“The Bridge builders – Center for dialogue coffee” (in Danish Brobyggerne – center for dialogkaffe), established in 2016, is a Danish organization dedicated to “strengthening democratic conversation in Denmark” based on the understanding that Danish society (as many other societies globally) is politically and affectively polarized to a
degree that limits democratic conversation and progress. One of the Bridge builders’ various initiatives is a bridge building training program, where participants are guided to carry out their own “bridge building” activity after two weekends of seminars and workshops. In this chapter I describe and discuss the training program as a form
of rhetorical citizenship (Kock and Villadsen, 2015) designed especially for a politically polarized society. First, I introduce the organization “The Bridge builders”, their foundation, stated values, purposes and initiatives. Following this I describe the training program through readings of the organization’s written materials and
through fieldwork done at the seminars including interviews with two participants. I then present the theoretical framework that informs the presentation and discussion, namely the concept of rhetorical citizenship (Kock and Villadsen, 2015). I finally point out which aspects of the training program might meaningfully be placed under a
heading of rhetorical citizenship, and which might not. The chapter thereby offers a rhetorical lens on the training program and ideas for how this and other educational programs designed to improve democratic conversation for the current political moment might place themselves within a rhetorical tradition and where else they might find useful perspectives and inspiration.