Understanding conflict transformation dialogue through conversation analysis

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Peace education around the world

Proposal

Conflict is often described with terms such as ‘struggle’, ‘clash’, or ‘incompatibility’. These terms are not usually seen as positive. However, Dietrich (2013) considers that conflict is a ‘natural product of human interaction and inherent in every relationship’ (p. 6). Problems arise when attempts to resolve conflict are hampered by differing ‘perceptions, interpretations, expressions, and intentions’ (ibid.). Conflict can be transformed through positive change in the people involved, or in the conflict itself. When these changes are superficial, involving for example a suppression of the eruption of physical violence, or a bare compromise, the energy of the conflict is constrained, and the potential benefits that it brings go unnoticed. In order to revitalise the flow of interhuman relationships, Dietrich suggests that conflict must be ‘remembered and neutralised’ (ibid.) in ways that enable it to bring about human flourishing.

Conflict can be transformed through dialogue. In this paper we will discuss restorative disciplinary meetings in secondary schools in the UK as examples of conflict transformation dialogue. We will focus on one school where specially-trained teachers facilitate restorative meetings for students who are experiencing conflict . Restorative Practice (RP) has spread across schools in the UK since the mid-1990s (Hendry, 2009) and positive impacts on school life have been reported (For example, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, 2004; Sellman, Cremin and McCluskey, 2013). There is, however, very little research that investigates the nature of the dialogue itself. Exceptions are Westrup (2015) and Tsuruhara (2018) . Both use conversation analysis (CA) to document and analyse what actually is happening during RP. Tsuruhara goes on to investigate RP using a coding framework that is informed by Martin Buber’s I and Thou, and Carl Rogers’ client-centred approach.

In this paper, we will discuss what we mean by conflict transformation dialogue, and how this differs from problem-solving dialogue and conflict escalation dialogue. We will then explore relational transformation with the theories of Martin Buber and Carl Rogers, and suggest a coding framework for the analysis of conflict transformation dialogue in schools following peer disputes and bullying. Finally, we will present two extracts of restorative conflict transformation dialogue and suggest that CA is a useful way of investigating turning points and outcomes of dialogue. We will focus on conversational features, such as silence, overlaps, and the tone/loudness of utterances, and discuss how this kind of information can support teachers and others to improve their ability to facilitate and research restorative dialogue in schools.

Authors

• Hilary Cremin, Reader, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

• Toshiyasu Tsuruhara, Research Associate, University of Cambridge