Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

Columbia U: Director, Office of International Students & Scholars (USA)

“JobDirector, Office of International Students and Scholars, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Deadline: 30 August 2024.

The Office of International Students and Scholars at Teachers College, Columbia University is seeking a Director who will lead the team responsible for immigration advising and support of international students and scholars. Reporting to the Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Global Affairs, the Director of the Office for International Students and Scholars will be responsible for implementing and overseeing all related services and support which includes but is not limited to planning, collaborating, and coordinating activities within the office’s overall scope. The Director will also be responsible for interpreting, establishing and disseminating institutional policies and procedures in accordance with federal regulations, serving as the College’s expert on policies relating to F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors, and supporting the College’s ongoing development of international student pathways and engagement.

Japanese American Community Foundation Grants

GrantsGrants, JA Community Foundation, Oakland, CA, USA. Deadlines: Letter of inquiry, 31 July 2024; full proposal, 30 September 2024.

The JA Community Foundation funds nonprofit organizations in the United States serving the Japanese American and greater Asian American communities. They accept applications from all 50 states in the United States, and fund programs and projects that focus on senior health and services, history, arts and culture, and youth. All grantees are required to be registered 501c3 public benefit nonprofit organizations. Grant sizes range from $2,500 to $50,000 for new projects or improvements to existing programs. Grants cannot be used for ongoing operating costs. Grantees may not reapply for funding while a current grant is open.

International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations 2024

EventsInternational Day for Dialogue among Civilizations, as established by the United Nations in June 2024, will now occur on 10 June every year.

Underlining the need to raise awareness of the value of diversity of civilizations and promote dialogue, mutual respect, tolerance and global solidarity, the General Assembly today adopted by consensus a resolution declaring 10 June the International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations. The text titled “International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations” (document A/78/L.75) was adopted by consensus.

By the resolution, the Assembly also invited all Member States and other relevant stakeholders to commemorate the International Day appropriately, including through educational and public awareness-raising activities, and share best practices in this regard.

The representative of China, introducing the text, spotlighted multiple interlocking crises and widening peace and development deficits facing the world, which “is entering a new era of instability”, leaving humanity “at a crossroads of history”. Dialogue among civilizations effectively prevents discrimination and prejudice, enhances cooperation and trust, and strengthens solidarity. “There is no alternative to such dialogue,” he emphasized, adding that the UN will be holding the Summit of the Future in September to find systemic solutions to current challenges at this pivotal juncture in history. The text reaffirms that all civilizational achievements constitute a collective heritage of humankind, noting that civilizations flourish in contact with others. He underscored that dialogue among civilizations contributes to improved awareness of the universal values of humanity.

Speaking in explanation of position, the representative of the United States welcomed calls for intercultural exchange. However, he pointed out, the word “civilization” has no clearly defined meaning within international law or the UN system. In the present resolution, “we believe it to be synonymous with the idea of cultures”, he asserted, adding that valuing cultural diversity is a concept that the world has embraced. “No single Government can exercise a monopoly over identity,” he stated, urging for vigilance vis-à-vis how words like “civilizations” are used.

CFP: Institute of General Semantics Symposium on Communication, Consciousness, and Culture (USA)

“Collaborative

Call for papers and proposals for Communication, Consciousness, and Culture: A Symposium Sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, co-sponsored by the New York Society for General Semantics, Media Ecology Association, International Bateson Institute, Tomkins Institute, and the 404 Festival of Art and Technology, September 20-22, 2024, The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003. Deadline: 18 August 2024.

Organizers welcome papers and proposals that fit the symposium theme or that otherwise relate to the topics of general semantics, linguistics and semiotics, media ecology, communication and culture, science and the empirical method, epistemology and phenomenology, cybernetics and systems theory, technology and society, art and perception, cognition and consciousness, evolution and emergence, health and human potential, etc.

 

CFP: Civitates: Civil Space in Europe

GrantsCall for proposals: Civic Power: Protecting and Expanding Civic Space in Europe, Civitates, Brussels, Belgium. Deadline: 18 August 2024.

Civic Power – Anchor Grantees (Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and France). Civitates envisions democracy in Europe being strengthened by an independent civil society powered with the resources, constituencies and capabilities to protect and expand civic space and mobilise support for democratic principles, particularly at moments of emerging opportunity and threat.

Therefore, Civitates announces a call for proposals open to civil society organisations registered in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and France. With this call Civitates aims to build the readiness and power of civil society in the selected European Union countries to protect and expand civic and democratic space, particularly at key social and political moments. Civitates seeks to support civil society to anticipate transformative moments which present opportunities and threats for civic space and enable it to develop and implement strategies to address these. Civitates sees a need to support civil society to build the capabilities needed to meet such opportunities. This can help broader civil society to understand the emerging threats to their space but also enable coalitions in countries where that threat has already clearly manifested to prepare for social and political events that help them to push back against the trend.

Civitates would be looking to support at least one anchor group in each country to lead this work. Anchor grantee will be given flexible, core support up to 120,000 EUR over two years.

KC30 Critical Intercultural Communication Translated into German

Key Concepts in ICDContinuing translations of Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, today I am posting KC#30: Critical Intercultural Communication, which Rona Tamiko Halualani wrote for publication in English in 2014, and which Marlena Pompino has now translated into German.

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.

KC30 Critical Intercultural Communication in GermanHalualani, R. T. (2024). Kritische interkulturelle Kommunikation. (M. Pompino, trans). Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 30. Retrieved from: https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/kc30-critical-intercultural-communication-_german.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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Debate Spaces: Debate Program Director (USA)

“JobDebate Program Director, Debate Spaces, New York, NY, USA (hybrid). Deadline: 5 July 2024.

Based in New York City, the Program Director will serve two complementary roles: establishing debate teams at local partner schools while expanding and improving virtual programs for the international debate community. Success will require a Program Director who brings a passion for the organization’s mission and an ability to grow and improve debate education in both in-person and remote environments. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Program Director will play a key role in designing, strategizing, and implementing unique and impactful debate opportunities that further Debate Spaces’ mission.

Debate Spaces is partnering with local secondary schools to integrate debate education. Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, this means creating and coaching debate teams at two middle schools: designing and implementing curricula for public forum and parliamentary debate, facilitating practices, collaborating with school staff and parents, and coordinating competitions at local and virtual tournaments. In subsequent years, the partnership will grow to include high school programs, as well as extend debate education into the classroom.

The Program Director would also lead the development of new debate education initiatives that maximize the potential of virtual programs to promote cross-cultural exchanges. The Program Director will build bridges in the debate community through a network of collaborative practices and tournaments. Combined with the increased scale of our weekend Academy programs, these initiatives will extend world-class, cross-cultural debate education to more students in more places than ever before.

This is a hybrid position that requires both in-person and virtual day-to-day work. The start date for this position is mid-August and will continue year-round. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis with interviews likely to begin as soon as possible.

Debate Spaces is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers young people to advocate for themselves and their communities by cultivating critical thinking, empathy, and confidence through cross-cultural debate education. Founded in 2016 to create a space for middle school students to connect across social and economic divides in South Africa, Debate Spaces went global in 2020.

CFP: IN SITU Horizons of Sustainability (Croatia)

“Collaborative

Call for papers, IN SITU: Horizons of Sustainability: The Power of Creative Innovation for Transformation of Rural and Non-urban Futures, Šibenik, Croatia, 25-27 September 2024. Deadline: 8 July 2024.

IN SITU is a four-year project that combines research and experimental actions to advance the innovation-related practices, capacities, and potentials of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) based in non-urban and rural areas of the EU. The project aims to better understand their forms, processes, and governance needs and to advance the ability of non-urban and rural CCIs to act as drivers of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability. Ultimately, the aim is to contribute to a more informed and sustainable future for practitioners in cultural and creative industries based in non-urban and rural areas.

This first international conference of the IN SITU project will explore the transformative power of innovative approaches of cultural and creative agents in forging more equitable and sustainable communities beyond urban centres.

In this event, organizers wish to inspire new ways of learning from one another. They aim to create an intimate environment that enables meaningful discussions and networking opportunities across research, culture-based creative practice, and planning and policy-making spheres. Therefore, within the conference, they will create different spaces and opportunities to foster exchange and dialogue with non-conventional approaches that fully place participants in the context of the place where the event is located. This also means that the number of presentations will be limited to allow for these other approaches.

They invite proposals for presentations of papers and projects from scholars, researchers, artists, cultural practitioners, activists, policymakers and decision-makers from across the world and a broad range of disciplines. All proposals should make an original contribution to the topic of place-based innovation and the transformative power of the creative and cultural sector in forging more equitable and sustainable communities in rural and non-urban areas.

U West of Scotland Studentship: Politicizing of ESOL Learners (Scotland)

“Studentships“

Ph.D. studentship for The politicizing of ESOL learners: An ethnography of language, migration and politics in the classroom, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland. Deadline: 29 July 2024.

The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is seeking to attract a PhD candidate of outstanding ability and commitment to join its vibrant and growing programme of internationally excellent research. Meaningful participation in society and access to decent work are key tenets of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision in the UK. Despite the increasing demand for ESOL, practitioners have warned of the damaging effects of severe funding cuts and inconsistent policy. Critical scholarship has also highlighted the detrimental impacts of such language education for migrants, including its alignment with neoliberal agendas (Simpson 2015; Flubacher et al. 2018; Allan 2013), the enactment of surveillance of racialized groups (Khan 2016), and the enabling of exclusionary regimes of citizenship (Cooke & Peutrell 2019; Monforte et al. 2019). These critical assessments from both researchers and practitioners have led to a growing movement towards the explicit politicisation of ESOL, through increased engagement with political issues ranging from anti-racism and access to decent housing, to ESOL funding and provision.

Designed as a multi-sited ethnography across Further Education and the Third Sector, including ESOL classrooms and political events, this project seeks to explore the political stances, identities, and actions engendered through ESOL education. Focusing on migrant learners in Glasgow, the project aims to understand how their political engagement, or lack thereof, is responded to in the ESOL classroom. It also examines how the shifting policies, infrastructures, and practices of ESOL teachers and institutions impact students’ political stances within the broader context of migration and inequality in Scotland. Through this comprehensive approach, the project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of ESOL in promoting and/or discouraging political engagement and social inclusion among migrant communities.

The successful candidate should hold a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, or a related subject and have experience conducting research (e.g., Master’s dissertation). Experience and/or knowledge of qualitative, especially ethnographic methods, would be desirable. A working knowledge of popular migrant languages in Glasgow (such as Urdu, Arabic, Polish or Ukrainian) or professional experience in the ESOL sector would also be advantageous. The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate an interest in critical approaches to the study of language and society and be prepared to become an active member of the newly established UWS Centre for Research on Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship, and Identity.