On the 25th of February, Ceren Tunali and Martijn Bool hosted a workshop entitled ‘Safe Space for Real Conversation’‘. The workshop was led by four students from University College Utrecht: In a short presentation the students reflected on their two month research project. During that period, they joined several online dialogues, promoted dialogue in migrant communities and interviewed participants in the ‘Reshaping Rights and Freedom during Corona‘ dialogue. After this presentation participants reflected in break-out rooms on how they relate to ‘Safe spaces’ in dialogues and in their daily lives.
Creating safe spaces in dialogues
The initial goal of the research was to measure the kind of impact the dialogue had on immigrants and whether dialogues can stimulate social change. Students believed that constructive communication would be effective in bridging the gap between people with opposing standpoints. However, while doing more research, they found out that creating a safe space with people from diverse backgrounds in dialogues is not always easy and can be complicated. It was for this very reason that they were interested in the work of Utrecht in Dialogue, which has been striving to create safe spaces for many years, where people of varied backgrounds can talk about sensitive topics and have constructive conversations with others by sharing their experiences.
Questions for further research
The students described the research project and summarized its primary outcomes. They presented findings on participant diversity, the importance and challenges of creating a safe space, as well as factors that make up an environment conducive to sharing thoughts and beliefs. They also formulated some new questions relating to the theme:
- There is a tendency to agree in dialogue. Are there any obstacles to disagreement?
- Can we create a safe space online? Is this space comfortable for everyone?
- How can we become more sensitive to our biases? Can we really leave behind or postpone our prejudices?
Insights participants on Safe Spaces
The conversations in the break-out rooms resulted in several insights:
“After a ‘successful’ conversation in a safe space, the different parties (…) can disagree respectfully.”
“Safe space is about feeling accepted and comprehended by others. It’s not about feeling the need to prove anything to anyone. In the dialogue framework, anonymity liberates us to share deep experiences.”
“Safe space is where everyone agrees – it also should be the place where everyone can disagree.”
“Safety in a space may not make it an inclusive one, in fact it can be the opposite.”
