Category: Applied ICD

Comics for Equality wins Intercultural Innovation Award

This video presents the Comics for Equality project, which won the Intercultural Innovation Award 2014, a partnership between United Nations Alliance of Civilisations and BMW Group. The project was selected from more than 600 projects worldwide and will be part of one-year capacity-building program.

✔ Take a look at the website: http://www.comix4equality.eu
✔ Join them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Comix4equality

The project ComiX4= is led by Africa e Mediterraneo (Italy), in partnership with NGO Mondo (Estonia), Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (Bulgaria), ARCA (Romania), Grafiskie stasti (Latvia), Hamelin Associazione Culturale (associate partner-Italy) and Multi Kulti Collective Association (associate partner – Bulgaria).

The project aims to foster intercultural dialogue to combat racism, xenophobia and discrimination in Europe, with a particular focus on Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Romania and Latvia. In order to achieve this aim, the project seeks to involve migrants and second-generation immigrants – often the subjects of discrimination – in the creation of an artistic resource – comics – to be used to combat racism and xenophobia.

The main activities are the ComiX4= Comics for Equality Award – a competition for the best unpublished comic strip authors with migrant backgrounds, an interactive website, a “Comics Handbook” for creative workshops in informal education, an itinerant exhibition and comics’ workshops across Europe.

With financial support from the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme of the European Union – 2012/

Case Studies in Intercultural Dialogue

Case Studies in ICD
The book Case Studies in Intercultural Dialogue has just been published by Kendall-Hunt. It is edited by Nazan Haydari and Prue Holmes. The book focuses on the important and under-investigated concept of intercultural dialogue. It draws on cases of intercultural communication in which there is a dialogue, conflict or misunderstanding, and presents approaches, theories, and analytical tools that can be used to productively understand and/or resolve the issues presented in each case study.

This edited collection covers a wide range of research topics drawn from peace building, arts and media, education, anthropology, new communication technologies organizational communication, and more. The format of Case Studies in Intercultural Dialogue encourages readers to engage in discussion from different perspectives through various methodological and theoretical approaches to problems, opportunities, and ethical issues of intercultural communication.

The collection had its genesis in the NCA Summer Conference on Intercultural Dialogue, held in Istanbul in 2009, with half the chapters resulting from that event, and the other half the result of an international call for proposals. The table of contents follows:

Introduction: Contextualizing ‘Intercultural Dialogue’ and the ‘Case Study’ by Nazan Haydari & Prue Holmes

Part I: Building Spaces for Dialogue
Facilitating Intercultural Dialogue Through Innovative Conference Design by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz

Part II: Dialogue for Peace Building and Reconciliation
Community Driven Peacebuilding Approaches: The Case of Postgenocide Rwanda by Eddah Mbula Mutua
Dialogue across the Divide: Bridging the Separation in Cyprus by Benjamin Broome

Part III: Building Dialogue in / for Education
Multiculturalism, Contact Zones and the Political Core of Intercultural Education by Susana Gonçalves
Dialogue as a Common Ground between, across and beyond Cultures and Disciplines: A Case Study of Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Communication Lectures for Graduate and Undergraduate Students by Maria Flora Mangano
Developing Cosmopolitan Professional Identities: Engaging Australian and Hong Kong Trainee Teachers in Intercultural Conversations by Erika Hepple
Challenges in International Baccalaureate Students’ Intercultural Dialogue by Gertrud Tarp

Part IV: Building Dialogue through Arts and Media
Bollywood in the City: Can the Consumption of Bollywood Cinema Serve as a Conduit/ Site for Intercultural Discovery and Dialogue? by Ruma Sen
Storms, Lies & Silence: Beyond Dialogue-Based Models of Intercultural Contact by David Gunn

Part V: Building Dialogue in/ through Research
Anthropology as Intercultural Critique: Challenging the Singularity of Islamic Identity by Tabassum “Ruhi” Khan.
Community Autoethnography: A Critical Visceral Way of “Doing” Intercultural Relationships by Sandra L. Pensoneau-Conway, Satoshi Toyosaki, Sachiko Tankei-Aminian & Farshad Aminian-Tankei

