Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, the Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, manages this website.

World Council for Intercultural & Global Competence: Virtual Intercultural Competence (USA but Online)

EventsWorld Council for Intercultural & Global Competence: Virtual Intercultural Competence Symposium, 3 October 2022, 4-7pm (Eastern time). Online.

Virtual Intercultural Competence learning has grown tremendously as a response to the sudden lack of in-person mobility during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that a return to physical mobility is occuring, how can we continue to promote and perfect the use of virtual options, especially as a way to further intercultural competence development, enhance classroom learning and connect communities? In this half-day symposium, the Virtual ICC working group of the World Council of Global and Intercultural Competences invites all to join in open spaces for discussion and learning, to hear about promising Virtual ICC practices across cultures and disciplines, and discuss how to establish virtual ICC learning as part of a toolbox of valuable ICC strategies. Future ICC learning needs to address various spaces, approaches, and forms of collaborative, experiential learning so that people from all over the globe can learn from and with each other in building a better world together.

Humanities Research Fellowships: Study of the Arab World (UAE)

FellowshipsHumanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World, NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Deadline: 3 October 2022.

The New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute invites scholars who wish to contribute to the vibrant research culture of NYUAD’s Saadiyat campus to apply for a residential fellowship, starting September 2023. The Institute welcomes applications from scholars working in all areas of the Humanities related to the study of the Arab world, its rich literature and history, its cultural and artistic heritage, and its manifold connections with other cultures. This includes, among others, Islamic Intellectual History and Culture, any areas of particular relevance to the MENA region, as well as projects thematically connected to existing research projects and initiatives at NYUAD’s divisions of Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences.

Both distinguished scholars with an established reputation and promising scholars who are at the beginning of their career can apply for a research fellowship. The program awards one-year fellowships.

Pratha Shetty Profile

ProfilesPratha Shetty is an interculturalist based between France and India. She is an intercultural trainer with Ceran, in Paris and Ethnosynth, in Pune.

Pratha ShettyShe has been a visiting faculty member in EM Normandie in France and has conducted intercultural programs for Dassault Systemes, Naval Group, and Forvia, to name a few positions. Raised in a diverse country like India, Pratha was inspired by the cultural adaptability that people exhibited to function harmoniously. She wanted to be a catalyst in making intercultural interactions easier and that’s when she decided to be an interculturalist.

She is the host of a show called Intercultural Conversations. Her goal with the show is to help people understand each other by giving them cultural context. She is also the author of the children’s book When I Grow Up, which is an activity book that helps them learn about inspiring women from different cultures. 

For further details, see her LinkedIn profile.

Work for CID:
Pratha Shetty wrote Constructing Intercultural Dialogues #13: A Dialogue about Caste: Managing Uncomfortable Conversations.

U Sheffield: Research Associate: Intersectional Inclusion (UK)

“Job

Research Associate, Storying Life Courses for Intersectional Inclusion: Ethnicity and Wellbeing Across Time and Place, University of Sheffield, UK. Deadline: 26 September 2022.

The Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield is looking to recruit a Research Associate with expertise in advanced quantitative methods and a commitment to tackling inequalities. You will work on a new ESRC Research Project: Storying Life Courses for Intersectional Inclusion: Ethnicity and Wellbeing Across Time and Place, funded under its Inclusive Ageing programme. This change-oriented project aims to transform both understanding of inclusive ageing, and the prospects for new policy and practice approaches to achieve it. Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant discipline with strong communication skills, both written and verbal with experience of conducting research within the area of ageing and the life course and/or race, ethnicity and migration.

Council of European Municipalities and Regions: Communications Officer (Switzerland)

“Job

Communications Officer, Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), Geneva, Switzerland. Deadline: 25 September 2022.

The Communication Officer will be responsible to raise CEMR’s profile.
Your tasks will be:
• To communicate on CEMR’s activities and impact via press releases, social media, videos, or articles targeting EU institutions, Europe’s towns and regions and development cooperation stakeholders.
• To advise and support CEMR colleagues on how best to highlight their work in Brussels and beyond, convey succinct messages in their position papers on draft EU legislation, workshops, or
studies;
• Showcase CEMR members’ activities and good practices;
• Contribute to the work of transversal activities: publications, statutory affairs, Secretary General’s
cabinet, events, etc.
•To produce monthly newsletters for CEMR members.

You are requested to send your CV and application letter (CV in French, motivation letter in English), as well as at least 3 articles that you wrote in the past 6 months.

NOTE: The Council of European Municipalities and Regions is the largest organisation of local and regional governments in Europe. Its members are 60 national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 41 countries that are part of the Council of Europe.

