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Jay Rothman
Editor
From Identity-Based
Con fl ict to
Identity-Based
Cooperation
The ARIA Approach in Theory
and Practice
Editor
Jay Rothman
Program on Confl ict Resolution and Negotiation
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan
Israel
ISBN 978-1-4614-3678-2 ISBN 978-1-4614-3679-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-3679-9
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012947398
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
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v
Preface
Imagine a world in which everyone could take the perspective of everyone
else. Of course agreeing with each other about everything is neither possible
nor ideal. But being able to understand, at least to some extent, what each
other thinks, feels, and believes about something, and why, is the foundation
of a world without war. However, agreeing with each other about everything
always is not the root of peace. Rather, learning to live with our differences,
and deeply hear and understand them, is.
A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a spurious har-
mony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the
contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure.
Theodore Adorno (1967, p. 32).
My expertise is in group-based cooperation (at home and abroad), which
mines the passions of dissonance and resonance (in identities, priorities, goals,
styles, etc…) as a resource for dynamism, learning, and excellence. I root my
work in musical metaphors (producing an aria, engaging in solos, duets, con-
ducting interventions, moving through dissonance and fostering resonance, etc.).
In my book Resolving Identity-Based Con fl ict (1997), I describe my method
with the aid of a story about a string quartet that moves, with the help of a coach,
from Antagonism to Resonance and on into Invention and Action (i.e., A.R.I.A.).
I have made music and engaged with musicians all my life. My primary
passion in life is creativity. It may seem paradoxical that the main focus of my
chosen work, or the work that seems to have chosen me, is con fl ict. And yet,
creativity emerges directly out of friction. So the paradox is actually only
super fi cial. At the deepest level con fl ict and creativity are interdependent.
Nothing is created without some kind of friction. Think of a bow over a
stringed instrument. Think of con fl ict that leads to exploration, perspective
taking, imagination, and new discovery. The underlying theme of this book is
that con fl icts can become a source of creativity.
Back to the dream then: a world in which people deeply understand the
perspective of each other. As I was completing this book, a good friend, decision-
making researcher Gary Klein, told me about a family tradition that summa-
rizes this ideal of skillful perspective-taking. When his daughters were
growing up they developed a discussion rule that when his family got into a
vociferous argument at the dinner table anyone, the adversaries or the observ-
ers, could call “switch!” and each side would have to take the other side’s
argument until everyone was satis fi ed that they were heard and understood.
vi Preface
The argument could then pick up again as a dialogue for learning instead of a
diatribe for convincing.
One of the organizing experiences of my career was like this. As part of
my dissertation action-research project I convened small groups of Israeli
Arabs and Jews to engage in dialogue about inter-communal con fl ict and cre-
ative problem solving (1988). During one workshop at the Tantur Institute, a
beautiful retreat center located just between Jerusalem and Bethlehem owned
by the Vatican, Mohammed arrived late and out of breath.
“I almost didn’t make it,” he exclaimed. “In fact, I just about turned around and went
home.”
“ W h y , ” I a s k e d i n a w a y b o t h g e n t l e a n d u r g e n t w h i c h , a s w i l l b e s e e n , i s t h e c o r e
process this book describes enroute to a world of skillful perspective-takers.
“Because as I was sitting on a bus, a little Jewish girl, not more than 8 years old,
looked at me and from me to the horrible sign on the bus reminding passengers of
the danger of package bombs, “beware of suspicious objects,” and with widening
eyes exclaimed as she jumped up to join her mother and little sister in a different
seat, Aravi! Aravi! (Arab, Arab).
Mohammed paused. One of the Jewish participants was about to fi ll the
silence; I stopped her (another core tool for allowing perspective-taking–
blocking argumentation or point scoring, which I sensed she was about to do
as was con fi rmed a few minutes later).
“How did this make you feel, Mohammed?” I asked.
“Like this seminar on con fl ict resolution is too little and too late. That it should
be for 8-year-old children. It is impossible that if a child of eight already fears and
hates me and views me as a suspicious object that peace could ever come to this
land. So we are fooling ourselves. And worse, we are not focusing on what we need
to do: strengthen our own cause against injustice.”
