Author:
Weinberg-Kurnik Galia,Nadan Yochay,Ben Ari Adital
Abstract
Purpose
– This paper aims to present findings from a research project that examined the contribution of a third partner in an encounter among three groups: Palestinian/Arab–Israelis, Jewish–Israelis and Germans. In recent decades, planned intergroup encounters have played an important role in conflict management, reconciliation and peace-building. Nearly all models use a dyadic structure, based on an encounter between two rival groups mediated by a third party.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study was based on a year-long academic collaboration and two encounters between social work students from Israel and Germany (15 each). The central issues addressed were personal and collective identity; personal, familial and collective memory; and multicultural social work practice that were present in the encounter with the “other”. Participants were heterogeneous in terms of gender, ethnic background and religion, inviting exploration of personal and professional meanings. Using 15 in-depth interviews with Israeli participants, we identified and analyzed the personal and interpersonal processes occurring during these encounters.
Findings
– Jewish and Arab participants positioned themselves vis-à-vis the German group in two main configurations (singular identities and multiple multifaceted identities), which alternated according to the contexts to which the larger group was exposed, and in congruence with the developmental stage of group work.
Originality/value
– The findings suggest that a “third” partner can significantly contribute to an intergroup encounter by reflecting on the relationship created between rival parties to a dyad, thereby helping them deconstruct their binary “us-versus-them” relationship.
Subject
Management of Technology and Innovation,Strategy and Management,Communication
Reference49 articles.
1. Allport, G.W.
(1954),
The Nature of Prejudice
, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
2. Bar-On, D.
(1993), “First encounter between children of survivors and children of perpetrators of the Holocaust”,
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 6-14.
3. Bar-On, D.
and
Kassem, F.
(2004), “Storytelling as a way to work through intractable conflicts: the German-Jewish experience and its relevance to the Palestinian-Israeli context”,
Journal of Social Issues
, Vol. 60 No. 2, pp. 289-306.
4. Bar-On, D.
,
Ostrovsky, T.
and
Fromer, D.
(1998), “Who am I in relation to my past, in relation to the other? German and Israeli students confront the Holocaust and each other”, in
Danieli,
and
Y.
(Ed.),
International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma
, Plenum Press, New York, NY, pp. 97-116.
5. Bar-Tal, D.
(2002), “The elusive nature of peace education”, in
Salomon,
,
G.
,
Nevo,
and
B.
(Eds),
Peace Education: The Concept, Principles and Practices Around the World
, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 27-36.
Cited by
5 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献