Elective course: Discourses of conflict and reconciliation 3200-M1-PF-DKP
The recent drive towards cultural integration in major social domains is a response to the progressing need for closer interpersonal/intergroup cooperation. The latter functions as a natural force safeguarding balance in interhuman relations and as a reliable way of avoiding conflicts. Despite some efforts towards implementing/extending pluralistic and democratic procedures, the integration tendencies are often paralleled with sustained or growing social divisions. These are linguistically manifest in acts of social segregation, marginalization and exclusion, which instead of building respect and understanding, turn interpersonal exchange into communicative chaos. Verbal aggression easily escalates to physical fight and warfare. In the light of the (still) growing cultural and interactive dissonance in different regions of the world, questions arise as to the role of linguists in proposing solutions to the communicative distrust, polarisation, coercion and manipulation that penetrate both public and private domains.
The aim of this course is to address the possibilities of overcoming different forms of the ‘communication crisis’ by pursuing discourse strategies that can neutralise confrontational positions and prevent their dissemination. Are there any alternatives to oppressive styles and exclusionary rhetoric in public and private spheres? Under which conditions and by which linguistic means can the conflictual behaviours be transformed into substantial intercultural dialogue? The latter is meant to transcend particularistic interests with a view to negotiating constructive and efficient ways of problem-solving, conflict-management/resolution and reconciliation. The above problems pose questions about speakers’ responsibility in conscious selecting, rejecting, modifying and creating their own local and global linguistic practices. Their critical and reflective choice is the key to people’s self-understanding, self-definition and self-constitution in the modern world.
More specific topics of the course include (they may be discussed at more than a single meeting, and their coverage depends on students’ preferences):
Anatomy of conflict
- conflict in private settings (informal)
- conflict in public settings (institutional)
- impoliteness as conflict discourse
- sources of social tension: (false) assumptions, contrasting cognitive models, habits, rituals, conventions
Conflict discourses across communities and cultures
- arguments in the media
- exclusion discourses in politics
- litigation discourse as war
- technologically enhanced aggression
Discursive means of conflict settlement
- strategic vs. communicative action
- instrumental vs. participatory model of power
- Dialogic Model of Discourse (DMD)
- Transformative Approach to Conflict
- communicative procedures of Narrative Mediation
- linguistic forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Managing private conflicts: integrative negotiations, counselling, mediation, therapy
- resolving family and neighbourhood issues
- problem construction strategies
- establishing transparency of meaning
- communicating emotions
- problem neutralization
Managing institutional conflicts: discourses of mediation and arbitration
- mediation and arbitration in the workplace, business, courts, education, healthcare, politics
- the role of third parties in conflict resolution
- facilitation
- building trust and empathy
- opening communicative space
Social consultations and deliberative debates as problem-solving discourses
- democratisation of decision-making in public life
- social consultations in problems of big cities
- deliberative debate in European Parliament
- building consensus
Coming to terms with and making sense of the difficult past: discourses of commemoration
- anniversary discourses
- historical exhibitions
- confronting and deconstructing wartime narratives
- voicing totalitarian opposition
- proceedings of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions
Reconciliation discourses in dialogic transformation of identity
- discursive acts of remembering and forgiving
- dialogic formation of personal and communal identity
- discourses of internal dialogue
- foundations of ‘discourse ethics’ and discursive theory of participation
Student's contribution to the course: 3 ECTS
30h - participation in the classes
20h - reading assignments
25h - homework
15h - preparation of the semester project
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE
The student:
- has a broadened knowledge of the relations between linguistics, linguistic discourse analysis and social semiotics with broadly understood humanities and social sciences to an extent that allows them to integrate research perspectives originating in these disciplines;
- knows advanced methods developed by linguistics, linguistic discourse analysis and social semiotics, allowing them to problematize, analyze and interpret phenomena in the fields of culture, interpersonal communication and social discourses;
- has a deepened knowledge of man as a creator and participant of social and cultural discourses;
SKILLS
The student
- can use the achievements of modern linguistics, linguistic discourse analysis and social semiotics for the purpose of critical analysis and interpretation of cultural artifacts and intellectual and ideological currents. The student can identify the measures which build their meaning and social impact;
- can analyse the complex relation between the medium and the message, as well as the influence that they exert on each other.
COMPETENCE
The student
- is a critical and conscious language user in social space;
- is a competent and responsible initiator of social dialogue in their cultural environment.
Assessment criteria
Applies to both the 1st approach and re-take:
The condition to obtain the final credit is regular attendance (max. 2 unexcused absences allowed).
Assessment criteria:
- preparation for classes: reading assignments, knowledge of the topics covered, homework (case studies), active participation – 40%
Assessment method:
- individual semester project – 60 %
Share (%) of the assessment criteria and method in the final grade:
55%-69% = 3
70%-74% = 3+
75%-84% = 4
85%-89% = 4+
90%-100% = 5
Practical placement
no
Bibliography
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─. 1998. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
─. 2003. Responsibility and Judgment. New York: Schocken Books.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1986. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
─. 1990. The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bush, Robert A. Baruch / Joseph P. Folger. 2005. The Promise of Mediation. The Transformative Approach to Conflict. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chilton, Paul. 2004. Analysing Political Discourse. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge.
Cloke, Kenneth. 2001. Mediating Dangerously. The Frontiers of Conflict Resolution. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Culpeper, Jonathan. 2011. Impoliteness. Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: CUP.
Duffy, Maria. 2009. Paul Ricoeur’s Pedagogy of Pardon. A Narrative Theory of Memory and Forgetting. London: Continuum.
Ensink, Titus / Christoph Sauer (eds.). 2003. The Art of Commemoration. Fifty Years after the Warsaw Uprising. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Gójska, Agata et al. 2012. Konsultacje społeczne w przestrzeni wielkomiejskiej. Warszawa: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne.
Grillo, Eric. (ed.). 2005. Power without Domination. Dialogism and the Empowering Property of Communication. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Grimshaw, Allen D. (ed.). 1990. Conflict Talk. Sociolinguistic Investigations of Arguments in Conversations. Cambridge: CUP.
Gutmann, Amy / Dennis Thompson. 1996. Democracy and Disagreement. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1984. The Theory of Communicative Action. Vol. 1. Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Boston: Beacon Press.
Heer, Hannes et al. 2008. The Discursive Construction of History. Remembering the Wehrmacht’s War of Annihilation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power. London and New York: Longman.
─. 1992. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity.
─. 2003. Analysing Discourse. Textual Analysis for Social Research. London and New York: Routledge.
Martin, J.R. / Ruth Wodak (eds.) Re/reading the Past. Critical and Functional Perspectives on Time and Value. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Muntigl, Peter. 2004. Narrative Counselling. Social and Linguistic Processes of Change. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Pawelczyk, Joanna. 2010. Talk as Therapy. Linguistic Investigations in Psychotherapy. Poznań: UAM.
Peräkylä, Anssi. 1995. AIDS Counselling. Institutional Interaction and Clinical Practice. Cambridge: CUP.
Reykowski, Janusz (ed.) 2007. Konflikt i porozumienie. Psychologiczne podstawy demokracji deliberatywnej. Warszawa: Academica.
Ricoeur, Paul. 1992. Oneself as Another. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Searle, J.R. 2010. Making the Social World. Oxford: OUP.
Skarżyńska, Krystyna / Urszula Jakubowska / Jacek Wasilewski (eds.). 2007. Konflikty międzygrupowe. Przejawy, źródła i metody rozwiązywania. Warszawa: Academica.
Tanner, Deborah. 1998. The Argument Culture. Moving from Debate to Dialogue. New York: Random House.
van Dijk, Teun A. 1998. Ideology. A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: SAGE.
Verdoolaege, Annelis. 2008. Reconciliation Discourse. The Case of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wesołowska, Elżbieta. 2010. Deliberatywne rozwiązywanie konfliktów wartości. Wielość dróg do porozumienia. Olsztyn: Wydawnictwo UWM.
Winslade, John / Gerald Monk. 2000. Narrative Mediation. A New Approach to Conflict Resolution. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wodak, Ruth. 1996. Disorders of Discourse. London and New York: Longman.
Wodak, Ruth / Paul Chilton (eds.). 2005. A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis. Theory, Methodology and Interdisciplinarity. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: