Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article explores the importance of first-person research strategies in enhancing practice and theory within the field of conflict resolution. The core of the article is a case study that describes a first-person experience working with police and community members to establish local community–police forums in post-apartheid South Africa. The case study echoes the processes of reconciliation and healing that took place at the community and national level. Using the Lewinian model of action research (Lewin, 1951) as a structured reflection process, the author analyzes this process of conflict transformation from the perspective of a participant, practitioner and researcher over an eight-year period. This reflection process combines first-, second-, and third-person data to develop and test a grounded theory of identity-based conflict. The application of the Lewin model to conflict resolution illustrates how action research can inform both research and practice by more closely aligning lived experience with theory.

Keywords

action research conflict resolution experiential learning Kurt Lewin South Africa

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cobb, Sara . (2002, April). Talking transformation: Narrative evolution in conflict processes . Paper presented at a meeting at the University Of Arizona Department Of Psychology, Tucson, Arizona.

Kolb, David, A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall .

Krog, Antjie . (1998). Country of my skull: Guilt, sorrow, and the limits of forgiveness in the new South Africa. Parklands, South Africa: Random House .

LeBaron, Michelle . (2002). Bridging troubled waters: Conflict resolution from the heart. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .

Lewin, Kurt . (1951). Field theory in social sciences. New York: Harper & Row .

Lodge, Tom . (2003). Politics in South Africa: From Mandela to Mbeki. Bloomington: Indiana University Press .

Marshall, Judi . (2001). Self-reflective inquiry practices. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice(pp. 433–439). London: Sage Publications .

Reason, Peter ., & Bradbury, Hilary . (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. London: Sage Publications .

Torbert, William. R. (2001). The practice of action inquiry. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice(pp. 250–260). London: Sage Publications .

10.

Tutu, Desmond . (1999). No Future without forgiveness: A personal overview of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation commission. London: Rider Books .

11.

van Zyl, Paul . (1999). Dilemmas of transitional justice: The case of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission . Journal of International Affairs, 52(2), 648–664 .

12.

White, Anastasia. (2001). A reflection on identity-based conflict: Echoes and insights from Israel/Palestine and South Africa. Unpublished qualifying paper, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

13.

White, Anastasia . (2003). Rewriting narratives in the new South Africa: A story of reconciliation. In Cynthia Sampson , Mohammed Abu-Nimer , Claudia Liebler & Diana Whitney (Eds.), Positive approaches to peacebuilding: A resource for innovators(pp. 269–285). Washington, DC: PACT Publications .

14.

White, Anastasia. (Forthcoming). The search for meaning: Exploring the role of conflict narratives in identity-based conflict. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

Lewin’s Action Research Model as a Tool for Theory Building

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References