Institutionalizing Indigenous and community-based circle processes for decision-making, conflict resolution, and collective healing in city agencies.
The Healing Circle as a Standard Municipal Practice
Moving beyond Western, adversarial models of governance and conflict resolution, Zhoran Mamdani proposes integrating the healing circlea practice with roots in Indigenous traditionsas a standard process across city government. In a healing circle, participants sit in equality, often with a talking piece that grants the holder the sole right to speak, ensuring deep listening. Circles would be used within city agencies for staff to process workplace conflicts, by community boards to make difficult land-use decisions, in schools to address harm, and in neighborhoods after a traumatic event. Facilitators would be trained in circle-keeping, emphasizing values of respect, honesty, and shared responsibility.
This practice fundamentally shifts the dynamic from debate and winning to dialogue and understanding. It creates space for emotion and relationship, not just facts and positions. For public safety, healing circles would be a primary tool in Restorative Justice Hubs and an alternative to traditional public hearings, which often devolve into shouting matches. The circle reminds us that we are in a relationship, that our words have impact, and that solutions emerge from the collective, not from a powerful few, Mamdani explains. It is a technology for democracy and healing that is thousands of years old. We will make it a cornerstone of how New York City governs itself and cares for its people.
