Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

KC105 Acculturation Translated into Persian

Key Concepts in ICDContinuing translations of Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, today I am posting KC105: Acculturation, which Fatemeh Hippler (Kamali-Chirani) wrote for publication last year, and which she has now translated into Persian.

As always, all Key Concepts are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download. Lists organized chronologically by publication date and number, alphabetically by concept in English, and by languages into which they have been translated, are available, as is a page of acknowledgments with the names of all authors, translators, and reviewers.

KC105 Accommodation translated into PersianHippler, F. (2024). Acculturation [Persian]. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 105. Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kc105-acculturation_persian.pdf

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue publishes a series of short briefs describing Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue. Different people, working in different countries and disciplines, use different vocabulary to describe their interests, yet these terms overlap. Our goal is to provide some of the assumptions and history attached to each concept for those unfamiliar with it. As there are other concepts you would like to see included, send an email to the series editor, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. If there are concepts you would like to prepare, provide a brief explanation of why you think the concept is central to the study of intercultural dialogue, and why you are the obvious person to write up that concept.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Alex Szebenyi Profile

Profiles

Alex Szebenyi is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Acquaint, a platform dedicated to fostering global community and empathy through the practice of human connection.

Alex Szebenyi At Acquaint, Alex oversees the technology powering acquaint.org, where volunteers from over 100 countries train human connection skills and engage in 1-on-1 intercultural dialogue sessions. To date, Acquaint has facilitated over 15,000 hours of dialogue, supported by AI-powered communication training courses and a suite of additional tools designed to make the practice of human connection more accessible and rewarding.

Alex’s career began in neuroscience, researching chemosensory systems, before he transitioned to software engineering in fields such as AI and fintech. After holding positions at various startups, Alex most recently worked as a Principal Software Engineer at AssuranceIQ. In January 2024, he fully dedicated himself to Acquaint as CTO, having previously supported the organization part-time for several years.

Alex also leads Acquaint’s research framework, which aims to advance our understanding of human connection. Acquaint collaborates with multiple labs to conduct controlled experiments, studying areas such as empathy growth, intercultural listening skills, and the gap between expectations and reality in cross-cultural interactions. These insights feed back into the platform’s development, continuously improving the training tools and dialogue experience.

Alex is excited to connect with researchers and institutions studying human connection and intercultural dialogue. You can reach Alex by email or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Work for CID:

Alex Szebenyi is co-leader of an expert group for the Center.

CFP IAIR/IACCP 2025: Bridging Intercultural Divides in a Digitally Connected World (Australia)

ConferencesCall for submissions: Bridging Intercultural Divides in a Digitally Connected World, IAIR/IACCP, 28 June-1 July 2025, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Deadline: 6 December 2024.

The first joint meeting of the International Academy of Intercultural Relations (IAIR) and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) invites the submission of abstracts for its 2025 conference. The conference  theme of “Bridging Intercultural Divides in a Digitally Connected World” highlights the importance of researchers and practitioners coming together across disciplines, traditions, and geographic regions to address issues of cultural diversity and intercultural relations in an increasing digitally connected, but also an increasingly divided world. A key objective of both IAIR and IACCP is to build trust and connection among diverse peoples, and this theme highlights how such relationships (and the broader research areas) are challenged, but also enabled by changes in the global sociocultural and technological context.

In Dialogue: CID Occasional Papers 2: When the Letters Sing and the Numbers Jump: Education as a Space of Relationship

Key Concepts in ICDAfter a gap of several years, In Dialogue: CID Occasional Papers is back, with a thoughtful essay on applying intercultural dialogue to an educational context. We present: When the Letters Sing and the Numbers Jump: Education as a Space of Relationship by Maria Flora Mangano.

Occasional Paper 2: When the letters sing and the numbers dance by Maria Flora Mangano

 

This occasional paper aims to deepen the meaning of education as a space of relationship across, among, and beyond cultures, fields of study, and student ages. A “homemade” and “home based” one-to-one teaching of second-generation children and teenagers in difficulty is described. Vol-unteer, replicable, and feasible activities complementing formal education were conducted with and for students and their families. This approach may be a challenge for scholars and educators having little prior experience with children. Nevertheless, it provides potential for (re)thinking education as a combination of learning and teaching, involving indoor and outdoor cultural activities; it becomes an accessible and free space, where students, families, and teachers may meet and grow together.

Mangano, M. F. (2024). When the letters sing and the numbers jump: Education as a space of relationship. In Dialogue: CID Occasional Papers, 2. https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/2024/11/11/in-dialogue-cid-occasional-papers-2-when-the-letters-sing-and-the-numbers-jump-education-as-a-space-of-relationship/

As with prior publications, these will are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download. As with prior publications, the Occasional Papers may be downloaded, printed, and shared as is, without changes, without cost, so long as there is acknowledgment of the source.

If you are  interested in publishing in this series, contact the series editor, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. If you are new to CID, please provide a brief resume.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Arizona State U: Health at the Borders (USA)

“Job

Associate Professor of Health at the Borders, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. Deadline: open until filled (posted 18 October 2024).

The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (HDSHC) and the School of Transborder Studies (STS) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University invite applications for a full-time, tenured position as Associate Professor holding a joint appointment in the HDSHC and STS. Applicants’ scholarship and teaching should focus on health communication and southwest border issues. Salary will be competitive based on qualifications. They encourage applications from scholars who work at the intersection of health communication as it relates to migration, border-crossing, health disparities, patient-provider relationships, medical technologies, mental/behavioral wellbeing, resilience and quality of life, health campaigns, using AI to solve medical problems, and disrupting mis/disinformation that impacts health.

CIEE: Study Abroad London (UK)

“Job

Associate Director, CIEE London, UK. Deadline: 14 December 2024.

CIEE is a nonprofit study abroad and intercultural exchange organization that transforms lives and builds bridges between individuals and nations through study abroad and international exchange experiences that help people develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world.

The Associate Director oversees the planning and delivery of all CIEE programs in collaboration with the Centre Director. This includes coordinating tasks among team members, implementing guidelines and policies, monitoring logistics and operations, and supporting the finance and admin team. The position is also responsible for managing financial, accounting, and banking needs, ensuring compliance with administrative policies, and working with the Portland Financial Department to maintain financial controls and standards. Additionally, S/he supports the Center Director in managing CIEE’s UK-wide identity and is also responsible for HR, payroll, contracts, legal processes, and overhead budget and expenses of the Center.

Other positions with CIEE London are described here. These include Center Director for CIEE Melbourne and Center Director for CIEE Tokyo.

Cardiff U: Studentship in Politics, International Relations and Area Studies (UK)

“Studentships“Ph.D. Studentship: Politics, International Relations and Area Studies, Cardiff University,  Cardiff, Wales, UK. Deadline: 11 December 2024.

The School of Modern Languages (MLANG) at Cardiff University is delighted to offer a fully funded Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences (WGSSS) (ESRC DTP) studentship in the Global Language-Based Area Studies Pathway starting in October 2025.   Language-based area studies draws upon foreign language skills to explore the society, politics or culture of a particular country or region. Students may do research on Britain, Europe and its member states; African studies; China or Japan, nationalism and identity politics; justice and incarceration; multilingualism and social linguistics; international relations, security and comparative politics.

Applications on topics which require knowledge of, or a readiness to undertake study of one of the major European languages, Chinese or Japanese, are particularly welcome. Other languages may also be available via the University’s Languages for All programme or via hard language training.

KC19 Multiculturalism Translated into Simplified Chinese

Key Concepts in ICDContinuing translations of Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, today I am posting KC19: Multiculturalism, which Polina Golovátina-Mora and Raúl Alberto Mora wrote for publication in English in 2014, and which Yan Qiu has now translated into Simplified Chinese.

As always, all Key Concepts are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download. Lists of Key Concepts organized chronologically by publication date and number, alphabetically by concept, and by languages into which they have been translated, are available, as is a page of acknowledgments with the names of all authors, translators, and reviewers.

KC19 Multiculturalism translated into Simplified ChineseGolovátina-Mora, P., & Mora, R. A. (2024). Multiculturalism [Simplified Chinese] (Y. Qiu, Trans.). Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 19. Retrieved from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/kc19-multiculturalism_sim-chinese.pdf

If you are interested in translating one of the Key Concepts, please contact me for approval first because dozens are currently in process. As always, if there is a concept you think should be written up as one of the Key Concepts, whether in English or any other language, propose it. If you are new to CID, please provide a brief resume. This opportunity is open to masters students and above, on the assumption that some familiarity with academic conventions generally, and discussion of intercultural dialogue specifically, are useful.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

CrossCulture Programme Fellowships (Germany)

FellowshipsCrossCulture Programme Fellowships, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA), Germany. Deadline: 5 December 2024.

Each year around 55 Fellowship recipients from host organisations in Germany or in one of the over 40 partner countries gain experience in intercultural networks. Through occupational stays abroad, the programme enables and promotes actors from the cultural, educational, human rights, sustainability, scientific, and media sector to work together. The goal of the CrossCulture Programme is to strengthen lasting civil society networks between Germany and countries across the globe. The programme was launched in 2005 and now counts more than 1.100 alumni to its ever-growing network.

With the CCP Fellowships, the CrossCulture Programme (CCP) funds professionals and committed volunteers from more than 40 countries each year. During two to three months of work-related stays in host organisations in Germany or CCP partner countries, participants deepen their expertise, establish new contacts and acquire intercultural skills. In turn, the host organisations benefit from the expertise, regional knowledge and networks of the CCP Fellows. Participants can also attend transcultural workshops, networking and professional events hosted by the CCP. After returning to their daily working lives, participants then bring the experience they have gained into their home organisation.

CFP Meth@Mig: Between Data and Dialogue: Focusing on Participants in Migration Research (Germany)

ConferencesCall for submissions: 4th Annual Meth@Mig Workshop: Between Data and Dialogue: Focusing on Participants in Migration Research, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany, 3-4 April 2025. Deadline: 8 December 2024.

In migration research, as in social research more generally, the role of participants is critical in shaping both the data collected and the knowledge generated from it. Depending on the methodological approach and research question, participants may be seen as mere providers of information, or be involved as more active contributors and co-creators of knowledge. How researchers engage with participants profoundly influences the results, ethical considerations, and validity of studies. This also holds true with respect to long-established qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-mode approaches, but also considering methods building on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and digital behavioral data, where the continuum may run from the collection of digital traces of individuals that are not even aware of being studied to their voluntary, informed data donations.

Therefore, this workshop will focus on the role that participants may play in any stage of the research cycle, spanning from a project’s design phase to the dissemination of its results. This workshop aims to facilitate a discussion on how different methodologies influence the role of participants and gain insight into the ethical challenges that arise when involving or excluding them at different stages.

Possible topics that might be addressed include (without being limited to them):

  • Scientific Quality: How does the role of participants in research have an impact on overall scientific quality, including validity and reliability of the data and research results, and the rigor of data collection, analysis, or interpretation?

  • Ethical Considerations: What kind of complex ethical responsibilities (e.g., who is responsible for protecting participants and avoiding potential harm) and complex power relations (e.g., persistence of the power dynamics even though participants are actively involved in research) arise depending on the role of participants in research?

  • Practical Issues: What practical issues arise if participants have varying levels of engagement in the research process, including questions of dataset ownership, data management and protection, and entitlement to authorship of research outputs?

  • Impact of Methodological Innovation: What new complexities arise with the use of emerging methodologies and data sources?

Organizers welcome contributions from any methodological school or angle (e.g., qualitative, survey-based, mixed, relying on digital trace data) that critically explore the role of participants in research, examining the ethical and methodological implications of treating participants as data providers versus involving participants as active collaborators in the research process. A clear methodological focus is required for all contributions.