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diverse groups. Bickford’s framework attempted to reduce positions of privilege using a

“backgrounding of self and a foregrounding of the other, to create a space in which the other has

voice and is heard” (Thill, 2009, p. 539).

Listening as path building (Bickford, 1996) represented what can happen when courageous

listening and listening in silence take on a prominent role in democratic conversations and civic

dialogue when there is a true and authentic interplay between speaking and listening. Path building

occurs when groups of participants are able to speak and listen even when disagreement exists, in

hopes of reaching new levels of understanding. Listening in a different, perhaps more profound

manner, “opens the way for relinquishing our positions as principal [privileged] knowers in search

of better explanations, in order to attend fully and critically to the accounts of the Indigenous

knowers [the other]” (O’Donnell, Lloyd, & Dreher, 2009, p. 430). The path building process

established a framework for listening and understanding across human difference (Husband,

2000).

Similar to path building, Nelson (2008) advanced a nuanced concept of hearing and

understanding termed “design listening,” which involved the ability to hear what is and is not being

said; “what is pressing for expression as much as being expressed” (p. 44). Design listening was

observed as a lead facilitator made use of it during the Albany NY Community Conversations on

implicit bias and race issues which served to bridge gaps in understanding.

Dignity and Dialogue

The role of dignity in civic engagement and deliberative dialogue processes can influence

levels of sharing and understanding among participants, as the honoring of another’s dignity is a

fundamental building block in cultivating and maintaining relationships. Hicks (2011) identified

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