A transformational approach to conflict argues that conflicts must be viewed as embedded within broader relational patterns and social and discursive structures. Central to this book is the idea that the origins of transformation can be momentary, situational, and small-scale or large-scale and systemic. The momentary involves shifts and meaningful changes in communication and related patterns that are created in communication between people. Momentary transformative changes can radiate out into more systemic levels, and systemic transformative changes can radiate inward to more personal levels. This book engages this transformative framework by bringing together current scholarship that epitomizes and highlights the contribution of communication scholarship and communication-centered approaches to conflict transformation in personal, family, and working relationships and organizational contexts. The resulting volume presents an engaging mix of scholarly chapters, think pieces, and personal experiences from the field of practice and everyday life. The book embraces a wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, including narrative, critical, intersectional, rhetorical, and quantitative. It makes a valuable additive contribution to the ongoing dialogue across and between disciplines on how to transform conflicts creatively, sustainably, and ethically.

Peter M. Kellett is associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.Thomas G. Matyók is associate professor and head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Chapter One Contradictions and Dialectics as Keys to Conflict TransformationChapter Two Compassion and Mindfulness in Conflict TransformationChapter Three Transforming Indian Dowry Conflict: A Sheros NarrativeChapter Four Transformation of Persecution in Holocaust Survivor TestimoniesChapter Five Communication and Conflict: An Intersectional LensChapter Six My Work Ethic--My Everything: A Personal Narrative of Conflict Transformation in Service Industry WorkChapter Seven A Bona Fide Perspective of Restorative Justice: Implications forResearchers and PractitionersChapter Eight Transforming Marital Conflict through Restorative JusticeChapter Nine Disputant Storytelling and Conflict Transformation in MediationChapter Ten Formulation Sequences in Mediation: One Locus of ConflictTransformationChapter Eleven Segmented Silence in Mediation: Mitigating the Effects of CognitiveOverloadChapter Twelve Family Communication Environment and Communication Behavior inConflicts: Reports from Parents and their Young-Adult ChildrenChapter Thirteen Emotional Intelligence and Conflict in Romantic Relationships amongCollege StudentsChapter Fourteen Promoting Ontological Insecurity to Transform the Governance of ScienceChapter Fifteen Emergent Paradigms of Organizational Justice:Legalistic, Restorative, and Retributive Justice in the WorkplaceChapter SixteenSocializing Ideas: Exploring the Transformational Impact of Leadership and Conflict PracticesChapter SeventeenGratitude Communication as Workplace Conflict Management:Advancing a Strategy and Tactic for Positive Narrative ExpansionChapter Eighteen Art as an Aid to Solidify Students Understanding of How Narrative Theory Helps Uncover Relational Conflict DynamicsChapter Nineteen Conflict Games: A Framework and Case Study of Sport for Development and PeaceChapter Twenty Transforming Conflict in the Classroom: Best Practices for Facilitating Difficult Dialogues and Creating an Inclusive Communication Climate