Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

CFP: Building Structures for Intercultural Integration (Cyprus)

Professional Opportunities

Call for proposals: Building structures for intercultural integration in Cyprus. Deadline: November 21, 2021.

 

The Council of Europe is looking for consultants to undertake the development of a prototype methodology to monitor social cohesion at the local level in Cyprus in the framework of the project “Building structures for intercultural integration in Cyprus”. This project aims to support the Republic of Cyprus in implementing its National Action Plan on the Integration of Third-Country Nationals 2020-2022, by empowering local authorities, NGOs, and migrant organisations to be part of the integration process.

The project will use the COE’S Intercultural Cities tools to address the challenges of migrant integration, in particular related to building trust, fostering community cohesion and managing diversity as a resource…A Provider is to be selected to develop a methodology and test it via a prototype tool to monitor social cohesion at the local level in Cyprus. The goal of this methodology is to enable the project stakeholders to measure the impact of integration actions.

U Victoria Centre for Global Studies Fellowships 2022-23 (Canada)

Fellowships

Multiple research fellowships, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

The Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria offers multiple fellowships. Most are for their own students and faculty, but there are several sorts available to international graduate students and faculty. Specifically:

Visiting Graduate Student / Postdoctoral Researcher: These fellowships support students in the research stages of their program. The CFGS promotes critical citizenship in a complex and rapidly changing global environment including the advancement and understanding of major global issues by civil society, the private sector, governments, and international institutions. Students are invited to apply who are engaged in similar topics of a global dimension. These topics may include, but are not limited to: global governance, international environmental challenges, social and ecological justice issues, and culture and identity. Applications from all disciplinary backgrounds are welcome.

Visiting Researcher Fellowship: The purpose of the fellowship is to provide research space and an environment conducive to writing and reflection to scholars working on research projects in the area of global studies. The fellowships are open to Canadian and international scholars; emeritus scholars; new scholars; scholars on sabbatical leave from their regular academic appointments. Consideration will also be given to professionals in NGOs and other related fields.

CFP Communication, Conflict & Peace (UK but Online)

ConferencesCall for Papers: Communication, Conflict and Peace, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies, Liverpool Hope University, June 27, 2022, Online. Deadline: April 1, 2022.

Global transformations fostered by the decentralization of communications from mainstream media and governance institutions to a plural range of socioeconomic actors and stakeholders have shaken the foundations of social consensus, truth and objectivity in the construction of public spheres. Such transformation has posed unprecedented challenges to conflict management and peacebuilding, multiplying risks of instability and war, but also the spaces for the construction of collective meanings and the voices shaping them.

As the international community struggles to find consensus and challenges to peace and security risks multiply, the aim of this event is to explore the relationship between communication broadly conceived, and the challenges and possibilities for peace. Organizers will receive papers from scholars, practitioners and activists on all the dimensions of communication and conflict. Registration will be free of charge.

Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen: A Video Game for Fostering Positive Intercultural Relationships

Guest PostsA video game for fostering positive intercultural relationships. Guest post by Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen.

On an overall level, playing the game resulted in significant attitude change towards outgroup members.

In a culturally and racially diverse world, it is important for people to be able to live together harmoniously. Being respectful of cultural differences and fostering a genuine curiosity to better understand how and why other people are different from ourselves is one way to bridge the gap between self and others. This was the underlying motivation to create the prosocial game, Icebreaker. Icebreaker is a short role-playing game where players take on the role of the protagonist, an ice gatekeeper whose family has been tasked with protecting the village from an annual disaster known as ‘The Freezing.’ The goal of the game is for players to discover the true cause for this annual occurrence and to stop the event for good. The game design is primarily driven by narrative design integrated with interactive play. Certain tasks in the game require the player to work together with a banished villager, whose race has been blamed for being the cause of the disaster.

Download the complete essay as a PDF.

Film Competition: African Folktales Reimagined

Applied ICD

Short Film competition, African Folktales, Reimagined, UNESCO and Netflix. Deadline: November 14, 2021.

 

Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across Sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a US$75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”. Specifically, each of the 6 winners will receive a production grant of US$75,000 (through a local production company) to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. In addition, each of the 6 winners will also receive US$25,000.

One key aim of this competition is to discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale. Organizers want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa’s most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries. For the first round, applicants will be required to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) as well as links to a recent CV and a portfolio/evidence of any past audiovisual work they have produced.

Additional press coverage by The Guardian, and Variety.

CFP IMISCOE: Migration & Time (Norway)

ConferencesCall for papers: 19th IMISCOE Conference: Migration & Time: Temporalities of Mobility, Governance, and Resistance, June 29-July 1, 2022, Oslo, Norway. Deadline: 15 December 2021.

Migration is intertwined with time in myriad ways and at multiple scales. In individual lives, migration propels change over time and entails engagement with personal pasts and futures. Time and temporalities are structuring migration experiences, when refugees are granted temporary protection, labour migrants are offered temporary employment and rights of residency, and undocumented migrants are living with uncertainties for the future. The governance of migration is also the governance of migrants’ relations to and experiences of time. Governance of migration happens in time – sometimes in the form of rapid changes in times of “crisis”, but perhaps also through postponement when the urgency has passed.

Attention to time and temporalities illuminates processes of othering and patterns of inequalities, as well as forms of resistance and adaptations to policies and institutions. The rapid changes in laws, regulations, policies and practices of migration also have repercussions on the topics, theoretical approaches, and methodologies of migration scholars. These and other perspectives on time and migration have flourished as part of the emerging ‘temporal turn’ in migration studies. The theme ‘migration and time’ brings out disciplinary, methodological and theoretical diversity of migration research with a shared focus.

