Addressing Power in Conversation

Abstract

The World Café (TWC), used as an effective conversational tool around the world, shares several tenets with other participatory approaches to learning and development. It has not been critiqued, however, for its insufficient attention to reflexivity, power differentials, and structural inequalities within its process, specifically in relation to TWC facilitators. As a group of women from diverse social locations and backgrounds committed to the pursuit of social justice, we sought this opportunity to explore and investigate the transformative learning capacities of TWC, with the broader goal of enhancing its usability in education and community settings. We reviewed and critiqued TWC conversation approach, suggesting stronger links to liberatory education and transformative learning theories. Using a participatory action research process leading to cocreated knowledge, we developed an Emancipatory Learning Charter, a new tool that can enhance the transformative learning potential of TWC.

Assessing Multiple Benefits of Housing Regeneration and Smart City Development: The European Project SINFONIA

“…Moreover, an effective method to stimulate awareness and to engage partners in the co-benefits discourse is the World Cafè Method (WCM). WCM rules are devised to facilitate an open debate about the topic, letting the participants becoming familiar with the new topic and to freely express their opinions and expectations [134]. In this case, the final ranking results from a participatory decision-making process and may lead to a different classification.…”

Identifying well-being challenges and solutions in the police service: A World Café approach

“…The World Café method F o r P e e r R e v i e w has also been criticised for reasons such as a potentially misleading view of communities as harmonious and failing to acknowledge conflict, the potential to suppress dissenting voices, and because it may empower participants primarily to take responsibility and behave in ways meeting the agenda of powerful stakeholders (Aldred, 2011). It has also been argued that the traditional World Café approach lacks mechanism to encourage participant reflexivity, and fails to consider power imbalances between facilitators and participants, nor structural inequality within the Café (Lorenzetti et al, 2016). Lorenzetti et al (2016) note that there is a lack of consideration for how the external world (e.g.…”

“…It has also been argued that the traditional World Café approach lacks mechanism to encourage participant reflexivity, and fails to consider power imbalances between facilitators and participants, nor structural inequality within the Café (Lorenzetti et al, 2016). Lorenzetti et al (2016) note that there is a lack of consideration for how the external world (e.g. pre-existing hierarchies) may influence discussion within the World Café.…”

Increasing supply network transparency: structure model, mapping procedure and performance impact

“…Small focus groups discuss on selected subjects in a café-like atmosphere (Prewitt, 2011;Wibeck, Dahlgren, & Öberg, 2007). Seven core design principles constitute the basis of the World Café method, such as exploring questions that matter or connecting diverse perspectives (Brown et al, 2005;Fouché & Light, 2010;Lorenzetti, Azulai, & Walsh, 2016;Tan & Brown, 2005). The advantages of the method lie in its high output attainable in a short period of time compared to other qualitative research methods such as longitudinal case studies or interviews.…”

“…During the World Café, small focus groups discussed on selected subjects in a café-like atmosphere (Prewitt, 2011;Wibeck et al, 2007). This approach allowed to explore questions that matter to the participants (Brown et al, 2005;Fouché & Light, 2010;Lorenzetti et al, 2016;Tan & Brown, 2005), like for this study: "How do you find out information about your supplier relationships with other customers? "…”