Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

Josef Korbel School of International Studies, Conflict Resolution Institute

First Advisor

Tamra Pearson d’Estrée

Keywords

Conflict de-escalation, Conflict dynamics, Conflict resolution, Food-sharing, Meal-sharing

Abstract

Conflict resolution efforts seek to de-escalate conflict dynamics to bring conciliation and/or reconciliation to a conflict. One strategy to de-escalate a conflict is to use food during conflict resolution efforts. So, what specifically does consuming food and beverage do to break down conflict escalation cycles? Food-sharing brings several aspects to conflict that the literature suggests address how and why conflict escalates. This paper focuses on three prevalent aspects: how food-sharing signals vulnerability and trust building, perceived commonality, and a change in the conflict from competition to cooperation by providing new norms, changing the tone, and shifting frames. Because of the centrality of food in Georgian culture, I interviewed Georgian mediators to study their perspectives and experiences with the role of food in both traditional and contemporary Georgian conflict resolution efforts. The findings concur that food is used to shift the tone and frames of the conflict.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Raisa Wells

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

90 pgs

Discipline

International relations

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