Intergenerational Dialogue and Inquiry for Collective Healing, Social Justice and Communal Well-Being: A Reflection on Conceptions, Processes and Practices

This paper explores how intergenerational dialogue and inquiry (IDI) may help break the silence about past brutality and contribute to collective healing, social justice and communal well-being. The specific historical contexts that it is concerned with are transatlantic slavery and colonisation, and the continued legacies of contemporary racism. Global communities impacted by these tragedies often experience silence between the generations about the trauma resulting from the atrocity, often exacerbated by present day discrimination. In considering the case study of IDI in communities on four continents, this paper further analyses the processes involved in breaking the cycles of silence, and remembering cultural wisdom and place-based resilience. It thus highlights practices such as trust-building, active listening, questioning, re-storying, deep dialogue and co-inquiry across the generations as key to understanding systemic dehumanisation and re-imagining the structural conditions necessary for the flourishing of all.