cfp.english.upenn.edu

3rd Global Conference
Communication and Conflict

Thursday 5th September – Saturday 7th September 2013
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Presentations
Our ability to communicate successfully affects so many aspects of our lives. Difficulties, indeed failures, or breakdowns in communication can play a major role in hostility, conflict and war. Communication problems can also lead to personal frustration and desired outcomes not being realised.

The nature of our communications can raise larger contextual issues about human learning, exchange of knowledge and the nature of humanity. How can we communicate where those involved have quite different languages, specialisations and views of the world? How can we avoid conflict when we strongly disagree based on the great differences in how we perceive things? How can we appreciate and consider highly divergent views from our own? How can we still communicate effectively when the conceptual gap is so large? How can we make good decisions and complete tasks when communication is difficult?

Wars may be started and sustained by communication difficulties. When we communicate we are not just stating facts, but also emotions and personal positions that may underlie them. In the cut and thrust of everyday life, being able to recognise, track, and respond to the varied levels in communication can be challenging. It may require us to appreciate knowledge and realities vastly different than our own; bridging communication gaps may place us well outside our comfort zone.

This new inter- and multi-disciplinary conference project seeks to explore these and other topics and create dialogue about communicationand conflict. We seek submissions from a range of disciplines including communication studies, journalism, public affair’s, public relations, philosophy, psychology, literature, management, business studies, information technology, science, the visual and creative arts, music, politics and also actively encourage practitioners and non-academics with an interest in the topic to participate.

We welcome traditional papers, preformed panels of papers, workshop proposals and other forms of performance recognising that different disciplines express themselves in different mediums. Submissions are sought on any aspect of Communications including the following:

1. Non-violent, or Compassionate, Communication (NVC)
- Honest self- expression
- Empathy
- Spiritual Connections
- Active Listening

2. Communication and Conflict
- Workplace
- Domestic
- International Relations
- Cultural
- Spiritual
- War
- Terrorism

3 . Communication Breakdowns and Breakthroughs
- Breakdowns (e.g. language and gender differences, misinterpretations,mental illness, failure to notice, to listen, effects of complexity, & disagreements etc.)
- Breakthroughs (Creative responses such in music, drama, literature, art, humour, etc.)

4 . Dehumanising Communication
- Reification
- Alienation
- Portraying others, strangers, the enemy
- Effects of technology (electronic communication)

5. Dialogue
- Friendship
- Philosophy
- Dialogical Relationships
- Counselling
- Teaching
- Respect and recognition

6. Communication in Health and Illness
- Stories and symptoms
- Communicating meaning
- Role of communication in treatment
- Communicating identity and experience
- Communicating care

7. Communication and Decision Making
- Role of communication in making decisions, (group decisions)
- Conflicting opinions and views
- Group think

The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. Papers will also be considered on any related theme.

What to Send:
300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 22nd March 2013. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 21st June 2013. 300 word abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: CC3 Abstract Submission

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:

Paul James: pj@inter-disciplinary.net
Rob Fisher: cc3@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the Probing the Boundaries programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).

For further details of the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/hostility-and-v...

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.