Race, Worldviews, and Conflict Mediation: Black and White Styles of Conflict Revisited

Abstract

The article offers a wide‐ranging, critical reflection on intercultural mediation theory and practice. Rather than following the standard format of literature review and discussion, the author uses his experiences as a mediator and researcher to frame the culture question and analyze intercultural practice models. We begin with the White American author's realization that culture is important, following a mediation session in which the other participants were Black. Reading Kochman's Black and White Styles in Conflict reinforced that realization, and, combined with other works, suggested a relatively straightforward relationship between culture and mediation managed through cultural competency. However, original field research on third‐party peacemaking in West Africa complicated the issue by indicating that worldviews and associated conflict styles are highly diverse, varying both within and across social groups. The second half of the paper examines the nature of cultural perspectives or worldviews and considers proposed methods for intercultural mediation. By analyzing prominent responses to the issue of sociocultural variation, the paper explores the challenge of creating a broadly applicable mediation methodology that addresses the complexity of worldviews.