PCCA Conference Series on Othering and Hatred of Diversity 2025-2026, Online
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- Webpage Introduction
- I. Umbrella Report
- II. Antisemitism and Otherness
- III. The Double-Absence: Despair, Displacement and Hope in Migration
- IV. Islamophobia in an Upside-Down World
SERIES WEBSITE
PCCA – Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities invites you to participate in its new conference series
The world we live in is marked by rapid change and unexpected shifts, whether because of war, migration, racism, or religious and ethnic persecution, which unceasingly undermine and challenge the traditional order of political, economic, social and individual life. What is familiar and stable is severely threatened, and with it, traditional values and identities are questioned and found to be lacking, as if the only solution possible is to replace them with what is new, dominant and fashionable. These destructive trends are manipulated and amplified by the all-prevalent social media. As identities and values founder, there is a growing sense of instability, loss of trust and lack of safety.
In such circumstances, the Other who represents a different identity and divergent social values readily becomes the signifier of the threat to me personally, and the source of danger for my group and cohort.
Racism and Othering co-exist at both the individual and systemic levels. Manifestations of differences and diversity challenge the quest for the purity of self, race and nation. The tendency at both the individual and group level is to project such fears and hatred outwards, and to identify the Other, who is different, as the enemy that exists beyond the boundaries of self and group identities. This extreme differentiation or splitting can easily be exploited by political leadership to generate aggression towards the Other in service of perceived threats around survival. If not checked, such splitting may deteriorate into violence and persecution of others as the way to restore and regain stability, safety, and homogeneity, or purity — however illusory or unattainable that notion may be.
PCCA – Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities is an organisation that works towards developing strategies to engage with the legacy of past and present atrocities so as to open up possibilities for a more hopeful future. Over the past 30 years, PCCA has offered various “learning from experience” events to explore individual and societal processes in the occurrence of atrocities, and received the 2019 Sigourney Award for its pioneering interventions. PCCA’s commitment to confronting collective atrocities is not limited to those in the past.
The currently prominent global trends of hatred and violence towards otherness and diversity must not be ignored. They reflect the spread of present hostilities and atrocities, as well as the potential for future continuation or escalation.
PCCA is therefore launching a series of conferences to understand and address these trends and the phenomena that drive them.
These conferences aim to enable participants to encounter and explore their internal stance and lived experiences of othering, racism, exclusion and inclusion – as these relate to their identities and experiences of self and others within the conference setting. This is so as to foster deeper understanding of these societal dynamics and reduce the unconscious influence of such internal stances in everyday life.
The series consists of three ONLINE conferences which may be attended separately or altogether, followed by an in-person conference in 2026.
For a richer, more rounded learning experience, we recommend participation in all three conferences.
If you are:
- Concerned about the growing trends of hatred, racism, and violence toward difference and diversity, and its implications for the integration and stability of our democratic societies
- Wondering how we — as individuals, and our communities and institutions — may, consciously or unconsciously, contribute to dynamics of othering, exclusion and inclusion
- Curious to explore the psychological, social, and systemic forces that underpin these patterns of splitting via othering and exclusion — within individuals, groups, and societies
then we encourage you to participate in these PCCA experiential conferences!
For full information on the conference see the conference website:
Splitting Image 2026
One Response
Thanks for this.
One thought that comes to mind when reading this: the Present has a Past. When dealing with such distinct “hot” topics the history of each of them should also be part of the reflection, shouldn’t it? Could there be a chance for a meeting with the Past in the Future conference?