Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order

The 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.

The Award is presented annually to the winner of a competition designed to stimulate the recognition, dissemination and critical analysis of outstanding proposals for improving world order.

Prize Amount
The Grawemeyer Award in World Order is accompanied by a prize of $100,000, which is presented in full during the awards ceremony.

Eligibility
Submissions will be judged according to 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.

Deadline
Entries must be submitted in four copies and accompanied by a nomination form, nominator’s letter, biographical sketch of nominee and agreement that the material will be placed in university archives. Non-English entries must be translated. All nominations for the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order should reach the University of Louisville by January 31, 2016 and all supporting materials (books, articles, speeches, reviews) are due by February 28, 2016. Nominated works must have appeared between January 2011 and December 2015.

For More Information
Nominations and requests for further information should be sent to:
Dr. Charles E. Ziegler
Faculty Director, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar
Director, Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order
Department of Political Science
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
USA
Email: ceziegler@louisville.edu

ABC Cape Town Regional Conference (South Africa)

Association for Business Communication 2016 Cape Town Regional Conference
Dates: 6 to 8 January 2016
Host: Terri Grant, Head, Professional Communication Unit (PCU), School of Management Studies (SMS), University of Cape Town (UCT)
Location: University of Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, on the tip of the African continent at the foot of the iconic World heritage site, Table Mountain, is proud to host the first ever Association for Business Communication (ABC) conference in Africa.

As a country with both first and third world conditions, characterised by pockets of world-class infrastructure and democratic institutions as well as huge inequality and poverty, South Africa grapples with the challenges faced by many developing nations.

The Professional Communication Unit in the School of Management Studies in the Commerce Faculty at the University of Cape Town is your official host. From the above, four major areas of interest emerge which underscore this conference: professional communication, management studies, business and commerce as well as education and scholarship.

With the advent of new media where, for instance, hundreds of YouTube videos and millions of tweets are posted every minute globally, companies and institutions struggle to control and manage their messages, both positive and negative. Viral communication allows every echelon of society access to environmental, social and financial data that in the past companies could control, gate keep and manage. Negative messages, in particular, could be delayed, re-scripted, even suppressed.

This so-called openness, however, did not warn many powerful constituents of the financial crash of 2008 (let alone contribute to its prevention), and the results of this meltdown are still being globally felt many years later. The conference seeks to be a meeting place for both scholars and workplace practitioners to discuss and debate a wide range of communicative and numerate topics.

FRAME MOOC on The EU and Human Rights

FRAME MOOC – The EU and Human Rights

“Whether you are an EU citizen or not, this course concerns you! The EU is a major global actor in the field of human rights. EU treaties state that human rights are a fundamental value of the Union, which must be a ‘silver thread’ in all its policies. The EU now acts within an impressive array of competences, and therefore has the potential to impact – positively or negatively – anyone’s human rights.

This EU and Human Rights course teaches the basics of human rights, placing the EU at the centre of investigation. The course will examine a number of key questions:
• What factors are key to making the EU a positive or a negative force for human rights? An example is the economic crisis: what impact has it had on people’s human rights in the EU and the world?
• Which actors, friends or foes, must the EU engage with to successfully promote human rights? Examples include NGOs, businesses, or other international organisations like the Council of Europe or the United Nations.
• In key policy sectors in which the EU is active, what is on balance the impact of the EU? Examples include trade, development, migration social policy or international crisis management.

All of the course activities aim to improve your understanding of how the EU, alone or in combination with other local or global, state or non-state actors, can better promote and uphold human rights worldwide.

The course is intended for anyone interested in human rights and the EU, human rights law, European law, European Studies, international relations, global governance, etc.