Finding Common Ground: ICD among Youth in North Macedonia (North Macedonia but Online)

EventsFinding Common Ground: Intercultural Dialogue among Youth in North Macedonia, by Marija Krstevska,  Online, November 15, 2021, 12 pm ET.

The Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the Harriman Institute invite you to a talk with Marija Krstevska, Secretary General, Center for Intercultural Dialogue, North Macedonia (held online). Krstevska will discuss her trajectory as a girl raised in a mono-ethnic environment to a young advocate for intercultural acceptance. She is the Secretary General of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, a youth organization in Kumanovo, North Macedonia. Through that organization, she has created learning opportunities within non-formal education for diverse groups of learners, advocated for direct involvement in community decision-making, and supported youth participation through inclusive policies. She will discuss the importance of active citizenship, capacity building, and non-formal education in fostering intercultural dialogue among youth. Marija is a participant in the 2021-22 Human Rights Advocates Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights

Moderator: Lara J. Nettelfield, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Human Rights, Institute for the Study of Human Rights and Department of Political Science

For Zoom login, register here: https://bit.ly/HRAPNMacedonia

CFP Migration Studies

“Publication

Competitive call for book proposals on Migration studies, for IMISCOE’s book series with Springer. Deadline: 31 October, 2021.

The IMISCOE Network has launched a Competitive Call 2021 for ground-breaking new manuscripts (whether authored or edited). The Call is Open Topic in the broad and inter-disciplinary field of Migration Studies. The participation is open to both new and established scholars in the field of Migrations Studies while the main criterion is the excellence of the proposal. Authors/Editors who are within the first 5 years from their PhDs are especially encouraged to apply. The best book proposal will be offered a total Open Access fee waiver. All other proposals submitted under the call can be considered for publication under the standard conditions of the series. Authors or editors submitting under this Call should plan to have their full manuscript ready by the end of 2022.

Established to promote research emanating from the IMISCOE Research Network, the IMISCOE publication series has since become one of the main migration related publication series in Europe and beyond, with over 110 titles published since its launch in 2006. It presents empirical and theoretical scholarship addressing issues of migration management and migrant integration in Europe, from different disciplinary perspectives, and with a special interest in new and innovative topics and methods of research. Authored by experts in the field, the works provide a rich reference source for scholars, students, and stakeholders.

Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen Profile

ProfilesVivian Hsueh Hua Chen (Ph.D. Arizona State University, 2006) is an associate professor in Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

 

Vivian Hsueh Hua ChenShe is currently the chair of the Game Studies division for the International Communication Association and an associate editor for the Journal of Media Psychology. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication and Journal of Information Society.

Dr. Chen’s research interests include how technology brings changes in communication behaviors and facilitate both negative and positive individual and social outcomes, as well as the social and psychological impact of interactive digital media, which includes video games, virtual reality, and social media. She investigates the ways in which individuals negotiate their identities and social relationships through intercultural interaction both in real life and in virtual environments. Dr. Chen has worked on several interdisciplinary projects that look specifically at the design of interactive digital media, such as serious games and virtual reality to facilitate positive intercultural communication.

Selected publications:

Chen, V.H.H., Ibasco, G.C., Lew, V.J.X, & Lew J.Y.Y. (2021). The effect of VR avatar embodiment on improving attitudes and closeness toward immigrants. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 705574.

Chen, V.H.H., Ahmed, S., & Chib, A. (2021). The role of social media behaviors and structural intergroup relations on immigrant stereotypes. International Journal of Communication, 15, 4085-4108.

Chen, V.H.H., Chan S.G.M., & Tan Y.C. (2021). Perspective-taking in virtual reality and reduction of biases against minorities. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(8), 42.

Chen, V.H.H., Koek, W.J.D., Ibasco, G.C., Beatrice, F., & Chib, A. (2022). The effect of intergroup contact in gaming on improving empathetic feelings and reducing stereotypes toward immigrants. 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

Koek, W.J.D., Yu, V., & Chen, V.H.H. (2022). Understanding meaningful play and its link to prosocial attitudes. 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

Work for CID:

Vivian Chen wrote KC22: Cultural Identity, and a guest post, A video game for fostering positive intercultural relationships.

School for International Training: Multiple Positions (International)

“Job

Multiple faculty and administrative positions, School for International Training and/or World Learning, Inc., Brattleboro, VT, USA. Deadlines: Various. 

The School for International Training (SIT) and their parent organization, World Learning, Inc., both based in Brattleboro, VT, USA, are advertising for multiple positions, some academic and others administrative, around the world. SIT Study Abroad Academic Directors manage SIT’s undergraduate study abroad programs located in 42 countries worldwide. The program themes vary from development and social change to arts, environmental studies, post-conflict transformation, health, and human rights. All SIT Study Abroad programs emphasize field study while examining critical global issues in keeping with the broader organizational missions of peace and social justice. SIT’s educational model focuses on cultural immersion as its primary heuristic component and uses theories of experiential education to inform its curricula and augment student learning. The academic centerpiece of most SIT Study Abroad semester programs is the independent study project. This component weaves together theory and practice and synthesizes the other program coursework. Specific positions available at this writing include: Academic Director – Chile; Academic Director – Senegal; Academic Director – Tunisia; several program coordinators in Iraq; program officers in Washington, DC; and traveling faculty positions in food, human rights, health, climate, and cities).