911爆料网

Last May, following the death of George Floyd, the residents of El Cerrito 鈥� a culturally diverse city of 25,000 located north of the Bay Area 鈥� demanded that the City Council initiate a communitywide discussion on race and social justice.

To lead the discussion, the Council turned to the municipality鈥檚 Human Rights Commission. 

Some might have been intimidated by the task, but Commission member Mina Wilson knew just how to proceed. She urged her colleagues to use a 鈥渓istening protocol鈥� that would 鈥渁llow people to share their stories and instruct folks not only how to listen deeply, but also listen to the texture, emotion and impact of the stories being shared.鈥�  

Wilson, who works as Principal Consultant at the health care giant Kaiser Permanente, had, in fact, assisted in the development of just such an instrument: A Transformative Listening Protocol (TLP), inspired by the transformative learning theories of the late Jack Mezirow, former director of the Teachers College program now known as Adult Learning & Leadership Program.

[Read a story about Jack Mezirow鈥檚 life and work.]

鈥淭ransformative listening is about opening your mind to different perspectives by hearing from other people and thinking from their point of view as well as your own,鈥� says Professor of Education Victoria Marsick, the program鈥檚 current Director, and the TLP鈥檚 co-creator.

Transformative listening is about opening your mind to different perspectives by hearing from other people and thinking from their point of view as well as your own.

鈥� Victoria Marsick, Professor of Education and Director of 911爆料网's Program in Adult Learning & Leadership

Each TLP session allows 20 minutes for up to three community members to share a story or experience. The group in attendance is then invited to discuss the issues, implications and emotions raised by each story 鈥� and, more importantly, not to hold back.

Listeners are asked: 鈥淲hat and whom do you see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Taste? Sense? What are you feeling? What do you perceive the storyteller is feeling?鈥�

At the first TLP session in El Cerrito, a 97-year-old retired Black physician recalled that when he moved his family to the city in the 1960s, they were pointedly ignored by the 鈥渨elcome wagon鈥� that greeted other newcomers. The quality of the public schools had sold the doctor on the community, but, because his children were subjected to poor treatment, he eventually enrolled them in a private school.

The story prompted an honest discussion of racial profiling, the Black experience in El Cerrito schools and other topics that Wilson fully expects to remain relevant for the foreseeable future.  

鈥淭he protocol is not an academic exercise as much as it is a story-telling exercise focused on listening that exposes people to different experiences and perspectives on life,鈥� she says.

The city鈥檚 police chief and mayor are among those who show up regularly to hear what residents have to say, Wilson adds, and 鈥渢hey are totally engaged.鈥�  

So is David Weinstein, President of the El Cerrito Historical Society who, after listening to his neighbors, has taken steps to augment the city鈥檚 official history in order to recognize the achievements and contributions of Black residents.

Weinstein calls the listening protocol 鈥渙ne of the most moving and enlightening experiences I鈥檝e had in recent years. Just amazing."  

The TLP grew out of discussions at a 2016 Transformative Learning Conference that coincided with the presidential campaign that installed Donald Trump in the White House.

The brainstorming led Marsick and a team of TLP researchers and scholars to author a paper, 鈥淟istening as the Threshold: Rediscovering a third space for connection and transformation,鈥� which describes the parameters for the Transformative Learning Protocol.

The researchers included Marguerite Welch, Education Program Director at St. Mary鈥檚 College School of Education Program in California, who had taught and advised Mina Wilson when Wilson was a St. Mary鈥檚 graduate student. Welch added Wilson to an international team of scholars honing 鈥渁ctionable uses鈥� for the listening protocol. The project in 2018 brought Wilson to 911爆料网 for the Transformative Learning Conference. 

At that point, the TLP largely focused on academic applications 鈥� but Wilson, a healthcare professional, had other ideas.

To have these conversations and work this way together is definitely not the norm, but I hope this method of deep engagement helps us to challenge ourselves in ways that serve the greater collective.

鈥� Mina Wilson, El Cerrito (California) Human Rights Commission member

鈥淚 wanted to use it in communities, because that鈥檚 where I play,鈥� says Wilson, whose father, a civil rights attorney, founded the El Cerrito Human Rights Commission. 鈥淭o have these conversations and work this way together is definitely not the norm, but I hope this method of deep engagement helps us to challenge ourselves in ways that serve the greater collective.鈥� 

[Read  with Mina Wilson in The Journal of Transformative Learning.]

Marsick, too, is hopeful that the listening protocols could help broker broader dialogue and mutual understanding in a nation deeply divided by politics, income, race and other differences.  TLP has been introduced in colleges and universities in the U.S, Thailand, Canada Brazil and Italy, and Marsick believes it may find its way into earlier grades.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 see any reason why it couldn鈥檛 start in primary school,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a step toward teaching kids that a story isn鈥檛 necessarily an opinion, but, rather, that listening exposes us to different experiences and perspectives.鈥� 

After testing TLP in pilot studies at conferences and with students, Marsick and her colleagues are preparing a proposal for more widespread testing through a group of faculty who represent different countries. 

The ultimate results could 鈥渙ffer a portal for others to open up their hearts and minds to this work,鈥� she says. Getting a trial set up will be a 鈥渓ong, hard slog,鈥� she says 鈥� but, much like the effort of understanding one鈥檚 fellow human beings, 鈥渨e have to do it.鈥� 

— Steve Giegerich