Opening Up: A Conflict Transformation Podcast

In this episode, we feature a conversation with international mediator Julian Portilla. For the past three years, Julian has been one of the instructors of our successful Winter Term class at the college, "Conflict Transformation Skills." A graduate of Vassar College and George Mason University, Julian works with international organizations and local communities on environmental and social issues. He previously served as director of the Master's in Mediation program at the Woodbury Institute at Champlain College.

As a practitioner and teacher, Julian discusses both the personal and professional aspects of mediation and conflict transformation. Some of the themes the conversation:

• the role of family conflict and a bicultural upbringing in fostering perspective-taking skills
• how to work within diverse groups, not just bridging opposing sides
• de-escalation and harm reduction as initial steps in transformation
• the critical role of calm, perspective-taking, and an understanding that conflict can be useful

We mention two resources:

1. Hector Black is one of the role models we suggest to students. His Moth Radio Hour talk is here.

2. Paul Wehr and John Paul Lederach's model of insider and outsider mediators is discussed in their essay, "Mediating Conflict in Central America." Journal of Peace Research, 28:1 (February 1991): 85–98.

In this episode, we talk international post-conflict reconstruction, foreign aid, and domestic public policy dialogue with Dr. Naazneen Barma, a member of the External Advisory Board of the CT Collaborative.

Barma is the founding Director of the Doug and Mary Scrivner Institute of Public Policy at the University of Denver (DU) and is a professor in political science at the Korbel School of International Studies at DU. She has worked at the World Bank, taught at the Naval Postgraduate School, and was a co-founder of Bridging the Gap, which brings scholarly research to global public policy.

We mention two of Naaz's publications in our conversation:

• The Peacebuilding Puzzle: Political Order in Post-Conflict States (2017) (link at Cambridge University Press)
• Naazneen Barma, Naomi Levy, and Jessica Piombo. 2020. "The Impact of Aid Dynamics on State Effectiveness and Legitimacy." Studies in Comparative International Development 55 (2), June 2020: 184-203.

Learn about the members of the CT External Advisory Board at our website here: https://www.middlebury.edu/conflict-transformation/who-we-are#external-advisory-board

In this episode, we bring you a panel discussion with two practiced negotiators. In January, the CT Collaborative and MiddCORE each planned to bring an expert in to help build student skills - and so we decided to put our two visitors in conversation with one another.

Morgan Gaskin Thomas is Managing Director and Americas Lead for Accenture's Resolution Excellence Center. She has previously served as an adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law. She has her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Southern Methodist University and her JD from Cornell.

Sarah Federman is associate professor of conflict resolution at the University of San Diego and author of the book Transformative Negotiation. She spent a decade as an international executive before changing careers to focus on corporate accountability, mass violence, and peacebuilding.

Learn more about MiddCORE and about our experts at the links below.

https://www.middlebury.edu/middcore

https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-gaskin-thomas/

https://sarahfederman.com/

Today's podcast features historian Connor Williams, Middlebury Class of 2008.5. We explore the role of history and memory around the US Civil War and the way in which historical narratives inform our ability to tackle contemporary conflicts. Connor shares his experiences in community dialogues across the United States and lessons for engaging in discussions about controversial issues.

Connor Williams is a scholar, teacher, and advocate of American and African American history. In 2021 and 2022, Williams served as the Lead Historian for the United States Congress' "Naming Commission," researching the history, causes and context of Department of Defense assets that commemorate Confederates or the Confederacy. His two forthcoming books tell the story of the naming commission and explore the history of the Civil War and Confederacy. He is also an occasional teacher at Middlebury College.

Learn more about https://connorwilliamshistorian.com/

In this episode, we bring you a talk from Ava Homa, the first Kurdish woman writer to publish a novel in English. In September 2024, Homa spoke at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey. Professor Sharad Joshi provides an introduction.

Homa is an acclaimed author, speaker, activist, and faculty member at California State University, Monterey Bay. Her debut novel, Daughters of Smoke and Fire (HarperCollins & Abrams, 2020), was featured in Roxane Gay's Book Club, the Unplugged Book Box, and Women for Women International.

Learn more here: https://www.avahoma.com/bio

This event was co-sponsored by BIPOC Voices at MIIS and the CT Collaborative.

In this episode, Teyonce Allison '25 talks with Professor Jonathan Miller-Lane. Professor Miller-Lane, known affectionately as "JML," teaches education studies at Middlebury and is a facilitator in the Engaged Listening Project, a professional development program for faculty and staff.

