Suggested citation:

Kelly, T. L. (1999). "The Theme of Transformation in the Work of Carl Upchurch." (published in New Tomorrow: A Voice for Blacks and Latinos, Alberto O. Cappas, Publ., NY, NY, 2004. From a graduate paper, Portland State University, June 1999). Portland, OR: Author.

Introduction

The testimony of Upchurch about his personal journey from being a gangbanger to becoming a national activist for peace, as chronicled in his book Convicted in the Womb (Bantam, 1996), is a clear example of how personal transformation can play a significant part in conflict resolution. Personal transformation is the basis for a relatively new theory of conflict resolution called "Transformational Mediation." Several ingredients go into the sort of transformations that work to resolve complex human problems, and it is the intent of this paper to deconstruct the process to discover those ingredients and give credence to the process of transformational mediation.

Stages of Transformation

The first ingredient that played into Upchurch's transformation was to be isolated from society and forced into a situation where he had few choices. He went to prison and was put into solitary confinement, where he had few choices as to how spend his time. Luckily for him, he found a book in his cell and began to read. The book was by Shakespeare, and in the reading of this and other works by Shakespeare, Upchurch was able to expand his own personal paradigm of thinking in an intimate revolutionary way. His isolation coupled with the discovery of a new way of thinking worked as a sort of monastic meditation that led to personal enlightment. In the final analysis, the ingredients in this stage of his transformation are isolation and enlightment.

The next stage of Upchurch's transformation involved release into the world to put his "new self" to the test, just as monks are sometimes sent out of the monastery to participate in some aspect of the world in order to test their faith. In that test, Upchurch experienced failures and setbacks, which through time worked to strengthen his resolve and teach him humility. In a previous paper, I argued that failures and struggles are necessary to learn strength and wisdom in order to build character and conscience. Upchurch, grounded in his newly-acquired enlightenment, learned humility and strength in this way, through these tests in the real world. This is when it became clear that education was an important ingredient to getting what he wanted from life, and so he sought a formal education, having been enlightened to its worthiness in his personal life goals. In the final analysis, the ingredients for transformation in this stage are trial and error, and education.

The final stage in this process is activism. Taking all the ingredients of enlightenment and putting them into action requires creative thinking and perserverence and even a bit of idealism. Upchurch came up with a creative action to aid the resolution of a complex human problem: gang warfare. The solution he used follows the stages of the process of his own enlightenment and transformation. He isolated gang leaders into one place and presented them with a clear challenge: stop the violence or die in violence. Isolated and faced with few choices, the gang leaders began the long complex process of detangling the web of violence in their lives. They had many differences between them but they could all agree that violence had not solved any of their problems. Upchurch used the opportunity to educate those he had assembled, and to remind them of the true ingredients for the respect they sought - content of character and personal strength. He emphasized that there would be failures and setbacks along the way to transformation, having experienced the same for himself in his own journey. His words and actions were proof if the content of his character and his personal strength, which he had receieved form doing the same hard work he challenged the gang leaders to begin in their own neighborhoods. In the final analysis, the ingredient for this stage in transformation is to turn enlightenment into action.

Theory of Transformational Mediation

How does this relate to the theory of transformational mediation? Transformative mediation is a model of conflict resolution that values both personal strength and compassion for others as well as viewing conflict as an opportunity for growth and mutual gain. The transformative mediator works to help the parties gain a greater sense of their own capacity to effectively deal with their conflict and a increased understanding of the other parties’ perspective on the conflict. The hands-on version of this theory goes something like this: the mediator actively participates as a sort of alter ego for both sides, by literary circumventing the arena of the conflict and reflecting what is said back to the parties involved in order to narrow down the viewpoints to their root meaning. The mediator shapes the conflict dialogue so that all parties become aware of the power issues and conflicts of meaning going in within the dialogue. The parties in conflict not only work to resolve their conflict, but to transform their view of the other, and realize the meaning and therefore the value inherent in the conflict itself. At the same time, the mediator realizes her role as an objective professional, not taking sides but revealing sides. he goal of this complex interaction is to promote enlightenment and transformation, not just negotiation and compromise. This form of mediation seems to me to be the type of conflict resolution that would compliment the ingredients for enlightenment and transformation as discovered by Upchurch in his quest. It would be useful to compare Upchurch's methods to a model of transformational mediation for differences and similarities.