Alison R. Castel Office: Norlin S423,

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1 Alison R. Castel Office: Norlin S423, EDUCATION PhD George Mason University, School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution 2016 Conflict Analysis and Resolution Dean s Fellow, Center for Narrative and Conflict Resolution Dissertation: The Politics of Legibility: Narrative Dynamics of Transitional Justice in Rural Colombia: Drawing on a narrative approach to conflict resolution, this interdisciplinary project seeks to innovate theories, methods, and policies of transitional justice and peacebuilding and community development through the lens of reparations processes in Colombia. This ethnographic inquiry considers cultural issues such as gender, race and ethnicity and traces the way communities tell stories about themselves in relationship to the state in order to make themselves heard, seen, and otherwise legible, and how those processes are mediated by local organizations. Sara Cobb (Chair), Leslie Dwyer, Susan Hirsch, John Dale Certificate Chulalongkorn University 2009 International Studies in peace and conflict resolution, as Rotary Peace Fellow M.S. Ed. University of Pennsylvania 2005 Intercultural Communication B.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison 1999 Spanish and Sociology FELLOWSHIPS Dean s Fellowship, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Advancing research, scholarship, and programs for the Center for Narrative and Conflict resolution Provost Fellowship, Center for Teaching Excellence: Preparing for Careers in the Academy Rotary Peace Fellowship- Chulalongkorn University- Rotary Center for International Studies 2009 in peace and conflict resolution, Bangkok, Thailand Field studies on Thai-Burma border and Cambodia AWARDS Point of View Writing Award 2016 Provost Dissertation Completion Grant 2015 Faculty Scholarship, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University 2012 Awarded by S-CAR faculty; based on academic achievement and promise of contribution to the field of conflict analysis and resolution Alison Castel 1

2 TEACHING UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO- BOULDER Boulder, CO 2016-Present Core Instructor- Peace and Conflict Studies Program, International Affairs Department Responsible for innovating and teaching the core curriculum of the Peace and Conflict Studies certificate program, creating internship opportunities, and raising the program profile on campus. Current courses include: Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies- As an introduction to conflict analysis and resolution, this course weaves together a story about the development of the field as tied to a set of puzzles that led to the emergence of particular kinds of challenges and, therefore, approaches to conflicts. From this perspective, the course is a kind of genealogy that explores how the field developed with a critical eye toward how current conflicts challenge the field of conflict resolution today. Communication and Conflict Management- As conflicts are personal and relational, this course approaches communication and conflict and resolution as foundational to the study of all kinds of conflictsthose in families, large organizations, international relations, and community settings. The course relies heavily on experiential learning, through role-plays, interviews, and videos and uses a reflective practice framework to foster conscientious thinking about our actions in conflict, whether as parties or interveners. Writing and Rhetoric: The Language of War- This is a writing course based on the culture of war, with a focus on the rhetorical strategies and language used by multiple sides of the issue (civilians, combatants, governments), before, during, and in the aftermath of violence. Our primary concern is to consider how war is represented in various forms, including literature, film, and historical and contemporary records. Senior Seminar in Peace and Conflict Studies- This seminar, intended primarily for students graduating with the PACS Certificate, is taught at the graduate school level. The course is built around a semester - long project that asks students to engage in a systematic mapping and analysis of a complex conflict of their choosing. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY Arlington, Fairfax, VA Undergraduate Teaching- Instructor Interpersonal Conflict Analysis and Resolution Fall 2013/14/15 This course introduces the idea that all conflicts are interpersonal in the sense that conflicts are a function of the relations between (inter) persons. This course is grounded in approaches to communication examines a variety of theories, models, and frameworks for analyzing and resolving interpersonal conflict beginning by exploring the role of conflict in our own individual development, family relations, and social experiences in life. Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Resolution Spring/Fall 2015 As an introduction to conflict analysis and resolution, this course weaves together a story about the development of the field as tied to a set of puzzles that led to the emergence of particular kinds of challenges and, therefore, approaches to conflicts. From this perspective, the course is a kind of genealogy that explores how the field developed with a critical eye toward how current conflicts challenge the field of conflict resolution today. Research Methods Fall 2014 This course is an introduction to contemporary social science research designed to help students understand and analyze the complexity of conflict dynamics and how to engage with these conflicts by examining various research paradigms and interdisciplinary methods. Alison Castel 2

