Page 389 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6

racism was a thing of the past, but it kind of made me understand, maybe not, but I don’t know the

details of everything” (P16MW). While his statement indicated some ambivalence about the

existence of racism, he was willing to admit that he did not know and that situations of potential

discrimination required investigation of both sides of the issue. Stories such as those shared among

participants during the dialogues on race offered opportunities for new learning and insights in

ways that perhaps had never occurred or rarely occur. As such uncertainty of the environment and

groups dynamics provided situations in which participants, with the assistance of facilitators

“learned their way through the situation [the dialogue] by practicing as reflective cultural

beginners” (Vaill, 1996, p. 97). Vaill suggests that by putting ourselves in uncomfortable

situations, that we open ourselves to risk, learn from feedback in situations where the rules of the

dominant culture are “clearly off and the learner is out in the open and between cultures” (p. 156).

Sustaining the conversation, bridging the divide. The third theoretical proposition,

“sustaining the conversation, bridging the divide,” speaks to the transformational change that

th
emerged from the local dialogues in Albany NY that occurred on May, 20 , May 23, June 9 and
June 13 2016 over a period of about four weeks. Sustained dialogue is a process of relational work

that can produce varying levels of transformation among and between individual participants.

However, the slow process of transformation in the context of race relations using deliberative and

civic dialogue practices is achieved only through ongoing gatherings that promote face-to-face

interactions and authentic and provocative exchanges which the premise of Community

Conversations offer. In the case of issues of race, racism and race relations, sustained conversations

through carefully planned dialogue are essential to bridging the divide. While the dialogues on

implicit bas were sustained for a short period of time and there is evidence that shifts in perspective

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