Not able to contain herself anymore, and I not stopping her this time, Orit
explodes:
“This doesn’t make any sense. Of course this is why we are here! Maybe we can’t
change all children whose parents have ugly views. Maybe we can’t replace all fear
with hope or make injustice go away. But maybe we can learn more about how to solve
our problems with each other. And we are the future as much as that 8 year old is.”
“Mohammed looked at her, shook his head and angrily said, “You don’t under-
stand how it feels to be in my situation…”
“No,” said Orit derisively, “and I wouldn’t want to. You have it all wrong. And
it makes me wonder too if being here makes any sense…”
Despite this intense beginning, or perhaps, in part, at least due to it, the
workshop unfolded with a dynamism and energy that inspired and moti-
vated my work over the next quarter of a century with antagonists from
hot-spots around the world locked in deep battles, who were at least ini-
tially unable to hear or understand each other’s perspectives.
What I learned from this fi rst moment is that stories of pain, blame, and
antagonism can provide a creative friction. When guided carefully this antag-
onism focuses the mind and, like art, renders a kind of intensi fi cation of life
to bring one’s senses and intellect into a state of wakefulness. And yet, this
energy is so often squandered as lines are drawn and creativity is used to
resist or undermine, instead of to join and cooperate.
viiPreface
The story took another negative turn the next morning when upon arriving
in our seminar room, we saw the following curse:
Zionists out of Falastin. If you do not leave we will kill you!
We were all speechless. My colleague Amal and I tried to make a joke,
pointing to each other and claiming the other had written it. No one laughed.
We called in the director of the institute, the world-famous Quaker peace-
maker Landrum Bolling. He was very fl ustered and apologetic.
Orit, the girl who had rejected Mohammed’s story as nonsense, had one of
her own now.
“I don’t think I can stay anymore.” She exclaimed now herself wide-eyed and
despairing. “If here in this ‘protected environment’ we are hated and hunted, then
maybe Mohammed was right. Maybe it’s futile and worse, foolish.”
“Mohammed looked at her and said quietly”, “Now I think you do really under-
stand what I was saying…But please, Orit, stay.”
She did. And there was more!
In the early afternoon we “tested” to see if perspective had been taken. We
asked for volunteers from each side to switch and speak in fi rst person as if
they were the other side about the deep needs and values that conditioned the
other side’s perspective, hopes, and fears. Mohammed volunteered.
“ A s a n I s r a e l i J e w , ” h e b e g a n , “ I f e e l t h a t … ” a n d o n h e w e n t . W h e n h e fi n i s h e d , t h e
Jews stood up and applauded.
Orit said quietly, “Mohammed, will you be our Ambassador at the United
Nations?”
This in its most simple and basic sense is what my work and this book are
about: helping people locked in deep con fl ict take each other’s perspective
and then cooperate in designing ways to create new futures that will serve the
needs and vitality of each of them individually and collectively.
T h i s e d i t e d b o o k g a t h e r s a d v a n c e s i n e f f o r t s t o u n d e r s t a n d a n d c r e a t i v e l y
engage identity-based con fl ict and forge cooperation out of it. Such con fl ict
is the deepest and often most destructive form of con fl ict. Thus creative
engagement of it is pressing. This book takes up this challenge by describing
various approaches to identity con fl ict, which, while eclectic, share a com-
mon conceptual and applied framework called ARIA.
This process for moving Antagonists into Resonance and from there into
creative Invention and Action has been studied and applied by each author in
this book. Some have been working on these ideas and practices for the past
year as part of a graduate seminar, some for a few years (e.g., as part of an
Israeli-Palestinian initiative called “Kumi”), some for as much as several
decades. This wide range of experience is a strength of this book as the new
directions and ideas shared provide guidance and invitation to those who will
build even newer directions and adaptations to follow. This is the excitement
of this project. It builds on a solid theoretical and applied foundation and with
hope that others will take up the task of ownership and creativity as well.
