Ordinary people have chosen to know and 'own' the shameful side of Australia's history.

Paige Chargois travelled to West Africa for a meeting between the descendants of those who bought and sold Africans and the descendants of those they shipped to the Americas.

Sir Conrad Hunte, the West Indian international cricketer, died in December. TC 'Dickie' Dodds, himself a former professional cricketer, pays tribute to a man who will be remembered for his contribution to human relations as much as for his sporting prowess.

Mike Brown spent a week at the MRA international conference centre in Caux, Switzerland, to find out whether 'honest conversation' is as useful as is claimed.

For a century African slaves were landed on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, marched across a bridge in the dead of night, and sold at the slave auctions next day. In June last year hundreds walked the same route, at night, seeking to understand the roots of racial divisions still troubling their city.

Laurie Vogel reflects on Michael Ignatieff's recent book on ethnic conflict.

An all-African conference on how to combat corruption and bring reconciliation to a war-torn continent, organized by MRA, took place in Tanzania in May.

Verwoerd is one of the names most associated with apartheid. William Smook discovers that Wilhelm and Melanie Verwoerd break all the stereotypes.

John Bond describes progress towards healing a deep hurt in the soul of Australia.

Fifteen years ago in a ground-breaking article in Foreign Policy magazine in the United States, Joseph V Montville described the relatively new concept of citizen diplomacy. By this he meant the unofficial initiatives of private citizens and groups to help open lines of communication and build trust between those involved in international conflicts.