Orli Fridman received her Ph.D. at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University.  She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an M.A. in History of the Middle East from Tel Aviv University.

>She is the Academic Director of the SIT Study Abroad program in the Balkans (Post-Conflict Transformation in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia) and a lecturer at the MA program in Conflict Studies at the Faculty for Media and Communication (FMK) at the Singidunum University (Belgrade).

Since 1994, Dr. Fridman has been involved in political education.  She was trained as a facilitator for groups in conflict and worked with groups from Israel-Palestine, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and the successor states of the former Yugoslavia.

Dr. Fridman lectured at the 2009 Post-Yugoslav Peace Academy in Sarajevo, and is a guest lecturer at the Youth Initiative New Policy School. She is the founder of the Center for Comparative Conflict Studies (CFCCS), an educational center dedicated to the comparative analysis of societies in conflict, working primarily within the context of the conflicts in Palestine/Israel and the former republics of Yugoslavia.

Her Recent publications include: ‘Alternative Voices in Public Urban Space: Serbia’s Women in Black’ (Ethnologia Balkanica 10, 2006); ’Breaking States of Denial: Anti-Occupation Activism in Israel after 2000’ (Genero 10/11, 2007). Forthcoming: ‘It Was Like Fighting a War with Our Own People: Anti-War Activism in Serbia during the 1990’s’; ‘(Re)Centering Europe: Competing Israeli and Palestinian Narratives in the Shadow of Europe’ (with Ziad Abu-Rish); ‘In Search for Equality: a Jewish-Palestinian Encounter in the Former Yugoslavia.’

Recent conference papers include: ‘Structured and Unstructured Encounters in Kosovo’ (ASN 2009); ‘Can we talk about Peace-Building or ‘Dealing with the Past’ in the Context of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict Today?’ (The Role of Youth in Peacebuilding, Zagreb Center for Peace Studies).

Courses at the MA program in Conflict Studies:

Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Transformation 

This course is designed as an introduction to the field of Conflict Analysis and Conflict Transformation for entering MA students. The course examines and introduces a range of issues in the field: from the sources and dynamics of social conflicts, to its transformation.  The course introduces students to readings and theory in the field, focusing on the analysis of societies in conflicts, followed by conflict transformation literature.

Education for Peace: Critique and Challenges

This course offers students an in-depth and critical analysis of the practice of conflict resolution and conflict transformation theory, mainly in analyzing different approaches to peacebuiling programs classified as education for peace.  Looking at projects in various zones of conflict (or post-conflict) around the globe, this course will introduce theory, methodology and pedagogy of such projects, as well as the critique of and challenges for practitioners in the field.

Comparative Conflict Studies: Memories and Narratives in Conflict

This course will explore the concepts of collective memory and political denial and the role they play in the study of societies in conflict.  Primarily focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the course will focus on the dynamics of the societies involved while addressing some of the common misconceptions regarding this conflict.  Additionally, the course will offer a comparative perspective of conflict studies, investigating the importance of analyzing the asymmetry of power and the role it plays in the present analysis of the conflict.  Through the lenses of research about memory and denial, the course will discuss issues such as competing historical narratives, dominant discourses and alternative voices in societies in conflict.