3 Field-Based Courses- Instructor Exploring Local Transitions and Peacebuilding in Colombia Summer 2015, 2016 continuing 2017 This combined undergraduate and graduate-level field-study grew out of dissertation research on peacebuilding in displaced communities on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. In collaboration with a local community based organization and the University of Cartagena s program on social conflict and peacebuilding this course examines the social worlds that emerge in the aftermath of violent conflict in Colombia, paying special attention to issues of structural inequality, memory, narrative, gender, trauma, culture and identity. Together we critically evaluate theories and practices of transitional justice and peacebuilding currently in practice. Community Based Learning: Conflict & Social Justice, West Virginia Service Learning Intensive Spring 2014 This course integrates theory and practice in order to examine the role of social justice in conflict resolution. It is framed by conceptions of race and justice in the United Sates as it relates to the intersection of critical youth studies critical conflict resolution. This foundation is used to create and implement a conflict resolution facilitation at a Job Corps facility in West Virginia after which students reflexively engage in the interrogation of the ethics and the politics of our approaches. Dynamics of Community Conflict: West Virginia Service Learning Intensive Summer 2013 This course engages students in conflict analysis and resolution practices in a community setting as they work with and learn from community leaders involved in local, regional, and national conflicts around mountaintop removal and coal mining in West Virginia. Reflective Practice in International Experiential Learning, Indonesia Summer 2012 Indonesia Social Science and Human Rights Summer Institute This course uses reflective practice as a form of "meaning making, attempting to make sense of phenomena occurring around students engaged in cross-cultural and collaborative fieldwork through an interdependence of theory, experience and practice. RESEARCH AND WRITING PROJECTS Castel, A. & Cobb, S. Pondering Participation as an Ethics of Conflict Resolution Practice: Leaning Toward the Soft Side of Revolution. For March 2017 submission, International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution Framing Experience in International Field-Based Learning (with L. Dwyer), chapter accepted to edited volume entitled Conflict Zone, Comfort Zone: Ethics, Pedagogy, and Effecting Change in Field-Based Courses, Ohio University Press. The Politics of Legibility: Narrative Dynamics of Transitional Justice in Rural Colombia this dissertation research consisted of one-week exploratory research and six months of fieldwork in on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. This ethnographic inquiry uses narrative analysis and considers cultural issues such as gender, race and ethnicity and traces the way communities tell stories about themselves in relationship to the state in order to make themselves heard, and provides a new way of understanding how communities make sense of reconciliation processes and rebuild their communities and trust in local and national institutions in the aftermath of violence. Narrative Politics of Transitional Justice: Tracing Discursive Fault Lines- a collaborative book project that calls for a shift in the frameworks we use to apprehend violence, peace and the mechanisms deployed to reorganize post-conflict societies and polities, focusing attention on the transformative work of narrative. Anticipated completion in Alison Castel 3

