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Cultural Issues in Community Mediation

NCJ Number
108042
Journal
Dispute Resolution Forum Dated: (September 1987) Pages: 6-9
Author(s)
S B Goldstein
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
As use of community mediation becomes more widespread and the frequency of intercultural mediation (involving a mediator and/or disputants with differing cultural identifications) increases in frequency, so does the need to examine the cross-cultural applicability of the mediation process.
Abstract
In practice, a number of differing approaches to intercultural mediation have been taken. These include ignoring culture, matching mediators and disputants by culture, and recruiting and training mediators from a variety of cultures to be aware of cultural differences in mediation processes. These cultural differences may include attitudes toward conflict, confrontation, and self-disclosure, and differences in verbal behavior, communication, and reasoning and logic processes. Using these dimensions, mediators can examine their own attributions and investigate intercultural sources of ambiguity. Cross-cultural conflict is illustrated in examples from Northern Ireland and in a dispute between Vietnamese and white shrimpers on the Texas Gulf Coast. 3 references.

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