Mateusz Wolnicki
University of Western Sydney
A Narrative Approach To Dealing With Conflict Over Intended Water Use - Paroo River Case Study
The significance of the project is that it explores a collection of community narratives as a catalyst in understanding community values and dealing with conflict.
The inquiry looks at differing expectations and priorities about the role of the Paroo River in far western NSW. Individual and group values have become strongly linked to either pro or anti irrigation themes. Both sides are very well argued.
Our challenge was to avoid a pre-eminence within the community that is typical of a ‘win’ and ‘lose’ situation and develop an approach that would transcend such a dichotomy. Complexity theory (Wolfram, 2003; Kauffman, 1995) and Fuzzy Logic (Dimitrov, 2002) showed promise in this regard. This prompted us to develop a community owned narrative of the river.
Our role within the community was not one of resolving the conflict, but rather raising the standard of the conflict resolution process. This has led to the community working to publish its narrative, “Paroo River Life – A Journey of Faith, Flood and Dust.”
A better understanding of values has had far reaching implications for this community. Some of these include resolve of community factions, increased awareness and also providing decision makers and planners with knowledge of local values.
Email: paroo@gmx.net