Of Nets, Nails, and Problems

Conflicts are, in every sense of the word, cultural events. They are perhaps one of the most intriguing and complex social accomplishments we humans construct…How this social phenomenon is understood and accomplished, however, varies from one cultural setting to another. The study of how people make sense of conflictive situations and appropriate “commonsense” methods of resolving them, including the use of third parties in particular settings, might be called “ethnoconflictology.” The present chapter is one contribution in this discipline, aimed at building our “common knowledge” about conflict in Central America.

The descriptions, ideas, and analyses that follow emerge from data recorded through participant observation, experiences in real-life conflicts, mediations, training seminars, and interviews accumulated during the past several years of travel and living in Central America, particularly in Puntarenas, Costa Rica…