Month: October 2023

Applied Theatre and Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Leffler, E. (2022). Applied Theatre and Intercultural Dialogue: Playfully Approaching Difference Cham: Springer Nature.

This fascinating book brings together theatre and intercultural dialogue, an uncommon pairing. It may be just the thing you need for a course this year.

I argue that theatre—as a form of play—offers particular opportunities to enhance an intercultural dialogue: people of divergent cultural backgrounds can playfully reveal parts of themselves to one another, develop empathy, and move toward an enhanced under standing of the social-political contexts that have divided them. But the atre is no magic escape from centuries of oppression and isolation, and in some ways, the very playful elements of theatre that expand opportunities for intimacy and social critique also seem to obfuscate participants’ own embeddedness in inequitable power structures, impeding the possibility for reflective critique. In this study, I elucidate that paradox and interrogate how the limitations can be overcome. (p. 14)

Cruz & Miranda: Storytelling as Media Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue

Resources in ICD“ width=Cruz, M. T., & Miranda, M. (2022). Storytelling as media literacy and intercultural dialogue in post-colonial societies. Media and Communication, 10(4), 294-304.

Based on the experience of a citizenship project about the post-colonial condition and Afro-European interculturality, this essay reflects on digital storytelling, and co-creative practices as relevant literacy and education strategies for furthering interculturality in contemporary societies. The authors propose storytelling as a tool for intercultural dialogue, in the framework of media literacy.

…we need educational strategies and literacies that continue to provide the training of imagination required for intercultural dialogue in the information society (p. 302)

San Diego State U: Border Studies in Communication (USA)

“JobAssistant Professor of Border Studies in Communication,  San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA. Deadline: 20 November 2023.

The School of Communication at San Diego State University (SDSU) invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in Border Studies in Communication, at the level of assistant professor, to start August 2024. The successful candidate will teach across undergraduate and graduate curriculum courses that center border studies, including but not limited to intersections with media studies, health communication, rhetorical movements, intercultural communication, organizational communication, and/or gender and sexuality. The candidate will also have the opportunity to create and teach classes aligned with their particular research interests and methodologies, including upper division/graduate level classes. The successful candidate will also be able to teach other graduate-level courses as needed on a rotational basis. In alignment with the University’s teacher-scholar model, the new hire could also teach a dual-level elective fitting the candidate’s area(s) of research interest and his/her/their research program. The candidate is expected to pursue a scholarly research agenda examining the intersections of border studies and communication studies. All methodological approaches to research will be considered. The successful candidate will also be expected to provide service to the school, college and the university, to professional organizations, and to mentor and serve on master’s thesis and comprehensive examination committees.

UC Santa Barbara: Latina/o/x/e-Centered Communication (USA)

“JobAssistant Professor in Latina/o/x/e-Centered Communication Research, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. Deadline: 6 November 2023.

The Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in the area of Latina/o/x/e-centered communication research. The Department seeks to hire a scholar who conducts theory-driven, culturally-informed, applied research on communication processes centering Latina/o/x/e communities. We desire candidates whose scholarship complements or extends at least one of the department’s three core areas in interpersonal and intergroup communication; media and digital communication; and organizational and group communication, as well as any of our cross-cutting emphases in health, community engagement, family, science, environmental, political, or global approaches to communication. We welcome a wide range of empirical approaches to research, including qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods. The ideal
candidate would further strengthen the department’s relationship with, for example, the Chicano Studies Institute, the Migration Initiative, the Center for Information Technology and Society, the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, or the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. The candidate would connect with UCSB’s vibrant group of scholars who are deeply committed to engaging in research, teaching, and service that uplifts Latina/o/x/e communities. As a Hispanic-Serving Institute with a large Latina/o/x/e undergraduate student population (~28%), candidates are expected to have expertise or demonstrated commitment to providing inclusive and equitable teaching and mentoring to students from Latina/o/x/e communities; knowing, understanding, and challenging the systemic barriers that Latina/o/x/e communities face in higher education and in the discipline; and engaging in service at
the department, university, and/or disciplinary levels that prioritizes Latina/o/x/e communities.

Using Manga to Encourage Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Perry, M. S., Raihanah, M. M., & Mohd Lazim, Z. (2023). Intercultural dialogue in manga: Building friendships, sharing spaces and values. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 9(1), 65-82.

…manga can be a powerful cultural text for increasing intercultural understanding, breaking cultural stereotypes and potentially dispelling prejudices (p. 77)

Perry, Raihanah and Mohd Lazim investigate Japanese manga as a site for intercultural understanding and engagement. Their focus in this article is on “the Japanese manga Satoko and Nada Volume 1 by Yupechika, which narrates the friendship between Satoko, a young Japanese woman, and Nada, her Saudi Muslim roommate.” They analyze three themes: food, fashion, and faith. They see their reading as “a microcosm of the type of dialogue needed in the world today to overcome the acute racism and xenophobia” and conclude:

US-Japan Leadership Program 2024/25 (Japan/USA)

FellowshipsCall for applications: US-Japan Leadership Program (USJLP), participants expected to be in Seattle, WA July 27 – Saturday, August 3, 2023 AND in the Japan in July 2025. Deadline: 8 January 2023.