Part VI: Building Dialogue in Everyday
The Voices of Hispanic Emerging Adults in New Mexico and Oklahoma by David Duty

Part VII: Building Dialogue at the Institutional / Organizational Level
“Why did it All Go so Horribly Wrong?”: Intercultural Conflict in an NGO in New Zealand by Prue Holmes
Leadership in Intercultural Dialogue: A Discursive Approach by Jolanta Aritz & Robyn C. Walker

Part VIII: Building Dialogue through New Information Technologies
Le Francais en (premiere) Ligne: Creating Contexts for Intercultural Dialogue in the Classroom by Christine Develotte & Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
The Potential of Diasporic Discussion Forums for Intercultural Dialogue and Transcultural Communication: Case Studies in Moroccan and Turkish Diasporas in Germany by Çigdem Bozdağ

Assessing Intercultural Competency – Part II – by Trudy Milburn

Guest PostsAssessing Intercultural Competency – Part II
by Trudy Milburn

Hello.
(Hi)
What’s your name?
(Response)
Where did you go to school?

If your student produced this as evidence of a cultural practice, how would it rate on this AAC&U Intercultural rubric criterion?

“Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.”

At first blush, the interaction sequence might seem part of any typical introduction between two people who are meeting one another for the first time. Therefore, a student who produces this might appear to be “developing” on the low end of a graduated scale with a “target” level on the higher end. An instructor may evaluate the statement as evidence of a student’s initial awareness of an interactional pattern, but as lacking a nuanced understanding that its production may indicate a culturally significant pattern. However, perhaps there is more going on with this interactional sequence than one may initially assume.

If we heed Yep’s (2000) suggestion and consider both personal and broader social histories and how these intersect, we might re-consider the produced interaction from different subject positions. Consider these additional contextual features.

While traveling with students in Northern Ireland, we heard tour guides describe a greeting ritual that included the following parts: first asking, “What’s your name?” and then, “where did you go to school?” The guide explained that learning as much as you could about your interlocutors during introductions was very important throughout the tensest moments of the Conflict. It was considered vitally important to be able to quickly position a newcomer within an appropriate category, as Catholic or Protestant. Knowing relevant category could produce fear or solidarity. One guide described that he believed people with saint names were denied access to jobs. Therefore, upon meeting someone, if one heard (or did not hear) a saint name, the follow up question was used to ascertain if the individual attended a Catholic School or not. It was this practice that led one to know on which side of the Conflict the new person was most likely to be. It may have also led to further discriminatory practices.

Coming back to the notion of assessing intercultural competence, how, then does one evaluate a student who attempts to demonstrate intercultural competence by producing such an interactional sequence? While the rubric criterion above includes many features that are valuable to consider, including the social, historical and political contexts of various communicative practices, it leads us into the same trap that Yep (2000) warns about, creating cultural “others.” Even if one notices the interaction sequence from the vantage points of the interlocutors who enact it, where does the student stand in relation to this sequence? One suggestion is that as instructors, we can help students to reflect on how noticeable practices might illustrate a belief within the student’s own culture. It may be that this interaction sequence may be so typical within one’s own culture as to initially go unnoticed. In fact, as instructors who are conducting intercultural assessment, perhaps we should consider our own potential biases towards such practices and consider how our cultural beliefs influence both how we instruct as well as how we assess intercultural competency.

In my next post, I will consider the types of methods used for assessing intercultural competence as well as the role of assessors in this work.

Reference
Yep, G. A. (2000). Encounters with the ‘other’: Personal notes for a reconceptualization of intercultural communication competence. CATESOL Journal, 12(1), 117-144.