It is divided into four modules:
1: The EU and Human Rights: Value Promotion and Coherence
2: Promoting Human Rights inside the EU
3: Promoting Human Rights in EU External Action
4: Capitalising on Success and Remedying Flaws

This MOOC is based on the FRAME project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration. (Grant Agreement No. 320000)”

Source: http://www.eiuc.org/news-detail/items/frame-mooc-the-eu-and-human-rights.html

ABC Asia-Pacific Conference (China)

The 14th Association for Business Communication (ABC) Asia-Pacific Conference
November 27–29, 2015
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Guangzhou, China

We are living in the 21st Century of increased level of globalisation and internationalisation in which people of different countries, cultures and communities interact more frequently than ever. Along with this trend, communication across cultures also poses great challenges for both academics and practitioners alike in business and management contexts. The conference therefore aims to focus on the diversity and complexities of business communication across countries and cultures.

Click here for the full call for papers (submission deadline: June 30, 2015).

Study Abroad in Cuba with Adelphi University 2015

Winter break study abroad course in Cuba

Adelphi University’s journalism program is offering a 2-week study abroad course in Cuba this January. The course is worth 3-credits and open to undergraduate students from all universities.

This unique course, “Global Perspectives: Cuba in Transition,” introduces students to the transition underway in Cuba due to the recent opening of diplomatic and economic relations with the U.S.  From January 5 to 16, 2016, the class will travel to Cuba and visit Havana as well as some more rural parts of the western Cuban coastline.

Students will be interviewing, shooting video, capturing audio, reporting, writing and reading. They will be meeting government officials, dissidents, local business owners, media professionals and a host of citizen-driven organizations and ultimately engage with how Cubans and outsiders are already attempting to leverage and respond to this critical moment in history.

All-inclusive cost (flights, housing, food, tuition, activities, visa fees) is approximately  $6,900. Apply by October 1, 2015.

University of Colorado-Boulder job ad

The Department of Communication in the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado-Boulder invites applicants for a tenure-track, assistant or associate professor position with expertise in the study of Difference, Disagreement, or Conflict in Interaction in one of the following communication contexts: community, cultural/intercultural, interpersonal, environment, political, or mediated. A PhD in Communication or a closely related field that includes training in the analysis of discourse or interaction is required at the time of appointment, as is a record of excellence in teaching and research. We are looking for applicants who study practices and processes of interaction in actual contexts, and, potentially, are engaged in intervening and designing them.

The position involves 40% research, 40% teaching (i.e. 2 courses per semester) and 20% service, and it will start August 2016.  Salary will be commensurate with the level of experience. To apply candidates should submit a letter or application, a current CV, a copy of 1-2 published articles, evidence of teaching excellence, and contact information (email address and phone) for three qualified reviewers.  Applications are accepted electronically, position number F02924.

Review of applications will begin October 23rd, 2015 and will continue until the position is filled. For full consideration, letters of recommendation will be due no later than October 27th, 2015. Additional questions may be emailed to Professor Cindy White, Search Chair.

The College of Media, Communication and Information is the first new college at CU in 53 years. CMCI is at the forefront of the revolution in communication and digital technology, and is a distinctive, collaborative, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial enterprise where students engage with world-class faculty to learn, create and analyze media content in all its many forms.  CMCI is establishing a new standard for teaching and scholarship in communication, media and information, and we are seeking faculty to join our growing enterprise and who can contribute to building a diverse educational environment through research, teaching, and/or service.

The University of Colorado is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to building a diverse workforce. We strongly encourage applications from women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans. Alternative formats of this ad can be provided upon request for individuals with disabilities by contacting the ADA Coordinator.

CFP: Ebenezer Soola Conference on Communication (Nigeria)

3rd  EBENEZER SOOLA CONFERENCE ON COMMUNICATION

The conveners of the 3rd Ebenezer Soola Conference on Communication hereby invites abstracts and full papers from all academics and professionals in all fields of media and communication for presentation and discussion at the conference. Papers should however be based on the conference theme and sub-themes.

Theme:  COMMUNICATION, CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Date: September 27th – 30th, 2016.
Venue:  Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

The Problem: Change is the only thing that is constant in life. Nigeria, and indeed, the whole world are witnessing rapid changes in all spheres of life. The challenge facing humanity today is how these changes are managed. Change management has been defined as the application of the set of tools, processes, skills and principles for managing the people’s side of change to achieve the required outcomes of the change project or initiative. How do we combine communication with these tools, processes, skills and principles to achieve and sustain positive changes in our society? This is the problem that this conference seeks to engage.