Each chapter is organized around “peace stories” about the theories and
efforts of the authors to creatively engage identity-based con fl ict at different
levels of social organization (from interpersonal to international) and from
many con fl icts in regions around the world (from the Mideast to the Midwest),
viii Preface
from Eastern Europe to Africa and South America). Each case study is
presented within the context of cutting-edge theories and methods of con fl ict
and collaboration within and between groups facing deep identity-based con fl ict
around the globe. This volume weaves together existing and newer conceptual
and applied tools for creative con fl ict engagement among individuals and
groups facing deep identity-based divisions.
This book is for students and scholars of con fl ict theory and p r a c t i c e w i t h
a major goal of further helping to bridge this unhelpful divide. In addition to
chapters on theory and applications of ARIA, this book also presents refer-
ences for practical application for the interest and use of educators and
practitioners.
Overview of the Purpose and Plan of the Book
Identity-based con fl ict is arguably the most important and challenging prob-
lem of our increasingly global world in which similarities and interdependen-
cies across groups and nations compete against polarizing differences and
antagonisms. It is a race between confrontation and cooperation (Rothman
1992, 2012). Which will prevail? Or more to the point, what are experiences
and methods for transforming such antagonisms into shared purposes and
joints efforts?
Building on its fullest rendering in Resolving Identity-Based Con fl ict: In
Nations, Organizations and Communities (1997), ARIA has evolved in two
directions. Its initial focus on identity-based con fl ict began with my disserta-
tion work to adapt the problem solving workshop approach to International
Con fl ict Resolution for engaging ethnic groups in re fl exive dialogue about
their con fl icts and prospects for cooperation (Burton 1990; Azar 1990; Azar
and Burton 1986; Kelman 1993; Rothman 1988, 1989, 1992, 2012). In this
form, it has been used and adapted for dealing with deep identity-driven
con fl icts at every level of social organization from interpersonal to interna-
tional in hundreds of settings around the world.
I d e n t i t y - b a s e d c o n fl i c t s a r e e s s e n t i a l l y p a s t - o r i e n t e d . T h e y a r e r o o t e d i n
personal traumas and collective indignities born of the past that are engines of
current confrontations. ARIA gives the past its due – not seeking to wall it off
or even get beyond it – while helping parties discover ways to build on its ruins
and glories and foster more constructive futures together. While rooted in the
past, identity-based con fl icts are also much more than this. They occur when
individuals’ needs, often in a collective context, are threatened or frustrated.
Such con fl icts are passionate because they are about core concerns. The heart
of the matter of identity-based con fl ict is t h e h e a r t o f t h e m a t t e r .
To deal more directly with building new futures, a second set of ARIA
processes have evolved for collaborative visioning. This type of ARIA retains
a focus on resonance – through participants’ narratives about their goals and
passions – but it is more action and future-oriented. Its focus is on visions and
goals for the future, though it too can be rooted in the past, albeit a more ideal,
often mythological past. As Anthony Smith writes in his theory of the “Myth
of Origins and Descent,” all national groups have a story that includes a golden
ixPreface
past that has been lost and which groups aspire to regain (Smith 1981). When
such aspiration is blocked, identity-based con fl ict often occurs. When it is
sought or achieved, identity-based cooperation can be in play.
T h e m a i n c o n c e p t u a l s w i t c h b e t w e e n t h e t w o f r a m e w o r k s i s s u m m a r i z e d i n
the fi rst letter A . I n t h e fi r s t , A ntagonism a b o u t t h e p a s t i s s a f e l y s u r f a c e d a n d
engaged. In the second, A spiration f o r t h e f u t u r e i s a r t i c u l a t e d b y i n d i v i d u a l s
and their groups and, ideally, instituted in the systems they constitute.
Part One: Con fl ict Engagement
The major idea of this book shared in stories, illustrated in action, and boiled
down to useful tools is that con fl ict is best engaged. Sometimes it should be
avoided; sometimes it should be overcome. But most of the time it should be
engaged as an opportunity for learning: about oneself, about others, and about
the interrelationships between self and others. Simple in concept, this work is
very dif fi cult in deed. Few and far between are the schools that teach tots to
engage in con fl icts. Instead, they tell them more often than not to “stop, duck,
and roll.” In other words, be afraid of con fl ict, avoid it if possible, and dis-
pense with it if necessary; but most of all view it with a wary and defensive
eye. In short, biologically conditioned fi ght or fl ight responses to con fl ict are
culturally perpetuated.
