Name
The Dynamics of Hope: Balancing Conflict and Change Across Civic Engagement Contexts
Date & Time
Monday, June 7, 2027, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Price
$40.00
Session Type
Pre-conference Institute (pre-registration required)
Description

Conflict is an integral part of collaborative, change-making processes that can foster hope among individuals, groups, and communities. This session will focus on the following core questions:

  • What roles do conflict and change play in the dynamics of hope in civic engagement contexts?
  • How can institutions of higher education foster the knowledge, skills, and dispositions relevant to productively navigate conflict and change at multiple scales (macro, meso, micro, "me-cro") (Author, 2024)? 
  • How can we meaningfully harness conflict in civic engagement contexts, to foster genuine dialogue, facilitate effective processes, build towards better outcomes, and cultivate hope? 
  • How can critical intercultural communication frameworks and approaches be mobilized to transform conflict within particular linguistic and cultural contexts? 
  • How might we conceptualize and put into practice conflict and change-informed partnerships and processes in civic engagement more broadly?

Conflict transformation is a framework focused on intentionally channeling conflict for constructive ends, highlighting the role of systems and structures in change across cultural and linguistic contexts (Lederach, 2003). This approach foregrounds the role of conflict in changes to which groups are responding, as well as changes they are building towards. Inherent to the conflict transformation paradigm is a past-present-future orientation that integrates hope for individuals, groups, and communities. Critical intercultural communication approaches provide contextualized methods for engaging meaningfully with individuals, groups, and communities. This interactive session will be focused on these forms of critical engagement designed for intentional reflection, action, and goal setting with an eye towards impact. Collectively, we will build a methodological toolkit for moving forward work at the conflict-change nexus, with collaborators at participants’ institutions and beyond.

This session is $40. It is sponsored by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation.