Seeds of Dialogue. Guest post by Maria Flora Mangano.
NOTE: As someone who has received a set of the “seeds of dialogue” described here, this post is particularly meaningful to me. It’s a lovely gesture, and something that would be particularly easy for others to replicate.
This idea of a symbolic gift for students at the end of a course occurred to me in 2017. At that time, I was teaching transcultural dialogue to undergraduates, in addition to a course in communication of scientific research intended for doctoral students.
I prepared “seeds of dialogue,” as I called them, by using the seeds of seasonal fruit I had at home (such as oranges or apples), which I washed, dried, and stored. It was also a sustainable gift, as I packed the seeds using recycled materials: transparent cellophane and strand of raffia for the envelope, which I stapled onto cards made of reused wallpaper.
The intent was to wish for the students to continue to plant “seeds of dialogue” in the Other, as we had experienced during the course. The proposal was to place them beyond our class, and beyond the academic context, with the aim, far more broadly, to give these seeds a place in our everyday lives.
They are only seeds of fruit, but the meaning of the seeds as symbol is immediate: each of us, wherever and whenever, may begin to create a relationship with the Other by building a bridge, by planting a seed. .
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Center for Intercultural Dialogue 