conflict transformation in multicultural societies introduction through the i-sa theory

Civilizational Dialogue as an Instrument of Peace López and Durán (2014)

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Centro de Diálogo y Bienestar Humano Centre for Dialogue & Transformation

Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Chihuahua University of Malaya

México Malaysia

Conflict Transformation in Multicultural Societies

through the Ideological-Structural Analysis

By

Carolina López C. & Karla Durán Prieto

Centro de Diálogo y Bienestar Humano

Tecnológico de Monterrey University

México

&

Centre for Dialogue & Transformation

University of Malaya

Malaysia

Introduction

The Ideological-Structural Analysis (I-SA) is a theoretical tool which is utilized in three

primary areas. First of all, it is used for conducting historic-contextual analyses and

needs assessments in conflict zones and/or in areas where intercommunal dialogue is

conducted. Once the situational analysis and needs assessments are conducted, the I-SA

is applied as a tool for dialogue training and conflict transformation workshops. If

necessary, healing of memories work is offered, depending on the needs and concerns

uncovered in the initial phases of the study. It is important to note that I-SA-based

training of whatever sort, aims to construct its models „from the ground up,‟ based on

the needs and concerns of the collectives directly involved in the situation at hand. This

is done by identifying the current state of affairs through the contextual analysis, and

then facilitating the decision-making process, so communities may decide how they

want to move forward from the situation of conflict in which they find themselves.

Through this process, communities come to articulate something to the effect of, “This

is where we are; there is where we would like to be.” When the moment among

interlocutors is appropriate, parties are asked to formulate their goals and objectives,

and then decide how they wish to reach them in collaboration with the „others‟ with

whom they‟ve previously been in conflict. Having woven all stakeholders‟ voices into

the equation, facilitation begins in order to assist communities in getting from „Point

A‟—some space of inconformity and conflict, to „Point B,‟ which involves the

aforementioned collaboration toward reaching common goals.

The third application of the I-SA involves the creation of Policy Recommendations,

which are sent to legislatures and other decision makers who can have a positive impact

on the larger milieu within which communities are immersed. The policy

recommendations may be directly requested by governmental bodies in the locality.

Other times they are largely ignored; parts of them may be utilized, or they may be

legislated and implemented nearly as is. To whatever degree policy recommendations

are heeded by powerholders, the policy recommendation component of I-SA research


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aims to encourage long term structural changes which favor sustained peace and

collaboration among the communities involved.

In summary, the I-SA is used in conflict situations, to conduct needs analyses, to

provide training in accordance with identified interests and concerns, and to make

policy recommendations to powerholders who have the capacity to make long-term

changes on the road to peaceful coexistence. The theory, proposed by López C. (2005,

2004, 1997, 1990), stems from two decades of work in dialogue, in conflict

transformation, and in intercultural communication; throughout this time period, it has

been utilized as an analytical tool for studying historical and contemporary situations in

areas where conflict or contestation among groups is prevalent. It further serves as the

theoretical foundation for dialogue training workshops, peace education, school

mediation, and conflict transformation strategies in the work carried out through the

Centro de Diálogo y Bienestar Humano (CDBH) , (Center for Dialogue and Human

Wellbeing) at Tecnológico de Monterrey University in Chihuahua, México.

The remainder of the present text provides a review of the literature on conflict

transformation, followed by an overview of the Ideological-Structural Analysis and its

applications for contextual analyses, for facilitating conflict transformation and

dialogue-related activities, for articulating shared goals and objectives among

communities, and for formulating policy recommendations aimed at structural reforms

favoring peaceful coexistence among communities. In order to illustrate both the theory

and its applications, a hypothetical conflict situation is given below:

The Unfortunate Bicycle Incident: Two boys at play

become a catalyst for deadly conflict, (Based on a true story)

Somewhere in Asia right around the beginning of the Twenty-first Century, two boys, aged 7 and

8, are at play in the street on which each of them live. The area is inhabited by a mixed group of

working class families, primarily from the Hindu and the Muslim faith traditions. „Boy A‟ is

riding his bicycle while „Boy B‟ plays alongside him—helping push the bike, „hitching a ride‟—or

being pulled along by „Boy B‟ and engaging in the sort of play that boys at this age tend to enjoy.

In the middle of the roughhousing, „Boy A‟ falls off his bicycle, hitting the pavement hard. As he

stands up, his nose is bleeding; he is full of scrapes and abrasions-- both to himself and to his sense

of pride. In anger, „Boy A‟ reproaches „Boy B‟ accusing him of intentionally knocking him off the

bicycle, to which „Boy B‟ responds heatedly that no such thing was intended. In short, the two

friends end their play that day in a scuffle, with „Boy A‟ still bleeding from the scratches received

in his fall from the bicycle.

„Boy A‟ goes home upset, bloodied and with torn clothes—fearful that he might be scolded by his

mother. He angrily tells her that „Boy B‟ has „knocked him off the bicycle,‟ causing the mishap

which resulted in the scrapes and the torn clothing; „Boy A‟s‟ older brother overhears the

conversation. The mother, alarmed by the blood and unhappy with the spoiled clothing, complains

saying “Those people are like that. I‟ve already told you not to play with „Boy B.‟ You should

know that you just can‟t trust those people.”


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Anger spirals and grows as internalized stereotypical assumptions about „people like „Boy B‟‟ are

given free reign, changing perception of the incident from a simple accident during play time, to

what soon becomes intercommunal rage directed from one group toward the other.

When „Boy A‟s‟ older brother sees „Boy B‟s‟ sibling on the street, he angrily reproaches him for

the incident, to which the older boy responds with great anger, feeling the sting of the accusation

directed toward his younger brother and toward his community in general.

The incident grows until young men from both communities—brothers, fathers and friends on both

sides-- come out to the street and directly fight with each other, using fists, feet, stones and sticks

in a mass confrontation. The end result is a count of three dead and seven injured on Side A, with

seven dead and twelve injured on Side B.

Since that day at the beginning of the Twenty-first Century, violence between the two

communities has spiraled, going from tit to tat, with one side striking out and the other retaliating,

piling on ever-more layers of historical injury-- of accusations and counteraccusations. The

bicycle incident lies buried under layers of violent acts committed by each side toward the other.

There seems to be no way out of the cycle of violence.

The national government is aware of this ongoing conflict, and has found no way of

ending or diminishing it, in spite of numerous efforts made by social workers and

neighborhood associations. If CDBH staff were called to work with this particular

conflict, initial analysis would begin by asking how the aforementioned incident was

transformed from an accident between two boys at play into a case of intercommunal

violence between cultural communities. What have historical relations between the two

communities been like? What were they like when the violence first erupted? The

theoretical instrument used is the Ideological-Structural Analysis, which is presented

below.

Ideological-Structural Analysis Macro and Micro Theory:

Symbiosis between the external environment and the person within

. The Critical Juncture

In order to conduct a situational analysis, the Ideological-Structural Analysis begins by

examining the nature and the dynamics of interaction among individuals and groups in

conflict. This can be especially tricky when actors in the conflict are members of

different cultural communities. The focal point of the I-SA is known as the critical

juncture, where two or more agents meet and the interaction between them somehow

becomes conflictual. The I-SA aims to detect what these actors bring to the critical

juncture inherent within themselves-- in terms of values, understandings, world

knowledge, as well as the prototypical and the stereotypical mis/information often held

by the actors concerning the cultural and/or religious community of the interlocutor.

The theory further examines how these internal filtering mechanisms may impact on the

processes and outcomes of interaction which have led to the conflict in question.

Experience from conducting conflict transformation workshops indicates that people‟s

increased awareness of their internal interpretive mechanisms and those of their


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interlocutor help increase understanding among the groups, thereby reducing conflict

among the people involved.

In the case of the bicycle incident, discussion with the boys‟ families and neighbors

reveals a composite mis/understanding of each other‟s community that looks something

like the illustration below:

Figure 1: The Critical Juncture—„From the skin outward,‟ the critical juncture is the actual physical

milieu where interaction occurs. Sections labeled as „Boy A‟s, and Boy B‟s Community‟ represent

mis/information stores, which are closely linked to psychoaffective responses to the „other.‟ Said

responses can be negative, positive, or mixed, depending on inputs (interactions) coming in from the

critical juncture, and how they are filtered through internalized mis/information stores, and related

psychoaffective responses-- which give rise to one sort of behavioral response or another to both the

situation and the interlocutor.

In this particular case, the children become upset with each other due to an accident which occurs while at

play. Anger spreads beyond the two initially involved when Boy A‟s mother and older brother find

themselves in the presence of the angry child. The incident continues to grow when Older Brother A

reproaches Older Brother B for the accident. New meanings and mis/interpretations are given to the

event, sparking growing negative psychoaffect on both sides, until a simple accident at child‟s play

becomes the catalyst which ignites an ongoing spiral of intercommunal violence. The I-SA attempts to

examine internal and external processes underlying the cycle of violence.

I-SA Macro Theory: From the skin outward

Ideological-Structural Analysis Macrotheory examines the invisible external

structuring mechanisms holding society together in a particular manner. This includes

the historical and the physical context within which the conflict has taken place. The

Boy A’s Community

° Muslims

° Working class

° Living in an ethnically-

mixed neighborhood

Concerning other community:

* Relations were essentially peaceful

Negative images caused by:

-Politicization of ethno-religious

identities

-Truth claims concerning God

-Not understanding religion nor

culture of the ‘other’

-Stereotypical images of the other

-Negative media portrayals

-etc.

Boy B’s Community

° Hindus

° Working class

° Living in an ethnically-

mixed neighborhood

Concerning other community:

*ReIations were essentially peaceful

Negative images caused by:

-Perceived governmental

favoring of the ‘other’

-Politicization of ethno-religious

identities

-Not understanding religion nor

culture of the ‘other’

-Stereotypical images of the other

-Negative media portrayals

-etc

Critical Juncture

The boys have an

accident when playing

with Boy A’s bicycle.

Boy A blames Boy B

for his injuries

Both children return

home angry & upset

with their friend.


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ensuing section examines some of the structures which bind societies and communities

together.

. Cultural Communities

The implicit values and interpretive attachments through which people understand and

respond to external phenomena are largely formed through immersion within a

particular cultural milieu. Cultures are essentially common ways of thinking and doing

which develop historically because of somewhat isolated in-group communication

(Littlejohn, 1992). These groups differ because historically, they have had less contact

between themselves than within their own communities. Societies consist of connected

groups that cluster together according to common beliefs, values and behavior. Groups

and cultures are open systems sustained by communication, or the transfer of beliefs

and interpretations among individuals in a collective. Intergroup communication creates

a network of relations among people that comprises the structure of a cultural

community (Kincaid, 1987). Within cultural communities we find a shared set of

interpretations and rituals, which constitute a major structuring mechanism around

which human communities group. Constructs such as shared history, religion, political

understanding, values and general ways of knowing are some of the ideological threads

holding cultures together. This is not to say that culture is monolithic; instead, it is

viewed as the set of commonalties binding a particular social group together. Cultural

structures are dynamic in as much as there is not a complete homogeneity within

cultures; those members or subgroups who do not entirely fit within the structures of the

cultural belief system, (i.e. minority groups), may act as agents of change as their

differences serve as a catalyst through which the culture experiences shift and flux as it

aims to continue unifying the grouping (Althusser in de Ibarrola, 1985).

Another important factor impacting on the dynamics of cultural life is the presence of

external catalysts which exert pressure for the culture to shift, accommodate and adapt.

Interaction with different cultural communities may lead to a partial adoption or

adaptation of the outside group's norms. However, when outsiders are viewed in a

negative manner, their presence tends to solidify the particularistic identity of a cultural

community, as it turns inward and unifies against a perceived external threat to group

identity, morality, or way of life. For example, in Malaysia, the primary cultural

communities are the Chinese, Indians and Malays, who find themselves in a critical

juncture of ongoing interaction resulting from the colonial past, where the British

imported Chinese and Indian labor to work in different sectors of society. While there

is a process of accommodation as the communities strive to coexist peacefully, the

presence of the „others‟ plays a role in consolidating the ingroup identity of each of the

three groups. As people identify with an „ingroup,‟ they feel themselves to be members

of a particular community, often based on shared history, religion, ethnic constructions,

etc. Ingroup identity is partially constructed in response to an „other,‟ meaning people

who are members of a group perceived to be different from one‟s own. To a degree,


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cultural collectives clarify and delineate their own identities in contrast to other groups

with which they find themselves in contact. The ingroup-outgroup distinction existing

in the minds of members of communities interacting with one another, is often

characterized by a dynamic where a group constructs its self-understanding as virtuous

while casting the more negative characteristics of humanity on the „other,‟ which is

perceived as an outgroup of some kind. In parts of the world where intercommunal

violence exists, when analyzing the roots of the conflict, it is important to uncover these

„good‟-„bad‟ juxtapositions which groups often hold toward at each other at a level of

which they are not fully aware. In working with the groups per se, an important step in

conflict transformation occurs when members of each community become aware of the

assumptions they held of themselves and of the negative human traits they may have

cast on the collective other— which strongly influence an ingroup‟s behavior toward an

„unvirtuous other.‟

. Civilizational Paradigms

The term 'civilizational paradigm' refers to the historical belief system to which a

cultural community traces its roots. These paradigms are often tied to a particular

religious or spiritual heritage, which forms the foundation for the collective ways of

knowing, interpreting and valuing shared within the community. Major civilizational

paradigms found in the world stem from the great spiritual traditions such as Hinduism,

Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam among

others. Day-to-day living within a particular cultural milieu follows unspoken norms

and codes, which members of the community will consider simply as the normal way of

living and interacting with others. Such norms are held largely below the level of

consciousness and tend to keep people's behavior within the normative parameters as

they interact within their own community.

An example of this might be the custom among the author‟s community of Latin

Americans to greet friends and relatives with a kiss on the cheek. People within the

Latino paradigm, where this is a normative behavior, may habitually greet someone

with a kiss without calling undue attention to the act, nor will they tend to think much

about it. However, members of another civilizational paradigm observing said behavior

may be very surprised when seeing someone kiss another person. This common

behavior among the Latino community may cause a shock to others when practiced in

cultures where physical contact is limited. The shock response may lead to an

interpretation of the behavior based on the outside observer's internalized norms of

interaction. Since the observed behavior differs markedly from the internalized codes

of the person observing it, the observer‟s interpretation of said act may be very different

from the intention of the people who greeted each other with the kiss, awakening an

„alarm response' within the observer. The differences in interpreting and „feeling about‟

the behavior arise from the cognitive and the psychoaffective levels within each person,

which is the focal point for I-SA Microtheory. These interpretive differences can lead


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to profound misunderstandings, mistaken judgments, and strongly negative

psychoaffective responses toward and among people from diverse cultural communities.

. Ideology

What constitutes the power of the idea? Ideas, or ideologies, are not tangible structures;

yet they have the power to set parameters around people‟s understanding and

interpretation of phenomena encountered in day to day experiences. Only when we‟ve

attempted to understand how the sharing of ideas/ideology within cultural communities

has the enormous power to structure both group and individual identities, may we begin

to address the question of how the incursion of ideas, reality constructions, notions of

the sacred, etc. from outside—through contact with members of other civilizational

paradigms—has the power to promote identity consolidation and/or bring about changes

within existing cultural, societal, national and world paradigms. For the purpose of this

paper, 'ideology' is understood as a set of beliefs or reality constructions shared by

members of a given group or cultural community. The dominant ideology found within

a given system is based upon the values, attitudes and beliefs of the group/s holding

power. Ideologies and 'truths' are internalized by a critical mass of individuals and are

considered by the I-SA as being subjective and varying from culture to culture, or group

to group. In addition, ideology and truth constructions are dynamic—meaning that they

change over time through exposure, for example, to the promoters of the power holders‟

belief system—such as mass media, education, religious doctrine and other purveyors of

'truth' as defined by the state, the system, the religion, the cultural community, or the

group in power (López, 1997). Michael Apple (1990) defines ideology as a system of

ideas, beliefs, fundamental commitments or values about social reality. Ideology, then,

has to do with the legitimization of actions, values and beliefs placed on society,

forming a part of the structuring mechanism which holds it together. Collectively-held

ideology serves for justifying and delimiting...

… group action and its social acceptance. This holds whether the writer speaks of

rationalization of vested interests, attempts to „maintain a particular societal role,‟ or

justificatory, apologetic…activity concerned with the establishment and defense of

patterns of belief. When basic assumptions underlying a social arrangement seem to be

seriously challenged, the resulting need for legitimization may well take the form of

concern for the sacred… Ideology [often] seeks to sanctify existence by bringing it

under the domination of the ultimately „right‟ principles

(Apple, 1990, p. 23).

Identity definition and construction may become a very 'self-conscious' process when

members of a cultural community feel that their traditions, norms and values are being

encroached upon by outside paradigms. The ideology-- or the sum total of

conceptualizing, valuing, and interpreting-- embedded in the collective and individual


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identity constructions are perceived to be, in a sense, 'squeezed' by the arrival and

subsequent imposition of outside norms, values, consumptions patterns and so on within

the sacred spaces of the community.1

People working in conflict analysis and transformation should be aware of differences

in outwardly visible norms of social interaction. It is also important to uncover

processes going on within individuals-- in the intellectual and psycho-affective self -- in

order to minimize inaccurate negative judgments of, and feelings toward the other

community, helping arrive at the genuine roots causes of the conflict. When the tone of

interaction between groups is relatively calm, each community can try to understand the

‘other’ on that person’s, or that community’s own terms, setting aside the tendency to

judge through our own filters, by allowing the community to articulate who they are,

not who we believe them to be. In as much groups judge 'others' through their own

internalized lenses, they will be unable to see a community 'through its own eyes'. In

conflict transformation settings, facilitators must take great pains to ensure that

interlocutors refrain from 'telling others who they are'-- based on their judgments, and to

allow the other group to describe itself on its own terms. As people learn to understand

and see our interlocutors through their own lenses, we greatly increase the possibility

for moving from conflictual to collaborative relations. It is important for both sides to

describe themselves, their belief systems, norms, etc., thereby allowing their

interlocutors to 'see them through their own eyes.' This can be tricky when anger and

misunderstanding are high between the groups in question.

. Structures

Human beings group into collectives of different types, such as religious, ethnic, and/or

linguistic groups, cultural communities and so on. In the external environment, the

macro-structures are the commonalties which bind people together into the grouping

and provide the basis for common ways of interpreting life experience and, therefore, of

interacting. For example, religious codes and social norms provide structures through

which people interpret phenomena, as well as setting guidelines shared by the

community for what are deemed as appropriate behaviors and norms. Other structuring

mechanisms for human groupings are culture, language, ritual, common history,

familial ties, etc. These structures exist outside the individual—held by the social

grouping and-- at the micro-level, they are imprinted internally within memory store to

evoke cognitive, affective and interpretive responses to life experiences (López, 1990).

Structures—both held by the collective and holding the collective together—are carried

around within each individual and will inform how people view, interpret and interact

1 For example, while coexistence among the cultural communities in Malaysia is essentially peaceful,

incidents do occasionally arise where one community perceives an incursion into their sacred space by

another of the groups. See the examples of the Christian use of the word Allah, the incident of the host

spit out by a non-Catholic, photographed and uploaded on the internet; and the case where a severed

cow‟s head was stepped upon by „others‟ at a site where the Hindu community had applied to build a

temple. Situations where the sacred is perceived to have been treated as profane hold tremendous

potential for erupting into intercommunal violence.


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with the world around them. The internalized interpretive lenses are held largely below

the level of consciousness as long as stimuli in the external environment do not

challenge the way in which 'understanding' is structured. When receiving information

from outside the community or the collectives where our world views are structured, we

often find phenomena which challenge our implicit ways of knowing, thus providing

opportunities for increasing self-awareness of what binds our individual and community

understandings together. In conflict transformation, once negative psychoaffect has

been calmed enough that people can genuinely listen to each other, both sides not only

learn about the other, they also become more consciously aware of their own norms and

values through the process of interaction with members of the other cultural community.

. Worldview

The term 'worldview' refers to an overarching conception of how the things of life are

understood. Worldviews vary from culture to culture, nation to nation, tradition to

tradition. Our internalized worldviews are structured on socially-constructed systems of

values, interpretation and understanding, which find common threads within the cultural

community in which a person is formed. Differences in worldview among members of

diverse civilizational paradigms form the invisible basis for divergence in many areas of

understanding and interpreting the world around us and the communicative acts

occurring among interlocutors. It is the author's position that differences in worldview

reside at the level of the cognitive and the psycho-affective self and, by taking a deeper

level as the starting point for interaction, differences can be transcended and conflicts

transformed in order to build on convergence based on our common membership in the

human family, and on shared values.

Ideological-Structural Analysis: Levels of Being

The usefulness of the I-SA lies in its ability to explore spaces „from the skin inward‟ in

the attempt to understand the complex processes underlying visible outward

manifestations of violence. The Levels of Being diagram provides a simple starting

point from which to begin looking at both the nature of human communication and the

processes giving rise to conflict.


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Figure 2: Levels of Being Diagram (Designed by Mendoza, 2003): The first level, the Outward Physical Self is the

outward appearance with which people come into contact when we encounter others in the critical juncture. This

initial encounter with the outwardly visible person activates a series of instantaneous processes at the second level,

the cognitive and the psycho-affective self. Here input—usually visual and auditory—activates memory stores in our

brains, awakening a set of assumptions and expectations concerning the person in front of us. These expectations can

give rise to feelings about the person and the situation, of which we may be largely unaware. The combination of

memory stores and emotional responses awakened within us by the presence of the interlocutor impacts on how we

judge, how we feel and, often, how we act or respond to the person and the situation in which we find ourselves. I-

SA micro-theory focuses on the processes occurring in the cognitive and the psycho-affective selves of individuals

and communities in conflict situations. The theory sustains, however, that at the deepest level of human existence,

beyond the cognitive and the psycho-affective self, we all share a common life source which resides at the core of

each human being and sustains our lives. This level of being is called the Life Essence. In situations of long-standing

violence and historical injury, it is difficult for people to transcend the mental and the emotional „noise,‟ and the

painful memories, to come to the deeper level of being, where we discover the life essence which is common to all--

friends and foes alike.

. The Outward Physical Self

Think of the above diagram as representing a living human being. As the term

indicates, the Outward Physical Self has to do with our physical characteristics, skin and

hair color, how we dress, how we carry ourselves, and so on; this is the level of

ourselves which other people see and to which people respond upon coming into contact

with us. We of course, do exactly the same; we have an immediate-- often unconscious

response to the outward physical selves of others with whom we come into contact,

tending to make instantaneous judgments, and activating our unconscious assumptions

and expectations before even beginning to interact with the person. These judgments

and assumptions have a powerful effect on the way in which we will interpret meanings,


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feel about, and respond to our interlocutor.2 In situations where conflict exists, simply

seeing a person from the „other‟ cultural community can give rise to strong psycho-

affective responses, which often have a negative impact on interactions among members

of the groups in question. While input enters into the microperson from the Outward

Physical Self of the interlocutor, it is at the next level of being—the Cognitive and

Pyschoaffective Self— where these processes of thinking and feeling occur.

. The Cognitive and the Psychoaffective Self: The mind and our emotions

The Cognitive and the Psychoaffective Self, where thoughts and emotions occur, is the

focal point for Ideological-Structural Analysis Microtheory. Referring to the Bicycle

Incident story, when two people from communities in conflict come into contact with

one other, the simple visual (and auditory) input coming from the Outward Physical

Self of the other activates accurate or often inaccurate information, assumptions and

expectations concerning the person in front of them. Information stores concerning

„this type of people‟ become activated in long-term memory, acting as filters through

which each person will 'see' and interpret the other person. The more our activated

internal assumptions, affective responses and expectations are stereotyped, inaccurate,

and linked to negative emotions, the greater will be the misunderstanding,

misinterpretation and failed attempts at constructive communication among

interlocutors, since the cognitive activation mentioned above is intrinsically linked with

psycho-affective, or emotional responses, affecting how we feel about the people and

the situation at hand. How we think, or interpret, and how we feel have a strong bearing

on the behaviors we will manifest in response to people and situations at the critical

juncture of interaction in which we are involved. If people involved in conflicts can

become aware of their internal mental and emotional processes, they will be more able

to consciously choose a non-violent way of responding to situations which have

previously exacerbated and given life to spiraling cycles of violence.

At the Cognitive and Pyschoaffective level, 1) people receive input through one or more

of the five senses—usually by seeing and hearing the „other‟. 2) The input activates an

electrochemical response in the brain, seeking a „match‟ of sorts, between what is seen

(or heard) and mis/information stored in long term memory concerning people

somehow similar to the interlocutor in the beholder‟s memory stores. 3) Activated

memory stores give rise to feelings, assumptions and expectations about the

interlocutor, of which the person in question is often unaware. These cognitive and

psychoaffective filters will have a bearing on how the perceiver responds to his/her

interlocutor in terms of 4) behavioral outputs.

2 The way we speak-- meaning our accents, grammatical mastery, choice of words and language-- also

elicits responses from our interlocutors, activating often unconscious assumptions, expectations and

sometimes prejudices about the 'other.'


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In short, people „see‟ (or hear) the immediate presence of the „other.‟ Input accesses

mis/information stored in the mind/brain; feelings and expectations concerning the

interlocutor are activated; this impacts on how the person will behave in response to the

„other.‟ Greene (1986) talks about „interactive activation,‟ meaning that the processes

of perceiving, „thinking,‟ feeling and responding to the other are not entirely linear nor

causal; instead input goes forward through the aforementioned process and may loop

back, meaning that emotions tend to influence thought, behaviors may influence

feelings, and so on. Greene‟s point is that all the levels—of input, „thought,‟ feeling,

and behaviors—influence each other in a complex nonlinear set of instantaneous

processes as illustrated in Figure 3 below:

Figure 3: Interactive Activation Model

. Life Essence

Finally, we come to the core of all living beings, which we will call the Life Essence.

This level, sometimes called the ground of being, is the very existence and sustenance

of life within us. All human and other living beings share this level of life essence, of

which we are most often not aware. This is the level from which our life source

emanates. The great spiritual traditions have different names and explanations for this

life essence. Whether one is an adherent of a particular faith, or another may not ascribe

to any religious belief at all, this life essence has been imbued into us by a creative

energy source; some may call it God, Allah, Nirvana, cosmos, energy, etc. Whatever

the choice of words, or whatever the explanation of the essence of life within us, all

human and other sentient beings are imbued with this life force. Becoming aware of

this universal life presence, and considering it as our point of departure for interaction

with all people who we encounter gives us a common ground, literally, at the very

deepest level of ourselves, from which to begin our interactions with others, and to

increase our awareness of the common humanity we share with those around us. Since

the life essence resides deep within us and is fairly intangible, let's try to illustrate this


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level of being with a simple exercise. If you were to place your finger under your nose,

you would feel the inhaling and the exhaling of the breath which emanates from the

very source of your life and keeps you alive.3 A question to ask is, "What is it that

makes us breathe?" Anatomical answers point to our lungs, our brain, the central

nervous system and so on; however, once we've explored the physiological processes

which keep us alive, we must at some point ask what it is that makes all of these

processes come to life and function unfailingly throughout our lifetimes. Different

traditions have different answers for this question; however, regardless of how a human

community chooses to label this essential mystery of life, it is important to be fully

conscious that all people of all cultures, languages, traditions and religions of the world

share in this common 'breath' or source of life. The more communities in conflict are

aware of their own Life Essence and the fact that it is shared with „others,‟ the more

they will be able to take our common humanity as a point of departure from which to

begin building toward common goals in collaboration with the „other.‟ However, to

reach this point, it is necessary to work with complex Cognitive and Pyschoaffective

constructions which are partially „caused by and causal to‟ the conflict at hand. The

ensuing section of the present article will explore what occurs „from the skin inward,‟

which is the focus of I-SA Microtheory.

Ideological-Structural Analysis Microtheory: From the Skin Inward

. Memory Stores of Knowledge and World View

The I-SA asks what happens cognitively and emotionally inside of people who find

themselves in the presence of members of the community with whom they are in

conflict. How is experiential information from the conflict stored in the mind/brain, and

how does it link to and interact with psychoaffective responses concerning the „other?‟

The nature of memory stores in the human brain lends itself to simplistic,

overgeneralized interpretations of that for which we lack detailed first-hand knowledge.

The shaping of human understanding quite literally leaves a complex network of

imprints in the brain. How? From the time we are born and possibly before, we take

input from the external environment into ourselves through the five senses, i.e. the child

imprints and recognizes the mother‟s face from a very early age through visual input;

Mother‟s voice through auditory input, touch through the tactile sense, etc. In a very

short space of time the child has come to recognize different aspects of 'Mother'—and

endless other phenomena in the environment through a process of imprinting this input

within memory schema in the brain (Garnham, 1985). Early learning occurs as the

mental representation of those things tangible in the environment increase within

memory schema, giving the child ever greater identification and 'understanding' of the

world within which it is immersed. As the person matures, the information acquired

3 The breath, common to all living beings, is the tangible manifestation of the life essence which imbues

and sustains us all, irrespective of culture, religion, ethnicity or any other divisions which human beings

construct among ourselves.


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through immersion in a particular cultural community comes to shape his/her values,

world view, norms of conduct and so on.

The meanings and value judgments assigned in the interpretation of events are strongly

influenced by the social milieu which has been formative to the person. In the

interpretation of events, cognitive and affective responses are based on continua within

dichotomized poles, ranging roughly from the person's notion of 'good'-- or virtuous, to

his/her notion of 'bad'-- or unacceptable. These evaluative responses are organized into

interpretive schemes which place phenomena into a category for judging events in a

larger context of meanings, largely shared within one‟s cultural community (López,

1990).

Figure 4: The Values Continuum. Shared values are one of the foundational structures around which

human societies are built. The existence of 'values' within social groupings takes as its point of departure

a dichotomized notion of the existence of 'good' and 'bad,' or 'virtuous' and 'evil.' Different phenomena

are placed, un/consciously by the historical collective, somewhere along the continuum of 'Good and Bad'

upon which human values systems are structured. People‟s thoughts and emotions in response to

particular happenings are strongly conditioned by how events are unconsciously placed on an individual‟s

internalized values continuum.

The values assigned to these constructs are rooted in social origins of interaction with

other people. One‟s construct system is a direct result of their history of interaction in

social groups; it is embedded in social life. Culture, therefore, is very important in

assigning meaning to events, since our interpretive schema come primarily from social

interaction (Burleson, 1989). Across the world's diverse cultural and civilizational

traditions, codes of propriety and conduct, rules of politeness and sociolinguistic norms

vary markedly in form, or in outward manifestation; however, underlying these outward

differences, said norms in all cultural communities are designed to delimit how

interaction 'should' take place among people in order to increase positive

communication and favorable outcomes among interlocutors. When members of widely

different traditions interact, a common source of misunderstanding of the 'other' can be

found in the differences in sociolinguistic codes, norms of politeness, and so on. If not

understood and brought to conscious awareness, these „small‟ differences in

communicative norms between cultural communities can exacerbate existing tensions.

The ensuing section examines how these different norms, expectations and general

knowledge are stored in each person's long-term memory, and will be activated during

the process of communication.

Information 'Formatted' and Stored in Long-term Memory

VALUES

‘BAD'

‘GOO


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In multicultural-multirreligious societies, people have grown up in the presence of the

„other.‟ Muslim students go to school with their Hindu and Buddhist brethren; people

are neighbors of families from other traditions and so on. First hand experiential

interaction is present, containing pleasant and unpleasant memories, just as is the case

when we interact with people from our own communities. However, along with first

hand world knowledge, stereotypical generalizations are stored in long term memory

concerning the „other‟ community. Stereotyped, overgeneralized memory stores are

closely linked to value judgments and feelings about the other, which are often negative.

Research shows that when the behavior of someone from one‟s own community, or

„ingroup‟ is perceived in a negative light, people tend to attribute the behaviors to

individual personality traits, or they may assume that the person was just having a bad

moment. When the behavior of someone from an ‘outgroup,’ is deemed negative,

people tend to attribute the behavior to faulty group norms, casting monolithic

overgeneralizations on the ‘outgroup’ as a whole. This human tendency is reflected in

the stereotypes which groups often cast on one another. What actually occurs within a

person during this type of process?

Let‟s examine the encounter of Older Brother A and Older Brother B from the Bicycle

Incident mentioned above. Older Brother A is home when his younger brother arrives

crying and bleeding after the bicycle accident. He also witnesses his Mother‟s alarmed

response to the state in which her little boy arrives. Visual and auditory input enter the

young man‟s mind/brain through the eyes and ears, setting off an electrochemical

response which runs along neural networks and awakens memory stores about Boy B‟s

community. Since the input is alarming and negative), it sets off negative stereotypical

interpretations concerning „the how and the why‟ of the incident between the two boys

at play. This instantaneously awakens a psychoaffective response of anger toward, not

only Boy B, but toward a generalized negative notion of his community in general.

Older Brother A then carries around within himself an activated negative judgment and

the accompanying anger toward „the other,‟ which will impact on his interactions with

those who he encounters from the other community. Upon seeing Older Brother B,

Older Brother A‟s immediate reaction is one of anger and reproach for the pain suffered

by his little brother. Older Brother B responds to the anger with anger, exacerbating the

negative psychoaffective state in which the first older boy finds himself. Soon the two

boys are locked into a conflict where the rage of both has been awakened due to the

earlier incident between their two younger brothers at play. Before long, the older boys

are physically fighting. The story goes on, involving more and more people in the

spiraling violence until both sides end up with several injured and dead.

Layers of activated memories and anger pile one upon another, as the two sides strike

and retaliate for the deaths and injuries suffered by their members. This has now

continued for more than a decade, adding layers and layers of injury, memories and rage

to the mix.


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Figure 4: Interactive activation model of internal filters and responses awakened in the encounter

between Older Brother A and Older Brother B (Adapted from Greene, 1986 in López, 1990).

The point to be made here is that anger awakened by the incident caused Older Brother

A‟s interpretation of his interlocutor to be negative and stereotypical, and then cast as an

overgeneralization on the young man‟s community in general, sparking a negative

response on Older Brother B‟s part, and so on, until exploding into an outward

expression of violence. How is long-term memory structured and what might this have

to do with the cognitive and psychoaffective responses mentioned above?

. Interconnected Memory Stores

The illustration below provides a simplification of information stored in Older Brother

A‟s long-term memory. Examination of the information stored in each of the categories

(ethnicity, modes of dress, religion, employment, etc.) reflects a plurality common to

multicultural societies.


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Examination of the hypothetical memory store illustrated in Figure 4 above reveals

information about human males which Older Brother A has acquired over his lifetime.

His semantic stores concerning „man‟ holds a great deal of variation, such as in the

types of clothing men may wear, their hair color, body shape, places of employment and

worship, etc., etc. Along with experiential information, humans hold all manner of

narratives stored in our memories concerning ourselves and others, both pleasant and

unpleasant. It is important to remember that when negative psychoaffective responses

have been activated concerning the „other,‟ we tend to attribute the bad behavior to

faulty cultural norms. Yet when a member of our ingroup behaves negatively, we

generally attribute the behaviors to a flaw in the individual or, even more generously,

we say that the bad behavior was situational, and thus the individual him or herself is

not responsible for it. This ingroup-outgroup bias leads humans to judge the outgroups‟

behaviors much more harshly than our own—thereby magnifying negative judgments of

the „other,‟ which often exacerbates bad feelings and conflict. The next section looks

more deeply into memory stores through the lenses of prototype theory of long term

memory.

. Prototypes and Markedness

People hold in long-term memory prototypes about all manner of things which have at

their center that which is most familiar to them. Prototypes are nearly always based on

the person's life experience in the cultural community in which they have grown up, or

where they have long been immersed. Older Brother A‟s prototypical notion of „man‟

would likely have at its center a Malay Muslim male which is likely a composite of the

men to whom he has been most exposed throughout his lifetime, including father,

elders, the imam, male teachers, etc. Around this prototypical center, there is a high

degree of flexibility which allows for many variations on what constitutes 'man.' For


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example, men can wear different types of clothing, have different body sizes, be of

different ethnicities, and still fit perfectly well within the perceiver's classification of

'man' as illustrated in the illustration above. In multiethnic societies, for example, a

Chinese, Indian, Sikh or any number of people from other ethno-religious categories

would fit within the boundaries of the perceiver‟s prototype of „man.‟ However, that

which is most familiar to the person resides at the center of the perceiver‟s prototype—

setting a sort of normative „man.‟ Males from other ethnic groups, although familiar to

Older Brother A, reside nearer to the outer limits of his prototype of „man,‟ having a

greater degree of „markedness‟ as they move farther away from the perceiver‟s

prototypical norms.

Figure 5: The Scale of Markedness. The plus sign toward the outside of the prototype indicates a

„markedness‟ or a difference between the individual and the perceiver‟s normative prototype of man. The

minus sign in the center shows how men fitting into the composite prototypical center are „unmarked‟ or

normative to the observer. Usually those at the center would be men who are members of the perceivers‟

ingroup, The more „marked‟ men are often perceived to be part of an outgroup; thus, their presence may

awaken more stereotypical interpretations concerning the individual.

At the core of Older Brother A‟s prototype for 'man' we find a Malay Muslim individual

who can have many variants, such as body size, shape, types of dress, etc. Older

Brother A‟s own identity is closely linked to the composite male at the center of his

prototype, and he‟s likely to view these individuals as members of his own ingroup.

Toward the periphery, but remaining within his notion of 'man,' we find people with

whom he has had less intimate contact, such as members of ethno-religious

communities other than his own, including members of the community with which he

finds himself in conflict. The farther the person is from the perceiver‟s prototypical

center, and from his identity constructions of himself and his community, the more

likely these individuals will be interpreted through stereotypical lenses and, often,

negative judgments and psychoaffect may be activated concerning the „marked‟

individual. Certainly, when groups are in conflict with one another, ongoing negative

psychoaffect concerning the „other‟ very easily brings about negative interpretations


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concerning the individual and his community.4 Next, we will turn to stereotypes, which

are often activated from their storage in long term memory when someone finds

him/herself in the presence of an interlocutor who is highly marked to the perceiver.

. Stereotypes

Stereotyped information stored in long-term memory often awakens when we have

insufficient knowledge about the person with whom we are interacting and/or when

negative psychoaffect is attached to our notion of the person‟s community. Stereotypes'

function is to 'fill in the information gap,' as it were, in the process of classifying and

categorizing which appears to be inherent in the way in which the human mind

processes incoming information. Stereotypes are caricatures, of sorts, which often cast

negative aspects of humanity on the person or the cultural community being

stereotyped. As such, when we respond to stereotypical information activated within us

by our interlocutor's outward physical self, we tend to awaken negative expectations

about the person and the outcome of our interaction with him/her, thereby increasing the

probability for misjudgment, misunderstanding and negative psychoaffect among the

interlocutors.

Can humans avoid stereotyping each other? Since our memory and world knowledge

stores are clustered around heuristic prototypes (López, 1990), is it possible to avoid

seeing our interlocutor through the stereotyped lenses evoked in our memory stores by

the mere presence of the interlocutor as 'other?' Level and intimacy of experience in

interaction with members of Group X-- depending on both the nature of the interaction

and on interpretations given through our filters-- may reinforce, or they may help break

down stereotypical notions concerning groups other than one's own. Part of the work of

conflict transformation lies in assisting communities in going beyond both stereotypes

and negative psychoaffect in order to „re-see‟ or rediscover „the human face of the

other‟ community, which has all the virtues and vices of humanity, just as our own

ingroup does.

In Malaysia, it‟s commonly heard that, "Indians are like this…," "Chinese do this…,"

"Malays behave like that…" These 'truth' constructions come from one group‟s

interpretations of the other, and are spread among, around and across cultural

communities. When we encounter members of X group, we tend to unconsciously see

4 It is important to note that there are boundaries beyond which the mind is unwilling to go and still

classify something or someone within a specific prototype. For example, while men and women share

many particulars which allow them to both fit in the broader classification of 'human,' there exist

distinctions, such as voice, body shape and other physiological differences which will not allow the

perceiver to classify a 'woman' within the prototype of 'man' nor-- for example-- a creature which meows

within the prototype of 'monkey.' While a women, a cat, or other mammals go beyond the parameters of

classification within the 'man' prototype, Older Brother B and other non-Muslim males with whose

cultural community Older Brother A has had less intimate contact do classify within the parameters of his

prototype of 'man.' If we were to place Older Brother B within Figure 5 above, he would be more toward

the periphery of Older Brother A's classification of 'man.'


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and interpret them through the lenses of our information/misinformation stores in

individual and collective historical memory (Fry and Fry, 1986).

Is there such a thing as a typical Indian? Malay? Chinese? Probably not, but humans

tend to operate unconsciously on these embedded filters in memory store, which impact

strongly on how we will interpret our interactions with the person, or that group of

people (Burleson, 1989). Again, all people hold within themselves the potential for a

complete range of human characteristics, emotions, actions, etc. But if we look at how

each group characterizes individual and collective 'others,' we often find projections of

the negative aspects of human beings cast on the „other.‟ How much do cultural

communities define themselves in a positive manner, by casting negative human

characteristics on the „other‟ and juxtaposing the collective self to the collective 'other,'

thus facilitating a positive casting of self? Upon analysis, this tendency is found to be

present underlying nearly all conflict situations.

. Acquisition and Learning: Ourselves and ‘others’

Interaction with people different from us will inevitably bring about learning, and

therefore growth in both our permanent memory stores and our interpretive

mechanisms. Stephen Krashen (1986) talks about a distinction between acquisition and

learning. Acquisition is said to occur spontaneously when input from the external

environment enters the microperson and is imprinted in long-term memory. Learning,

on the other hand, constitutes a conscious effort to acquire information about 'others'

and submit it to our stores of learned knowledge. When interacting outside of our own

communities, we are able to both acquire and learn information about each other. For

example, through repeated exposure to others, we will gradually imprint differences in

physical characteristics, accents, values, understandings, sociolinguistic codes and so on

in our stores of world knowledge. In this process, that which was once 'strange' to us

becomes more and more familiar, thus lessening the uncertainty and anxiety awakened

by that which we, at one point, did not know. However, in our apparent familiarity with

the „other,‟ so often encountered in multicultural societies, we often operate

unconsciously based on our own stereotypical assumptions, assuming we know how

the person is, and what his or her cultural community is about. We can complement the

information stores in our micro-persons induced through spontaneous acquisition

through interaction with others, with a conscious effort to learn from our interlocutors

about their lives and belief systems. Asking our interlocutor to tell us about his/her

community allows us to learn who people are through their own eyes. This is a

powerful remedy for the misunderstandings so often caused when we rely on

stereotyped assumptions concerning the person or the group with which we are

interacting. One might wish to go a step further and ask the interlocutor to recommend

sources which can be read, lectures which can be attended, or any other source for the

formal and conscious learning about aspects of each other's community and belief


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system from the perspective of that particular group.5 Krashen summarizes the learning

process with the formula of i + 1= learning. 'i' represents previous information and

world knowledge stored in long-term memory, as was represented in Figures 4 and 5

above. '+ 1' refers to new information entering the mind which activates related

information already stored in memory. New information is then accommodated within

existing structures of memory stores, causing world knowledge to increase and memory

store to grow. For example, interactions with people from other cultural communities

will activate our memory stores-- prototypes, stereotypes and all; at this point it is

important that we be mindful of these activated mis/information stores in our minds, so

that we may consciously learn from our interlocutors instead of projecting our

stereotyped memory stores on to him or her. Mindfulness, then, is a key to learning

from and about each other, and to avoiding inaccurate and unfair projections, judgments

and expectations by interlocutors on each other. Once out-of-control psychoaffect has

come down to a manageable level, conscious learning about ‘others’ and sharing who

we are with our former adversaries, constitute important steps in moving from conflict

to collaboration.

