Insights into and applications of the Value Orientation Method and Model for value-based conflict resolution

Description In this seminar we will explore the conceptual framework of the value orientation method (VOM), the significance of variations in value orientations, and how this method and model has been used to achieve true intercultural communication and address values-based misunderstandings. True communication requires going well beneath the surface values, attitudes, or opinions to the deeper schema of predisposition of belief. Misunderstanding and misrepresenting these predispositions impedes communication, perpetuates false stereotypes and can prolong values-based conflicts. We will examine how the VOM was used by the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center in the areas of cross-cultural environmental conflict resolution in the United States and barriers to intercultural communication in the Republic of South Africa, and then explore the implications of the VOM for addressing intercultural communication issues relating to the current pandemic.

Speakers Dr. Russo (Director of the Se’Si’Le Institute) Dr. Russo has worked with indigenous communities for 42 years in arena of cross-cultural conflict resolution in environmental issues and land conservancy. In the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the American Far West he served as Senior Strategist for tribal consortiums on campaigns to protect indigenous rights, natural resources, and sacred sites, and helped design and implement regional, national, and international workshops and symposia to promote cross-cultural understandings on the nature of Nature. He also designed and coordinated indigenous-based cultural and technical exchange programs to preserve biodiversity and protect indigenous lifeways in Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Papua New Guinea, and the Russian Far East. He was co-Founder and Director of the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center for the Study of Values, the Native American Land Conservancy, and the Foundation for Indigenous Medicine, was Senior Advisor to the intertribal Kumeyaay-Diegueno Land Conservancy in California, and is currently Director of the Se’Si’Le Institute. He has a BS in Forestry, a MS in Forestry/Public Administration, and a Ph.D. in History

Steve Zubalik (Research Director and a Board Member of the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center) (BS Western Washington University, 1978; MS University of Washington, College of Science, Management and Technology, 1989) Steve Zubalik started conducting interviews for the Values Project Northwest in 1983, becoming Research Director and a Board Member of the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center for the Study of Values in 1985. Over a period of nearly twenty years, he was a key participant in multiple Center VOM intercultural communication projects working extensively with government agencies, corporations, and Native American communities in Puget Sound and Canada on resource management conflicts involving forest practices, hydropower, and other development activities and their effects on tribal cultural practices

Language English