The Deliberative Citizenship Initiative hosted an online guest lecture and workshop series with Dr. Martín Carcasson, Founder and Director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University, October 14 – 16, 2020. There are many complex problems facing our communities and nation – can deliberative practices be put into action to address them?
In his keynote address, Dr. Carcasson explored how deliberation can address the many problems we face on campuses, in classrooms, and in communities. He discussed his overarching framework for thinking about deliberative democracy and “wicked problems” and discussed some examples from his deliberation-in-action work in Northern Colorado.
Click Here to Download the PowerPoint Slides
During his first workshop, Deliberative Pedagogy and Program Design, Dr. Carcasson spoke with faculty and staff representatives about his experiences developing the Center for Public Deliberation and incorporating deliberation into multiple for-credit courses. Dr. Carcasson also discussed the “groan zone” of group decision making and spoke about the differences between deliberative and aggregative democracy.
Click Here to Download the PowerPoint Slides
In his second workshop, Facilitation Skills for Community Leaders and Organizations, Dr. Carcasson focused on the role of a facilitator in leading and supporting deliberative meetings and events. He also discussed how community organizations and leaders can develop and hone their skills to become more effective catalysts and facilitators of dialogues on important issues and build more bridging institutions to catalyze those discussions.
Click Here to Read Dr. Carcasson’s Article, Beginning With the End in Mind
In his final workshop, Deliberative Leadership and Polarity Management, Dr. Carcasson situated deliberation on the spectrum of civic activity between protest and conversation. He also shared a polarity management “mapping” technique and examples of how he has used this model to address polarizing issues with different stakeholders in Northern Colorado.
Click Here to Download the PowerPoint Slides and Polarity Management Worksheet Example
