In a world shaped by tension, disagreement, and change, conflict surrounds us, from moments of personal friction to struggles within communities and across nations. It surfaces in our institutions, our relationships, and the stories we tell about ourselves and others. How do conflicts take shape and persist? How are they influenced by power, perspective, and history? Can conflict be generative? What forms might resolution take? How do we begin that process?

This Wide Lens event brings together faculty from sociology and criminology, journalism, biology, theatre, political science, and education to explore how conflict is lived, studied, and expressed. Through a series of short talks, speakers invite us to see conflict not only as something to be managed, but as a force that reveals how we relate to one another and how new possibilities for understanding might emerge.

Please join us! The event is free and open to all. Catered reception to follow.

Presenters:

• Stephanie DiPietro, Sociology and Criminology: "Only the Dead Have Seen the End of War: Life Course Legacies of Conflict"

• Meenakshi Gigi Durham, School of Journalism and Mass Communication: "Little Fires Everywhere: Feminist Scholarship as a Bridge to Conflict Resolution"

• Andrew A. Forbes, Biology: "How to Succeed When Predators Are Everywhere"

• Johanna Kasimow, Theatre Arts: "Staging Conflict"

• Elizabeth Menninga, Political Science: "Building Trust in the Shadow of War"

• Allison Rowe, College of Education: "Just Crushing: Civic Discourse Through Collaborative Destruction"

For speaker bios, please visit https://obermann.uiowa.edu/wide-lens.

Co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research