The Little Book of Circle Processes : A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series) (Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding) *EPUB
Circle processes offer a way of bringing people together to understand one another, strengthen bonds, and solve community problems—a necessity in an era of division, polarized politics, and angry debate. Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. This peacemaking practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece and combines that with concepts of democracy and inclusivity. Peacemaking circles are used in neighborhoods to provide support for those harmed by crime and to decide sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to create positive classroom climates and resolve behavior problems, in the workplace to deal with conflict, and in social services to develop more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives together. The circle process hinges on storytelling. It is an effort bringing astonishing results around the country. Chapters include: Circles in PracticeA Circle Story—Finding a Way to Move Forward after a Workers StrikeFoundations of CirclesA Circle Story—Finding Understanding in the ClassroomKey Elements of CirclesA Circle Story—Finding Healing from Violent CrimeOrganizing a Talking CircleA Circle Story—Finding Respect Across GenerationsCircles in PerspectiveA Circle Story—Finding Connection within Family A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series. Read more
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Why Must Read The Little Book of Circle Processes : A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series) (Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding)?
This little book is an excellent introduction to Peacemaking Circles. It is NOT a "How To" book. It does provide a great introduction to Circles for the reader. It also seems to be a helpful resource for introducing others to the topic and helping groups, organizations, and communities consider getting more information and training and possibly using Circles for conflict resolution, to promote dialogue around difficult topics, discovery and learning of different perspectives, alternative sentencing in courts, alternative discipline in schools, etc. The book is well written, clear and concise. The author is knowledgeable and has much practical (and inspirational) experience. I enjoyed the brief stories and examples used in the book, which seemed fitting for the subject. I did find it somewhat redundant in how it introduced the core elements of Circles in the second chapter, and then attempted to explain them further in a separate chapter (c 6). I didn't find much additional info in the chapter on the core elements, though some expansion of ideas previously introduced was helpful. I wondered if the limited space in the book could have been better used to cover additional content (The "Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding" series seems to be wisely limited to 90 pages). I was glad that the author did address various challenges to implementing Circles in the book.
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