What in the World? Making Sense of Worldviews and Worldbuilding in Conflict Transformation
Institutional Affiliation
George Mason University (Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution)
Start Date
17-1-2025 11:30 AM
End Date
17-1-2025 1:00 PM
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Format
On-campus
Proposal Description
In many ways, conflict transformation practice centers on two questions: What kind of world does the future hold, and what can we do to make sure it is better than the world we have now? With regard to understanding conflict, grappling with the concept of the “world”—what it is, how it changes, and the human relationship with it—can be useful. Conflict is fueled in part by clashes in worldviews—and by conflict parties’ inability to recognize their worldviews as subjective, contextual, and socially constructed. For worldviews to change, people must come to understand the role they play in shaping the extant world. I argue that our role in changing the world is rooted in the interplay between imagination and action. Peace is a function of what kinds of worlds we can imagine as possible and of what kinds of actions we can take to bring those possible worlds into being.
In this paper, I argue that the literary technique of worldbuilding can extend this discussion by helping us to better understand the relationship between imagination and action. Fiction is the act of the imagination exemplified. As such, what is it that fiction writers, particularly speculative fiction writers, can teach us about how to imagine worlds unlike our own? To answer this question, I conduct a thematic analysis of literary craft guides to worldbuilding in fiction. I pay particular attention to how these guides treat the subject of conflict. What role does conflict play in these authors’ storyworlds, and what techniques do they use to “resolve” it for their characters? Through this analysis, I build out recommendations for how conflict transformation practitioners and educators might adapt these techniques to help answer the following question: What (in the world) does peace look like, and how can we bring it about?
Keywords: Conflict Transformation, Worldbuilding, Worldviews, Imagination, Literature, Fiction, Narrative
What in the World? Making Sense of Worldviews and Worldbuilding in Conflict Transformation
In many ways, conflict transformation practice centers on two questions: What kind of world does the future hold, and what can we do to make sure it is better than the world we have now? With regard to understanding conflict, grappling with the concept of the “world”—what it is, how it changes, and the human relationship with it—can be useful. Conflict is fueled in part by clashes in worldviews—and by conflict parties’ inability to recognize their worldviews as subjective, contextual, and socially constructed. For worldviews to change, people must come to understand the role they play in shaping the extant world. I argue that our role in changing the world is rooted in the interplay between imagination and action. Peace is a function of what kinds of worlds we can imagine as possible and of what kinds of actions we can take to bring those possible worlds into being.
In this paper, I argue that the literary technique of worldbuilding can extend this discussion by helping us to better understand the relationship between imagination and action. Fiction is the act of the imagination exemplified. As such, what is it that fiction writers, particularly speculative fiction writers, can teach us about how to imagine worlds unlike our own? To answer this question, I conduct a thematic analysis of literary craft guides to worldbuilding in fiction. I pay particular attention to how these guides treat the subject of conflict. What role does conflict play in these authors’ storyworlds, and what techniques do they use to “resolve” it for their characters? Through this analysis, I build out recommendations for how conflict transformation practitioners and educators might adapt these techniques to help answer the following question: What (in the world) does peace look like, and how can we bring it about?
Keywords: Conflict Transformation, Worldbuilding, Worldviews, Imagination, Literature, Fiction, Narrative