Strategies for Opening Master Conflict Narratives, Pulsating Practices: Constructionism in Action, Taos Institute (Webinar), 5 November 2025, 1-2:30 EST.
With Sara Cobb (Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, USA)
Persistent conflicts, such as wars, the rise of fascism, political and social conflicts over colonialism, marginalization, climate change, race, etc., depend on “master narratives” that keep the parties prisoner to their own logics, their descriptions of histories, and their vision of possible futures. We see master narratives at work, constructing the world, from the local to the global level, in personal conflicts where families fracture over their ideological differences, in communities divided by race, in professional settings where “merit” seems to challenge “diversity” and vice versa, in political settings where “science” is in opposition to “belief,” and of course, in violent conflicts. Indeed, the more persistent the conflict, the more power master narratives have, to maintain the conflict by sealing themselves off from re-interpretation or evolution. From this perspective, conflict transformation or even conflict evolution depends on opening master narratives to new logics/descriptions.
This webinar offers a strategy for evolving master narratives via the development of “proximate narratives.” Drawing on case examples, we will define ”proximate narratives” and explore how they can function to open new pathways for conflict transformation. Finally, we will practice the development of proximate narratives in our own master narratives and explore our experience of this process, sharing insights, for our collective learning.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 