Harlene Anderson
Dedication
We dedicate Issue 11 to Humberto Maturana, world-renowned Chilean biologist and philosopher, whose death on May 6th leaves us with a void, but importantly everlasting inspiration. His legacy gives us hope that each in our own small way may make the world a better place, and enhance our human beingness.
All human living occurs in conversations and
it is in that space where the reality in which we live is created.
Todo vivir ocurre en conversaciones y
es en ese espacio donde se crea la relidad en que vivimos.
Humberto Maturana
IJCP Issue 11 Editorial
Life is complex. We live in such uncertain times—globally, nationally, and locally. Civil unrest, war, brutality, violence, and displaced persons like gigantic telescopes magnify its complexity. I often hear how readers find trying to view the world through a collaborative-dialogic lens gives hope that one day things might be different even though there are no promises. They say they are learning to pause and slow down and contemplate their thoughts and actions. They realize we are simply human beings encountering each other and that they can make a difference in some small way toward creating the world they want to live in.
In this Issue Anna Margrete Flåm so generously stories the events and relationships that started in northern Norway and encouraged an international network. Flåm presents the development, emerging practices, and the theoretical understandings, including reflecting teams, reflecting processes, and dialogically anchored practices in mental health services and other human areas. She details events and relationships that had an enormous influence on the development of practices such as anticipatory dialogue, collaborative, dialogic, narrative, and open dialogue, among others. Her article and the reflections are a must read for anyone who would like to have a sense of the development of these practices. She was, and still is, there first-hand. We are privileged to have her words.
Flåm’s article is followed by reflections from several people who were part of, and continue to be on the forefront and witnesses of these developments that were nurtured under the northern Norway summer light and beyond.
This issue also includes inquiry/investigation/research articles by practitioners for practitioners. Nubia Torres in Colombia and Karina Guerschberg and colleagues in Argentina provide a view of what they learned from their work with clients and members of communities, and from their participants as well.
Do not miss the words of Diana Carleton, Gene Combs, Jill Friedman, Sally St. George, and Dan Wulff in the From the Bookshelf section. Dan Wulff, Editor of From the Bookshelf, creatively invited them to share their inner conversations inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s powerful book Caste: The Origins of our Discontents. Timely food for thought and dialogue.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge our reviewers who try so carefully to review in a way that helps authors improve manuscripts. Though they must remain anonymous, please know we do not consider reviewers as invisible, but valuable members of our team.
A heartfelt gratitude for Monica Sesma (Canada) who has been our Spanish translation editor, and her amazing positive responsefulness. She and her team have been tremendously helpful and energetic. Monica leaves a difficult position to fill. Garbine Delgado-Raack (Spain), however, graciously and eagerly stepped right in for the translations for Issue 11. She created a team almost over-night and who came to the rescue of Issue 11. We look forward to acknowledging them, and hope that under Garbine’s leadership they will continue to help with translations in the future. Below is a list of translators for Issue 11 that we want to acknowledge. Also, a special thanks to the authors who translated their own articles: Karina Guerschberg, Jaakko Seikkula, and Adela Garcia and Leticia Rodriguez. (Yes, Seikkula speaks and writes Spanish.) We are also grateful for Jake Edelstein’s editing assistance.
Neilliana Acuña (Texas, USA)
Nadia Nugent Aragón (Republic of Mauritius)
René Buenfil (Mexico)
Daniela Capparelli (Argentina)
Garbiñe Delgado-Raack (Basque Country, Spain)
Angelica Escobar (Texas, USA)
Sylvia London (Mexico)
Leticia Muñoz Arreola (Mexico)
Adela Garcia (Argentina)
Karina Guerschberg (Argentina)
Jacqueline House (Texas, USA)
Irma Rodriguez (Mexico)
Leticia Rodriguez (Paraguay)
Jaakko Seikkula (Finland)
We cannot go to press without acknowledging Rainey Atkinson, Editorial Assistant, and Kris Harmat, Website Administrator.
Harlene Anderson
May 2021
International Journal of Collaborative-Dialogic Practices 