School of Communication

CMNS 347-4

 

Bob Anderson	Summer Semester 2003
Downtown: c/o(604)291-5212	Harbour Centre Day
Burnaby: RCB6148, 604-291-4265
email: randerso@sfu.ca

COMMUNICATION IN CONFLICT AND INTERVENTION

Prerequisites:

60 credit hours, including CMNS 110 and 130. Recommended: CMNS 247 and 362.

Course Description:

The role of communication, and in particular the mass media, in various types of conflict and the uses of communication-based strategies in the intervention, arbitration and mediation of those conflicts.

This course is an introduction to the role of communication in various types of conflict, and the uses and effects of different forms of communication in interventions in those conflicts. It combines communication studies with conflict-analysis and conflict theory, and with studies of the practice and consequence of intervention, such as peace studies. Students who complete this course are ready to take more advanced courses in negotiation and dialogue (e.g., Cmns 447), international communication, political-economy, technology-transfer, risk and science, etc. Students who have successfully completed Cmns 362 [or its equivalent] may undertake a field research project on conflict and intervention in this course. Course projects done by teams of two or three people are encouraged. Students in this course define their major project in consultation with the Instructor, using books in the Library Reserve collection.

Communication is understood broadly to include the broader, more general and impersonal forms mediated by technologies and mass media, to smaller scale organizational forms, to the most personal/private even secret/intimate forms of communication. Emphasis is on comparative, cross-cultural and multi-national/international analysis. The material discussed refers to television, cinema, radio, newspaper, Internet, etc. treatments of both conflict and their uses in various forms of intervention.

In order to focus this wide range of issues the course makes use of selected case studies for common discussion while enabling students to develop a project in a field of their choosing. The mid-term emphasizes a grasp of the conceptual literature and its link to specific case studies. A guest is invited to present their work-in-progress on the study of communication in conflict or intervention.

The breadth of this course is essential for two reasons: the first is that students of communication expect to encounter a broad range of conflict and intervention in their futures, and must therefore be capable of analyzing different cases and understanding concepts which enable them to address that broad range comparatively and competently. Having completed Cmns 347 students are prepared for courses in many other fields, including Cmns 447, Negotiation and Dialogue as Communication.


Evaluation of Performance:

Mid-term Exam 40%
Final Presentation and Project 50%
Participation 10%

Lecture Topics will include:

“Scales” and “types” of conflict: climate, context-theory, interests, and face.
The conflict cycle: asking ten questions about peace, conflict and communication.
‘The war on terrorism’ [the unknown] and ‘fighting with your friends’ [the known]
Theories & models of conflict & intervention [ psychology, anthropology, law, etc.].
Communication & conflict case study: methods for the study of conflicts.
The impulse to intervene, and its consequences: ‘interveners in trouble’, and the balance
of power in conflict.
Mass communication and internet applications for conflict-intervention; game theory;
what sustains democratic communication in conflict?
The future of dialogue and negotiation in a conflictual world.
How do conflict patterns perpetuate themselves and reproduce?

Selected Readings:

(see also bibliography of books on Reserve in Library)
This course will make regular reference to stories in The Vancouver Sun, and The Globe & Mail, particularly on the day of the class, or the day before the class. Students should be reading and prepared to discuss those newspapers on those days.

Required Text:

Joseph Folger, Marshall Poole, Randall Stutman, Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. New York: Longmans, 2001, 4th edition.

 

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will also follow Policy T10.02 with respect to intellectual Honesty, and Academic Discipline (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).