Category: Events

Teaching Interculturality in Higher Education (Online Event)

EventsFurther thoughts on teaching interculturality in higher education during and after the COVID-19 crisis, 4 September 2020.

Following a very successful and stimulating event in July 2020, this new webinar represents another contribution to reflecting on current issues in the teaching of interculturality in higher education, especially in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. New speakers were invited to share their views and reflections for this session (Australia, China, Finland, The Netherlands). Organised by Fred Dervin (University of Helsinki, Finland), Andreas Jacobsson (Karlstad University, Sweden) and Mei Yuan (Minzu University of China)

Interculturality is taught in institutions of higher education around the world under different guises (intercultural communication, intercultural encounters, global competence, etc.) and in different fields (language, teacher education, health care, business, etc.). The accelerated internationalization that these institutions have experienced for the last decades has also contributed to the popularity of courses around the notion of interculturality. What scholars note about such courses is that the ideologies, theoretical frameworks and methods used for teaching interculturality are many and varied. Furthermore, those who teach interculturality are not always specialists and they can struggle with different kinds of perspectives, paradigms, ideologies, methods…

Many argue that the COVID-19 crisis will have an influence on our lives for the years/decades (?) to come. As far as interculturality is concerned, the crisis has led to very violent acts of xenophobia, Sinophobia, blatant nationalism but also aggressive (systemic) racism and discrimination. At the same time, some of these have been counterbalanced a little by people standing up against them.

Will these have an influence on the way we see interculturality from a higher education perspective, especially on what we teach, from what perspective(s) and how? Is it time for (real) change, beyond the polarization of culturalist/essentialist and postmodern ideologies, in intercultural communication education?

The Future of Intercultural Training (Webinar)

EventsThe Future of Intercultural Training by Nicole Barile (President & Founder of NB Intercultural), offered by SIETAR Tri-State, USA, July 28, 2020, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm (EST), online event.

The future of work is here – and it’s global. No matter your industry, role, or where you work, you will be interacting with people from other cultures, even if you never leave home. Intercultural training is needed more than ever, but it needs to adapt to today’s modern worker. Technology is shaping how we do business, and it’s shaping how we learn. Traditional approaches to intercultural learning will need to make way for new solutions as technology advances. Find out what trends are shaping the next generation of intercultural training for expatriates and organizations, as well as where the field is headed.

Creating Inclusive Cities (Belgium but Online)

EventsCreating Inclusive Cities: Everyone can make a difference, International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP), Brussels, Belgium. Webinar on June 18, 2020, 14:00-15:30 CEST.

More than 61 per cent of the world’s refugees and 80 per cent of internally displaced people live in urban areas. The role of towns, cities, counties and provinces in creating inclusive communities and promoting hope has never been as important. They offer safety and shelter and can enable access to local services, education and job opportunities.

The Global Compact on Refugees aims to implement a more holistic approach in responding to refugee displacement and recognizes the important role that local authorities play as first responders to large-scale refugee situations.

Intercultural Cities (ICC) is a Council of Europe policy development and implementation programme that supports local authorities around the World in comprehensive approaches that are inclusive of migrants and refugees. Join the ICC and UNHCR on 18 June, 2020 at 2 pm CEST for a webinar two days before World Refugee Day to hear how cities in Europe are making their cities spaces where everyone can live in safety, become self-reliant, and contribute to and participate in their local community.

Comparison of cultural values between Japan and the US (Webinar)

EventsComparison of cultural values between Japan and the US to understand the implications for building relationships and doing business, Offered by Tri-State SIETAR (NY-NJ-CT), Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT, Online Event.

The webinar will be a comparison of cultural value differences and similarities with Japan and the United States to understand the implications for building relationships and doing business. Leaders will focus on: consideration of others, tradition, work, home life and society. The comparison will be from the point of view of Tamami, a Japanese native who studied in the United States for over two years, from Rob, an American who worked in Japan for three years, and Miriam, an American who has never visited Japan but has been acquainted with many Japanese natives throughout her life.

Follow the link at the top of the page for details about the presenters.

Teaching Diverse Texts

Events

Teaching Diverse Texts, College of General Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA, February 26, 2021.. Deadline: October 15, 2020.

On Friday, February 26, 2021 Boston University’s College of General Studies (CGS) will host a colloquia for Ph.D. candidates who are close to graduating and applying for jobs in academia and whose research interests include teaching diverse texts and facilitating respectful classroom dialogue, especially in general education. We welcome colloquia participant applications from Ph.D. candidates who have experience teaching general education and who are interested in a day and one half symposium where they will present on their research and teaching and will interact with nationally recognized scholars, pedagogues and Boston University students. A joint offering through Boston University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the College of General Studies, participants will receive a stipend to cover transportation, accommodations and food for the day and one half experience.

Creative Tourism in the Regeneration of Communities (Portugal but online)

EventsOnline Seminar: So, what’s next? The role of creative tourism in the regeneration of communities. University of Coimbra, Portugal. June 2, 2020, 16h00 – Portugal/Lisbon timezone. Deadline to register: May 31, 2020

In this moment of transition, this webinar contributes to current discussions on the future of small-scale and community-based creative tourism, and on community recovery and resilience. How can we work collectively to move forward together?

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 has provided a stark moment of renewed reflection and contemplation on the realities of our interconnected world. It has highlighted the necessity of working together on both a local community and global scale to improve our quality of social solidarity, and to advance ideas and practices that can renew and provide mutual benefit, contribute to local vitality, and foster the sharing of cultural expressions. It has also led many to consider how to redirect travel and tourism to more meaningful and responsible ends. In our individual pods of isolation, the level of virtual reaching out and sharing was highlighted, and the importance of cultural practices in crafting these bridges and inter-locale connections was underscored.

Moving forward, there is a sense that this pandemic will change the way we act in future – individually, collectively in our geographic communities, and more widely in our nations and international networks. In this context, travel and tourism will resume but are likely be profoundly changed. Travelers may increasingly seek out places of beauty, of respite, of renewal. Domestic tourism may be reemphasized. Connections with others may be re-conceived and fostered on a more humane basis as co-travelers on a closely interconnected planet. A sense of rebuilding and renewal may prevail.

Contemporary Debates in Digital Culture (Argentina but online)

EventsContemporary Debates in Digital Culture, Center for the Study on Media and Society in Argentina (MESO), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Virtual meeting May 28, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. (ARG).

The speakers will be Victoria Andelsman (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Silvana Leiva (CIDE, Mexico), Mora Matassi (Northwestern University, United States) and Celeste Wagner (University of Pennsylvania, United States) and the event will be moderated by Eugenia Mitchelstein (University of San Andrés, Argentina). The speakers will address their work and research experiences on digital culture.

*The event will be in Spanish.

Webinar: Comparing US and East Asian Primary Education

EventsWhy East Asian Students Beat U.S. Students on Every International Test, Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) Tri-State (NY-NJ-CT), Webinar on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT.

Years ago, Cornelius Grove grew curious about why, on every international comparative test since the early 1970s, East Asian students’ scores are among the highest while American students’ scores are somewhere in the middle…or lower. He discovered that the answer lies not only in how they are taught in school but also in how they are raised at home. He wrote two books about what he learned: The Drive to Learn (2017) and A Mirror for Americans (2020), both published by Rowman & Littlefield. Grove will share highlights of what he learned during this SIETAR Tri-State webinar.

The event is free – just follow the link above to register.

Webinar: Impact of COVID-19 on International Assignees

EventsImpact of COVID-19 on International Assignees Webinar, Tri-State SIETAR. April 23, 2020.

Tri-State (NY-NJ-CT) SIETAR (Society for Education, Training and Research) have opened up their webinar on the impact of Covid-19 on international assignees’ mental health and approaches to overcome the challenges. International assignees tend to be highly resilient, having coped with the stresses of relocation and cultural adaptation. The stresses of Covid-19 can exacerbate unique expat circumstances, creating challenges that may be more than they bargained for.

In this webinar, Mercedes Naficy D’Angelo and Rensia Melles will discuss the impact of adverse events or crises on the mental health aspects of cultural adaptation and culture shock. They will offer tips and coping techniques to support assignees with these uncertain times away from home.

Seven Days Interfaith/Intercultural Dialogues (USA)

EventsSeven Days Interfaith/Intercultural Dialogues, sponsored by Faith Always Wins Foundation. Kansas City, MO. Event held online: April 21-27, 2020.

The SevenDays event is a series of interfaith conversations and awareness opportunities that have taken place the last few years in the Kansas City area. The series, sponsored by the Faith Always Wins Foundation, created by the Corporon family in 2014 after a white supremacist murdered William L Corporon, his grandson, Reat Underwood, and Teresa LaManno outside the Jewish Community Center in April of 2014. The general slogan for the event has been “Make a ripple, change the world.”

The event asks participants to give seven days of kindness to others through interfaith and intercultural dialogue. This year the event has moved online, with additional “prequels” available on video, and has a new slogan, “Spreading kindness, not coronavirus.” Given that it is now online, it seems like to be of interest to others not in the geographic area.