San Jose State U: Digital Communication (USA)

“JobAssistant Professor of Digital Communication, Department of Communication Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA. Deadline: Open until filled (posted October 15, 2021).

San Jose State University invites applications for an assistant professor in digital communication with expertise in digital media and power and the implications for various identity backgrounds such as race, gender, sexuality, disabilities, and intersectional identities. We especially welcome applicants whose digital communication scholarship illuminates issues and opportunities related to Latinx/a/o communities.

Experts in this area examine digital media’s potential to empower creative expression and civic life, as well as the economic and social implications of the digital divide and structural inequalities. Successful candidates may employ an array of methods including collection and analysis of large-scale behavioral data, ethnographic and participatory action research, and critical methods. The successful applicant will teach a range of courses, from core and capstone offerings to undergraduate and graduate courses in their area of specialty that prepare students to understand the aesthetic practices, social and political impacts, and cultural and community implications of digital media.

This position is one of several recruitments focused on Latinx/a/o experiences across campus, including in Educational Counseling, English and Comparative Literature, Journalism and Mass Communications, the School of Information, the School of Management, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, and Chicana and Chicano Studies.

MacEwan U: Communication (Canada)

“JobAssistant Professor of Communication, Department of Communication, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Deadline: 15 January 2022.

MacEwan University’s Department of Communication invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor, commencing July 1, 2022. This new faculty position will play an important role in teaching core courses primarily in the Professional Communication major of the Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) degree.

Preference will be given to candidates who can teach the following courses: strategic communication, advanced strategic communication, professional communication, intercultural communication, organizational communication theory, and communication theory.

Deliberative Democracy & ICD

Applied ICDThomas, Nancy L. (2009). Deliberative democracy and intercultural dialogue: An international agenda. Diversity & Democracy, 12(1).

Although their language and context differ, the forces behind the American deliberative democracy and the European intercultural dialogue initiatives–the goals of inclusion, justice, and freedom in society and in policymaking–are similar.

“Both emphasize intergroup relationship building and understanding. American democracy-builders have come to understand the importance of dialogue as more than “just talk.” Dialogue and informed deliberation are necessary for realizing goals of personal and cultural transformation and collective action. For colleges and universities throughout the world, the challenge is to create teaching and learning experiences that cultivate students’ skills in inclusive dialogue, public reasoning, conflict negotiation, and social and political action. If recent conversations are any indicator, this is indeed a global agenda.”

Nancy L. Thomas directs the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. IDHE is an applied research center that studies higher education’s role in American democracy and supports college and university student political learning and participation.

UNESCO Futures of Education Report Issued

“UNESCO”

UNESCO Futures of Education Commission. (2021). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. Paris, France: UNESCO.

UNESCO launched its Futures of Education Initiative in September 2019. Drawing on extensive consultations, the International Commission has just released their final report, Reimagining Our Futures Together: a new social contract for education. The brief overview of their conclusions is here. Most critically, they conclude that: “we need a new social contract for education that can repair injustices while transforming the future. This new social contract must be grounded in human rights and based on principles of non-discrimination, social justice, respect for life, human dignity and cultural diversity. It must encompass an ethic of care, reciprocity, and solidarity. It must strengthen education as a public endeavour and a common good.”

Among other comments in the report, those most directly related to CID are probably these:

The world is rich in multicultural and multi-ethnic societies and education should promote intercultural citizenship. Beyond learning about the value of diversity, education should promote the skills, values and conditions needed for horizontal, democratic dialogue with diverse groups, knowledge systems and practices. The basis for intercultural citizenship is the affirmation of one ́s cultural identities. Knowing who you are is the starting point for respecting others. (p. 53). . .Education at its best is a collective process that acknowledges the value of peer and intergenerational as well as intercultural learning. (p. 134)

[CID was one of the organizations consulted by the initiative, and is acknowledged in the report; see the CID Report for UNESCO Futures of Education for the conclusions of 3 focus groups we organized at their request.]

Update as of March 2022: Reimagining our futures together is available in English and French, with the Executive Summary also available in Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.

Smithsonian: Curatorial Internships in African/American Crafts (USA but Online)

Professional OpportunitiesCuratorial Internships in African-American and African crafts, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. but virtual, January-April 2022. Deadline: November 20, 2021.

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is pleased to announce two new virtual internship positions as part of the African American Craft Initiative (AACI) and the Crafts of African Fashion (CAF) project. Beginning this winter, the internships will run from January to April 2022 and are part-time.

Working under the supervision and mentorship of curator Diana N’Diaye and project coordinator Sloane Keller, interns will have the opportunity to listen and learn from experiences of African and African American artists and artisans in their own words and participate in activities to amplify these powerful legacies for generations to come. The primary assignment will involve working as part of the initiative team, conducting research, and helping to coordinate programming activities. The interns will also learn about the Crafts of African Fashion project and assist with the development of funding proposals and programmatic activities. Selected applicants will receive a stipend of $1,500.

SIETAR Europa: Rethinking Interculturalism (Malta and Online)

Conferences

SIETAR Europa Congress:
Re-Thinking Interculturalism,
18 – 21 May 2022, Malta and Online. Deadline: 17 November 2021.

The intercultural field was born out of the 50s and 60s of the previous century. There were a lot of things that were taken for granted in that time that are not anymore: large parts of the global south were still colonized or on the verge of becoming independent; working globally was the privilege of a tiny minority of multinational companies headquartered in western Europe and North America; the iron curtain between the USSR and the West was considered inevitable and forever impenetrable; the oppression of women, people of colour and the LGBTQ community was normality and rarely questioned.

