ACResolution Magazine

Summer 2008

Social Justice and Conflict Intervention

Special Issue: Online Addendum

The following articles are part of the special online complement to the Summer 2008 issue of ACResolution, Volume 7, Issue 4.

Restorative Conflict Transformation: What Restorative Justice Can Offer Mediation - View Article

By Erica Bonanno

What restorative justice can offer mediation is an understanding of the past that contextualizes the interpersonal conflict within the community and identifies the injustices of the past that have influenced the present conflict. Perceiving past and present harms as injustices may increase the likelihood of one or both parties taking accountability for their actions. A greater understanding of the contextual and historical causes of the individual conflict and fostering a sense of accountability in parties may increase the mediation process’ capacity to meet the needs of the parties, transform the individual conflict, and move forward in a way that promotes social justice for the larger community.

Erica Bonanno is a certified mediator in Virginia and a second year Master’s student in Georgetown University’s Conflict Resolution program, with research focuses in transitional justice, reconciliation, and mediation. This summer, she is working for Search for Common Ground in Freetown, Sierra Leone, conducting field research and program evaluation. Erica graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. in Communication Studies: Conflict Analysis and Intervention.

Hidden Challenges: Social Diversity in Conflict - View Article

By Aron DiBacco

Social diversity brings up difficult conflict related to identity and emotions rather than about ideas, and concerning respect, safety and personal agency. Members of subordinate and dominant groups are confronted with different challenges, which raise issues of survival for the former and privilege for the latter. These issues are at the root of some conflicts and a complicating factor in others.

Aron DiBacco has served as a court mediator in New Mexico and Massachusetts, brought a community mediation program to Lancaster, MA, and worked on Re-Centering, an anthology of works by and about conflict resolution practitioners and thinkers of color organized by PRASI. She currently studies and practices inter-group conflict resolution in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Introducing the D² Culture Model in Promoting Social Justice Through Reflective Conflict Resolution Practice: A Personal Perspective - View Article

By Horatio A. “Ray” Lanier

Many of the ideas about culture to which we have been broadly exposed are inadequate, seriously minimizing important complexities. I introduce the D² Culture model as an aid to understanding the complexity of culture and as a tool for self-reflective development toward true cultural competency in the social justice work we do.

Horatio A. “Ray” Lanier, received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Columbia College. The first African-American elected to lead the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), he currently serves as Immediate Past President of ACR and is a member of the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee. He is Senior EEO and Dispute Resolution Officer in the Workforce Services Department of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, where he provides professional services to more than 10,000 employees.

Restorative Justice: A Path of Decolonization - View Article

By Aaron Lyons

To fully understand restorative justice, we must begin to internalize the values that underlie the concept. Practices of justice offer both a snapshot of dominant social values, and a potent arena for discussion about such values. In post-colonial settings such as our own, this discussion may begin with a reckoning within the restorative justice field about the aboriginal/European relationships that form much of its foundation. As the field begins to address the power dynamics that envelop its practice, it can begin to be a force for social transformation beyond the criminal justice system, and also reshape the assumptions and values that guide our lives.

Aaron Lyons is a restorative justice practitioner, trainer and youth worker who has worked and studied in Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the Middle East. He holds an M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, a B.A. in Communication and a Certificate in Community Economic Development from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Two Faces of Migration: The Intersection of Social Justice and Conflict Resolution in Ecuador - View Article

By Kristen McCaskey

An intriguing trend has captivated the Mena Dos neighborhood of Quito, Ecuador: while emigration to Spain and North America is on the rise, the number of refugees fleeing civil war in neighboring Colombia and settling in Quito is increasing. This combination has left some neighborhoods in a precarious situation, and stereotypes and structural violence make living a peaceful life a challenge for many migrants. While working with the Center for Mediation Peace and Resolution of Conflict in Quito, I developed conflict resolution trainings for this marginalized population that incorporate a social justice approach.

Kristen McCaskey is a Master’s candidate at the School for International Training Graduate Institute and worked at the Center for Mediation, Peace and Resolution of Conflict - Ecuador as a project assistant in conjunction with her studies.

Community Justice: Not To You or For You, But With You - View Article

By Christa Pierpont

The magic of restorative justice practices comes from a principled belief that more can be accomplished when people work together to address a problem than if a solution is meted out in a paternalistic manner. However, in the process of examining social injustices in our community, we realized that restorative justice work needs to address matters of racial reconciliation. We turned to several sources for wisdom and found it. I have come to the opinion that while racial reconciliation work is improved by individual efforts, it is going to take large agency leadership, acting from a “with you” commitment, not a “to you or for you” process of decision making, before we can overtake generations of economic repression which feeds the cycle of poverty.

Christa Pierpont is the Director of the Restorative Community Foundation in Charlottesville, VA. She is a public school educator with more than 25 years of experience and certifications in learning disabilities, behavior disorders, and restorative practices. Additionally, she serves on the Board of the Restorative Justice Association of Virginia (RJAV) and Virginia C.U.R.E.

Bringing a Psychiatric or Cognitive Disability to the Table – Can Disparate Needs Be Met? - View Article

By Tracy A. Quadro

The mediation process can be a satisfying method of conflict resolution for most conflicts – even, and perhaps especially, when one party has a diagnosis of mental illness or cognitive impairment. Even an agency grievance process may be made more user-friendly by adding a mediation option. However, mediators must be aware of best practices when working with these conflicts and take care to establish an atmosphere of multi-partiality in which neither party feels the other is being given special deference, either by virtue of having a disability or lacking one.

Tracy A. Quadro, Esq. is a mediator, facilitator, attorney and Guardian ad Litem in Maine. She is a member of Maine’s Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Service and the United States Postal Service REDRESS Program roster, as well as having extensive training in Victim-Offender Conferencing. She also trains groups and organizations in conflict resolution and communication skills, team-building and strategic planning.