Schema and Scripts as Normative Expectations

One of the ways in which behavioral expectations are stored in memory is through

schema and scripts which, when activated by exposure to external stimuli, bring these

mental representations to the fore in order to provide parameters of understanding of the

phenomena currently faced by the person or group. Schema and scripts awakened by

events and people in the critical juncture create unconscious expectations concerning

the behaviors of people with whom we are interacting. The content of information held

within schema and scripts, mental representations activated by the external situation,

creates lenses which lend themselves to a particular interpretation of events as filtered

through the mind‟s activated semantic networks (López, 1990). The structuring of these

networks in terms of how they tend to filter interpretive and affective responses to

external stimuli, depends largely on collective understandings held in the community

where the perceiver has been immersed. When expectations delimited by semantic and

affective schema are violated, the person experiences what is known as an alarm

response (Gudykunst et el, 2003), calling conscious attention to the act which crossed

the boundaries of expectation. The range of interpretations arising depends largely on

the affective and values links held by the perceiver in world knowledge store. The alarm

response is not necessarily negative. It may be interpreted in a positive manner; it may

cause confusion or ambiguity in the perceiver, or it may give rise to feelings of offense,

anger, etc., particularly if taboos or norms of some type are felt to have been violated

(Rokeach, 1969). Collective alarm response by one cultural community in contact with

another, has often lead to wars, conflicts and political disputes. Conversely, those

5 It is important to let people speak for and of themselves; if we wish to articulate who we think others

are, we will often project our own stereotypical misrepresentations on our interlocutor and his/her

community. This, naturally, gives rise to discomfort and misunderstanding among people.


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messages and images brought about through contact with outside groups which can be

accommodated within the community's schema without causing an alarm response may

be internalized below the level of consciousness, thus expanding the store of

information attached to that particular schema. It is in these cases where contact outside

of the local collective provokes gradual shift and modification within the culture.

Schema, then are the contextual information found in the external environment, the

setup, or the context in which the scripts take place. The props of the schema, let‟s say,

in a doctor‟s office may include a receptionist, a waiting room, stethoscopes,

examination tables, etc. In short, the things that we see, hear and possibly touch, as well

as the smells that we may perceive in a particular environment make up the schema

within which our scripts will unfold. The scripts, then, are the actions which take place

or are played out within that schema. Schema create expectations about how people

will behave, what they will do, and possibly what they will wear as well. When we say

that something or someone is „out of place,‟ we essentially mean that the person or

object does not fit within the expectations awakened in our micropersons through the

interaction between schema and scripts. Due to intercultural differences, it is not

uncommon for the actions of the „other‟ to violate the unconscious behavioral

expectations awakened within us by the schematic context.

A simple illustration of memory stored in schema and scripts can be found in the

Doctor's Office illustration below (Schank and Abelson, 1977 in López, 1990):

Name of schema: Doctor’s Office

Props: Waiting Room Roles: Patient

Receptionist Receptionist

Magazines Doctor

Examination Room Nurse

Medical Uniforms

Results: Patient is assured

Entry Conditions: Patient is ill Prescription is given

Name of Script— Events in the doctor’s office

Scene 1 : Entering

Patient enters doctor‟s office

Patient signs in

Patient decides where to sit

Patient goes to seat

Patient sits down


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Scene 2 : Waiting

Patient picks up magazine

Patient skims magazine

Receptionist calls patient

Patient puts down magazine

Patient stands up

Patient enters examination area

Scene 3 : Interaction with Nurse

Nurse greets patient

Patient and nurse chat

Nurse questions patient about ailment

Nurse takes patient‟s temperature

Nurse leaves

Scene 4 : Diagnosis and Treatment

Doctor greets patient

Doctor questions patient about ailment

Patient replies

Doctor examines patient

Doctor prescribes treatment

Scene 5 : Exiting

Patient returns to waiting area

Patient goes to receptionist‟s window

Receptionist and patient work out payment

Receptionist fills out receipt

Receptionist gives receipt to patient

Patient leaves doctor‟s office

Figure 6: Schema and script of a doctor’s office

Perhaps the best way to think about schema is that they list the default values for sights,

sounds and smells that you would expect in a particular context, while schema set the

context, scripts pertain to the events that you would expect to occur in the doctor‟s

office. Doctor's offices are widely similar in many parts of the world.

However, it is those details of difference which will catch the attention of the person.

For example, a person from a Latin American country may notice that some nurses in

Malaysia wear the tudong or the veil beneath their nurses hat, which is not commonly

seen in their country of origin.6 This and other information found in the Malaysian

6 It is the author's belief that there is a great deal that we hold in common across the world diverse

cultural communities. However, that which is common or normative to us tends to go unnoticed, as it

does not evoke an alarm response, nor catch the perceiver's conscious attention. It seems that the manner


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doctor's office, which is not common to all 'doctor's office schema and scripts, will be

consciously noticed by the person whose schema and scripts and been formed where the

veil is not commonly worn. Meanwhile, those many aspects of the doctor's office

which do match internal memory stores will tend to go unnoticed. Here again, we note

the human tendency to focus on difference while commonalities may go unnoticed.

This perceptual tendency inherent in the mind's processing mechanisms has a profound

impact on communication among people from different backgrounds. Individual and

collective identity are partially based on differentiating ourselves from others. While

this serves to give us a sense of uniqueness and belonging, it can also lead people to

„exclude‟ those who are different, allowing us—once again-- to cast negative human

traits on the „other‟ group, while self- defining as virtuous. The feeling that our

community is superior to „others‟ can lead to what is called moral exclusion, where

groups may practice their ethical values within their own community, and yet

un/consciously behave toward the „other‟ in a way which is beyond the rules of morality

practiced within one‟s own community. Moral exclusion is somehow antithetical to the

maxim to „do unto others...‟ since the psychoaffective space of „exclusion‟ allows us to

treat others in a way in which we wouldn‟t treat our family or members of our own

community. Moral exclusion lies at that heart of nearly all acts of violence, and

certainly of killing. Within all faith traditions and most communities, the value of

honoring human life is present. It is through the psychoaffective process of moral

exclusion that people can become convinced that it is okay, or even virtuous to maim,

injure or kill another human being, possibly in the name of family, community, country,

religion or some other internalized structuring mechanism which allows people to view

themselves as being within some group which is „worth protecting,‟ while the victims of

their violent acts are viewed as being outside the group, and thus morally beyond the

rules with which our communities have taught us to behave with our own.

Schema and scripts come into play in all sorts of contexts in our daily lives. In as much

as our expectations are met because interactions flow smoothly within the parameters

delineated by our scripts, no undue attention will be called to events, nor will our alarm

response be awakened. It is when something goes beyond the parameters of our

expectations that the alarm response is triggered, and conscious attention is called to the

person or the event which has gone beyond the boundaries. Due to differences in

internalized schema, modes of conduct and expectations, our scripts may be violated

and the alarm response triggered with much greater frequency in intercultural situations

than when we interact with people from our own cultural communities. When negative

psychoaffect is activated such as in conflict situations, alarm response is very often

present exacerbating ongoing negative perceptions, interpretations and, eventually,

actions directed toward the other community.

Sociolinguistic Competence and Paralinguistics

in which the human mind processes information tends to draw conscious attention to 'that which is

different.' Given this tendency of our minds' processing mechanisms to notice difference, it is important

that people come to an attitude of embracing difference as something highly enriching to the human

condition, instead of fearing difference, which so often has led to misunderstanding and destruction

among the world's people, who have not taken notice of the fact that we are all embued with one and the

same Life Essence.


