Us Against When

Course Description

We are in a time between worlds where conflict in the United States is highly polarized and increasing numbers of people are feeling hopeless and unable to shape the future. Cities and local governments have a role to play in creating spaces for citizens to imagine alternative possibilities, create scenarios to better understand the shared risk of possible futures, and build common narratives for collective action. The City of San Diego has intentionally positioned itself as a counterbalance to the highly negative and divisive politics in DC and is working toward a cohesive vision for the San Deigo-Tijuana Megaregion. In this workshop-based course, we will explore the connection between local peacebuilding and futures and foresight methods through interactive activities about the future of San Diego. By using these methods, the goal is to transform the “us against them” that signifies conflict to “us against when” where communities have a shared understanding of which futures are possible and what might be done together to build the futures we want to see.

By the end of the course you will have:

• A baseline understanding of futures thinking and the relationship to peacebuilding
• Experience developing a future scenario based on several narrative arcs that support creativity
• Experience in casual layer analysis and the three horizons framework
• New ideas for how to spread hope and positivity
• Trialed a new sensemaking methodology for building shared understanding of futures within San Diego

Your Instructor

Dr. Keil Eggers has been at the forefront of the peace technology movement, exploring ways to combine large-scale narrative research and sense-making approaches for organizations facing highly-polarized conflict. As a leader, he seeks to help organizations connect the lived experience of communities they serve to decision-making processes through participatory sensemaking approaches. At the George Mason University Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, he managed the Peace Engineering Lab and contributed to the founding of the Center for Peace Tech. He has conducted over 20 research projects related to conflict, anticipatory governance, and community engagement in the United States, Ukraine, Basque Country, Thailand, and Senegal. He has published on humanitarian technology, sensemaking techniques, and peace engineering, and futures and foresight for peacebuilding. He completed his PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University's Carter School, and M.A. in International Peace Studies at UPEACE.