How Sound Challenges Stereotypes

Applied ICD

Liu, Yuer. (2022, August 25). Soundscapes of the UAE: How Sound challenges stereotypes. Smithsonian Folklife Festival Blog.

A photographer uses their camera as a way of seeing the world. The audio recorder is my tool for hearing and understanding the world…A big part of the soundscape is about challenging people’s thinking and breaking down the barriers of misunderstanding.

-Diana Chester

The Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival in 2022 presented the sound installation, “Living Landscapes, Living Memories.” It was created by the artist Diana Chester and her team to present the sounds of the United Arab Emirates. Chester’s argument is that “careful listening can break down stereotypes.”

Multiple soundscapes are presented in the article as examples. Most of the sounds are based on the recordings by Chester and team, but “sound recordings act like time capsules,” as Al Jneibi, one of the team members, told the Festival audience, and so recordings of locations that no longer exist have also been included. “We perceive sounds through a cultural lens,” as pointed out by Al Blooshi, a third team member.

 

Advancing Intercultural Competence for Global Learners

Resources in ICD“ width=López-Rocha, S., & Arévalo-Guerrero, E. (2022). Modules in Advancing Intercultural Competence for Global Learners.

This is an open access resource is divided into three interconnected modules to nurture your intercultural competence more holistically.

Module 1: Creating Intercultural Awareness and Understanding Attitudes
Where you learn about what influences people’s judgements and identify strategies to suspend judgement while appreciating other perspectives.

Module 2: Expanding Your Intercultural Knowledge
Where you explore and develop a greater understanding of values, the role of non-verbal communication in interactions, and the importance of expanding your knowledge of global issues.

Module 3: Developing Your Intercultural Skills
Where you identify ways to develop and enhance your intercultural skills, including reflection, communication, critical thinking, and ways to approach interactions.

The estimated time-to-completion is four hours per module, totalling 12 hours for the entire program.

There is also a French version available.

Howard J of Communications: Special Issue Proposals Solicited

“PublicationCall for proposals of future special issues of Howard Journal of Communications. Deadline: none given; request posted 29 August 2022.

The Howard Journal of Communications calls for submission of proposals for special issues. The journal plans to publish special issues annually. Each issue shall include manuscripts that are selected through a competitive process and undergo review via the journal’s database of reviewers. Senior scholars, who have published multiple pieces in refereed journals, are invited to submit proposals for special issue(s). Key requirements for submitting a proposal include the following:

– Must be a published senior scholar in the journal’s interest.
– Must be involved in securing contributors to a special issue that you propose.
– The proposal must provide a compelling argument for the importance of the communication issue to the journal’s audience at this time.
– Provide a draft call for papers in your designated special issue area.
– An outline timetable for delivering the special issue.
– Your proposal should identify possible contributors to the special issue.

Submit your proposal to Chukwuka Onwumechili.

National Humanities Center: Fellowships for 2023-4 (USA)

FellowshipsResidential Fellowships, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. Deadline: 6 October 2022.

Scholars from all parts of the globe are eligible; stipends and travel expenses are provided. Applicants must have a doctorate or equivalent scholarly credentials. Mid-career and senior scholars are encouraged to apply. Emerging scholars with a strong record of peer-reviewed work may also apply. The Center does not support the revision of doctoral dissertations.

In addition to all fields of the humanities, the Center accepts applications from scholars in the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects. Thanks to generous support from funders and partners, the Center is able to offer dedicated fellowship support for faculty from HBCUs and scholars of early modern China and its world.

Example of Multicultural Confusion: English-French Toast

Intercultural Pedagogy

This image is of “English-French toast,” also identified as American and German, marked with the Spanish flag and an image of (Italian) pizza, marketed to the Japanese, and made in China.

This astonishing photo showed up on my Twitter feed, and I was sure others would find it fascinating as well.

English-French toast
Intercultural incompetence and/or misappropriation (?)

The person who posted it, Dr. Duane Watson, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, used it as illustration of what a manuscript can look like after multiple rounds of reviews. But to me, this is a great example of the role of food in intercultural communication, as well as multiculturalism gone wild.  Dr. Byron Ahn, a professor of linguistics at Princeton, mentioned in a comment that, in addition to the English words “English,” “French,” and “American” that show up, the Japanese script translates to “German style.”  And there’s a Spanish flag, and an image of a pizza (presumably Italian), with the word “pizza” next to it. (Is the suggestion perhaps that   buyers might use French toast as the bread layer for a pizza?) So it’s American-Spanish-Italian-English-French-toast made in the German style, marketed to the Japanese, and made in China.

The image is posted here with thanks to both Watson and Ahn, and for anyone who needs a smile today, or who needs an example guaranteed to spark some class discussion.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue