Identity-Based Conflicts, The ARIA Contingency Approach to

A major focus of the ARIA methodology of conflict engagement is its disciplined approach to conflict as opportunity. Using music as its primary organizing metaphor (an “aria”), this methodology views conflict as an opportunity to foster creativity and resonance within and between people and their primary group affiliations (Rothman, 1996). While its focus was originally on creatively engaging identity-based conflicts, with the idea that the deeper the conflict the greater the need and potential for creativity, ARIA has evolved into a more comprehensive approach that builds upon and synthesizes other approaches. Thus, it has become a broader contingency model with the type of intervention suggested dependent upon the analysis of the nature and depth of the conflict.