When we seed civity in a community, we start with a workshop for leaders in which participants practice being authentic and putting difference on the table. We follow up with support and coaching that assists these leaders as they incorporate civity into their groups and organizations. The root of seeding civity is awareness of the …
Author Archives: Palma Joy Strand
Civity as the Antidote to Privilege
This line from an essay by writer Rebecca Solnit has been stuck in my mind recently: “I always pair privilege with obliviousness…” Talk of privilege often centers on tangible advantages. White people generally are cushioned by greater wealth than people of color. That’s White privilege at work. Men generally don’t need to fear sexual assault …
How Does Civity Grow?
In Civity’s work with communities, work that we call “seeding civity,” we start with the soil. We find communities, organizations, and institutions where a handful of local leaders already see the value of relationships and the importance of bridges over differences. Government and community leaders recognize that connectivity across social dividing lines reinforces their collective …
Putting Difference on the Table: A Civity Tribute to Toni Morrison
“File:Vitoria – Graffiti & Murals 0392.JPG” by Zarateman is licensed under CC0 1.0 The word most frequently used to describe a group of people who are linked in some way is “community.” Community asserts similarity: These people have something in common, and they become a group. Civity recognizes that similarity is only half the story. …
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Civity: Dancing to Change
At Civity, we are about cultural change. We use the word “civity” to describe the particular change that we want to see: a culture based in positive relationships across difference. We see a lot of civity out in the communities we encounter – relational respect and empathy across social differences, including differences in how we …
From a Hummingbird to a Wave: Civity and System Change
Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her vision and creation of the Green Belt Movement, which empowers people to plant trees in parts of Africa where deforestation is affecting people’s daily lives and environments. Starting in 1977 with a few rural women in Maathai’s native Kenya, the Green Belt Movement …
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The Power of “Both-And” Stories
In our civity work, we have discovered the power of “both-and” stories. Both-and stories portray people as multi-faceted, as not simply one thing or another. By introducing complexity or even contradiction into narratives about who or how people are, both-and stories counter the single-story stereotypes that seduce us into compartmentalizing and marginalizing other human beings. …
The Journey from Head to Heart
At Civity we talk about the power of relationships to make it possible for different people to “see” others and care about their well-being. Relationships – especially relationships between people with different social identities – enable communities to face tough challenges together rather than splintering apart. To create and strengthen relationships that bridge our differences, …
Empathy and Infinity
Civity relationships are relationships of respect and empathy. Respect has always seemed straightforward to me. The root of the word – the Latin “spec” – means “to see”: To respect someone is to “see” them. Most of us are familiar with the idea of respect for people in social positions above our own. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, …
Reaching for Civity
Krista Tippett, host of NPR’s On Being, struggles with the word “civility.” In a recent Living the Questions segment, Tippett names the danger of using “civility” as a “passive-aggressive weapon” to silence anger. “My concern is that the word is too meek, that it’s about being nice and tame and safe. And I don’t think …