How mediators use reformulation practices to de‐escalate risky moments

This paper examines mediator reformulations when mediations seem close to falling apart. Our embodied approach to interaction analysis uses video‐recorded cases and shows how reformulations (summaries, paraphrases, reframings) are negotiated rather than offered as finished products. When mediators reformulate disputants' talk, their professional vision shapes how mediations progress, and disputants' uptake (or the lack of it) guides the directions they take. Whether it is bracketing off a touchy subject or disrupting a troublesome behavior loop, mediators' reformulation practices tell us about these mediators' professional vision through the story of observable practices.