4 Conflict Resolution Reader: Understanding our Understanding of Conflict- a collaborative book project to develop a textbook for undergraduates that characterizes the field of conflict resolution as a set of puzzles arising from, and anchored in current events. It is a creative effort to remap the field, creating a genealogy that describes the emergence of theories, practices, and research in context in a way that enables students to critically apply knowledge through readings and exercises. Anticipated completion in Developing a Theory of Narrative Compression and Conflict 2011-Present In order to understand conflict dynamics between master and counternarratives, we need to better understand the dynamic processes by which the master narrative functions to refute, deny, and incorporate aspects of counternarratives that could otherwise effectively challenge the master narrative. This research is currently anticipated to lead to two articles grounded in case studies. Reflective Practice in International Experiential Learning Summer 2012 Indonesia Social Science and Human Rights Summer Institute- Using ethnographic methodologies the research sought to understand how reflective pedagogical methods are translated and enacted in a postconflict and cross-cultural setting. This research was aimed at improving the teaching methods used in this and future related courses. The Politics of Post-Conflict Reconciliation: The Case of 1965 Park, Bali, Indonesia Summer 2011/12 Collaborative ethnographic research that investigated the tensions in a community space created by local youth as a site of grassroots resistance in order challenge the dominant narrative that persists in Indonesia after the genocide of alleged communists in This research resulted in a conference paper. PREVIOUS POSITIONS GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY Fairfax, VA Center for Narrative and Conflict Resolution Deans Fellow Managed the strategic development of the center including: implementation of the visiting scholars program, community dialogues, continuing education courses, strategic planning, executive boardbuilding, and grant writing Designed and hosted narrative research roundtables, advanced seminars on narrative theory, and an interdisciplinary faculty reading group GROUP W Fairfax, VA Summer 2013 Researched and analyzed regional case study on Syria for inter-agency work including: building media Wiki content focusing on key actors and local and regional contexts according to the Conflict Assessment Framework and Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework Conceptualized narrative framework for analysis HAVERFORD COLLEGE Haverford, PA Center for Peace and Global Citizenship International Program Coordinator Managed all aspects of international programs including program and partnership development, management, and implementation, resulting in the creation of long-term partnerships and programs in China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Nicaragua and leading to the first year-long post-graduate fellowship in Mexico Designed, coordinated and collaboratively led field studies related to curriculum including: Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Rwanda (in Rwanda) Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine (in Israel/Palestine) Post-War Advocacy in Nicaragua (in Nicaragua) Migration Field Study in Mexico (in Mexico) Integrating Social Science Research and Human Rights in Indonesia (in Indonesia) Alison Castel 4

5 The Role of Student Activism in Global Social Change Movements World Social Forum, in Venezuela and Kenya (in Venezuela and Kenya) Supported the development of and assisted in teaching the integration course, Human Rights, Development, and International Activism for students returning from international and U.S. fieldbased experiences Collaborated across disciplines with faculty, students, staff and external constituents in the creation and implementation of institutional partnerships and individual/group projects for the summer/semester internship program, service-learning program, research program, campus events, conferences and workshops, and field studies in U.S. and abroad Manage all aspects of the international summer internship program including a $375,000 budget, health and safety protocol, pre-departure orientation, re-entry retreat, and a required academic course Travel to countries in Central and South America, East Africa, South Asia, and Middle East on delegations, study trips, to scout potential partners and to visit students and faculty at their project sites for logistical support and to facilitate dialogue and reflection Coordinated all aspects of the grant selection process for center programs including managing the receipt and distribution of project proposals, creating selection criteria, evaluating proposals and administering funds Collaborated in the development of the Rufus Jones Leadership Institute and co-facilitated introductory leadership course and mediation trainings CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS June Narrative Politics of Transitional Justice: Tracing Discursive Fault Lines. AT THE DELTA: Belonging, Place and Visions of Law and Social Change, Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. (Author and Co-presenter) December Prophecy and the Making of Agents: The Politics of Victimhood and Reparations. The Politics of Memory: Victimization, Violence and Contested Narratives about the Past, Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability, Columbia University, New York. (Author/presenter) November Prophecy and the Making of Agents: The Politics of Victimhood and Reparations. The Politics of Victimhood and Conflict Resolution. Center for Narrative and Conflict Resolution, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Arlington, Virginia (Author/presenter) April "Critical Approaches to Gender, Vulnerability and Identity." Critical Intersections: Conflict, Gender, and Power. Center for the Study of Gender and Conflict at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Arlington, Virginia (Discussant) February Teaching at the Tension Points: The Ethical Challenges of International Experiential Learning. Conflict Zone, Comfort Zone: Pedagogy, Methodology, and Best Practices in Field Based Courses. School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Arlington, Virginia (Co-author/presenter) February Pondering Participation as an Ethics of Conflict Resolution Practice: Leaning Toward the Soft Side of Revolution Point of View Conference Spring 2014: Ethics, Conflict and Resolution, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Arlington, Virginia (Co-author/presenter) April Dis/Empowerment?: A Critical, Transdisciplinary Roundtable on Theories and Uses of Women s Empowerment. Southeastern Women s Studies Association Annual Meeting, Greensboro, North Carolina (Panelist) June Stigma, Identity, and Agency: A Narrative Approach to Female Post-Incarceration Reintegration. Law and Society Association International Meetings, Honolulu. (Author/presenter) Alison Castel 5

6 November Teaching at the Tension Points: Cross-Cultural, Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Pedagogy in Indonesia. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco. (Co-author, solo presenter) December A Narrative Approach to Transitional Justice: 1965 Indonesia. Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability, Columbia University, New York. (Co-author/presenter) WORKSHOPS/TRAININGS/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Facilitator: Considering the Peace Agreement in Colombia, International Affairs Student Group, 2016 University of Colorado- Boulder Keynote Speaker: Perspectives on Peacebuilding: From Colombia to Your Backyard, Rotary 2015 District 7390 Conference, Lancaster, PA Panelist: Conducting Research in Challenging Environments: The Cases of Colombia, Cambodia, 2014 and Liberia, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Co-Presenter: Narrative Practices for Conflict Resolution, Externalization, and Circular 2014 Questioning, Association for Conflict Resolution Guest Lecturer: Narrative Analysis and Conflict Resolution: Examining Master/Counter Narrative 2014 Dynamics, Doctoral/Masters Level Course, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Guest Lecturer: Narrative Praxis and Conflict Resolution: Power and Discourse in Narrative 2014 Mediation, Doctoral/Masters Level Course, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Guest Lecturer: Post-Conflict Contexts: Qualitative Research in Transitional Justice 2013 Doctoral/Masters Level Course, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Guest Lecturer: Narrative Analysis and Conflict Resolution: A Theory of Narrative Compression 2013 Doctoral/Masters Level Course, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Co-Trainer: Difficult Conversations and Negotiation 2013 Leadership Arlington, Arlington, VA Keynote Speaker: Why People s Stories Matter: An Introduction to Narrative and Conflict 2013 Model UN, Catholic University, Washington, DC Trainer: Group Processes and Conflict Resolution 2012 Undergraduate leadership training, Haverford College Trainer/Presenter: Restorative Justice and Conflict Resolution 2012 Martin Luther King Leadership Conference Workshop, Pendle Hill, PA Facilitator: The Ethics and Politics of Cross-Cultural Collaboration in Research and Practice 2011 Summer internship orientation, Haverford College Trainer: Strategies in Mediation 2010/11 Leadership training, Haverford College Speaker: Perspectives on Peace and Conflict 2010 Ethnic Studies Institute Seminar, West Chester University of Pennsylvania Alison Castel 6

7 Keynote Speaker: Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Peacebuilding: Reflections from the Field 2009 Foundation Seminar, Rotary International SPECIALIZED TRAINING Spanish proficiency Mediation Victim-offender conferencing Narrative mediation Problem solving workshops SafeZone ally World Cafe SERVICE TO GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY Center for Narrative and Conflict Resolution, Executive Board Member 2013-Present Journal Reviewer, Narrative and Conflict: Explorations in Theory and Practice 2013-Present Undergraduate Experiential Learning Program, Curriculum Development Working Group for Gender and Conflict, Founding Member Working Group for Environment and Conflict, Founding Member 2011 PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS American Anthropological Association Association for Conflict Resolution Law and Society Association Envision Peace Museum, Board Member Secretary An idea museum project under development in Philadelphia, PA dedicated to the exploration and advancement of peace and social justice Alison Castel 7

8 REFERENCES 1. Dr. Sara Cobb Drucie French Cumbie Professor, Director, Center for Narrative and Conflict Resolution School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution George Mason University Dr. Leslie Dwyer Professor of Conflict Analysis and Anthropology Director, Center for the Study of Gender and Conflict School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution George Mason University Dr. Susan Hirsch Professor of Conflict Analysis and Anthropology School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution George Mason University Alison Castel 8

ELIZABETH L. HAMEL, MSW BILINGUAL ENGLISH/SPANISH

ELIZABETH L. HAMEL, MSW BILINGUAL ENGLISH/SPANISH liz.hamel@du.edu elizhamel@gmail.com EDUCATION Master of Social Work University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), Denver, CO Leadership