Prof. Miller-Lane discusses his upbringing in various countries as son of a foreign service officer and how that shaped his understanding of culture, hospitality, race, and conflict. The discussion explores the role of higher education in supporting and preparing students. They discuss lessons from diplomacy about how to create a welcoming, structured environment as well as the challenges of integrating skills for constructive conflict across a student body with different goals and backgrounds.

Learn more about Professor Miller-Lane here:

https://www.middlebury.edu/college/people/jonathan-miller-lane

Learn more about the Engaged Listening Project here:

https://www.middlebury.edu/conflict-transformation/engaged-listening-project

At the end of 2024, we mark the end of Laurie Patton's tenure as president of Middlebury by sharing her reflections on conflict transformation, protest, and higher education.

In September, President Patton sat down with Eboo Patel, president of Interfaith America, as part of their programing on Teaching Interfaith Understanding. Their conversation was posted to Interfaith America's podcast and we reshare the episode here with permission.

Patel and Patton discuss how Middlebury's campus culture evolved in the years since 2017, when political scientist Charles Murray's visit was met with upheaval. Patton elaborates on Middlebury's conflict transformation efforts, including the successes of the Engaged Listening Project, the challenges of countering a national narrative, and the outcomes of building a resilient culture, evidenced by her community's constructive engagement of tensions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the spring of 2024.

To hear other episodes in Interfaith America's podcast, click here: https://www.interfaithamerica.org/podcast/

Many thanks to Teyonce Allison, Brett Simison, and the Conflict Transformation Collaborative staff for editing and production. Thank you also to Middlebury music professor Damascus Kafumbe for our music.

In this episode, Sarah Stroup talks with Meg Griffiths, director of programs at Essential Partners (formerly the Public Conversations Project). Founded in 1989, Essential Partners (EP) uses a reflective structured dialogue approach to help people communicate across deep differences in identities and values in order "to address communities' most pressing challenges."

Meg Griffiths and her colleagues at EP have been leading professional development workshops at Middlebury since January 2019 as part of Middlebury's Engaged Listening Project. She has over 15 years of professional experience in higher education and community organizations, and holds certifications and degrees from Boston College's School of Theology and Ministry and from Georgetown's Organizational Development Consulting and Change Leadership program.

In this conversation, Meg and Sarah talk about the ways in which dialogic practices can enhance student learning and strengthen campus communities. With scaffolding and careful question design, it is possible to disrupt established stories and patterns that can keep people from understanding and addressing the problems they face. The conversation also takes up common critiques of dialogue in the larger framework of conflict transformation.

To learn more about Essential Partners, click here: https://whatisessential.org/about-us

To learn more about Meg Griffiths, click here: https://whatisessential.org/people/meg-griffiths

Today, we bring you a conversation with Susan Sgorbati, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College. In conversation with Lida Winfield, the undergraduate pillar head of the CT Collaborative and dance professor, Susan shares insights from her journey as a dance artist and educator, and how the principles of dance improvisation inform her work in conflict mediation and social justice. They explore how embodied practices, active listening, and improvisational skills can foster collaboration and create transformative change in both artistic and social contexts.

Sgorbati is the former Dean of Faculty and holds the Barbara and Lewis Jones Chair for Social Activism. In 2018, Sgorbati co-founded the Transboundary Water In-Cooperation Network (TWIN) with Dr. Asim Zia. TWIN works with communities on six continents in the major river basins of the world. She is also a partner with the African Centre for Climate Action and Rural Development in moving a new Convention forward on Saving the River Deltas for the United Nations (UNCCRD). In collaboration and conversation with scientists, Sgorbati named a form of improvisation, 'emergent improvisation' and wrote a book called, "Emergent Improvisation: On Spontaneous Composition Where Dance Meets Science". She also co-founded "Quantum Leap" a program that connected public school students to their education who were at risk of dropping out of school. Over 2000 students participated in this program. Sgorbati completed two projects for the US State Dept. Art in Embassies with Sarah Tanguay and Jon Isherwood, who collaborated with a student collective in creating two public art installations for the new US Embassy in Oslo, Norway and for the new US Consulate in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This is a re-posting of an episode from Lida Winfield's podcast, Making Embodiment Visible. Learn more here: https://www.lidawinfield.com/podcast.html

Learn more about Susan Sgorbati here: https://www.bennington.edu/academics/faculty/susan-sgorbati

Many thanks to Teyonce Allison, Brett Simison, and the CT Collaborative staff for editorial support.