Unsettling Empathy: Working with Groups in Conflict

Based on over 30 years of facilitating groups in conflict nationally and internationally, Dr. Krondorfer will talk about the dynamics of such work and how to bring groups together: Germans and Jews; Palestinians and Israelis; Christians, Jews, and Muslims; ethnically diverse students ; Bedouins and indigenous peoples. This presentation is about responsibility: What it takes to become responsible toward each other, how we might approach such a task, and why embracing a relational practice of care releases us from restraints of our enclaves of sameness.

Björn Krondorfer is Director of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University and Professor of Religious Studies. His scholarship focuses on reconciliation, gender, and religion. Dr. Krondorfer has presented and facilitated seminars around the world and has authored numerous publications, as well as creating and curating exhibits on the Jewish Ghetto in Bedzin and the Berlin Wall, “Wounded Landscapes”, and “Echoes of Loss: Artistic Responses to Trauma”.