reflection paper one

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36680655/maryengconflictresolution1-1


Conflict Resolution 301
Portland State University
Mary Eng
for Amanda Byron
8-31-10

Conflict Resolution as a discipline is a new field for me. So far it seems to be an extremely comprehensive and all permeating way of seeing the world and dealing with interpersonal and intra-personal conflict. In my life as a philosophy student it was always necessary to question every term and its presuppositions.
Embedded within the term conflict, is the presupposition that there is a state of tension, turmoil, or a pulling between opposites. In the future of conflict resolution or transformation, I think a a radical look at all presumptions at play may offer valuable insight. Is it fair to always presume conflict? Is conflict a bad thing? Why does it scare people? As with the pull or stress of the supports on a bridge, it is in conflict that there is strength. I think of the storm and stress in German literature, sturm und drang, a time of the awakening of the individual's ability to respond to political control.
What is called conflict might really actually be the balancing of powers between they that were previously oppressed and the ruling hegemonies. As the formerly marginalized rise up, and take power, so naturally would old authoritarian power structures crumble, and the old guard might find “conflict” when what is occurring is actually an equalization. And therein what might be perceived as conflict to old power networks, might be perceived as a liberation of oppressed or colonized classes, or as an attempt toward reconciliation, dialogue, or balance.
Another problem inherent within the term “conflict resolution” is the presumption of conflict. As a non-argumentative pacifist, I am startled often by how frequently others can interpret an attempt at dialogue as conflict. What does this say about human beings? That we are so deprived of communication that all we know is a state of war? That technology has both enhanced and detracted from our communication skills? In any interaction, people bring their needs to the table. In an evolutionary biological sense, we attempt to impress each other with
our survival skills. In this way, it might be seen that behind every purported “conflict” might be a struggle for resources, or a stuggle to impress others with “fierceness” and primal survival skills, or communication of historical identity, or mythicization of a sense of self. As ferocity is necessary for survival, the instinct beyond the apparent glaze of “conflict” might actually be a shared interest in community survival, leadership, preservation of resources. Conflict might actually be seduction, or kinship, peerage. The tension offered within speakers of a language towards demonstrating to each other their ferocity, could be interpreted more subliminally as bonding rather than conflict.
Indeed as consciousness internationalizes, and as young people feel the way that we as humans are so much all the same, we might begin to look at the wars of the world as a primitive bonding experience, much like Facebook. And as we might transcend the power dynamics of resource wars and realize that human consciousness is geared for survival, new methods of peace might be waged. As human needs theory places a hierarchy on needs, and strangely it is our most primal experience that places need for meaning and self-actualization on such high footing. And in war, or conflict we feel meaning through adversity. We feel self-realization through strength. The cathartic transformative effect gives humans self realization through surviving struggle. So a high life-force might be recognized in individuals prone to conflict . . . as that high life force engages the often under-challenged human intellect. So in a world based on sensory deprivation and atmospheres devoid of intellectual stimulation suited for such highly intelligent animals as ourselves, conflict might become a substitute for intellectual rigor.
The endocrinology of conflict must also be assessed. What is cortisol, when does it peak, what are effects? In what way is adrenaline addicting? What hormonal spectrums effect communication styles and tendencies towards genderization norms????? What cultural skills manage the waters of conflict? How could an international approach synthesize the best of many cultures, many disciplines?