School of Communication
Communication, Culture and Conflict Resolution63-226-18
Lecturer: Dr. Robert Hershorn
Course Type: Elective
Credit hours:annual credit (1stsemester, 2 hours) - 2013-2014
Office Phone:03-7384317Course web site: TBA.
Office Location: Building 109, Room 3Office Hours:13:45-14:45. Email:
Course description:
How do the foundational components of society influence the way we communicate? Culture has been defined by scholars as a “whole way of life, shaping our worldview, yet allowing for varying degrees of autonomy. By exploring areas of cultural identity, collective memory and trauma, we begin to understand dominant patternswhich often constrainhuman behavior. While such forces are pervasive, alternative relational experiences are realized simultaneously. Dominant narratives can be repositioned by bridge-building communities within “in-between” spaces designed to re-imagine relationships with ‘the other”. This process is a continually evolving, painstaking task, necessitating an ongoing internal and intercultural re-examination of all foundational elements of a given culture. This course seeks to challenge students to determine whether such a process can contribute to the alleviation of, if not resolution of intercultural conflict.
Course Requirements and Grading
1.Term Paper:35% (7 Page Research Essay) + 5% (Outline of Essay Plan in One-Two Paragraphs) 40%
The research paper is to be 10-12 pages (double spaced) in length and will be written on a topic related to the course and of the student’s own choosing. Suggested topics for the paper will be provided. Paper topics must be approved by, and discussed with the instructor. Students will produce a 1-page outline of their proposed paper (worth 5% of the final grade). The 1-page outline will provide a 4-5 sentence thesis statement, along with a list of 4 (minimum) research sources (not drawn from our course reading list).
2.Final Exam: 50%
3.Attendance and Participation: 10%
Course plan and reading list:
A – The role of discourse in shaping societal conflict (1 week):
Philo, G (2008): Active audiences and the construction of public knowledge, Journalism Studies, 9:4, 535-544
N/A
Van Dijk, T.A. (1989). Structures of discourse and structures of power. In J.A. Anderson (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 12,. Newbury Park, CA: Sage(pp. 18-59).
journal
B – Explorations in identity (1 week):
Tajfel H., and J. Turner (2004). “The social identity theory of intergroup behavior”in Stephen Worchel and William Austin, eds. Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Chicago: Nelson Hall Publishers, pp. 7-24.
302.3 PSY 1986 (49240) – Psychology library
Brewer, M.B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same Time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, (17), 475-482.
journal in the Psychology library + ejournal (129931)
Brewer, M.B. (2001). Ingroup identification and intergroup conflict: When doesin Group love become outgroup hate? In R.D. Ashmore, L.J. Jussim, & D. Wilder (Eds.), Social identity, intergroup conflict, and conflict reduction New York, NY: Oxford University Press (pp. 17-41).
N/A
C – Relationship between culture and conflict resolution (2 weeks):
Avruch, K, & Mitchell, C. (2013). Introduction: Basic Human Needs in Theory and Practice. In K. Avruch & C. Mitchell (Eds.) Conflict Resolution And Human Needs: Linking Theory And Practice. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 1-18).
N/A
Avruch, K., & Black, P.W. (1991). The Culture Question and Conflict Resolution. Peace & Change, (16), pp. 22-45.
ejournal (452880)
Avruch, K., & Black, P.W. (1993). Conflict Resolution in Intercultural Settings. InD.J.D. Sandole & H.V.D. Merwe (Eds.), Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice. Manchester: Manchester University Press. (pp. 131-145).
reserved under CON (239256)
D – Collective emotions in conflict (1 week)
Bar-Tal, D., Halperin, E., & de Rivera, J. (2007). Collective emotions in conflict
Situations: Societal implications. Journal of Social Issues, 63,pp. 441-460.
ejournal (119176)
Bar-Tal, D. (2007). Sociopsychological foundations of intractable conflicts. American Behavioral Scientist, 50, pp. 1430-1453.
ejournal (117811)
E –Collective memory(2 weeks).
Connerton, Paul. “Social Memory”, How Societies Remember.Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2006, pp. 6-40.
reserved under CON (145500)
Halbwachs, Maurice. (1992)“Preface” and “The Reconstruction of the Past”, Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (pp 37-40, 46-51).
306.42 HAL o (370448)
Schwartz, Barry. Introduction.The Expanding Past, Qualitative Sociology. 19(3) 1996, pp. 275-81.
journal + ejournal (132280)
F – Trauma (1 week)
Becker, D. (2004). Dealing with the consequences of organized violence in trauma work. The Berghof handbook for conflict transformation. Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management. Retrieved from
Kaplan, Ann E. (2005) Vicarious Trauma and Empty Empathy: Media Images of Rwanda and the Iraq War. In Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature. New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers University Press (pp. 87-100).
N/A
G – Narratives in conflict (2 weeks).
Bar Tal, D., & Solomon, G. (2006). Israeli-Jewish narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Evolution, contents, functions, and consequences. In R.I. Rotberg (Ed.), Israeli and Palestinian narratives of conflict: History’s double helix Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (pp. 19-46).
N/A
Abdel, J.S. (2006). The Arab and Palestinian narratives of the 1948 war. In R.I. Rotberg, (Ed.), Israeli and Palestinian narratives of conflict: History’s double helix. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (pp. 72-114).
N/A
Pappe, I. (2006) The bridging narrative concept. In Israeli and Palestinian narratives of conflict: History’s double helix. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (pp. 194-204).
N/A
Learning each other's historical narrative in Israeli and Palestinian schools (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2011, from
H- Healing conflict or the reformulation of relationships of power? (1 week).
Nadler, A., & Liviatan, I. (2006). Intergroup Reconciliation: Effects of Adversary's Expressions of Empathy, Responsibility, and Recipients' Trust. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 459-470.
ejournal (129931)
Agbaria, F. & Cohen C. (2000). Working With Groups in Conflict: The Impact of Power Relations on the Dynamics of the Group Waltham, MA: Brandeis University (pp. 1-12).
N/A
Maoz, I., Bar-On, D., Bekerman, Z., & Jaber-Massarwa, S. (2004). Learning about ‘good enough’ through ‘bad enough’: A story of a planned dialogue between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. Human Relations, 57(9), 1075-1101.
ejournal (149591)
Mamdani, M. (2002) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (pp. 3-19).
N/A
I – From co-existence to bridge-building (1 week)
Schirch, L. (2001). Ritual Reconciliation: Transforming Identity/Reframing Conflict. In Abu-Nimer, M. (Ed.), Reconciliation, justice, and coexistence: Theory and practice. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (pp. TBA).
N/A
Cohen, C. (2005). Creative Approaches to Reconciliation. In M. Fitzduff & C. E. Stout (Eds.), The psychology of resolving global conflicts: From war to peace. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc (pp. 69-102).
N/A
Shank, M., and Schirch, L. (2008). Strategic arts-based peacebuilding. Peace Change. 33(2), pp. 217-242.
ejournal (452880)
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