Activity 1 : Identifying and Empathising with Conflict

 

To experience that people have different perspectives and see problems differently and have different solutions.

 

Conciliation and Negotiation

Copies of one of the paintings under. Or one that the instructors chose. Each participant should have one each, but all should be the same. They should also get paper and pens.

The learners should each observe and analyse the painting and use their imagination to identify the conflict. They will then present the conflict to the group as their own problem.

Educator’s instructions: Form groups of 4-5 participants.

Step 1: The facilitator hands out the picture to all the learners and they are asked to guess the name of the painting. Have a short brainstorming session.

Step 2: They can then study the painting  for 10 minutes.  They are asked to find a conflict in the picture and relate it to their own life. They should formulate a story  that they can tell the group. It can be a true story or use their imagination to make up a story. They can write it down if they want to. Why are they fighting? Why are they angry? Sad?

For example if you choose to use the Weeping woman- painting, each person should tell a story of a time they wept like the woman in the painting. If they never weep, they have to make up a story to tell the group in a convincing way.

Dance of life - Edvard Munch

Weeping woman - Picasso

The last argument - Igor Shulman

Step 3: Present the story to the group, as your own, taking turns, so everyone can tell their story. The group can then decide how convincing the story is, is it your own story or a made-up story?

Debriefing

Gather the whole group in a circle after everyone has shared their story. You can ask the group:

Were the conflicts similar or very different?

How do  they feel about the activity?

Is it easy to understand someone else's conflict?

Did it make an impact on them?

How important is empathy in conciliation or negotiating a conflict?

Considering its nature of conflict management, this activity can be applied as an intergenerational activity. How people from different ages can handle conflicts and how empathy can be conciliated can be scoped.