Global Perspectives on Dialogue in the Classroom: Cultivating Inclusive, Intersectional, and Authentic Conversations

This book explores globally-informed, culturally-rooted approaches to dialogue in the classroom. It seeks to fill gaps in communication and education literature related to decolonizing dialogue and breaking binaries by decentering Eurocentric perspectives and providing space for dialogic practices grounded in cultural wealth of students and teachers. We first describe the book’s genesis, contextualize dialogue within the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and share guiding concepts of inclusion, intersectionality, and authenticity in dialogue and pedagogy. We also distinguish dialogue from other practices and times in which dialogue may not be possible. The book brings fresh and urgent perspectives from authors across different disciplines, including ceramics, religious studies, cultural studies, communication, family therapy, and conflict resolution. The chapters distill the idea of dialogue within contexts like a bible circle, university sculpture studio, trauma and peacebuilding program, and connect dialogue to teaching, learning, and emerging ideas of power disruption, in-betweenness, and relationality.

Ashmi Desai (she/her), Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Public Dialogue and Conflict Management at San Francisco State University Department of Communication Studies and also directs the Conflict Resolution Certificate there. Desai completed her Ph.D. in Communication from University of Colorado Boulder and finished her Master’s degree in Development Communication from Gujarat University, India. As a community-based researcher, her teaching and research interests involve dialogic pedagogy, international and intercultural communication, conflict management tools and approaches, and representations of culture, home and belonging. Desai’s classes on dialogue and conflict resolution engage students in the discovery of self and the other through analysis of global and local struggles, story circles, relational leadership, and examination of systemic power and privilege. Desai is certified to facilitate dialogue from Public Conversations Project, Intercultural Development Institute and Community Boards. By centering community cultural wealth and dialogic approach in conversations, Desai aims to cultivate critical and transformative connections across divides.

Hoa Nguyen (she.her), Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Family Therapy Program at Valdosta State University. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Virginia Tech. Currently, she teaches courses on postmodernism, ethics, and diversity, inclusion, and social justice in family therapy. She is trained in dialogical approaches to therapy as well as dialogue models of teaching. Her research interest focuses on the intersection of cultural and sexual identity, international LGBTQ+ lived experiences, and cultural humility in family therapy and education. Hoa largely focuses on teaching and working with graduate family therapy students on how to facilitate and engage in transformative dialogues. In her classrooms, students are self-reflexive of their own levels of openness, resistance, and ways of approaching different ideas, perspectives, and people. Her hope is to cultivate critically conscious conversations that are globally aware, inclusive, and decolonizing.