Serving up Trust for Conflict ResolutionAbhinay Muthoo
27 April 2023
Abhinay Muthoo (National Institute of Economic and Social Research), 17:15 - 18:45, presents his project in the Interdisciplinary Research Seminar of the GRK "Collective Decision-Making”.
This seminar will take place in person. Please register (if you haven’t already) here if you want to attend the seminar. We invite everyone interested to attend!
Location: Room 0079, Von-Melle-Park 5
Abstract
This paper explores the role of gastronomy in developing trust and its application in conflict resolution. We develop our argument on the well-founded basis that trust improves negotiation outcomes and scientific evidence for the role of food sharing in the development of trust and bonding, largely manifested via our “feel-good hormones” including oxytocin and endorphins. We then draw examples from the ethnographic and historical record that exemplify how feasting and sharing meals has, and continues to be used ubiquitously to build trust, forge alliances, and resolve conflict. Finally, using a real-world scenario, we demonstrate how specific principles of trust development using gastronomy could be applied to address persistent “stalemate” negotiations, where lack of trust is a key contributing factor.
Find the abstract as PDF here.