ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the epistemic violence of imposing Western prescriptive style training in the Pacific Islands. It explores the conflict which arose and how we addressed it. The chapter shares two practice stories drawn from our collaborative partnership, which illustrate both strengths and challenges of training processes embedded in local knowledge and culture. It helds a five-day conflict resolution train-the-trainer storian, in this case a double storied process of exploring Ni-Vanuatu conflict transformation while at same time training Ni-Vanuatu in culturally appropriate principles and processes of adult learning. The storians also facilitate the exploration of ways in which the integration of Western skills and processes might enhance the mediative capacity of Ni-Vanuatu chiefs and community leaders. In building effective worldviewing skills, with the intent of voicing the out-of-awareness aspects of Ni-Vanuatu conflict resolution, we chose to base our training primarily on an elicitive training model.