Of course, research into culture from the very beginning always came with the best intentions: if we could just understand each other better, we would find ways to work well with each other.

The intercultural field has grown considerably over the past decades. There are tools, theories, studies and concepts ad infinitum. Nonetheless, we see the deterioration of our natural environment threaten the well-being of people and peace on earth. Deep and old racist and class- based structures cause violence that dominate the headlines almost daily. Far-right populism is on the rise globally, as fundamental freedoms are declining even in places that were thought to be resilient democracies, in Europe and beyond. The recent global pandemic has amplified and clarified many of these systemic issues that were more easily ignored before. It has shown the incredible potential of what humans can achieve, when they work together across and beyond boundaries; it has also shown how we fail when we don’t.

So the question is, has interculturalism failed? Has it fulfilled its promise? Has it even promised the right things? Or, to put it bluntly, does interculturalism need to be replaced, reformed or reshaped to match the challenges this world faces?

UNESCO Futures of Education Report Coming

“UNESCO”UNESCO Futures of Education initiative: Launch of the Report will occur 10 November 2021 1:30-2:30 CET (Webinar open to the public and broadcast in multiple languages).

UNESCO launched its Futures of Education initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2019. Chaired by the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Madame Sahle- Work Zewde, an International Commission of thought-leaders from the worlds of politics, academia, the arts, science, business, and education, undertook a broad, inclusive global engagement effort involving educators, youth, researchers, governments, business and civil society. [Read basic information about the Futures of Education Initiative. CID was one of the organizations consulted; read the CID Report for UNESCO Futures of Education, sharing the results of 3 focus groups we organized at their request.]

Drawing on their extensive consultations, the International Commission has prepared a Report that will be the third in a series of UNESCO global reports on the future of education. The Commission’s Report, Reimagining Our Futures Together: a new social contract for education, will be officially launched at UNESCO’s 41st General Conference.

This launch event will present the key ideas and recommendations of the new flagship report to Member States, and initiate the mobilization of the global education community and UNESCO strategic partners to take forward the global debate and action on the Futures of Education. The event will be livestreamed to the general public in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Please click here to join the livestream of the event.

Obama Foundation: Global Program Associates (USA)

“JobGlobal Program Associate positions (Europe and Asia Pacific); Global Program and Learning Design Senior Associate, Obama Foundation, Chicago, IL & Washington, DC. Deadline: Open until filled.

The Program Associates function as key members of the Global Programs Team and reports to the relevant Program Manager. In pursuit of the Foundation’s mission, Global Program Associates support a strategy to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of leaders. Regional leadership development programs support emerging leaders from across sectors to build more prosperous, sustainable, equitable, and inclusive communities in their respective regions and around the world. In addition to supporting the program lifecycle for a specific geographic region, Associates will serve as a member of the team’s Strategic Operations cohort, working closely with other program associates in different regions to coordinate and streamline operations-related planning and implementation across the Global Programs team and the Foundation as a whole.

The Global Program & Learning Design Senior Associate will support the continued development of the Foundation’s leadership framework and the lifecycle of curriculum design and implementation, from collecting research and designing user testing that inform our leadership approach, to supporting teams in tailoring the Foundation’s leadership framework and curricula to various programmatic audiences. This position would have additional responsibilities in supporting the design and implementation of leadership programming in the United States. The Senior Associate will work closely with external design partners and subject matter experts, and will regularly collaborate with teams across the Foundation to support a shared approach for leadership development across our audiences, including global programming, programmatic partnerships in Chicago, online resources for the general public, and Obama Presidential Center experiences. A key member of the Program Team, the Global Program & Learning Design Senior Associate will report to the Global Program & Learning Design Manager.

Malmo U: International Migration & Ethnic Relations (Sweden)

“JobAssociate Senior Lecturer in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden. Deadline: 24 November 2021.

The Department of Global Political Studies is a multidisciplinary research and educational environment with Bachelor programs in European Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER), Diversity Studies, International Relations, Human Rights, and Political Science. There are two Masters programs –in IMER and Global Politics –as well as two Ph.D. programs in the same subjects. The research environment also includes the research institute MIM (Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare) and the research platforms RUCARR (Russia and the Caucasus Regional Research) and REDEM (Rethinking Democracy).

The position as Associate Senior Lecturer in IMER is intended to provide early career researchers with an opportunity to develop their independence as researchers and advance their research and teaching competence. The position offers young academics the opportunity gain experience and qualifications for a permanent appointment as Senior Lecturer.

Osnabrück U: Production of Information about Migration (Germany)

“Job

Research Fellow to head the Research Group “The Production of Knowledge about Migration,” Osnabrück University, Germany. Deadline: 14 November 2021.

The Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at Osnabrück University is seeking to appoint a Research Fellow to head the Junior Research Group “The Production of Knowledge about Migration.” The position is to be filled as soon as possible for a period of 3 years. Established in 2019, this junior research group investigates the conditions and consequences of the scholarly production of knowledge about migration. The focus of their work is on the practices of production and circulation of knowledge about the spatial movement of people. These practices are investigated at the intersections of science and politics, administration and the public. The junior research group aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of social processes of self-understanding and practices in dealing with migration, diversity and difference, and to develop reflexive perspectives for migration research in the social and cultural sciences.