Sub-Themes:
–       Communication, Change Management and People-Centred Development
–       Communication, Change Management and Transformation
–       Communication, Change Management and Government Reportage of its activities
–       Communication, Change Management and Corporate Reporting Culture
–       Communication, Change Management and Social Responsibility
–       Communication, Change Management and Gender Rights
–       Communication, Change and Risk Management in the Oil and Gas Sector
–       Change Management and the Broadcast Media
–       Change Management and the Print Media
–       Change Management and the Social Media
–       Change Management and the New Media of Communication
–       Change Management and the Traditional Media of Communication
–       Change Management and Political Communication
–       Change Management and Journalism
–       Change Management and Development Communication
–       Change Management and Sustainable Development
–       Communication, Social Fairness and Democratic Legitimacy
–       Communication, Conflict and Institutional Change
–       Communication, Community and Common Destiny

Arrival: Tuesday, September 27th 2016.
Conference days: Wednesday 28th – Thursday 29th, September 2016
Departure: Friday, 30th September 2016

Paper Submission Guidelines:
–       Abstracts should not be more than 200 words, typed single spaced with 12 points regular Times New Roman.
–       Abstracts should have title, name of author(s) and full contact details: institution, postal address, personal email address and telephone numbers.
–       Full papers should not be more than 20 pages A4, typed 1.5 spacing with 12 points regular Times New Roman using the APA style of referencing.
–       The first page of the paper should indicate the title, name of author(s), and full contact details: institution, postal address, personal email address and telephone numbers. All other pages of the paper must not feature any of these details.
–       Abstracts and full papers should be sent as an MS Word attachment to the conference email address: soolaconference@yahoo.com

Abstract Submission Deadline – 1st August 2016
Full Paper Submission Deadline – 1st September 2016

Publications
–         Papers that pass the process of blind, peer-review of journals shall be published in two reputable international journals, namely, the Journal of Communication and Media Research and the Journal of Communication and Language Arts.
–         Other papers will be published in a well-edited book. (Note: not a book of readings, but a thematic, educational and instructional book.)

For further information please contact:
Dr. Eserinune McCarty Mojaye
Secretary, Conveners Committee

Kent State University job ads: Global Communication

Two Tenure Track Assistant Professor Positions at Kent State University

The School of Communication Studies at Kent State University invites applications for two tenure-track positions at the rank of Assistant Professor.  Applicants for the first position must have a strong program
of research focusing on Health Communication (Position #996999). Applicants with a secondary focus in Global Communication or Organizational Communication are highly desirable.  Applicants for the
second position must have a strong program of research focusing on Global Communication (Position #989517).  Applicants with a secondary focus in Organizational Communication, Health Communication, or Mediated/Mass Communication are highly desirable.  Both tenure-track faculty members will have the opportunity to be involved and teach in the undergraduate and graduate programs in the School of Communication Studies in their respective areas.

The School is one of four in the College of Communication and Information, led by Dean Amy Reynolds.  The School has 16 full-time faculty members at the Kent Campus and administrative support including
marketing, technology, and international program coordinators.  The school also has 7 full-time faculty members at Regional Campuses. The School of Communication Studies serves approximately 850 undergraduate majors and 60 graduate students.  Academic programs include an undergraduate major with six concentration areas (applied, interpersonal, organizational, health, public/mediated, and global
communication), a social and behavioral science oriented M.A. program, a dual MA/MBA program, and a college-wide Ph.D. program.

Kent State is a comprehensive graduate and undergraduate, residential, Carnegie Doctoral Research Extensive University. It is located in Kent, Ohio, within 45 minutes of Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown. The University is the third largest in Ohio, with an enrollment of about 41,000 students.  Kent State University is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching among the nation’s top 74 public high-research universities, and ranked in the coveted first-tier of U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 edition of Best Colleges.  Kent State University is identified by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the Great Colleges to work for 2015.

