The Discourse of Storytelling
The Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution (CNCR) focuses on the establishment of relational dynamics through the discourse of storytelling. Conflicts stem from the search for validity and justice. The practice of exchanging narratives allows individuals to disclose struggle and emotion experienced from shared histories while gaining a counter-perspective of the Other. CNCR’s mission is to anchor research in narrative processes in conflict dynamics within and across the faculty and students at S-CAR, thereby advancing narrative theory and practice. Dr. Sara Cobb, the director of CNCR, is currently teaching CONF 695: Narrative Practice in Conflict Resolution, a course designed to provide students with the analytic tools necessary to conduct their own research using a narrative perspective.
CNCR has been and will be very active in presenting the S-CAR community with events supporting the narrative perspective. In September, Michal Alberstein presented the “Law of Alternatives: In Search of Identity in Dispute Resolution.” Alberstein, the head of the conflict management and negotiation program at Bar Ilan University Israel, discussed alternative practices to dispute resolution. Rob Ricigliano visited CNCR in October, hosting a workshop entitled “Systemic Approaches to Conflict Mapping.” The workshop introduced students and community members to the basic methodology behind mapping out a conflict situation through a team-driven exercise. In November, CNCR welcomed Dr. Maria Pia Lara, a professor and researcher from the Metropolitan University of Mexico, who presented her work entitled “Revisiting the Theory of Reflective Judgment.”
This spring, CNCR hosted a variety of events aimed at providing students with narrative insight. On February 26th, NYU Professor Allen Feldman presented his lecture “Apophatic Sovereignty Before the Law at Guantanamo,” which included a discussion of Feldman’s involvement with Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT).
CNCR continues to host lunchtime Narrative Research Roundtables, which affords students the opportunity to present their research-in-progress for feedback and scholarly exchange. The semester’s first roundtable took place on March 26th, where S-CAR PhD student Sarah Federman held an exercise on reflective practice entitled “State, Story, and Strategy.” Students were asked to consider what stories and particular roles they each play surrounding a given conflict, to reflect on their own states of mind when entering a new engagement, and to identify a strategy from S-CAR that can be used as a resolution for the conflict at hand.
PhD student Roi Ben-Yehuda presented his research at the second roundtable on April 16th. Ben-Yehuda discussed the qualitative changes introduced by the activity of the popular Israeli band Orphaned Land into social interactions within the Israel-Palestine conflict.
CNCR also launched the center’s first e-journal, Narrative and Conflict: Explorations in Theory and Practice. Editors of the journal are Dr. Cobb and John Winslade, who is a professor at California State University, San Bernardino. The first issue consisted of articles from within the S-CAR community as well as outside scholars, and was published April 15th, 2013.