Peacemaking amid Polarization
Wed, Jul 08
|Chicago Loop Synagogue
Learn how "mimetic binaries" drive polarization—and explore psycho-spiritual competencies that help resist contagion, blame, and “us–them” reflexes. This interactive workshop offers peacemaking tools and exercises to cultivate a grounded third-space presence and creative paths toward repair.
Time & Location
Jul 08, 2026, 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM CDT
Chicago Loop Synagogue, 16 S Clark St, Chicago, IL 60603, USA
About the Event
Across many of the issues polarizing the United States today, we are facing a multi-front mimetic crisis: escalating cycles of imitation, rivalry, scapegoating, and “us–them” thinking that erode trust and civic life. In such conditions, depolarizing requires people who can step outside mimetic binaries—that is, peacebuilders—who understand and interrupt the destructive patterns, to be the bridges across difference.
In this interactive workshop, Dr. Vanessa Avery will draw on her 10+ years of experience as a bridge-builder doing depolarization work in 8 different cities and with virtual groups online. She will illuminate the process and phenomenon of polarization, its effects on communities and the loss of the "relational middle," and will teach techniques for engagement across differences that have been time tested and shown to produce positive change.
The workshop will incorporate group practice to build competencies in select fundamental de-polarizing skills.
The workshop will also explore the disposition of the…
Tickets
General Admission
From $15.00 to $45.00
$45.00
+$1.13 ticket service fee
$15.00
+$0.38 ticket service fee
Total
$0.00