We expect an employment start date of August, 2016.  The Ph.D. or equivalent is expected by the start of the semester of employment.  If the degree is not yet completed, the new hire will be initially at the
level of Instructor, and on a term basis.  Applicants should possess excellent publication and teaching credentials commensurate with years of experience. A strong commitment to academic and community service is also desired.  Salary will be commensurate with credentials and experience.  Kent State University offers benefits to same-sex and different sex domestic partners.

A letter of interest, vitae, three letters of recommendation, copies of (or links to) 2-3 representative published articles or chapters, a teaching philosophy, and any other information the candidate deems
relevant should be submitted online. The letter of interest should indicate a primary research interest area and linkages to any of the desired secondary research interest areas.

For more information, please contact Dr. Paul Haridakis, Search Committee Chair. Screening of applicants will begin December 1 and continue until the position is filled.

Kent State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and committed to a diverse community. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

Dominic Busch Profile

ProfilesDominic Busch is a Professor of Intercultural Communication and Conflict Research at Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany. He received his doctorate in 2005 at Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. From 2006 to 2011 he was a Junior Professor in Intercultural Communication at Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

Dominic BuschIn his research on intercultural communication, he explores the epistemological, ontological, and axiological premises of how intercultural communication is approached from an academic angle. To this end, he takes the perspective of discourse analysis. While research on intercultural communication often has strong disagreements between different paradigms, the minimum common ground is that culture and intercultural communication are talked about in both academia and in Western societies’ everyday life. Culture and intercultural communication are thus objects of discourse, and thus first and foremost discursive constructions. Several characteristics of the field of intercultural communication can be observed on the basis of this assumption:

Both everyday discourses and academic discourses around intercultural communication constitute themselves in such a way that their object never ceases to be perpetuated and never disappears – even if this might actually represent a plausible goal of dealing with it. Discourses are shaped by power structures and hegemonies, and this is how core understandings of intercultural communication emerge. Their permanent self-preservation can also be described by the phenomenon of the dispositive after Michel Foucault, as Dominic Busch shows in his 2013 book. Discourse on intercultural communication fabricates problems for which, at the same time, it always provides only partial solutions. Even the strongest paradigm shift cannot overcome this, but will always only reinforce the dispositive.

At the same time, the discourse on intercultural communication is never void of interests, and research is never strictly heuristic: the study of intercultural communication is always based on societies’ aspirations of an ideal coexistence. The perceptions of problems are impossible without visions of how things should actually be better. Visions, however, traditionally do not have a seat in social science research; they are often regarded as unscientific. However, we cannot really understand how research questions are framed and how studies in this field are arranged if authors and readers would not share ideals about how to deal with interculturality, ideals that are only subtly expressed in the texts.

In his research, Dominic Busch aims to show how research on intercultural communication seeks to deal with this dilemma. To this end, it is first necessary to uncover and identify the normative ideas on how to deal with interculturality – which can also be referred to as visions. Based on a discourse analysis of academic texts on intercultural communication over a period of 50 years, Dominic Busch shows in his article “The Changing Discourse of Intercultural Ethics” how these orientations change over time. Instead of a linear development, these re-orientations have been rather circular. Only in recent times a parallel diversification of different orientations in intercultural writings can be observed – along with a new disorientation and open search in an increasingly complex world, questioning old paradigms more and more.

A comparison with overarching social science paradigms and epistemologies, however, reveals how dominant these ethical orientations are. Social research is debating the implementation of post-qualitative research methods with the aim of avoiding exerting epistemic violence through research. This should involve authors reflecting more on their own positionality and instead of researching their partners, they should give voice to these partners themselves. In their article “New Methodologies – New Interculturalities?” Dominic Busch and Emilian Franco explore how papers in the research field of intercultural communication manage these issues by using new methods such as participatory research, autoethnography, and arts-based research. From a critical point of view, Busch and Franco find that many studies often do not really meet the standards of such methodologies. However, Busch and Franco show that, seen as parts of an ethical discourse on interculturality, these new methods serve as a basis for authors’ ethical and visionary reflections on a desirable way of dealing with interculturality.

