Conflict Navigation as Rhetoric and Pedagogy for Academic Debating in the United States

Abstract

The purpose ofthis paper is to advocate Conflict Navigation as a new pedagogy aimed at uniting co-curricular debate educators in the United States. Contemporary collegiate debate demonstrates a crisis in pedagogy as seen in a history of "fractionation through structural fortification". This lack of a sustainable pedagogical community has proven to critically strain the resources and curricula of academic debate. Conflict Navigation (CN) represents a behavior-based approach to conflict with an emphasis on ethical rhetoric. The primary mission of argument within a CN framework is inquiry, cooperation, and engagement.