C o n fl i c t e n g a g e m e n t a s w e d e s c r i b e , a d v o c a t e a n d i l l u s t r a t e i t i s a p r e l u d e
to a song. At its highest form, which we also illustrate in this book, it is also
a song itself. The music of con fl ict is creativity, imagination, possibility, and
learning. It is perhaps a cliché that the deepest learning takes place out of
adversity. No doubt, con fl ict is a form of adversity. However, as we suggest,
illustrate, and share in this book, well-engaged con fl ict can be fascinating.
Benjamin Zander, a conductor who teaches life through music and music
through life advises the following: when you are confronted with a dilemma
that stops you in your tracks, lift your arms skywards and exclaim: “how
fascinating!” (2006).
Indeed, the ability to view a con fl ict as a possibility, and a fascinating one
at that, is the fi rst step in creatively engaging and ful fi lling that possibility.
This is also a profound switch for most of us.
Part Two: Collaborative Planning
The second half of this book, growing quite literally out of the work pre-
sented in the fi rst half, is about how to help good people do good work
together better.
While this book originally was to be called “Handbook on Identity-Based
Con fl ict,” I rediscovered that most essentially this work is about what I am
now calling “Identity-Based Cooperation.” The reason I have made my career
in the former, as I’ve mentioned already, is my passion for creativity: that out
of the friction of difference, creativity can emerge. So too, out of identity-
based con fl ict, identity-based cooperation can be born.
xPreface
If the former is the deepest type of con fl ict, as we suggest in the fi rst half
of this book, requiring its own unique analyses and processes, then it would
seem the same is true of this form of identity-based cooperation. It is the
deepest and most complex kind of cooperation.
Individually, when I am able to be “resonant” about what I want (e.g., my
needs, values, priorities, aspirations) and why these are so important to me, it is
the start of my ability to connect with you. If you can do the same, our connec-
tion grows even deeper. But even if I have done this work alone and you have
not, I can change the dynamics of our interactions. As will be discussed in the
fi rst section of this book, the deeper the con fl ict, the more people are called to be
clear about why it is important to them: to move away from the blame-game, the
attributions and projections and accept ownership and agency over their prob-
lems. What is this con fl ict for? Why has it shown up in my life? In an age when
individuals are increasingly being challenged to cooperate and collaborate with
others, the deeper the cooperation, or the more the need for it, the more people
must encounter themselves enroute to the other.
Collectively, it is the same. When groups seek to cooperate with each other
across their boundaries, to create a shared “nexus” that is bigger than each of
them, going “inward” helps condition and deepen external linkages. As in
con fl ict, the more each side does their “solo” work fi rst – who are we as a
group and what do we seek and why is it important to us? – the more they can
join another group in deep cooperation. This separate step is often resisted.
Many times people will say that since they have come to cooperate with the
other group, they fi nd the request to fi rst work in their own side uncomfort-
able. Sometimes we give in. But when we insist and they agree, we fi nd it was
worth the effort. While our natural inclination is to seek to join others as soon
as possible, and to get beyond the barriers and boundaries we fi nd between
ourselves and others, in reality, we must indeed and fi rst of all do the best we
can to “our own selves be true.”
Groups that seek to cooperate with each other often fail. This is not due to
intention, but rather to the reality that different groups bring with them differ-
ent cultures, goals, priorities, and values. When these are articulated inter-
nally among members of a group and then brought forward to another group,
resonance is often close at hand. When this step of developing internal align-
ment is skipped, all too often groups fi nd themselves at loggerheads with
each other. Think of the many experiences you have had in which groups that
seem to share the same purposes, quickly found themselves disappointed and
enmeshed in disagreements. No doubt, the craft of cooperation is as demand-
ing as the art of con fl ict engagement (Ross and Rothman 1999). We offer this
book to provide insight and tools for creatively improving the theory and
practice of both.
References
Adorno, T. (1967). Prisms . London: Neville Spearman.
Azar, E. (1990). The management of protracted social con fl ict: Theory and cases . Vermont:
Dartmouth.
xiPreface
Azar. E., & Burton, J. (Eds.) (1986). International con fl ict resolution: Theory and practice .
Boulder: Lynne Reiner Pub.
Burton, J., (Ed.) (1990). Con fl ict: Human needs theory. New York: St. Martin’s Press
Kelman, H. (1983). Coalitions across con fl ict lines: The interplay of con fl icts within and
between the Israeli and Palestinian communities. In S. Worchel, & J. Simpson (Eds.),
Con fl ict between people and groups . Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Ross, M., & Rothman, J. (1999). Theory and practice in ethnic con fl ict management:
Conceptualizing success and failure . London: Macmillan Press.
Rothman, J. (republished 2012). From confrontation to cooperation: Resolving ethnic and
regional con fl ict, Yellow Springs , Ohio: ARIA Publications/Kindle Books.
Rothman, J. (1992). From confrontation to cooperation: Resolving ethnic and regional
con fl ict . Newbury Park: Sage.
Rothman, J.(1997). Resolving identity-based con fl ict in nations, organizations and com-
munities , San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
Rothman, J. (1989). Supplementing tradition: A theoretical and practical typology for
international con fl ict management. Negotiation Journal .
Rothman, J. (1988). Analyses and strategies for peace: A methodology for international
con fl ict management training and evaluation (a case study with Arabs and Jews in
Israel). Ph.D. dissertation, Ann Arbor: UMI.
Smith, A. (1981). The ethnic revival in the modern world . New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Zander, B. (2002). The art of possibility: Transforming personal and professional life . New
York: Penguin.
xiii
Acknowledgements and Dedication
I owe a debt of gratitude for the completion of this book to many people: fi rst
of all to Dean Lawrence Johnson of the College of Education, Criminal
Justice and Human Services (CECH) at the University of Cincinnati. Dean
Johnson hired me to help redesign CECH using the collaborative visioning
process described in part two of this book, with the input and active participa-
tion of the entire college faculty and staff, and to teach about my work in
identity-based confl ict, as described in part one of this book. It was his sug-
gestion that I turn the writing of this book into a collaborative project by
inviting promising young scholars from throughout the University to partici-
pate in a six-month research and writing seminar.
I am also grateful for fi nancial support from Nelson Vincent, then College
VP, to hire Brandon Sipes to be the indefatigable project coordinator of the
book seminar (as well as co-author of Chapter 5). I am grateful to the head of
the School of Human Services, Janet Graden, who sponsored this seminar
and to my colleagues in the Counseling Program- Michael Brubaker, Ellen
Cook, Kerry Sabera, Mei Tang, Albert Watson, Bob Wilson, Geoffrey Yager
- for their encouragement and support. The students in the advanced seminar
in Identity-Based Confl ict and Cooperation deserve much credit for their per-
sistence, patience and good spirits. I also want to praise and thank each non-
student author in this book, most of whom also participated in the seminar as
guest speakers (usually virtually). As described in their chapters, they are
each helping to pave pathways to peace in our deeply troubled and yearning
world. I also want to thank the Series Editor Daniel Christie and the editorial
staff at Springer for making this book possible: Anna Tobias, Welmoed Spahr,
Brian Helm and Rekha Udaiyar. I am also grateful to Marjorie Loyacano and
Karen Ivory for their earlier editorial assistance. In addition, many colleagues
have encouraged me in bringing this book to fruition. I would like to specifi -
cally thank Tamra Pearson-d’Estree, Victor Friedman, Marc Gopin, Gary
Klein, Bernard Mayer, Richard McGuigan, Alexander Redlich, Marc Ross,
and Bill Withers.
I am, as always, deeply thankful to my wife, Randi Land Rothman, who
supported me throughout and who undertook the complete fi nal copy editing
of this book. It would not have been complete without her, as is even truer for
my life. Finally, I dedicate this book to my father, Philip Rothman, who taught
me, by word and example, the core value that upholds this book: to try always
to say what I mean and do what I say.
xv
Contents
Part I Identity-Based Con fl ict Engagement
1 Engaging the Painful Past and Forging
a Promising Future ..................................................................... 3
Jay Rothman
2 The Power of Why ....................................................................... 21
Victor J. Friedman, Jay Rothman, and Bill Withers
3 Intrapersonal and Interpersonal ARIA Process ...................... 35
Jay Rothman and Donna Chrobot-Mason
4 Experimenting with ARIA Globally: Best Practices
and Lessons Learned .................................................................. 51
Edward Kaufman, John Davies, and Harita Patel
5 From Antagonism to Resonance: Some Methodological
Insights and Dilemmas ............................................................... 71
Ahmed Badawi , Brandon Sipes, and Michael Sternberg
6 Building Local Capacity in Eastern Europe ............................. 99
Mariska Kappmeier , Alexander Redlich,
and Evgeniya (Gina) Knyazev
Part II Identity-Based Cooperation
7 Action Evaluation in Theory and Practice ............................... 125
Jay Rothman
8 Fostering Cooperation While Engaging Con fl ict:
An Inter-communal Case Study ................................................ 135
Daniella Arieli, Victor J. Friedman, and Evgeniya (Gina) Knyazev
9 Engaging Con fl ict While Fostering Cooperation:
An Organizational Case Study .................................................. 157
Michael J. Urick and Vaughn Crandall
10 Embedding Action Evaluation in an Interfaith
Program for Youth ...................................................................... 175
Sharon Miller , Jay Rothman, Beth Ciaravolo, and Sarah Haney
xvi Contents
11 Applying Action Evaluation on a Large Scale:
Cincinnati Police-Community Relations
Collaborative – Successes, Failures and Lessons Learned ...... 191
Jay Rothman
Index ..................................................................................................... 207
xvii
About the Contributors
Daniella Arieli is a social anthropologist and lecturer with a dual appoint-
ment to the Department of Nursing Science and the Department of Sociology
and Anthropology at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel. Dr. Arieli
received a B.A. in Israel studies and education from Beit Berl College, an
M.A.in sociology and anthropology from Tel Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in
sociology and anthropology from Hebrew University. Her research focuses
on the socio-cultural aspects of health and illness and action research con-
cerning intercultural counters.
Ahmed Badawi is an academic researcher, political analyst, and group facili-
tator. Dr. Badawi is a research associate at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in
Berlin, and is the co-founder and co-executive director of Transform: Centre
for Con fl ict Analysis, Political Development and World Society Research.
Donna Chrobot-Mason is an associate professor and director of the Center
for Organizational Leadership at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Chrobot-
Mason is an adjunct scholar and trainer at the Center for Creative Leadership
and serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Management and
the Journal of Business and Psychology . In 2010, she co-authored Boundary
spanning leadership: Six practices for solving problems, driving innovation,
and transforming organizations published by McGraw-Hill Professional.
Beth Ciaravolo i s a m a s t e r ’ s s t u d e n t i n p o l i t i c a l g e o g r a p h y a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y
of Cincinnati. Her research focuses chie fl y upon the politics of identity for-
mation in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Vaughn Crandall is the deputy director of the Center for Crime Prevention
and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Vaughn is an assistant
adjunct professor of public policy at New York University’s Wagner Graduate
School of Public Service.
John Davies is co-director of Partners in Con fl ict and Partners in Peace
Building and Senior Associate with the Center for International Development
and Con fl ict Management at the University of Maryland. Dr. Davies has led
or participated in con fl ict transformation and con fl ict prevention initiatives in
over 30 countries around the world.
xviii About the Contributors
Victor J. Friedman is associate professor and co-chair of the Action Research
Center for Social Justice at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel. His
life’s work is helping individuals, organizations, and communities learn
through “action science” – theory building and testing in everyday life.
Professor Friedman holds a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies from Brandeis
University (1974), an M.A. in psychology from Columbia University (1981)
and an Ed.D. in organizational psychology from Harvard University (1986).
He has published in numerous academic journals and serves as associate edi-
tor of the Action Research Journal.
Sarah Haney is a doctoral candidate in counseling at the University of
Cincinnati. She has a master’s degree in mental health counseling also from
the University of Cincinnati. Her current research interests include the glo-
balization of counseling in third world countries and using community-based
participatory research to build child and adolescent identity and self-esteem.
