Alison Castel

Dr. Alison Castel is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Communication Studies at Regis University, where her research and teaching centres on critical approaches to conflict, narrative and dialogue. She holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from George Mason University, with a specialisation in narrative and conflict. Her work focuses on the narrative dynamics of power, legitimacy, voice and agency in settings marked by conflict, tension and inequity. 

Castel has over 20 years of experience in peace and conflict studies across research, teaching and practice, including field-based work in Colombia and Indonesia, as well as engagements in Israel/Palestine, Rwanda and Northern Ireland, with an emphasis on examining the intersection of national and grassroots perspectives. 

Her recent work examines narrative engagement across difference, including how different narrative strategies can either reinforce or reduce adversarial dynamics. This includes in-depth analysis of effective countering strategies grounded in narrative engagement and her collaborative work on trauma, narrative and peacebuilding.

Across her scholarship and practice, Castel is especially concerned with how narrative approaches can reduce everyday violence and marginalisation and create conditions for and support more inclusive and resilient pathways towards peace.

Areas of expertise: narrative theory, peace and conflict studies, qualitative research, experiential education