The
ROLEPLAY BOOK
by
The Mediation Centre at Carleton University
Good
training simulations are most often based on real-world
experiences. Since it's creation in February 1992, the
Mediation
Centre at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada as
been training and providing services in conflict resolution
to a wide variety of individuals, groups and organizations.
While serving primarily the working, studying and teaching
populations at the university, the Centre also provides
services to groups off campus. The Centre has hosted an
annual academic Symposium on Conflict Resolution that
has produced some valuable sets
of proceedings. The Centre is also a close affiliate
of the Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution Studies
housed in the university's department of law since 1997.
These varied experiences have contributed to the creation
of a nice set of training materials now available to the
public.
Written
by staff and volunteers at the Centre, the Roleplay Book
contains 48 scenarios for mediation training: on and off
campus, in the workplace, in the community, between students,
faculty and staff, neighbors, landlord and tenants, businesses
and customers, family members and friends.
In
all, 17 of the scenarios are based within the university
setting. Campus workplace cases include 3 co-worker disputes,
4 employee/supervisor disputes, and 1 supervisor/supervisor
dispute; classroom issues include 2 student/student disputes
and 2 student/professor disputes; and campus life cases
include 1 student/staff dispute and 4 student/student
disputes. Also included is concise information about how
to write a roleplay (with a list of gender neutral names
provided), how to play a role, and how to de-brief a roleplay.
The
roleplays are written to imitate actual conflict situations
wherein the parties in conflict do not readily share their
hidden interests, thereby providing an interesting challenge
to the mediator. Some of the situations deal with gender
issues, sexual preferences, cultural differences, alleged
harassment or power differences. For more information
on the collection, contact the Centre at (613) 520-5765
or by email: rramkay@ccs.carleton.ca.
The
Roleplay Book is available directly from the Centre
at a price of $20 (Canadian, includes mailing and handling).
Cheques should be payable to:
The Mediation Centre at Carleton University
2213 Dunton Tower, 1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6 Canada
Note:
Individuals wishing to purchase using a credit card
may wish to acquire the collection from NICR,
the Canadian conflict resolution clearinghouse that
also distributes it.
TEACHING
THE SOCIOLOGY OF PEACE AND WAR: A CURRICULUM GUIDE
edited by John McDougall, Helen Raisz and Morten G.
Ender
The
American Sociological Association has a long and valuable
tradition of producing collections of teaching support
materials. One set that readers of the CMHER may be particularly
interested in is this 1998 volume on the sociology of
peace and war. An essay section includes overviews of
the field, a pedagogical essay on taking a personal approach
to peace and war studies, and on using conflict resolution
scenarios in the classroom. Syllabi cover four main topics:
overview courses, particular aspects of peacemaking, weapons
and institutions, and particular issues of conflict. A
section on "Other Resources" rounds out the set with references,
scholarly journals of interest, electronic resources including
LISTSERVS, professional associations, and a bibliography
of the Gulf War.
199
pp.
$15.00 for ASA members, $19.00 for nonmembers.
Stock Number 334.T98
Available from the ASA
via their online publications
order form.
MEDIATION:
EMPOWERMENT IN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
by Kathy Domenici
More
campuses are offering academic courses or skill training
programs in mediation than ever before. As faculty and
staff develop these programs, they often face the question
of what kind of textbook or training manual to use to
supplement the course. Kathy Domenici, an affiliate of
the University of New Mexico's Mediation Clinic, faced
this question head-on. She worked with Waveland
Press, publisher of supplemental texts for classroom
use, to produce a concise, very readable, and relatively
inexpensive paperback (under $12) text to support mediation
training efforts.
Domenici
is clearly influenced by the transformative wing of the
mediation movement inspired by Bush and Folger's book
The Promise of Mediation. Her text gracefully incorporates
transformative concepts relating to the way the mediation
process is explained to parties, the place and role of
power, and mediator opportunities to foster empowerment
and recognition, while at the same time not abandoning
a stage model of mediation that newcomers to the field
can hang on to as they learn the process. While the book
is written for a lay audience and is not long (137 5.5x8.5
inch pages including references), Domenici manages to
do a fairly complete job of explaining core conflict resolution
concepts and the full mediation process in a friendly
narrative form. The book is interspersed with a number
of well-placed scholarly quotes and references, as well
as commentaries from student journals. Also included are
some quite practical exercises designed to ground key
ideas and skills. Appendices include a sample agreement
to mediate, a standards of confidentiality form, a resolution
form, a mediation observation form for student use, and
5 short conflict scenarios for use in skill practice.
The
book is probably not substantive enough to stand alone
in a academic course, especially when compared to a more
complex book like The Mediation Process by Christopher
Moore, for instance. However, given that many courses
these days rely heavily on article collections, the book
could easily find a place as a practical guide to mediation
that supplements more scholarly materials. It could also
serve well as a basic training manual for student mediator
trainings. Staff and faculty preparing for upcoming courses
can request an examination copy from Waveland Press for
review.