Intercultural mediation is a powerful example of this visionary orientation in discourses on intercultural communication. A great many different disciplines share some interest in intercultural mediation: These include, for example, cultural anthropology, translation research, foreign language didactics, and political science research on international relations, in addition to research on intercultural communication and conflict management. Upon closer examination, these disciplines often conceive of intercultural mediation in very different ways. However, there is one common vision that unites them: that constructive pathways to intercultural understanding will always exist. This is reason enough from an ethical point of view to further promote and develop such fields of research. The Routledge Handbook of Intercultural Mediation by Dominic Busch provides an insight into this interdisciplinary field and its potentials.

Discourse analysis should therefore not be seen only as criticism, but always as a constructive prospect for development. Even more, the insight into the constructivist character of notions of cultures may open the opportunity (and the responsibility) to encourage forms of intercultural dialogue on a local and on a global level to discuss and to define notions of how positive (intercultural) coexistence may be designed. In these respects, Dominic Busch explores the potential of concepts like intercultural sustainability as well as contributions from cosmopolitanism to intercultural dialogue.

For more detailed information as well as a list of German language publications please visit Dominic Busch’s website.

Selected publications in English:

Busch, D. (Ed.). (2023). The Routledge handbook of intercultural mediation. New York: Routledge.

Busch, D., & Franco, E. (2022). New methodologies—New interculturalities? The visionary discourse of post-qualitative research on the intercultural. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1–13. DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2022.2133136.

Busch, D. (2021). The changing discourse of intercultural ethics: A diachronic meta-analysis. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 16(3), 189–202. DOI: 10.1080/17447143.2020.1803887.

Busch, D. (2019). Intercultural conflict mediation. In P. Moy (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies in communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

Busch, D., & Möller-Kiero, J. (2017). Sustainability and ethnic peace discourse: In search for synergies from bringing together discourses on intercultural communication and on global sustainability. ESSACHESS: Journal for Communication Studies, 10(1), 217-237.

Busch, D. (2016). Does conflict mediation research keep track with cultural theory? A theory-based qualitative content analysis on concepts of culture in conflict management research. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 181-207.

Busch, D., & Möller-Kiero, J. (2016). Rethinking interculturality will require moral confessions: Analysing the debate among convivialists, interculturalists, cosmopolitanists and intercultural communication scholars. Interculture Journal, 15(26), 43-57.

Busch, D. (2015). Conflict Management in Organizations. In A. D. Smith, X. Hou, J. Stone, R. Dennis, & P. Rizova (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of race, ethnicity, and nationalism (pp. 1–5). John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen340.

Busch, D. (2015). Culture is leaving conversation analysis, but is it really gone? The analysis of culturalist performances in conversation. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 39, 1-17.

Busch, D. (2015). Mediation. In J. M. Bennett (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of intercultural competence (pp. 608–611). Sage. DOI: 10.4135/9781483346267.n199.

Busch, D. (2012). Cultural theory and conflict management in organizations: How does theory shape our understanding of culture in practice? International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 12(1), 9–24. DOI: 10.1177/1470595811413106.

Busch, D. (2010). Shopping in hospitality: Situational constructions of customer–vendor relationships among shopping tourists at a bazaar on the German–Polish border. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(1), 72–89. DOI: 10.1080/14708470903452614.

Busch, D. (2009). What kind of intercultural competence will contribute to students’ future job employability? Intercultural Education, 20(5), 429–438. DOI: 10.1080/14675980903371290.

Work for CID:

Dominic Busch has written a guest post, Some Observations on Internal Social Discourses on the Recent Increase of Refugee Immigration into Germany, as well as KC76: Intercultural Sustainability and KC106: Intercultural Medication. He has translated KC1: Intercultural Dialogue, KC2: Cosmopolitanism, KC76: Intercultural Sustainability, and KC106: Intercultural Mediation, as well as Poster 6: Dialogue Defined and Poster 7: Social Justice / Social Harmony into German. He also frequently reviews translations into German.