Seminar: Humanity Mapping

This seminar explores the Humanity Map as a socio-analytic and systems psychodynamic method for working with individuals and groups in relation to cultural difference. Developed through doctoral inquiry, the Humanity Mat offers a structured yet open way of giving form to experiences that are often difficult to articulate, particularly the emotional, relational, and unconscious dimensions of encounter.

In its original form, the method invites participants to stand in relation to named affective categories. For this seminar, it will be adapted for an online environment, allowing participants to locate themselves virtually in relation to these positions and reflect on what becomes available through that process.

Participants will learn about the origins, design, and application of the Humanity Map, including its relationship to systems psychodynamics, group relations, autoethnography, and experiential inquiry. They will also be invited to experience the method directly and consider what emerges: not only in individual responses, but in the relational and group dynamics that take shape through the exercise.

What becomes possible when people are invited to position themselves in relation to what they feel before they are asked to explain what they think?

Katy Rowett has a strong history with the field of systems psychodynamics, having completed a Master of Applied Science in 2011 and been involved in the early establishment of NIODA, where she also served as Secretary to the Board and later taught within the faculty.

Alongside more than 25 years’ experience as a senior organisational, technology, and transformation leader, Katy has worked extensively with the dynamics of people, systems, culture, leadership, and change. She is currently in the final phases of her PhD in Philosophy.

Her doctoral research, Native or Alien, brings together systems psychodynamics, autoethnography, and experiential and creative inquiry to explore how people think, feel, and behave when encountering cultural difference.