What the Youth Have to Say: Listening as Praxis

Keywords: Social Conflict Transformation, CMM, Youth

Abstract: This workshop will explore and share findings on the relationship between the communications theory and method, “Coordinated Management of Meaning” (CMM), and the practice of conflict resolution in conflict ridden contexts. In my own work as a youth community leader in Medellin, Colombia I have used CMM to make sense of intractable conflicts and to come up with possible routes to manage, resolve, and transform conflicts in my community. CMM has also been useful in my work at Fundacion Mi Sangre to evaluate the impact of youth-led peace and community building initiatives. Thus, CMM not only serves as a semantics and communications theory, but also as an analytic tool in the field of conflict resolution, management, and transformation