USJLP is the flagship program of the United States-Japan Foundation. It launched in 2000 with the purpose of developing a network of communication, friendship and understanding among the next generation of leaders in each country.  With the goal of bridging the gap between East and West, the Program fosters a continuing dialogue among future leaders in a broad variety of professions. It starts this process by bringing some young leaders together from each country for two intensive weeklong conferences over two years, with discussions revolving around historical and current issues in bilateral relations, as well as issues reaching beyond our two countries. Through serious conversation as well as recreation and shared cultural activities it seeks to nurture lifelong friendships. The Program is designed to keep the leaders in touch with each other throughout their careers through a dedicated website and member directory, frequent reunions and newsletters, and online social networks.

All members hold US or Japanese citizenship, enter the Program between the ages of 28-44 and have demonstrated leadership in their respective fields. Membership requires a commitment to participate in two consecutive summer conferences as a Delegate (one in Japan, and one in the USA), and the intent to remain active in the Program as a Fellow (alumnus).

CFP CMM Institute: 2024 Fellows

FellowshipsCall for proposals, 2024 Fellowship program, Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) Institute, Oracle, AZ, USA. Deadline: 10 December 2023.

The CMM Institute invites scholar-practitioners who appreciate the central role of communication in making our social worlds to apply for a Fellowship in 2024. The Fellowship theme is open for 2024 and they encourage anyone with a special interest in exploring any of the many social, environmental, organisational or political challenges that we are currently facing in our social worlds. These Fellowships offer peer mentoring, support of a dedicated community of scholar-practitioners, opportunities to engage with other Fellows and a stipend to support the work of the Fellow.

7th LRI Workshop: Language & Belonging (Italy)

ConferencesCFP 7th Annual Language, Region, Identity Workshop for Early Career Researchers: Language & Belonging, Academy of German-Italian Studies, Villa San Marco, Merano, Italy, 6-7 June 2024. Application deadline: 15 January 2024.

Following the successful workshops in Merano/Meran (Italy) in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, and in Innsbruck (Austria) in 2016, the 7th workshop for early-career researchers of the linguistic colloquium Language, Region, Identity (LRI) will be hosted again at the Villa San Marco, Merano/Meran (Italy). The workshop, jointly organised by a team from six universities and research centres in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, aims to foster scientific exchanges within the Alpine region and beyond by offering a forum for discussing current and recently concluded projects. The workshop will feature oral presentations of 20 minutes with a subsequent discussion time of 20 min.

Each Linguistic Colloquium workshop has a specific topic of interest. The 7th edition will address the topic of language and belonging. Despite often being equated with the notions of identity and citizenship, the notion of belonging can capture various different ways in which people may belong and form emotional attachments. For several decades now, different fields of linguistic research have tackled issues in relation to belonging with different theoretical and methodological orientations. From variationist sociolinguistics, which has attempted to work out how certain linguistic features pattern around people’s belonging to certain places, social classes or genders, research on language and belonging received important contributions from orientations such as Sociolinguistic Ethnography or Discourse Analysis that have conceived of belonging as a resource that people employ strategically to construct, claim or resist forms of social inclusion or exclusion.

Organizers welcome contributions that deal with language and belonging in relation to various intertwined social categories and groups (genders, social status, (sub)cultural groups, nationalities, professional groups, etc.) and investigate:

  • how belonging is expressed, perceived, negotiated, resisted and contested,
  • how categories and groups of belonging form, change and dissolve over time and in different spaces,
  • how belonging links to authority, ownership and power,
  • how the relation between language and belonging can be conceptualised and tackled methodologically.

The workshop languages are German, Italian and English.

Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order 2024

AwardsThe Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order is given to those who have taken on issues of world importance and presented viewpoints that could lead to a more just and peaceful world. Each idea supports one noble cause: to inspire us all to work together for the common good. Award: $100,000. Deadline: 31 January 2024.

Submissions will be judged according to originality, feasibility and potential impact, not by the cumulative record of the nominee. They may address a wide range of global concerns including foreign policy and its formation; the conduct of international relations or world politics; global economic issues, such as world trade and investment; resolution of regional, ethnic or racial conflicts; the proliferation of destructive technologies; global cooperation on environmental protection or other important issues; international law and organization; any combination or particular aspects of these, or any other suitable idea which could at least incrementally lead to a more just and peaceful world order.

Eastern Illinois U: Interpersonal Communication (USA)

“JobAssistant Professor in Communication Studies,  Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, USA. Deadline: 13 November 2023.

The School of Communication and Journalism at Eastern Illinois University seeks an individual to fill the role of tenure track assistant professor in the Division of Communication Studies. Candidates should have teaching and research expertise in the area of interpersonal communication, with secondary areas in gender, race, and/or intercultural communication. Primary duties include teaching courses in the division core and their area expertise. Opportunities for summer employment exist for candidates who have interest in teaching online. Academic advising, service assignments, research/creative, and professionally related projects are expected.