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EuroVision – Museums Exhibiting Europe (EMEE)

EuroVision: Museums Exhibiting Europe (EMEE) is a European museum development project for national and regional museums. It explores an innovative inter­disciplinary approach for museums to re-interpret their objects in a broader context of European and trans-na­tional history. The necessary theoretical and practical framework is developed, put into practice and evalu­ated by an international, trans-sectoral network brin­ging together the creative excellence of museums and cultural workers in a project based on the scientific ex­pertise of History Didactics in mediating culture. It will be presented to the visitor in the so-called ‘EuroVision Lab.’ exhibitions, using the motto: ‘One Object – Many Visions – EuroVisions’. The ‘EuroVision Lab.’ is experimental by nature and is taking place at all partner institutions. It involves a variety of different activities with public appeal (e. g. exhibition projects, cultural performances), which put into practice the concept of the ‘Change of Perspective’ (COP) for the Europeanization of regional and national museums. In order to deal with historical culture and historical identity the COP has three components:

COP 1: European re-interpretation of objects
As if they were looking through a range of different len­ses, experts and visitors discover that one and the same object can be perceived in multi-layered ways and con­texts. Hence, the COP 1 encourages visitors to actively be engaged in the European re-interpretation of objects by intersecting local, national, transnational and global perspectives.

COP 2: Activation and participation of visitors
The COP 2 practices the change of perspective between museum experts and visitors. The museum puts strate­gies to the test that lead away from its traditional pre­rogative of historical interpretation by encouraging the visitors to reflect and express their own approach to the museum contents. The steps range from the activating presentation of the objects to a synaesthetic exhibiti­on design and to accompanying cultural programmes in parts designed by visitors and even ‘non-visitors’.

COP 3: Broadening perspectives
The COP 3 is achieved by changing the perspectives by means of international and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, expertise and objects in order to overcome the narrowness of national and Eurocentric perspectives. In order to fulfill this aim, a European network of museum experts and cultural workers will be established.

In order to implement the “Change of Perspective“, the EMEE partners developed five so called toolkits. These manuals aim to mediate between theory and practice and to offer all interested museums instructions for innovative and creative concepts that are in support of the modernization and Europeanization of museum activities. The manuals can be downloaded for free from the project’s website along with the accompanying workshops.

The EMEE project also launched the EMEE Young Scenographers Contest which calls for young designers and scenographs to make the Change of Perspective visible in exhibitions.

Contact
Universität Augsburg
Lehrstuhl für Didaktik der Geschichte
Universitätsstraße 10
86159 Augsburg
Germany

Coordination: Prof. Dr. Susanne Popp
Project manager: Susanne Schilling M.A.

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How conducting assessment is similar to learning about new cultures

Guest PostsHow conducting assessment is similar to learning about new cultures.
By Trudy Milburn

As the new academic year gets underway, I’ve been thinking about the intersection between learning outcomes and assessment. In several posts, I will use examples from intercultural communication to illustrate some basic assumptions about culture and learning, and suggest ways to proceed.

First, consider the case of study abroad. Typically, instructors create basic goals for students engaged in this experience: to experience diverse cultures by engaging in observations, conversations and reflection. When I accompanied a group of students to Helsinki, Finland, my co-instructor and I provided a basic framework for students, suggesting how to learn about their upcoming adventure. For instance, we supplied them with Dell Hymes’ SPEAKING framework, to help them become more aware of practices that might be noticeable as culturally distinct. Consider a conversational exchange that occurred during our travels:

During a visit to a Finnish elementary school, we heard a U.S. student exclaim, “they’re wearing slippers to class!” Some jumped to immediate evaluations, “how lucky!” or “this must be a very lenient environment.” Others remained curious, “I wonder why they are allowed to do that?”

As instructors we noticed that the Hymes framework helped students to make initial observations about a way of acting (A). Upon reflection, I now recognize that they needed another way to articulate how this one observation fit into a larger cultural context before moving to evaluate if the observed behavior was good or bad. Carbaugh (2007) provides one such framework. To abbreviate [and change the steps slightly], he advocates that learning about other cultures begins with observations that lead to descriptions: what do you notice? After detailing the observation, one can compare the observation to other cultural practices that are known (often one’s own culture can serve as an initial basis for comparison). Following the comparison, one can start to inquire about the broader context within which the noticed behavior is a part. The social and cultural context that frames any one particular behavior helps us to understand how any given behavior can make sense, or be interpreted from the perspective of the people enacting that behavior. Finally, one can evaluate whether that behavior is valued or not within the given culture, as well as how it might be interpreted and valued or not within the comparative culture.

Let’s apply this to the slipper example above. First, U.S. study abroad students notice that Finnish elementary students wear slippers in class. They may notice this initially due to a comparison with their own experience: when they were in elementary school in the U.S. they did not wear slippers. Rather than jumping to the evaluation from the perspective of the comparative culture (that it is better or worse to wear slippers to class), they need to learn about the larger cultural context. Of which environmental and social factors is this behavior a part? In this case, the heavy winters and the value of playing outside for recess suggest reasons associated with the place where they are living as relevant to the interpretation of this practice. Because outdoor shoes would carry snow and slush into classrooms, they provide an area to stow outdoor winter-wear and don alternate indoor footwear, such as slippers and lighter articles of clothing. Recognizing these circumstances, the students would then dismiss any initial hypothesis that the teachers are more lenient than those in the U.S.

This example of intercultural discovery can serve as an analogy for outcomes assessment. When we are constructing a course, we may have a number of outcomes we hope students will achieve by the end of the course. In order to get to those outcomes, it might be useful for a student to recognize how those outcomes are different from current practice. The practices students bring with them to the classroom are based within particular cultural contexts. In order to demonstrate a new practice that is highly valued by the instructor, a student needs to begin to recognize the larger context within which this new practice is a part and within which it makes sense to engage in this new behavior.

In the next post, I will describe more about ways to create outcomes and assessments for intercultural communication.

References

Carbaugh, D. (2007). Cultural discourse analysis: Communication practices and intercultural encounters. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 36(3), 167-182. Available from:
http://works.bepress.com/donal_carbaugh/11/

Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

For further reading, please see:
http://www.cios.org/encyclopedia/ethnography/8references.htm

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Mira Awad on the concept of Bahlawan (acrobat)

Mira Awad describes the concept of Bahlawan- بهلوان, an Arabic term meaning an acrobat. Mira describes how it has felt to walk on a tightrope all of her life, from childhood in an Arab village in the north of Israel, to Tel Aviv, to the world stage. Her song Bahlawan uses the metaphor of being an acrobat to describe the need for balance in intercultural contexts.

With a Palestinian father and Bulgarian mother, she is now married to a Ukrainian who walks his own tightrope, given that he has one parent who is Christian and another who is Jewish.

Mira is a multidisciplinary international performer (singer, songwriter, actress) who has hosted tv shows. She established her own world music label called LabelFree, and also writes music for theater and film. She represented Israel at Eurovision 2009, together with Noa, and made it to the finals with the song There must be another way. A relentless peace activist, Mira is identified with the agenda of dialogue and co-existence, and uses performance to build bridges for resolutions.

Dorm Room Diplomacy

I just ran across an interesting example of applied intercultural dialogue that may be of particular interest either to students taking, or faculty teaching, courses on intercultural topics:

“Founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, Dorm Room Diplomacy fosters intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding among an international group of university students. Dorm Room Diplomacy employs videoconference technology to facilitate virtual exchanges that help students to see the individuals behind reductionist cultural stereotypes.

The videoconference program occurs each academic semester, and the same set of 8 students join in a virtual dialogue with a trained facilitator each week. Dorm Room Diplomacy is entirely student-run, encouraging students to take ownership over the dialogue process, establish campus chapters, and empower themselves and their peers. As a non-partisan organization, Dorm Room Diplomacy does not engage in political activities or advocacy, other than the promotion of intercultural dialogue. “

For more information, and for the source of this quote, go to the website for Dorm Room Diplomacy.

Intercultural Harmony grants

The Laura Jane Musser Fund would like to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between groups and citizens of different cultural backgrounds within defined geographical areas through collaborative, cross-cultural exchange projects. Projects must be intercultural and demonstrate intercultural exchange, rather than focused on just one culture. Applications will be accepted from September 17 through October 17, 2014.

PRIORITY IS PLACED ON PROJECTS THAT:
Include members of various cultural communities working together on projects with common goals
*Build positive relationships across cultural lines
*Engender intercultural harmony, tolerance, understanding, and respect
*Enhance intercultural communication, rather than cultural isolation, while at the same time celebrating and honoring the unique qualities of each culture

PROJECTS MUST DEMONSTRATE:
*Need in the community for the intercultural exchange project
*Grassroots endorsement by participants across cultural lines, as well as their active participation in planning and implementation of the project
*The ability of the organization to address the challenges of working across the cultural barriers identified by the project
*Tangible benefits in the larger community

LIMITS OF GEOGRAPHY:
Only programs in Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wyoming may apply.

PROJECTS ELIGIBLE FOR SUPPORT:
Intercultural Harmony projects can be carried out in a number of areas, including (but not limited to):
*The arts
*Community service
*Youth activities

OUTCOMES SHOULD INCLUDE:
*A demonstration of intercultural exchange between cultures
*Increased comfort in interaction between the groups and individual citizens addressed by the project
*Harmonious shared use of public space and community facilities
*Continued cooperation by the participants or communities addressed by the project

WHAT THE PROGRAM WILL COVER:
*New programs or projects within their first three years (up to $18,000)
*The planning and implementation phase of a project (up to $18,000)

WHAT WILL NOT BE FUNDED:
*Capital Expenses
*General Operating Expenses
*Ongoing Program Support

WHO CAN APPLY:
*Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations
*Organizations that are forming if they have a documented fiscal sponsor relationship
*Organizations located within one of the eligible states listed above

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Intercultural Innovation Award finalists 2014

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group have announced the 11 project finalists for the 2014 Intercultural Innovation Award. More than 600 applications were received from over 100 countries in a highly competitive selection process.

Since 2011, UNAOC and the BMW Group have engaged in a historic partnership geared towards creating a new model for collaboration. The two organizations established the Intercultural Innovation Award whose mandate is to select the highly innovative grassroots and sustainable projects of non-profit organisations that promote dialogue and intercultural understanding, while making vital contributions to prosperity and peace in global societies.

This year’s project finalists come from all over the world, representing countries across six continents. The many different regions they come from underline the importance of the Intercultural Innovation Award and its commitment to the worldwide promotion of intercultural diversity and understanding.

Finalists this year include:
Africa e Mediterraneo – ComiX4= Comics for Equality (Italy)
All Together Now – Everyday Racism (Australia)
Arcenciel – A Circus School in the Service of Intercultural Dialogue (Lebanon)
Association for Cultural Child and Youth Education in the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt – Equal for Equal (Germany)
Department of Culture and Leisure, Municipality of Simrishamn – More Than One Story (Sweden)
Fundacion CONSTRUIR – Intercultural Dialogue and Plural Justice: Strengthening Indigenous Justice (Bolivia)
Manav Seva Sansthan – Facilitating Informed and Safe Migration among Vulnerable Nepalese Migrants along the Indo-Nepal Border (India)
Post-Conflict Research Center – Ordinary Heroes (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Wapikoni mobile – International Network of Aboriginal Audiovisual Creation (Canada)
Welcoming America – Welcoming Cities and Counties Initiative (USA)
Youth Service Organization – Intercultural Dialogue Awareness Rising For Cooperation  (Rwanda).

The final podium will be announced within the framework of the 6th Global Forum of the UNAOC in Bali, Indonesia. The official award ceremony will take place on 28 August and will be chaired by President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, and Bill McAndrews, Head of Communications Strategy, Corporate and Market Communications, BMW Group, in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

TechChange course: Technology for Conflict Management

TechChange course

Course Description

During the last ten years access to mobile phones and internet has increased dramatically worldwide, including regions affected by conflict and violence. These developments provide conflict management and resolution professionals with a variety of new tools for monitoring violence, sustaining dialogue during peace processes, and localizing peacebuilding efforts. This course will cover the use of mobile phones, digital mapping, and social media in conflict management and peacebuilding. Case studies from Kenya, Syria, Uganda and Myanmar, live discussions with experts from international organizations, academia and government, and instructor moderated discussions will make up the core of the learning experience. Participants will also get hands-on experience with mapping software during a simulation the final week of the course. By the end of the course, participants should expect to have developed an understanding of how different pieces of technology work, be able to do basic assessments of technology integration for their organizations, and some basic hands-on experience with crowdsourcing technologies.

NOTE: This course is NOT offered by the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, but by TechChange. Visit their website for further information and to register.