ABSTRACT
Dismissed as a backward ‘tribal’ ritual by the state-based system and neglected by newly emerging (from the West) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), indigenous processes of peace-making are receiving some attention by scholars (at long last). Indigenous processes of peace-making are one of the oldest professions in human history and they have been practiced by the indigenous community around the world. They survived against all odds—they survived the attack and marginalization by colonialism, and they survived wars and natural disasters. As the influence of ADR, that originated in North America in the 1970s, advanced globally, the indigenous communities around the world called for their own systems of peace-making to be recognized as legitimate and culturally relevant methods of dealing with dispute. Some indigenous communities have even asserted that their own ways of dealing with conflict is the Original form of Dispute Resolution (ODR). This chapter highlights the essential elements relative to the indigenous form of peace-making. It will also discuss the common features found in indigenous processes of peace-making. This will be expressed by William Ury's concept of Creating the Third Force, which will help to explain the strategies of indigenous approaches to conflict resolution. The chapter will discuss the similarities and differences between ADR and ODR approaches. The indigenous communities, by and large, belong to a category of groups known as collectivist cultures. Essentially, the collectivist cultural orientation is to focus on group concerns as opposed to focusing on the individual interests. This chapter will try to connect indigenous processes of peace-making as rooted in the collectivist cultural orientation.
