Publish at September 27 2021 Updated June 14 2023
"Hold on to what's good, even if it's a handful of dirt. Hold on to what you believe, even if it's a lonely tree. Hold on to what you have to do, even if you have to go far away. Native American wisdom
Native Americans have preserved their traditions over time despite discrimination, massacres, epidemics, the darkest hours of colonization. North American Indian customs include the sweat lodge (Inipi), pow-wows (traditional parades and dances), the peace pipe, the tribal longhouse, and the dream catcher.
One of these, the "circle dialogue", is currently influencing human organizations for its regenerative power on ways of communicating with each other. The gathering of human beings to dialogue in a circle is attested in several civilizations the assemblies and parliaments of the tribes of antiquity in northern Europe, the vigils under the circular yurt, the African palaver, the Samoan circles.
Beyond folklore, traditions and references to nature and social balance are alive and well in South America, as attested by the vibrant speech by the Bolivian vice-president. North America is no exception, with the tradition of dialogue circles a legacy of Native Americans, notably the Iroquois tribes, precursors of the invention of democracy in America. Speech is important to the Iroquois, whose name is said to come from the expression "hiro kone" (I said it), which punctuates the end of a speech.
The first American constitution, dating from the 12th century, enabled 6 tribes to come to an agreement for centuries, and was named Gayanashagowa or "Great Law of Peace". References to the Iroquois confederacy by Thomas Jefferson, founding father of the American nation, attest to an influence of the Iroquois system on the spirit of the American constitution.
Other examples of borrowed dialogue practices are identified as by the Assembly of Lake Chautauqua (a lake north of New York), founded by Bishop John H. Vincent in 1874, where (home) study circles were organized by the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
In Native American spirituality, the circle reserves a sacred place for grounded speech and its exchange within the respectful and protective framework of the group and rules for speaking.
The practice of the circle has been tried and tested in many causes, we think of alcoholics anonymous who manage through the word to change the lives of their members, simply by sincere expression, respect for the word received, the quality of listening and the protection of the group. We're also thinking of men's associations who seek together to build a better masculinity in order to be fathers, husbands or simply citizens in progress. But beyond this therapeutic or personal development dimension, professional facilitators have seized on this practice to help organizations give birth to authentic words and succeed in uniting their members around valid issues.
Thus, it is possible to identify "Dialogues en humanité" led by Patrick Viveret to support citizenship, the "Generative Dialogues" proposed by Otto Scharmer to support the transition of organizations or the "Collective Intelligence Dialogues", to which the firm of the same name is initiating a growing number of collective intelligence facilitators, the dialogues d'Eklore to support a humanity at work and finally the talking circles that are both preventive and restorative and particularly relevant in contexts of conflict or violence
The simpler the principles seem, the more their effects depend on the quality of execution. For example David Bohm has devoted some of his research to the workings of dialogue, to the way in which interiority and exteriority are expressed in the presence of a being here and now, to the way in which the suspension of judgment of a word brings more than breath to the conversation but truly animates it.
This ability to listen, present in circles in the respect for nature omnipresent for Amerindians and handed down for centuries, could well be one of the most precious legacies at a time when the value of otherness is being called into question.
Practical sheet for conducting quality dialogues: https://iresmo.jimdofree.com/2017/06/17/les-cercles-de-parole/
Sources
Bohm, D. (2021), Le dialogue: cheminer vers l'intelligence collective. Paris : Eyrolles.
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/le-dialogue-9782416000195.html
Native American Academy https://www.nativeamericanacademy.org/
Buffalo Treaty https://www.buffalotreaty.com/
The Iroquois Constitution https://cdarmangeat.blogspot.com/2013/12/la-constitution-iroquoise.html
Thot Cursus - Multi-Finger Talking: The Art of Digital Speech and Dialogue
https://cursus.edu/13059/parler-a-plusieurs-doigts-lart-de-la-parole-et-du-dialogue-digital
Futura - Beliefs and customs https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/dossiers/ethnologie-indiens-ameriques-nord-130/page/6/
Custom and sacred circle https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/dossiers/ethnologie-indiens-ameriques-nord-130/page/6/
IRESMO - Talking Circles https://iresmo.jimdofree.com/2017/06/17/les-cercles-de-parole/
Eco Gateway - Talking Circles at the Foundation of Democracy: the Word Heard https://www.passerelleco.info/article.php?id_article=89
Preventive and restorative talking circles https://www.diapason-education.fr/les-cercles-de-parole-page-27.html
E-marketing factsheet talking circles https://www.e-marketing.fr/Thematique/academie-1078/fiche-outils-10154/Les-cercles-de-dialogue-325708.htm
Territorial Creative Response - Talking Circles https://ripostecreativeterritoriale.xyz/?
David Bohm's Dialogue https://www.krishnamurti-france.org/Le-dialogue-selon-David-Bohm
Schwehr, L. (1952). The Samoan orator. Journal de la Société des Oceanistes, 8(8), 117-136. https://www.persee.fr/doc/jso_0300-953x_1952_num_8_8_1738
En français: Discours d'investiture du vice-président de Bolivie M. David Choquehuanca. 08.11.2020 - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnTJ7WoI10
ACDH - Au Cœur des Hommes | HelloAsso https://www.helloasso.com/associations/acdh-au-c-ur-des-hommes
Dialogues in Humanity https://dialoguesenhumanite.org
Theory U generative conversation https://www.diffusion-focusing.org/doc/theorie-u-conversation-generative.pdf
Collective Intelligence Dialog https://dialogue-ic.com
Eklore https://www.eklore.fr/fr/
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