Using Play Talking Stick to better understand a graduate program

I used a shortened version of the Play Talking Stick workshop with a mixed group of academics: professors, administrators, students and alumni at an international Graduate School in the US.  There is rich input and diversity of responses that Play Talking Stick captures when it is used with a diverse group of people from many different organizational levels.

What the SIT Graduate Institute means to us.

Participants in a May 2014 SIT Learning Lunch explored “Play Talking Stick” an ethnographic research tool developed by SIT (School for International Training) Graduate Institute adjunct faculty, Dr. Tamara Stenn.  In the spirit of SIT experiential learning, these participants engaged in a shortened version of the two-hour Play Talking Stick workshop.  The following are the results of this mini-session where participants explored, “What SIT Means to Me,” through shared monologues and guided group discussion.  Play Talking Stick quantifies experiences and identifies patterns and trends.  Designed for socio-economic study, it can be used in social research, needs assessments, situational analysis, team building, and conflict resolution. 

Four participants were present: a current SIT international student in the management program, two alumni – one foreign and from the language arts program and the other a US citizen rom the management program, plus an administrator (also an alumna), and a management program faculty member.  The following is an analysis of what they found SIT meant to them.  This is not meant to be a definitive work on what SIT is, but rather an example of how the tool worked in this particular context.  It is interesting to note the diversity of participants which added to there richness of the responses.  For further understanding of what SIT means to people, a larger study with mixed groups of 12 to 25 participants is recommended.  A purpose or applied use for data gathering would also make the exercise more meaningful. 

Findings

More than a third of SIT’s meaning revolved around the support people felt being at the Graduate Institute (fig. 1).  “Being at SIT is….being with other people who are like minded with a shared mentality,” explained one participant.  “Everybody has a safe platform to express their cause and share their culture,” explained another.  This idea of support seemed to provide the foundation for the development of different ideas, which participants referred to with almost a 30% frequency.  This is exemplified in the following statement: (SIT is…) “the part of a system that is working to create change makers and people who see the world in a little bit of a different way.”  In addition to new ideas, peace building and world improvement were also closely associated with the meaning of SIT.  More the 20% of all conversation mentioned these themes in statements such as, “Being here means supporting a greater grander vision for peace in the world, a role in making the world a better place,” and,  “SIT is an international platform where it has a potentiality to provide intercultural experience to promote peace in the region.”  Participants also associated SIT with being a place of culture and idea sharing, a theme that emerged with a 14% relative frequency.

(Fig. 1)  Talking Stick responses

Upon listening to each others’ ideas about what SIT meant, participants engaged in a brief guided discussion about the challenges faced at SIT.  These included intercultural tensions as complex and varied cultures were being accommodated and understood at a rapid, low context, pace.  Some participants felt that though diverse cultures were recognized and valued at SIT, it was in the context of and dominated by, US culture with little effort being made to genuinely engage in other cultural ways of being.  This tied into the recognition that the short time (nine months) that students had to engage in their learning put extra pressure on them, something particularly difficult for international students for whom English was not their first language.  Language challenges, cultural differences and an accelerated rate of learning were challenging to participants.  In addition, there were high expectations for results placed on the students themselves and also faculty. 

Another dynamic that received some discussion was the tension between career building which brought about greater earnings, and being “mission driven” where good will rather than pay was most valued and sought after.  It was asked how the cost of graduate school could be justified when tuition needed to be paid in dollars and not good will.  The financial challenges of attending SIT were recognized in this context.

This last dynamic was reflected in the academic environment at SIT where the application of learning was both exciting and challenging.  However, the leap from theoretical to practical or applied ideas was a struggle.  Participants found that other organizations were sometimes resistant to new or different ideas learned at SIT.  The challenge of applying new learning also tied in with the theme of the pursuit of a traditional career with steady earnings versus working as a pioneer in new areas of development.

Benefits to SIT participation were often the flip side of the challenges, for example, the learning of new things.  Participants reported enjoying the experiential nature of SIT and the fact that they had the opportunity to continuously try out new things and that learning could be applied  to current, past and future experiences.

It was felt that SIT enabled participants to open their minds by creating a larger world view, mind set and understanding.  The term “karma points” was used in reference to the way that interculturalism and evolving ideas were embraced and valued at SIT.  The idea of working and learning together was also recognized.  A benefit that many defined was the ability to contribute to others’ learning and the opportunity to witness the cultivation of new ideas.  This is reflected in Fig. 1 with multiple references to new ideas in the categories “different ideas” and “shared ideas.”  Together these categories represent almost half of all responses.

In conclusion, SIT provides a diverse cultural experience, a safe place to try out and explore new ideas and shared interests in peacebuilding and world development.  It holds the challenge of embracing cultural diversity in the face of a dominant US culture.  SIT creates a place in which one straddles the complexities of applied learning, generates new ideas, and balances being mission based with the practicalities of career building and bill paying. 

For more information about Play Talking Stick, including other examples of how and where it has been used with other organizations, institutions and in published research, please contact Tamara Stenn at tamara.stenn@sit.edu.