Event Description:
The Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay and the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York invite everyone to the NYC Monthly Roundtable Breakfast
This presentation joins theory and practice in an attempt to explain a relational perspective on conflicts, especially in democratic environments. To show the advantages of stressing the relational underpinnings of conflict, Tzofnat Peleg-Baker explores the implications of the Western, individualistic, and hierarchical social infrastructure we live in on how we see the self, the role of the other, and the quality of our relationships. Drawing from two seemingly contradicting lenses, she proposes an alternative to an individualistic understanding of conflict. One lens is a social constructionist theoretical orientation, and the other uses research on social psychological biases and defensive tendencies that become barriers to learning from conflicts. Together they offer a broader appreciation of the relational complexity, fluidity, and dynamics underlying conflict. Through these lenses, we are invited not only to look at immediate solutions but also to examine and transform positions of power and relational patterns.
TZOFNAT PELEG-BAKER has taught a diverse range of individuals, including government officials, diplomats, religious leaders, executives, and students in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the USA. She was part of a team that initiated, created, and implemented pioneering educational environments based on democratic and participative values. As a Board member and a facilitator in non-profit organizations, she designed and led collaborative leadership programs, and facilitated inter-group dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, and secular and religious groups. At the Conflict Resolution and Mediation Center at the Israeli Ministry of Justice, Tzofnat served as the Head of the Strategic Department. Tzofnat earned an M.A in Communications from Indiana University, a M.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University, where she completed doctoral studies in psychology with focus on conflict resolution and mediation. She is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on conflict transformation, and teaching MBA students in negotiation and conflict resolution. Tzofnat is also a leading partner, representing Women Wage Peace-an Israeli grassroots movement, in the NY Tri-State area.
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