Category: ICD Pedagogy

Applied Theatre and Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Leffler, E. (2022). Applied Theatre and Intercultural Dialogue: Playfully Approaching Difference Cham: Springer Nature.

This fascinating book brings together theatre and intercultural dialogue, an uncommon pairing. It may be just the thing you need for a course this year.

I argue that theatre—as a form of play—offers particular opportunities to enhance an intercultural dialogue: people of divergent cultural backgrounds can playfully reveal parts of themselves to one another, develop empathy, and move toward an enhanced under standing of the social-political contexts that have divided them. But the atre is no magic escape from centuries of oppression and isolation, and in some ways, the very playful elements of theatre that expand opportunities for intimacy and social critique also seem to obfuscate participants’ own embeddedness in inequitable power structures, impeding the possibility for reflective critique. In this study, I elucidate that paradox and interrogate how the limitations can be overcome. (p. 14)

Using Manga to Encourage Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Perry, M. S., Raihanah, M. M., & Mohd Lazim, Z. (2023). Intercultural dialogue in manga: Building friendships, sharing spaces and values. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 9(1), 65-82.

…manga can be a powerful cultural text for increasing intercultural understanding, breaking cultural stereotypes and potentially dispelling prejudices (p. 77)

Perry, Raihanah and Mohd Lazim investigate Japanese manga as a site for intercultural understanding and engagement. Their focus in this article is on “the Japanese manga Satoko and Nada Volume 1 by Yupechika, which narrates the friendship between Satoko, a young Japanese woman, and Nada, her Saudi Muslim roommate.” They analyze three themes: food, fashion, and faith. They see their reading as “a microcosm of the type of dialogue needed in the world today to overcome the acute racism and xenophobia” and conclude:

RiceBreaker for ICD

Intercultural Pedagogy

Spry, Amber D. (2023). The #RiceBreaker: Facilitating intercultural dialogues in the classroom by engaging shared experiences. Journal of Political Science Education, 19(2), 195-204.

Amber Spry has invented a very cute icebreaker using discussion of how different students in a class cook rice in order to spark intercultural dialogues. It should be a good starting point for other instructors.

The activity asks students to answer a straightforward question: “how does your family or your culture cook rice?” By using the example of a simple ingredient found across the globe, the activity demonstrates how students can hold different perspectives on the same topic based on their own experiences, and models for the class how to approach conversation throughout the semester when perspectives on a given topic may vary. This activity provides an example of how a classroom icebreaker can be used in a way that facilitates dialogue, promotes participation, and models intellectual respect.

Her starting point is Political Science, but it seems likely to work for those in other disciplines as well. For example, it has already been adapted for the foreign language classroom by Sahai Couso Díaz on Language Panda.

If you prefer to listen to a podcast, Spry has been interviewed on the topic for radio station KCRW: Using a ‘ricebreaker’ to start a conversation about cultural identity.

Film Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Glotov, S. (2023). Film literacy and intercultural dialogue: Focus on cultural representation. (Doctoral dissertation, Tampere University, Finland).

In his dissertation, Sergei Glotov links “film literacy with intercultural education that can support open and respectful intercultural dialogue between people of different cultural backgrounds…intercultural film literacy education is introduced as the link between film literacy and intercultural education…Overall, the research advocates for looking closely at the messages of cultural representation we receive from audio-visual media and being critical and reflective about them, by studying how these messages are created and broadcasted, as well as challenging them through intercultural dialogue and the actual experiences of other people.” It seems likely this would be useful to those teaching about intercultural dialogue, especially those who use films in the classroom.

Dollar Street: Starting Intercultural Dialogues by Sharing Images

Intercultural Pedagogy

Dollar Street is a carefully organized set of photographs and videos turned into a game and tool created by Anna Rosling Rönnlund of Gapminder. It can serve as one way to start intercultural dialogues, whether you have a diverse, international group of students, or a more homogeneous set.

“People in other cultures are often portrayed as scary or exotic.” Anna explains: “This has to change. We want to show how people really live. It seemed natural to use photos as data so people can see for themselves what life looks like on different income levels. Dollar Street lets you visit many, many homes all over the world. Without travelling.”

Dollar Street is a Gapminder project – free for anyone to use. Today the database features 457 families in 66 countries, with 43,969 photos and 8,065 videos and counting!

KAICIID: Integration Through Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Integration through Dialogue:
A toolkit to empower people seeking refuge in Europe, E-Learning Course, KAICIID.

KAICIID’s Europe Region Programme supports people seeking refuge to improve their process of integration in their new host society. In this context, a toolkit was developed for newcomers in Europe to strengthen dialogue as a two-way process of mutual learning that takes place at all levels of society.

Based on this toolkit, this self-paced e-learning course sees dialogue as a practical tool for integration that government authorities and NGOs, including faith-based actors, can use in their daily work as an addition to existing programmes and frameworks they have established. The main objective of this e-learning course is to facilitate dialogue with people seeking refuge in Europe to better integrate them in host societies.

This course is comprised of four modules. It is self-paced so the learner can adjust to their own speed and time availability. To ensure commitment and finish the course, it is recommended to be done over a four-week period, spending 1.5-2 hours/week. Enrollment is free, and the course is offered in English. The course is asynchronous, combining self-learning with tests, assessments and online discussions, but there is no one starting point – the course begins when you enroll.

UNIC: Dignified Spaces in a Plural Europe

Intercultural Pedagogy

Dignified spaces in a plural Europe, the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition (UNIC), Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

UNIC is offering a multi-campus seminar, Dignified spaces in a plural Europe: On the (in)visibility of cultural and religious communities in post-industrial cities.

“Cultural and religious communities, and particularly minorities, can only live with dignity if they have a “space.” To literally make space for people is a prerequisite for living together in our diverse urban centers. If dignity includes the possibility of self-determined action, these spaces must be designable and usable in a self-determined way.

This class focuses on politically, socially, and spatially marginalized communities in the urban centers of the UNIC universities and their access to dignified spaces. Of particular interest are cultural and religious communities that come to Europe through migration and international link- ages and that need specific places and spaces that serve as meeting places to preserve cultural and religious identity. While the traditional church buildings in the inner cities are often used less and less for religious purposes, migrant communities only find space in the periphery of the cities – in former factory halls or as ‘subtenants’ in other church buildings.”

“The UNIC University originated as an alliance between ten universities, but endeavors to be a leading international institution that celebrates its European origins, while remaining an open an inclusive environment for all types of learners.” It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU. (About UNIC)  

For further information about the course, see:
Çelik Rappas, I. A., Bauer, K., Kapalo, J. A., & Radermacher, M.. (2022). Dignified spaces in European cities: A co-teaching experiment. Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture, 7(3).

UNESCO: Intercultural Dialogue Talks

Intercultural Pedagogy

UNESCO. (14 October 2022). Intercultural Dialogue Talks. Paris, France: UNESCO.

UNESCO introduces a series of public events titled “Intercultural Dialogue Talks” to showcase powerful stories of how cross-cultural understanding can help societies tackle our biggest shared challenges more effectively. In this film, three exciting stories, are recounted by individuals/real-life practitioners who shared their personal journeys, demonstrating the power of intercultural dialogue through their personal experiences.

The videos highlight three speakers: Fadzi Whande, Tareq Hadhad, and Inma Martinez, introduced by Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO.

Royal Roads U: Creating a Multicultural Learning Community Online (Canada)

Intercultural Pedagogy

Intercultural Dialogues: Creating a Multicultural Learning Community Online. (14 October 2020). Royal Roads University.

Professors Dr. Juana Du, Dr. Zhenyi Li, and Dr. Deniz Unsal from the MA in Intercultural and International Communication program within the School of Communication and Culture, at Royal Roads University, posted a video of their workshop on how to create a multicultural learning community online, with the assumption that the goal is teaching online, and creating intercultural dialogues in the process. The video is intended for instructors rather than students.

Dance and Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Hu, Vanessa B. (19 March 2023). Let’s Dance Together! Bridging Cultural Siloes on Campus. The Harvard Crimson.

Honestly, dance — and any cultural form of expression — is a great middle-ground to start dialogue.

Vanessa Hu likes to dance, but when she joined Candela, Harvard’s Latin social dance group, and simultaneously chose not to join the Asian-American Dance Troupe, she got a lot of comments. That made her notice “the unspoken cultural borders divvying up campus organizations.” This essay would be a good example to use in an intercultural communication course to spark discussion.