The U.S. military’s “battle for the narrative” will be the topic of a presentation by an expert in conflict resolution during the spring awards dinner for Cal State San Bernardino’s chapter of Phi Beta Delta on Thursday, May 19.
Sara Cobb, the Drucie French Cumbie Chair at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, will present “Narrative Advocacy: Supporting the U.S. Military’s Move from a ‘Messaging Frame’ to a ‘Narrative Frame’ in the War on Terror.” Her talk takes place during the Phi Beta Delta Spring Dinner, Lecture and Award Ceremony at 6 p.m. in the university’s College of Education Atrium.
Cost of the dinner, which is open to all, is $25. CSUSB students, however, may attend for free but they must RSVP by Friday, May 13, to Eduardo Garcia Lima at EgarciaL@csusb.edu.
“In their document, ‘The Decade of War,’ the U.S. military acknowledges that they lost the ‘battle of the narrative’ in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Cobb said in a summary of her presentation. “However, even as they recognize the power of narrative, they continue to treat it as a tool they can use to change minds and hearts.
“I will discuss, in this presentation, the challenges of helping the U.S. military break the spell of the current model of communication to establish a narrative model of communication where engagement with others, through respectful interaction, provides the means not only for learning, but for evolving the narrative landscape where, otherwise, extremist narratives flourish,” Cobb said. “Narrative engagement will be framed as a form of advocacy for those whose voices are marginalized, silenced, or ignored.”
Cobb was, from 2001-2009, the dean/director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, which is now the School for Conflict Analysis. She teaches and conducts research on the relationship between narrative and conflict. She is also the director of the Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution at the school.
She is co-editor, with John Winslade, a CSUSB professor of education, of the journal Narrative and Conflict: Explorations in Theory and Practice.
Formerly, Cobb was the director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. She has also consulted to and/or conducted training for a host of public and private organizations, as well as a number of universities in Europe and Latin America.
Cobb is the author of “Speaking of Violence: The Politics and Poetics of Narrative in Conflict Resolution,” which lays out the theoretical basis for a narrative lens on both conflict analysis and conflict resolution as a struggle over meaning, anchored in the stories we tell about victimization. Some of this research is based on case studies from her research in Guatemala, Rwanda and the Netherlands. The blend of academic research, program development, and practice enables Cobb to bridge the gap between scholarship and practice, creating practical understanding and generating effective interventions in protracted conflicts.
Those paying for the dinner may drop off their check at the College of Education room CE-356 or at the event. RSVPs must be sent to Eduardo Garcia Lima at EgarciaL@csusb.edu. Donations to the Phi Beta Delta scholarship fund are also welcome; contact Garcia Lima for more information.