PoststructuralistZPostmodernist

Adherents of this tradition tend to pursue the multiple and emergent realities formed by the ambiguities, ironies, identity, and identi­fication considerations in and about conflict.

Methodologically, poststructuralists/post- modernists problematize conflict in its histori­cal and cultural context. Researchers themselves are also “demystified” as bearers of racial, gender, class, and professional markers in their knowledge claims about conflict. A favored methodology in the poststructuralist, postmod­ern tradition is deconstruction, whereby con­flict and its underlying structures can be read as “texts” open to multiple interpretations. Just as all texts are inherently ambiguous, a final and complete reading of a text of conflict is not deemed possible. Instead, competing interpreta­tions are inevitable. What emerges from decon­struction are reinterpretations of the conflict with awareness of the hierarchies and ideolo­gies implicit in truth claims about conflict.

For instance, Buzzanell and Liu’s (2005) poststructuralist critique of 15 women’s maternity leave discourses focused on the constitutive power of discourse in identity and meaning with potential material consequences. Their analysis revealed that workplace preg­nancy and maternity leave discourses are “replete with gendered conflicts, ironies, shift­ing identity constructions, and discourses of simultaneous resistance and complicity” (p.

Similarly, Watts (2009) adopted a femi­nist poststructuralist framework to study the conflict experienced by increasing numbers of women civil engineers within the U.K. construction industry who try to achieve work-life balance. Not only do these women struggle to negotiate their personal and professional time, their roles as caregivers and nurturers are often seen to unsettle male work practices in this highly gendered profession. They try to fit in to the dominant masculine culture of long work­ing hours and the male pub gathering. The inherent complexity and contradictions of these women’s multiple social identities are in direct conflict with a professional culture that glorifies prolonged work hours and that silences those who question personal life needs of caring.

Methods

In this section, we talk about methods and incorporate some commentary on data gather­ing and analysis techniques. First, qualitative methods typically include narrative, ethnog­raphy, case studies, grounded theory, life history, performance ethnography, and mixed methods (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, 2011). Largely absent from conflict communication literature are studies using life history and performance ethnography. In the following section, we discuss each qualitative method proceeding from methodological orientation to illustrative examples of conflict communi­cation research. Although some studies may use combinations of qualitative (and some­times qualitative and quantitative) methods, a given qualitative approach must be featured as the main method of investigation for inclu­sion in our review. Despite a wide range of qualitative methods available (see Denzin & Lincoln, 2011), we focus here on narra­tive, ethnography, grounded theory, and case studies, as they are the most popularly used qualitative methods in conflict studies. Mixed- methods research has gained importance as an alternative method in many social science disciplines as well as in conflict studies over the past decades. Studies reviewed here are meant to be “samplers” for each methodologi­cal approach.