Following a path - Star Wars and a new audience for Conflict Management
/ by Sherrill Hayes, contributing author to Star Wars and Conflict Resolution
Recently my scholarly endeavors have been taking a weird - but REALLY FUN - turn.
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...actually, about 3 years ago Jen Reynolds and Noam Ebner invited a group of colleagues to contribute to a soon-to-be-published book on Stars Wars and Conflict Resolution. I had been thinking about this for years, not least as a fan and practitioner, but actually putting my thoughts down in a piece on Jedi Mediation for mediate.com over a decade ago. Thinking about the chapter(s) I might write, mulling over a lifetime of fandom, and discussing possible topics was a great exercise - especially since some of this work took place during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we all needed some kind of escape. I even submitted a draft while I was struggling with my own bout with COVID; it showed, just ask my editors.
As it turned out, getting the chapters down on paper was the easy part, but trying to figure out how to find an audience for a book was not. It's not really an academic book nor is it a fan-fiction. What do most academics know about marketing books anyway? At its core, what we hope to do is to improve "conflict literacy" for people who may never even consider reading a book on conflict resolution or attending a workshop, so at some point we said "what about a comic con?” This was where the weird-fun turn began.
In the summer, we were accepted to present a panel at Dragon Con, "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe" and an Atlanta Labor Day tradition for 37 years! So a few weeks ago a group of the authors including Hillary Anger Elfenbein, C. Scott Maravilla, Jen Reynolds, Noam Ebner, and I recorded a virtual panel for the Star Wars at Dragon Con track. It premiered on September 2 at 10 PM to a great reception and has continued to be viewed on YouTube. If you haven't watched it, it is great fun.
A week later, on September 10, Jen Reynolds, Elizabeth Mayans, Kinleigh Jones, and I gave a presentation at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon, on "Conflict Resolution through Star Wars." In a room of about 100 people festooned as X-Wing pilots, Togrutas, some people not in cosplay, and one very enthusiastic HR manager, we discussed conflict styles/modes and how those related to characters and scenes in Star Wars. What a reception we received!
The immediate feedback from participants was how interesting and useful the concepts were and how easily they could see the connections now that we had pointed them out. People wanted to know when the book was coming out (soon is all we can say), if they could get our slides, and if we were available for training and more talks. It's more than we could have ever hoped for from a room of people conflict profs are unlikely to get in front of often.
These past few weeks have honestly been some of the most rewarding moments for me in the past few years of being a conflict management educator. It's not because I feel like we are doing anything groundbreaking, but I do feel like we are reaching a new audience for ideas that are desperately needed right now in our country and in the world. If people can learn how to deal with personal, professional, and political conflicts more effectively because of something C-3PO, Obi-Wan, or Boba Fett did or said, then maybe there is still some hope for the universe.