Paperback
(January 1996)
137 pages, $11.95 list;
ISBN 0-88133-894-X
Waveland Press, Inc
P.O. Box 400
Prospect Heights, IL 60070
(847) 634-0081
info@waveland.com
VIOLENCE
ON CAMPUS: HOW TO MINIMIZE ITS RISK AND IMPACT
by Jackie McClain
The College and University Personnel Association
(CUPA), recently renamed the College and University Professional
Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), strives to
provide its membership of primarily human resource professionals
with practical tools. Violence
on campus, always a tragedy, can also seriously jeopardize
an institution's sense of security and increase its legal
liability.
The Association believes that HR professionals play a
vital role in preventing such violence and mitigating
its harmful effects. To this end, in 1998 CUPA produced
a 28-page document suggesting best practices in this area.
It outlines how to:
- Exercise
èreasonable careî in hiring and review processes;
- Recognize
the early warning signs of violent behavior;
- Create
policies that comply with the ADA, workers' compensation
laws, and privacy rights;
- Facilitate
crisis intervention;
- Establish
comprehensive, team-based violence prevention and
management programs for your institution; and
- Restore
order to the campus after a violent incident.
Staff
charged with responsibility for providing a safe working
environment on campus (is that all of us?) may wish to
pick up a copy, if only to get a better sense of the legal
landscape in this area of ongoing concern.
1998.
Paperback, 28 pp.
CUPA members - $7.95, nonmembers - $14.95
Available from CUPA-HR's
website.
BLACKS
AND JEWS: A Documentary Film
produced by Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman and Bari Scott,
distributed by California Newsreel
"Provocative
and absorbing... Blacks and Jews will undermine
stereotypes, inspire discussion, and help repair a wrongly
damaged relationship." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
While
ethnic and intergroup conflicts are widespread, the subject
of Black/Jewish relations has for many has become a touchstone
for debate about whether different ethnic, racial, religious,
or cultural groups can or should work together. The film
Blacks and Jews is a really well-conceived documentary,
made collaboratively by Jewish and Black filmmakers, that
provides a starting point for productive discussion on
these issues.
The
85-minute film re-frames the issues of Jewish/Black coalition
and conflict by presenting one historic and four contemporary
stories from multiple perspectives. The events unfold
on camera, and the stories are told by people who were
directly involved. Archival footage and interviews with
scholars and critics like Gary Rubin, Letty Cottin Pogrebin,
Michael Lerner, Salim Muwakkil, Cornel West and Clayborne
Carson place these stories in context and explain how
attitudes have hardened as a result of competition over
a stagnant economic pie, a shared psychology of victimization
and exploitative media coverage. The stories are linked
by dramatic presentations, including excerpts from the
play "Crossing the Broken Bridge" and a story by author
Patricia Williams about the difficulty and the necessity
of empathy.
The
film is divided into five segments or stories which can
be shown all at once or in segments over several days
or class periods.
- Story
One
- Crown Heights: Diversity & Representation - 15 minutes.
A Caribbean born journalist saves the life of an Hasidic
Jew during the 1991 Crown Height riots, and a Jewish
youth leader brings the youth of both communities
together.
- Story
Two
- Lawndale & the Civil Rights Coalition - 18 minutes.
A Chicago Rabbi takes on real estate speculators and
racism in his own community in the 1960's.
- Story
Three
- Nationalism & Leadership - 14 minutes. One man's
journey through the Nation of Islam to the Million
Man March - Salim Muwakkil critiques Black anti-Semitism.
- Story
Four - Hollywood - 9 minutes. A Jewish
director succeeds in Hollywood...a Black screenwriter
struggles to be heard.
- Story
Five
- High School Students & The Challenge of Empathy
- 26 minutes. Black teens laugh during "Schindler's
List," provoking a media frenzy and political circus.
I
have used the film in my Roots of Social Conflict course,
and have found it to be a useful and flexible teaching
tool. Individuals interested in more specific information
about the film may wish to review the online facilitator's
guide or even the full transcript of the film's dialog
available from the film's
page on the California Newsreel website.
Directors:
Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman
85 minutes, 1997
Free Facilitator Guide Shipped with Purchase
Video Purchase: $195
16mm rental: Inquire
California Newsreel
149 Ninth St. San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415.621.6196 Fax: 415.621.6522
Email: contact@newsreel.org
http://www.newsreel.org
Page
last updated
11/27/2005
A
project of Campus Conflict Resolution
Resources.
Supported by a FIPSE grant from the US Department of Education
and seed money from the Hewlett Foundation-funded CRInfo
project.
Correspondence
to CMHE Report
(Attn: Bill Warters)
Campus Conflict Resolution Resources Project
Department of Communication
585 Manoogian Hall
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48201.
Please
send comments, bug reports, etc. to the Editor.
© 2000-2005 William C. Warters & WSU,
All rights reserved.
