Engaging Conflict History: Toward an Integrated Method of Conflict Resolution Dialogue and Capacity Building

This article presents a method of applied practice that engages contested historical meanings of intercommunal and international conflict. The concept of conflict history is introduced to describe a worldview of a conflict-affected community that seeks a coherent explanation of the origin, evolution, and significance of the conflict it faces. Four interconnected perspectives on conflict history-orthodox, different, mediative, and alternative- are explored to bridge empirical inquiry into the divided past with possibilities of future coexistence. The study builds on psychoanalysis and memory research, as well as on the author's experience in conflict resolution dialogues across the Taiwan Strait.