Tool
Guide to Appreciative Knowledge
Appreciative knowledge strengthens respect and relationships between people. Learn how to create opportunities to share appreciative knowledge.
Being able to identify the inspiring, admirable, and lifegiving aspects of each other’s traditions is critical to building and narrating pluralism. This type of information is called Appreciative Knowledge. An ability to surface it helps people form deeper bonds and develop understanding, even across areas of significant difference. This guide helps you create opportunities to share appreciative knowledge during a range of activities.
What is Appreciative Knowledge?
Knowing that Islam is the 2nd biggest religion in the world with over 2 billion adherents is a helpful bit of information. But knowing that the co-president of your food distribution project is inspired to serve because of her family’s tradition of serving food to the community during Ramadan iftars growing up helps deepen your understanding of them as a person and broadens your understanding of Islam. This is a small example of Appreciative Knowledge: substantive and positive knowledge of groups and identities other than your own. Appreciative Knowledge strengthens respect and relationships between people.
How can I discover it?
The only prerequisite for discovering appreciative knowledge is genuine curiosity. You don’t need to be a religious studies expert to unearth the experiences, traditions, and stories that matter most to people. Rather, appreciative knowledge is something you can learn through relatively straightforward, but thoughtful, questions. Being able to surface appreciative knowledge is a valuable skill in a wide range of situations. Here are some framing tools and questions to use when uncovering appreciative knowledge.
Framing Advice to Keep in Mind:
- First, consider asking if it’s okay to ask
- Especially in casual conversations, starting with some version of “would you mind telling me about…” or “If you’re open to sharing, I’d appreciate hearing more about…” signals respect and gives the other person the decision on what, or if, to share.
- Give time for a response
- If you’re going to ask someone to open up about something important, make sure you have time to really listen to the answer.
- Keep a posture of openness and curiosity
- Try to avoid making assumptions or filling in the gaps of someone’s story and say “tell me more” if you’re confused.
- Start with “what” or “how” instead of “why”.
- There’s nothing wrong with asking “why,” but doing so can sometimes inadvertently put someone into a defensive posture if they feel the need to justify their beliefs or traditions. Questions beginning with “what” or “how” can give the answerer more room to open up.
- Try to generate a story
- The best pieces of appreciative knowledge often surface when people tell stories. There’s nothing wrong with asking “when’s Easter?” but asking someone to tell you about their favorite holiday memories will start a richer conversation.
Good Questions to Ask:
Here are some examples of questions that are great for uncovering appreciative knowledge:
- “What’s something you love about your religion/community?”
- “What’s something about your religion/belief system/community that you wish more people knew about?”
- “What’s your favorite verse or story from your religion or upbringing? Why do you love it?”
- “What’s an example of a moment in your life when you felt particularly connected to your religion or community?”
- “What’s something from your tradition/background that is inspiring to you?”
- “What’s a favorite holiday or tradition? What makes it special to you?”
Using Appreciative Knowledge to Build Pluralism
Appreciative knowledge is important because it contributes to mutually inspiring relationships across difference. Highlighting it is an easy way to build and spread pluralism in your everyday conversations. You can model appreciative knowledge by asking others meaningful questions to find the inspiring elements of their experiences and traditions. If you’re in a role where you speak, facilitate, write, or create, you can highlight the things you appreciate the most about other traditions and beliefs, especially if you see a connection between appreciative knowledge about others’ lives and your own values and actions.
To help groups uncover appreciative knowledge, try having them discuss the questions offered in this resource or have them generate and ask their own questions. This a great way for classes and clubs to get to know each other, as well as an excellent way to build everyday pluralism.
Related Resources
Whether you’re a learner, an educator, or a practitioner, Interfaith America offers a suite of educational resources to help you realize your goals. Use our Learning & Action Bridge to find opportunities based on your role.
