Dear OSFolks: I'm new to the list, so a warm Berkeley, California hello to all of my OS colleagues. I want to say how wonderful the OSonOS in Berlin was for me, and to thank everyone for their long and hard work preparing a welcoming, flexible, comfortable setting and then turning it over to us to make whatever would happen...happen.
And it did, and I loved some of it and was irritated during some of it. And sometimes I used my two feet and some other times I stayed (I was the one often lying on the floor) to explore my own irritation. At points (especially Monday's post-conference gathering) it reminded me of the reason I am not involved in community activism (other than Open Space, of course) but instead in community building. At the same time as I was honored and opened up by many of your open and honest sharings of deep feeling and insights, I was also shocked to see a talking stick used for debate and I was irritated to hear people say 'we should' instead of 'I will'. Open Space being about passion, yes, and personal responsibility. And this is cross cultural learning, too (I like to use 'learning' instead of 'sensitivity' -- just my own personal description of the process of learning between cultures versus the state of being open to learning). I know that it is a great challenge to speak about emotion and clarity with the poetic selection of just the right jewel-words when you are not speaking in your home language. I worry when I am speaking in Spanish whether I should speak up and potentially mess it up or shut up and therefore not participate in the process. My instinct says to speak up and trust that others will absorb both the errors and the message in a way that will contribute to communication. I am honored by your trust that we will do the same in Open Space when you who do not originally speak English contribute to the circle. -- [excerpt from Birgitt's message: ...Open Space on Open Space as vehicles through which there is communication across cultures. ...we have chosen to use English as our common language. Did we choose it? Or did some people comply with the norm somehow? Anyway, we have English and we find ourselves in difficult spots sometimes and I think some of this is because we are not sensitive enough to each other's interpretations of similar words in English. I think there are many different interpretations of Spirit. Based on country of origin. Yet we handle it as though there is a similar interpretation. Likewise, I think there are many different interpretations of other words. I think this was a culprit at OSONOS and we did our best with it (and thank you to our hosts for having the conference in English). Do any of you have any thoughts on this? Any suggestions for how we can do well with our international conversations?] -- Thanks, Birgitt, for bringing these questions to the group. I am proud to be part of a community that struggles to look outside themselves often to check in on their own assumptions. I would like to contribute to the conversation what I have bumped into as I bring my dominant-culture self (at least that describes my geographic culture plus my skin color) to join other individuals and communities for work and play. I have not done a lot of travel in Europe until this year with my OS work. I have experience working in the South (which is the term the international AIDS world gives to continents below the equator -- much of my background is in AIDS education + interactive learning methodology). I was shocked and warmed by how many people throughout my Denmark and Germany visit switched to English to include or assist me. I feel it is my job to learn your language, not your job to learn mine. I offer my warm thanks and my true respect, and I am still feeling surprised and touched. In my travels I have talked a lot with people about this in regards to international gatherings. Is English-language-during-conferences a colonialization / dominant world culture issue that I should be saddened by? That was my first impression. But many people of cultures other than mine tell me that, historical-political impact even so, and in the absence of a true world language, it nowadays can make for easier information and thought exchange in an internationally mixed community or gathering. As a person of English-speaking culture, I bow to whatever is best for the collective group. I also do not feel that that replaces the necessity for communicating in culturally sensitive ways, and I find that the circle setting allows for much deeper communication, no matter what the culture, than the chairs-facing-expert setting. I also find that I for one am more open to intercultural learning when I listen more and talk less. And it is my experience that individual culture is even stronger than geographic culture, and that each person filters or communicates information in a unique way. Open Space honors all of that. I facilitate interactive learning methodology workshops with a combination of sort of a road map of topics and an Open Space approach mixed in as the whole group teaches the whole group from each person's experience and wisdom. I have often been involved in gatherings where someone announces a sub-group for those who speak a specific language. In one case this meant that for a two-day process the entire group split into English, French and Spanish language sub-groups with just opening and closing circles together in the language of the conference, English. In another case a smaller group broke out to continue in Spanish while the greater group continued in English. In either case it was not a question of will-they-both-get-the-same-learning because each group learns what it needs to learn. Plus, it always seems that there are enough people of all cultures who speak "x" language to pollinate all groups with the insight of people of many cultures. That was one of my earliest you-are-so-naive-Lisa learnings, that our Spanish language sub-group could include people from Brazil, Poland, Japan and (me) the US and a great many challenges and solutions were shared between geographic cultures. What I am saying is that in Open Space, people will do what they need to do to get what they want to have done, done. I would not be surprised to see someone hold up a Spanish speakers session sign or an understanding-our-interpretation-of-spirit sign at a future OSonOS. Open Space to me is about honoring each person's ability to create change through personal responsibility. So I have a feeling that whatever happens...will happen. Lisa Heft * * ========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected] Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed
