The Nonverbal Channels of Peacebuilding: What Teachers, Trainers and Facilitators Need to Know

Abstract

The language of peace often is unspoken. The teaching and learning of spoken languages occupy enormous amounts of time and eff ort worldwide. However, as we contemplate how language supports the goals of peace, we must spare a thought for the power, complexity and importance of the nonverbal communication system. Nonverbal communication is ubiquitous when people interact with each other; it is a rich source of meaning with the power to significantly alter or even reverse the meaning of any spoken word. The impact of nonverbals on communication is only partially conscious as the various cues can be subtle and occur very rapidly. Unfortunately, discussions of the nonverbal dimensions of language within peacebuilding are in short supply, likely because the larger issue of language learning in the service of peace has been largely neglected in the applied linguistics literature. Our immediate goal in this chapter is to introduce the breadth and scope of nonverbal (e.g., body language) and paraverbal (e.g., vocal cues like intonation) cues inherent in interpersonal interactions to sensitize peacebuilders to the complexity of the communication process when nonverbal dimensions are included in the mix. The larger goal of this chapter is to explicate the encoding and decoding of nonverbal cues so that readers can transform communication and facilitate the teaching and using of peace language in various cultures and settings.