Dissertation, Doctor of Philosophy University of California, San Diego

Abstract (provided by the author):

"I propose a new subdiscipline, which I refer to as "Peace Communication", for evaluating global efforts to use communication to manage conflict. In part I, I delineate and classify the historical practices of peace communication into seven models. I then conduct a qualitative meta-analysis of relevant research into the efficacy of each of the models. In parts II and III, I present my assessment of Palestinian, Jewish-Israeli and Arab/Palestinian-Israeli children's reception of Israeli and Palestinian Sesame Street, a peace communication intervention channeled through TV, as a demonstration of my proposed subdiscipline. My extensive field research examined how these children subverted the efforts of the TV programs' producers to alter their intergroup attitudes and goals towards (resolving) the conflict. The combination of my audience reception and ethnographic analyses revealed that by the time these children watched the programs, they had already (by the age of five) become socialized into the categories of stateless nation, statebearing nation and state minority, respectively. In turn, they interpreted the structural contexts of their lives - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the effort by the producers to reconstruct their relations with it, through these respective categories. Thus, they were unable to read one another's presence in the programs. For example, Palestinians looked for an "army", while Jewish-Israelis looked for "terrorists". Since the producers did not depict such stereotypes, the children concluded that neither "Jews" nor "Palestinians", respectively, were portrayed in the programs. Therefore, they "overlooked" the producers' portrayal of Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians interacting peacefully. Ultimately, the children's interpretation of the structural realities that underpinned their lives led them to oppose the producer's peace promoting efforts. I conclude by discussing the ramifications of these findings for efforts to use communication to alter group behaviors and foster structural change worldwide."

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