (3 hours each day), Monica will invite participants to examine, discuss and reflect on different contexts in which social movements have emerged in order to resist and challenge violent ways of relating and interacting with each other. These movements have been the result of micro, mezzo, and macro practices of oppression, marginalization, exploitation, and abuse of diverse and vulnerable peoples (Indigenous and Black peoples, Women, etc.), and aim to reclaim alternative relational practices, based on empathy, compassion, tenderness, companionship, respect, and togetherness.
Registration fee is a sliding scale to allow everyone to participate.
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April 19 - June 6, 2021
This course introduces common premises and orienting ideas central to dialogues on social construction. The ways in which constructionist ideas differ from traditional, realist understandings of the world are explored. This course features videos and writings of Ken Gergen, Mary Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Harlene Anderson, Barnett Pearce, John Shotter, Saliha Bava and more. It consists of: weekly live calls, readings, videos, assignments, activities, learning partner conversations, online commenting, and writing. There will be live conference calls on Mondays from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM New York time/Eastern US time. An orientation is scheduled for April 20, 2021.
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Edited by Dian Marie Hosking, Peter Dachler and Kenneth Gergen
The book examines the organizing processes underlying socially constructed realities. It develops relational approaches to organizing, management and change, and provides practical ways of tackling the problems experienced and created by organizations.
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Announcing a new Taos Focus Book!
by Jan N. DeFehr, Cynthia Loreto Sosa Infante,
& Christian Israel Lizama Valladares
This book draws on social construction theory, collaborative-dialogic practices, and the particularity of two master’s degree theses to show how dialogic social inquiry can produce its own unrepeatable process. Dialogic social inquiry comes from, and remains connected with, the participant community at the core of the inquiry effort. When a research process derives from its own living social ecology, it can more sensitively and boldly do justice to the dynamic requirements and transformative possibilities embedded in the work.
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ISSUE 10 Available Now!
This free journal brings together members of a growing international community of practitioners, scholars, educators, researchers, and consultants interested in postmodern collaborative practices.
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FREE downloadable books in 12 different languages. Like all of the Taos Institute Publications, WorldShare Books represent significant contributions relevant to social constructionist theory and practice. With over 30 books in English and many more from around the world, you will enjoy reading about education, spirituality, organizational life, community building, group dynamics, leadership and more.
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By focusing on the positive aspects of aging, and the availability of resources, skills, and resiliencies, research not only brings useful insights into the realm of practice but creates hope and empowers action among older people. By moving beyond practices of repair and prevention, to emphasize growth-enhancing activities, practitioners also contribute more effectively to the societal reconstruction of aging.
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Access hundreds of articles and papers on topics such as:
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Collaborative Practices
- Dialogic Practices
- Creativity and Change
- Narrative Practices
- Relational Learning
- Relational Research
- Qualitative Research
- and so much more!
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Donate to the Taos Institute
Given the current global context, the work in which we are engaged is more important than ever. You can make a difference by supporting our mission to create promising future through social construction. Read more
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John Shotter Memorial Fund
John Shotter's death on December 8, 2016, was a profound loss for the scholarly world, for the Taos Institute, and for many of us personally. Read more
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Jane Magruder Watkins Memorial Fund
We remember Jane as an avid educator. This fund will support students who apply for a need-based scholarship to attend the various Taos programs. Read more
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Peggy Penn WorldShare Fund
Supports the publication of new WorldShare Books on topics related to the work and interests of Peggy Penn, Ph.D. Read more
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