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Conflict resolution focus of research in Balkans
June 14, 2007
Two faculty members and three students embarked on a nearly three-week research trip to Norway and the Balkans on June 13.
The entourage includes Ed Inch, dean of the School of Arts and Communication; communication professor Amanda Feller; recent graduates Ingrid Stegemoeller and Jennifer Henrichsen; and senior Kyle Morean.
The team will work with the Nansen Dialogue Network, an organization that fosters discussion among various ethnic groups living in the war-torn Balkan states. The organization began as a project of Nansenskolen (The Nansen Academy) in Lillehammer, Norway, and now includes 10 dialogue centers scattered throughout the Balkan region.
The dialogue centers provide trained mediators to facilitate discussions between participants from both sides of a conflict and encourage the two sides to find a “shared understanding,” Morean explained.
“It’s not a competition, it’s not persuasion,” Morean said of dialogue practices. “There is no right or wrong. They tell their own story, their truth.”
Dialogue practices encourage both sides to not only tell their story, but to also listen carefully to the other perspective. The discussions humanize the conflict and help the two sides build peace by developing solutions that satisfy both parties, Morean said.
The PLU team’s primary research is titled “The Dialogue Project.” The team will visit five of the dialogue centers in the Balkans where they’ll observe dialogue sessions and interview practitioners, staff and participants.
“We’ll observe how the idea of grassroots conflict resolution is being taught,” Morean said. “It will be interesting to see how it works, the impact and what kind of influence they have in the region.”
Additionally, the team will assess the feasibility of a partnership between the Nansen network and PLU, and gauge the potential for students pursuing conflict studies to participate in field work, Feller said. The team’s research will also be used to enhance PLU’s conflict studies program, a fact that got Morean thinking about the research in a different light.
“It made me think how our research will be useful to the university, where it will fit in,” Morean said. “It forced me to think more about how this is going to make sense.”
While overseas, the team will stop in Oslo to meet with reporters connected to the Peace Research Institute and get a closer look at Norway as a peace and democracy builder, Feller said. The group will also visit Hedmark University College in Hammar, which is part of PLU’s Norway-Namibia Peace Partnership.
Before visiting dialogue centers in the Balkans, the team will spend six days at the Nansenskolen’s international summer session. The team will then conduct research at dialogue centers in Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo, a province of Serbia.
This research opportunity developed from an invitation by Steinar Bryn, a Norwegian friend of PLU who has guest lecturer and co-taught a number of PLU courses. Bryn is also the senior advisor of Nansenskolen and established the Balkans’ dialogue centers. He will serve as the team’s personal escort, Feller said.
Henrichsen and Stegemoeller will be posting to a blog on The News Tribune Web site. Read it here.
To learn more about the Nansen Dialogue Network, visit www.nansen-dialogue.net.
The team will work with the Nansen Dialogue Network, an organization that fosters discussion among various ethnic groups living in the war-torn Balkan states. The organization began as a project of Nansenskolen (The Nansen Academy) in Lillehammer, Norway, and now includes 10 dialogue centers scattered throughout the Balkan region.
The dialogue centers provide trained mediators to facilitate discussions between participants from both sides of a conflict and encourage the two sides to find a “shared understanding,” Morean explained.
“It’s not a competition, it’s not persuasion,” Morean said of dialogue practices. “There is no right or wrong. They tell their own story, their truth.”
Dialogue practices encourage both sides to not only tell their story, but to also listen carefully to the other perspective. The discussions humanize the conflict and help the two sides build peace by developing solutions that satisfy both parties, Morean said.
The PLU team’s primary research is titled “The Dialogue Project.” The team will visit five of the dialogue centers in the Balkans where they’ll observe dialogue sessions and interview practitioners, staff and participants.
“We’ll observe how the idea of grassroots conflict resolution is being taught,” Morean said. “It will be interesting to see how it works, the impact and what kind of influence they have in the region.”
Additionally, the team will assess the feasibility of a partnership between the Nansen network and PLU, and gauge the potential for students pursuing conflict studies to participate in field work, Feller said. The team’s research will also be used to enhance PLU’s conflict studies program, a fact that got Morean thinking about the research in a different light.
“It made me think how our research will be useful to the university, where it will fit in,” Morean said. “It forced me to think more about how this is going to make sense.”
While overseas, the team will stop in Oslo to meet with reporters connected to the Peace Research Institute and get a closer look at Norway as a peace and democracy builder, Feller said. The group will also visit Hedmark University College in Hammar, which is part of PLU’s Norway-Namibia Peace Partnership.
Before visiting dialogue centers in the Balkans, the team will spend six days at the Nansenskolen’s international summer session. The team will then conduct research at dialogue centers in Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo, a province of Serbia.
This research opportunity developed from an invitation by Steinar Bryn, a Norwegian friend of PLU who has guest lecturer and co-taught a number of PLU courses. Bryn is also the senior advisor of Nansenskolen and established the Balkans’ dialogue centers. He will serve as the team’s personal escort, Feller said.
Henrichsen and Stegemoeller will be posting to a blog on The News Tribune Web site. Read it here.
To learn more about the Nansen Dialogue Network, visit www.nansen-dialogue.net.