Maureen Walker, Ph.D.; Hope in Action: Healing Practices of Power and Possibility
In this presentation, Maureen Walker, Ph.D., Director of Program Development at JBMTI, discusses why noble intentions alone are insufficient to advance a social action agenda. Indeed, the hopes and aspirations on which social justice organizations are founded often dissipate under the weight of a power paradigm that normalizes relational constriction and hyper-control. The inevitable outcome of such a paradigm is an organizational culture of disconnection: a culture that functions to contaminate conflict and to stifle creativity. This talk examined the power beliefs and relational practices that foster conflict-competent organizations, in which initiatives toward transformation and new possibilities may be exercised from any position in the power structure. In addition, Walker discusses the behavioral correlates of empathy, authenticity, and mutuality—the relational competencies required to sustain an agenda of hope, justice, and healing.
