Dialog across difference #9: The art of facilitation

How can facilitators reduce power asymmetry between people in a mixed group of those who speak the dominant culture language and those whose first language is not of the dominant culture--usually immigrants, refugees, and/or asylees from another country?

Some Norwegian researchers developed creative alternatives to, and additional communication methods beyond, spoken and written language in order to achieve more successful power balance as they engaged in facilitating discussions between native Norwegian youth and refugee youth. 

Participant-created skits, art, and other methods less reliant on the dominant language helped to mitigate the inherent uphill struggle of refugee youth. It deepened relationships, increased respect and even admiration for refugees and their families, and challenged both native youth and the Norwegian researchers to open themselves to permitting the refugee youth to expose themselves and their stories to the extent they preferred, even if that made the Norwegian youth and researchers profoundly uncomfortable.

As most educators will affirm, little learning happens in our comfort zones, little learning happens when we feel unsafe, and the deepest learning often comes when we are uncomfortable but basically safe. A great deal of that learning can be relational, which can be of great advantage to all participants.

Svendsen, S. H. B., & Skotnes, C. E. (2022). Education beyond Safety. Facilitating Educational Meetings between Refugee and Non-Refugee Youth. Journal of Social Science Education, 21(2), 153-173.