Faculty
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Mark Davidheiser, Ph.D.Director, Africa Peace and Conflict Network Assistant Professor, Phone: 1-800-541-6682, ext. 3064 *Note: Fax cover sheet must emphasize "for Dr. Davidheiser" |
Mark Davidheiser is a sociocultural anthropologist with core specializations in Conflict and Peacebuilding and African Studies. His 15 years of work in these areas addresses a variety of theoretical, applied, and policy issues. Dr. Davidheiser's research is used in anthropology and conflict resolution courses at universities in multiple countries, and it is cited in a number of scholarly publications and textbooks. He has been an invited speaker Peace and Conflict Studies programs at several universities have invited him as a speaker and program consultant.
Selected topical specializations include:
- socio-cultural dimensions of conflict & its management
- legal anthropology & legal/normative pluralism
- governance & legal reform
- human rights & social justice in dispute processing, with social marginalization & gender foci
- international development, peacebuilding & post-conflict reconstruction
- migration and displacement & resettlement
- farmer-herder coexistence & conflict
- Islam & Muslim peoples
- social identity dynamics & prejudice
Davidheiser's approach to conflict analysis and resolution flows from an interdisciplinary perspective informed by the three main bases of his expertise:
- critical analysis of the scholarly, applied, & policy literature
- original field research, and
- practitioner & trainer experience
His conflict resolution background encompasses varied conflict resolution methodologies. These include conflict prevention & management and peacebuilding, as well as practice models like mediation, bargaining, and negotiation. His work also incorporates problem-solving, facilitative, and interest-based approaches and advanced techniques such as intercultural, narrative, and transformative strategies. Davidheiser's experience as a trainer includes basic training for prospective mediators, training and simulations in international negotiation & mediation, multilateral mediation, and aggression replacement and anti-racism training for youths.
In addition to his faculty post in Nova Southeastern University's Dept. of Conflict Analysis & Resolution, Davidheiser is Director of the Africa Peace and Conflict Network. The Network is an association of individuals & institutions dedicated to advancing positive peace in Africa through knowledge generation & dissemination and praxis. Click here to join the Africa Peace and Conflict Network Email List.
Other research institutions also call on Davidheiser's expertise. He is Executive Committee Member of the Organisation of Intra-Cultural Development, and he served as Academic Director for the International Institute of Mediation & Conflict Resolution’s Prague 2006 accredited course & training seminar on international negotiation & conflict resolution, for instance.
In addition to peer and book reviewing for various scholarly journals, Davidheiser is Associate Editor of the African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, Editor of Global Ethnographic, Editorial Board Member of Peace and Conflict Studies and of the Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, and Advisory Board Member of African Studies Quarterly. He also spearheaded the establishment of a forthcoming journal, Review of African Conflicts and Peacebuilding.
With support from various grants and fellowships, Davidheiser's research employs qualitative, quantitative, participatory, and ethnographic methods. A favored strategy is using methodological triangulation to illuminate the contours and boundaries of sociocultural consensus, broaden the scope of his studies, and enhance the reliability of project findings.
One major interest is local methods of conflict mitigation and their interactions and hybridization with imported dispute processing practices. He has conducted field studies in Eritrea, The Gambia, and Senegal and taught courses on that subject.
In addition to his work in Africa, Davidheiser has done field research on the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. That study explored the connections between young Navajo relocation resisters and their homesites on the Hopi Partitioned Lands. Additional research studies conducted by Davidheiser are detailed in his curriculum vitae.
Current projects include:
Traditional Authorities in the 21st Century: Development, decentralization, and customary authority & law
Sociocultural Dimensions of Conflict Resolution Interventions: Peacebuilding in the Global South
- Comparative study examines the efficacy of donor-sponsored conflict resolution projects
- Projects are evaluated using field & archival data to examine the interfacing of local and imported perspectives & processes and identify the theoretical & policy implications
Legal reform, ADR, and Vulnerable Populations: Social justice & efficacy concerns in The Gambia and beyond, 2004-2006
- Ethnographic and survey research on the impacts of different dispute processing systems on Gambians of low social status, like impoverished villagers and young, married, Muslim women in peripheral rural areas
- Cost-benefit analysis for vulnerable populations of governance & legal reform programs · Collection of grassroots perspectives & proposals for effective reform of legal & administrative systems
- Outputs include policy recommendations for The Gambia and list policy & research implications for elsewhere in Africa & the Global South
Courses Taught
- Culture and Conflict
- Theories of Conflict Analysis and Resolution I: Conflict Etiology and Analysis
- Conflict Resolution Systems Design
- Foundations and Development of Conflict Analysis and Resolution
- Indigenous Systems of Conflict Management
- The Anthropology of Conflict and Peace
- Conflict and Peacebuilding in Africa
- Theories II: Resolution and Transformation Issues and Methods
- Conflict Management Systems Design
- Islam, Conflict and Peace
Courses Available Upon Request
- Ethnic Conflict: Theories and Practice
- Human Socio-cultural Responses to Crisis, Change, and Conflict
- The Politics of Peacebuilding: International Development and Assistance and Conflict Generation and Management
- Religion and Conflict Transformation
- Environmental Disputes and Peacebuilding
- Race, Conflict, and Peacemaking
- Collective Identities and Conflict: Race, Ethnicity, and Disputing
- Beyond Econometrics: Cognitive and Affective Dimensions of Conflict and Peace
Dr. Davidheiser's service to the profession and his contributions to the evolution of the field and its research literature and agenda include his work in capacities such as these selected examples:
Editor of African Conflict & Peacebuilding Review, http://inscribe.iupress.org/loi/acp
Associate Editor of African Journal of Political Science and International Relations
Advisory Board Member, African Studies Quarterly
Executive Board Member, Organisation of Intra-Cultural Development (www.OICD.net)
Resources and Links
International organization for Africa peace/conflict specialists, with free resources for research, scholarship, public education, and informing practice and policymaking
- Africa Peace & Conflict Network (APCN)
Follow links for free site registration and email list subscription (message volume kept low) and enjoy the rapidly expanding site features.
Event and other announcements service for Africanists in South Florida:
- Become involved: Subscribers to the email list may share salient information of common interest to those promoting positive peace in Africa, and our publications and other programs featured on africapeace.org provide other opportunities for contributing to our knowledge generation for enhancing practice and policymaking.
Furthermore, contact niki.incorvia@africapeace.org if you have:
- ideas for the international organization, APCN
- proposals for an activity or event for its members located in South Florida, or
- you wish to become part of our team and donate time to help produce and expand our activities
Anthropology-based organization working for peaceful coexistence:
Organisation of Intra-Cultural Development and its publications forum, Global Ethnographic
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