Mariska Kappmeier is a psychologist and a practitioner in the fi eld of
con fl ict resolution. Dr. Kappmeier’s main research focus is the preparation of
con fl ict intervention measures and trust assessment between con fl ict parties.
She has worked as a trainer and facilitator in numerous training and con fl ict
settings around the world, including especially Moldova and Transdniestria.
Sharon Miller is associate director at Auburn Seminary’s Center for the
Study of Theological Education. Dr. Miller is a sociologist by training; she
has been involved with evaluation of Face to Face/Faith to Faith since its
inception in 2001.
Alexander Redlich has been a researcher, practitioner, and teacher since
1976 in the Department of Psychology in the University of Hamburg.
Professor Redlich is trained as a psychologist, a teacher and a social educa-
tion worker. His main research interests are focused on resource-based social
work, team development, human communication, and con fl ict work. His text,
Con fl ict Moderation within Groups (1997, 2009) is published in German,
Hungarian, and Russian languages.
Edward Kaufman has been the Director of the Harry S. Truman Research
Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and the Center for International Development and Con fl ict Management of
the University of Maryland. Dr. Kaufman is currently a Senior Research
Associate in the latter. He has facilitated con fl ict transformation workshops
in four continents focusing mainly on Latin American and Middle Eastern
countries.
Evgeniya (Gina) Knyazev received her M.S. in criminal justice from the
University of Cincinnati. She has a background and special interest in con fl ict
resolution as applied to situations involving LGBT rights and women’s rights,
and in the psychology behind con fl ict resolution.
Harita Patel holds a master’s in political science from the University of
Cincinnati in the fi elds of comparative politics and international relations.
Currently she is a Ph.D. student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
xixAbout the Contributors
Her research is focused on social and political development, social move-
ments, ethnic con fl ict, and identity politics with a particular focus on South
Asia.
Jay Rothman is a scholar and a practitioner of con fl ict resolution. Dr.
Rothman is trained in international relations and political psychology and
focuses his theoretical and applied work on issues of intergroup and organi-
zational identity-based con fl ict and participatory evaluation. He is associate
professor in the program on confl ict resolution and negotiation at Bar-Ilan
University. He is also the president of the ARIA Group, Inc. ( www.ariagroup.
com ). He has held a number of senior academic and administrative positions
in fi ve academic institutions in the USA and in Israel. He is the author of four
books, including Resolving Identity-Based Con fl ict: in Nations, Organizations,
and Communities . He leads workshops and gives keynote presentations at
conferences and convocations around the world.
Brandon Sipes is the president of RE-Frame, LLC, senior consultant to The
ARIA Group, and co-director of the Kumi Academy, a research and learning
network supporting the work of practitioners utilizing the Kumi methodology
of con fl ict transformation. His work as a group facilitator, trainer and media-
tor focuses on innovative approaches to social change in the midst of con fl ict.
His research and practice has included work in the USA, Europe, and the
Middle East.
Michael Sternberg is a con fl ict transformation practitioner and researcher.
He serves as an associate to the UK-based Responding to Con fl ict; he founded
and directs the Con fl ict Transformation and Management Center (CTMC) at
Shatil, the New Israel Fund’s training and empowerment center for social
change. Michael is also co-director of the Kumi Academy, a research and
learning network supporting the work of practitioners utilizing the Kumi
methodology of con fl ict transformation.
Michael J. Urick is an instructor of management and operations at the Alex
G. McKenna School of Business, Economics, and Government at St. Vincent
College in Latrobe, PA. He holds an MBA in human resource management,
an MS in leadership and business ethics and is currently completing his Ph.D.
in management from the University of Cincinnati. He focuses his research on
organizational identity issues as well as con fl ict and tension, especially as
they relate to generational differences.
Bill Withers holds a master’s in con fl ict resolution from Antioch University
McGregor, and is an organizational development consultant. His research
focus and experience include cross-cultural and large group planning and
con fl ict engagement at the community, organizational and public policy lev-
els. He is the co-author of The Con fl ict and Communication Activity Book ,
1993, and author of Resolving Con fl icts on the Job , 2007.
