Millennials are often called “the anxious generation”—and for good reason, said Center Program Manager Lillian I in her welcoming remarks for the fifth and final Dialogue Nights of 2019. There is no shortage of reasons for this generation of young people to be in a “constant state of panic,” observed Lillian: “living paycheck to paycheck, not being able to pay rent, will I ever be able to save enough money to buy a house or have my own family, what is the purpose of my life, and the list goes on.” Held on December 13th, the event was called “Millennial Challenge: Appreciating the Uncertain...
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The terms intercultural and intergenerational are usually used to describe distinct forms of dialogue or social interaction. Yet, they really are one and the same, aren’t they? Each generation has their own mores and modes of expression, as well as challenges they face that are unique to them, in other words, a unique culture. Thus, it was more than fitting that the 2019 Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue—called “Can Dialogue Save the World: Exploring the Power of Human Connections”—featured the dialogic experiences of eight young professionals who, over the last several months,...
On Friday, Oct 25th, more than 110 participants joined us for the 15th Annual Ikeda Forum: "Can Dialogue Save The World? Exploring the Power of Human Connections." Our heartfelt thanks to all who attended! This year's forum featured eight youth presenters who participated in a 5-6 month dialogue experiment with Boston-area scholars seeking to answer the question: "What kind of inner transformation does one experience through sustained dialogue with another informed by Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy?" The eight young professionals shared their findings and experiences at...
The Ikeda Center hosted its second-ever Movie Nights event on Friday, September 27. Participants gathered to watch American Textures, a 2016 documentary produced by Crossing Borders Films. In it, six Black, White, and Latino young people travel together across the United States, in the process learning not only about the history of racial injustice and segregation in the cities they visit, but also how to engage truthfully with one another about matters of race, identity, and community. The producers of the film envisioned it as a creative response to intensifying “interracial...
The fourth Dialogue Nights event of 2019 was devoted to exploring the meaning of friendship and its power to help us meet and overcome life’s challenges—small and large and in between. Called “Friendship: An Antidote to Despair?”, the August 16th event attracted nearly fifty Boston-area university students and young professionals who were eager to talk sincerely and openly about the role of friendship in their lives. The core question was this: Is genuine friendship really powerful enough to transform our feelings of despair about the world?
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As part of its Education Fellows program, the Ikeda Center convenes a gathering in Cambridge halfway through each two-year cycle of the program. The current fellows, each of whom is doing doctoral work relating to some aspect of Soka, or value creating, education, are able to engage in dialogue with the program’s Advisory Council members about their progress on their respective research and dissertation activities. This year’s gathering took place on July 26th, 2019.
All three current Fellows attended. Nozomi Inukai is a doctoral candidate in the College of Education at DePaul...
Over the last several years it has become apparent that nearly every topic or project the Ikeda Center turns its attention to requires a close consideration of the place of dignity within it. In other words, while dignity is a worthy topic in and of itself, digging into the particular meaning of dignity for scholars working in the various fields that comprise the movement toward peace and justice can enrich everyone’s appreciation for both the complexity of dignity in human affairs and the power of dignity as a driver of creative social change.
Working from this premise, the Center’...
On Friday, May 31, fifty-eight college students and young professionals joined us for Dialogue Nights to discuss authenticity and what it means to live true to ourselves. In small groups, participants talked about what it means to be authentic and inauthentic, and the difference between being authentic and being original. Participants also shared when they feel most authentic. Some examples: "I feel most authentic when I'm doing a piano-singing duet with my mom." "I feel most authentic when I'm writing." "I feel most authentic when I'm contemplating life choices at 3:...
Above all, dialogue is a process. So is learning to value dialogue and successfully facilitate it in classrooms. These were two of the guiding themes for our April 19, 2019, Ikeda Center seminar featuring discussion among four seasoned education professors. On hand to discuss and explore their experiences with dialogue in education settings were: Deborah Donahue-Keegan of Tufts University; Steve Cohen of Tufts University; Stephen Gould of Lesley University; and Jason Goulah of DePaul University.
Our newest interview, conducted March 2019, features Catia Confortini, Associate Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Wellesley College. In this in-depth conversation, Dr. Confortini explores the interrelationships among peace, justice, and feminism, also touching on topics such as empathy, intelligent compassion, and the power of alternative thinking to point us toward a world where women and peace alike are truly valued. Throughout, Dr. Confortini talks about and celebrates the people and the books that have inspired her along the way.
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Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
396 Harvard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 491.1090 Fax: (617) 491.1169