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Sociolinguistic factors play an important role in communication in all languages. These

unwritten norms concerning the appropriate use of the language and paralinguistics vary

from culture to culture, and are not always obvious to interlocutors from different socio-

cultural backgrounds. One way of acquiring the sociolinguistic rules held by the 'other'

is through ongoing interaction with people from different backgrounds. Furthermore,

interlocutors may wish to address these issues specifically. There is much to be gained

by dialoguing about the linguistic and other norms of propriety found within our

communities. First of all, the act of explaining these norms brings conscious awareness

to the person doing the explaining, as well as informing our dialogue partner about these

implicit rules in our own socio-cultural system. The awareness to be gained on both

sides will lead to an increased understanding of the other and an increase in tolerance

for the differences found in the normative codes of the communities. An important

maxim for interaction with all people is that of respect. People whose demeanor

expresses an attitude of genuine respect toward others will be forgiven for many an

unintentional error which one might make by not knowing the proper communicative

norms. It is nearly impossible to avoid making occasional mistakes in our interactions

with others; as such, an attitude of genuine respect will help smooth over our imperfect

modes of communication. Helping communities in conflict come to a space of genuine

respect for the „other‟ is a slow process, which tends to emerge gradually when

mediation and conflict transformation work has been going on for some time.

. Values

Shared values are one of the foundational structures around which human societies are

built. The existence of 'values' within social groupings takes as its point of departure a

dichotomized notion of the existence of 'good' and 'bad,' or 'virtuous' and 'evil.'

Different phenomena are placed, un/consciously by the historical collective, somewhere

along the continuum of 'Good and Bad' upon which human values systems are

structured (Burleson, 1989). These value-attached understandings of the world carry a

great deal of affective weight with them. From early on, people internalize the values

system prevalent in their external environment, thereby tending to reproduce the values

system as it is imbibed and passed on from generation to generation. The inherent

messages about how the societal collective views, understands and values social

phenomena are instilled very deeply within both the individual and the collective

psyche and are carried with us on into adulthood.

Figure 7: The internalized values continuum

The internalized values continuum is shaped in individuals by the external moral

environment in which s/he has been immersed. Values provide parameters for

reinforcing behaviors which the community considers to be good or virtuous, while

VALUES


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simultaneously marking boundaries which a person's behavior should not transgress in

order to remain within the limits of proper moral conduct as espoused by the

community. Behaviors and manifestations of human conduct may vary across

communities, bringing members of one community to assess the different behavior of

the 'other' as being beyond the boundaries of 'that which is virtuous or good;'

meanwhile, the person being so judged may not be aware of having crossed a values

boundary in the eyes of his/her interlocutor. Tolerance of these differences, learning to

assess a person's behavior 'through his/her own eyes,' and suspension of judgment of

strangers based on one's own internalized values constructs go a long way toward

increasing positive interactions among people from diverse cultural communities.

While external manifestations of a community‟s values may be highly diverse, it is the

author's belief that there is a high level of convergence in basic values found in the

world‟s major faith traditions and among members of most cultural communities. An

important task for those involved in dialogue and conflict transformation is to help

communities identify the values which they hold in common with the „other,‟ in spite of

their differences in manifestation. These shared values, once recognized by members of

the communities, often become a cornerstone from which to transform interaction from

conflict to collaboration.

. Taboo

Taboo constitutes a category of behaviors (including communicative acts) which are

considered out of bounds, not to be done, nor discussed. Common areas where taboo

abound pertain, for example to religion, 'superstition,' and sexual behavior. Violation of

taboo provokes powerful negative affective reactions toward actors believed to have

caused the violation. Responses to the violation of taboo range from rejecting the

violators' actions, rejection of the outsiders' community itself, to outright violent acts or

armed revolt against the parties having transgressed the sacred boundary in question.

The perceived violation of taboo is often found underlying conflict situations, since

communities may retaliate against those perceived as responsible for the violation.

Furthermore, once communities are locked into a cycle of tit-for-tat violence and

retaliation, the „enemy‟s‟ taboos may be intentionally violated as a mode of intentional

offense or retaliation. This, of course, exacerbates the conflict and deepens the cycle of

violence.

. Trust and Good Faith

Trust is an essential ingredient for successful interaction among individuals and human

communities (Rokeach, 1969). Trust in the 'other,' and the belief that both are acting

out of good faith go a long way in helping all sides tolerate cultural and communicative

differences among them which may violate sociocultural norms and provoke a sense of

discomfort on one or both sides. When trust is not there—which is so often the case


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after breakdown has occurred—to continue interacting becomes extremely delicate

matter. A very important step in conflict transformation lies in the challenging task of

restoring trust between the communities which have been locked into cycles of

violence, where historical injury has built up, one act of retribution after another, much

like the layers of an onion. Working through the acknowledgment of injury on all sides,

and going forward in peaceful collaboration toward shared goals can and does

eventually restore damaged relationships, both on the individual and the community

levels.

Take the case of the bicycle incident where violence and suffering have been wrought

on both sides. The underlying stereotypes and judgments both sides hold toward each

other, and the spiral of violent incidents arising from the two boys‟ accident have given

rise, not only to deep anger, but to profound mistrust on both sides. As such,

reestablishing trust and believing that the other side is acting in good faith becomes

highly problematic. In this case, the history of retaliatory events tells both sides that the

other is „not good,‟ and 'definitely not trustworthy.' It is difficult for day-to-day

political and social life to proceed peacefully when interlocutors are convinced of the

„bad‟ or „evil‟ intent and nature of the other. As such, a primary goal of dialogue in

conflict situations is to reestablish and sustain trust and good faith among members of

the communities in question. This point cannot be stressed enough. Once a culture of

trust, good faith and committed dialogue is established, the communities will be able to

work together toward common solutions to problems faced in the larger community.

Some Final Reflections

Conflict situations can be transformed. Communities locked into cycles of tit-for-tat

violence can emerge from this vicious circle and begin to collaborate with each other

toward the attainment of shared goals. The bicycle incident serves to summarize the

process required to get from violent retaliatory situations to spaces of collaboration and

understanding. In such cases, the facilitators come into the community, taking time to

build trust and rapport with people on both sides. A historical-contextual analysis of

relations between the two communities is conducted, using both archival information

and interviews/questionnaires applied directly with members of the communities

involved. Interviews and questionnaires are also used to uncover the needs and

concerns of both sides, as well as assessing and the levels of anger and the perceptions

underlying it held by both parties in the conflict. Workshops are held in „neutral

spaces,‟ such as a local secondary school. All workshop and activities are designed to

specifically address the case at hand, based on data acquired through the initial studies.

The first workshop gives the basic premises and tools offered by the Ideological-

Structural Analysis, taking care to present the information at a level which is adequate

for the participants. Further workshops may entail mediation, dealing with rage, healing

of memories/trauma, reconciliation and, at times, cognitive restructuring activities

which offer participants alternative channels for their anger, as well as the option of


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consciously choosing non-violent responses to situations where communities have been

locked into cycles of violence. The content of workshops varies according to the

particulars of the communities and the situations at hand. When communities have

reached the point of once again „seeing the human face of the other,‟ work begins

toward uncovering commonalities in belief, goals, interests, etc. As relationships and

trust deepen between the sides, areas of divergence in belief or opinion are introduced.

The goal at this stage is for communities to be comfortable with the genuine differences

that will and should remain between them, knowing that there is no reason for the

divergence to hamper their collaborative efforts. The final step in this process is for

researcher-facilitators to offer a policy recommendations report to lawmakers or other

powerholders who can help usher in long-term structural changes toward enhancing

peace and stability within the milieu. Said recommendations may be ignored, or parts of

them may be applied by the authorities; nonetheless, we continue with these humble

offerings to persons in positions of power in the hopes that structural changes may

evolve which can enhance the possibility for fruitful collaboration among communities

once engaged in seemingly intractable conflict.


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conflict transformation in multicultural societies introduction through the i-sa theory

Documents

dialogue training

situation of conflict

intercommunal dialogue

conflict situations

sabased training

needs analyses

conflict zones andor

contextual analysis