UNESCO Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest

Photo ContestYouth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest, UNESCO, Paris, France. Deadline: 6 January 2020.

The visual arts, and in particular photography, are increasingly being used by today’s youth as a powerful tool for communication and self-expression. As such, they have the potential to play a significant role in raising awareness of the key issues facing our contemporary globalizing world. The annual Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads International Photo Contest offers an exciting opportunity for young people from all over the world to capture their understanding of the common heritage of the Silk Roads through the lens of their camera.

Organized within the framework of the UNESCO Silk Roads Programme, UNESCO Youth Programme and the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022), the 2019 edition of the contest is open for entries from 19 September 2019 to 6 January 2020.

The Silk Roads are an expansive region composed of a network of maritime and land routes. Originating in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia the Silk Roads cross the Central Asian sub-continent, the Russian steppe, the Iranian and Anatolian plateaus, and the Arabian Peninsula. They also stretch through North Africa and Northeast Africa, from Tanzania to Morocco. Additionally, they pass through Eastern and Southern Europe, before reaching France and Spain. Please see the map here

The Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest is an opportunity for young people living or travelling within these regions to share their perceptions and further their understanding of the common cultural heritage and pluralistic identities emerging from the interactions and exchanges taking place along the Silk Roads. The contest encourages the use of photography to extend these cultural interactions and encounters in the contemporary world, to foster mutual understanding and promote peace amongst the diverse populations encompassed by the Silk Roads.

The photographs must accurately reflect the theme, “Reveal the Silk Roads”, through representations of Gastronomy and Food Production, Music and Dance, and Traditional Sports and Games.

The photography contest is open to everyone between 14 and 25 years old, regardless of his or her country of residence, except employees of UNESCO and the donor, China World Peace Foundation, and their family members (parents, children, siblings and spouses). There will be two categories: 14 to 17 years old, and 18 to 25 years old.

You can have a look at the 2018 winners gallery here. From this contest, the “Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads” travelling photo exhibition presenting the 57 best photos was set up. The photo album “Youth Lens on the Silk Roads” aims to reflect the diversity of youth’s perspectives and impressions on the shared heritage of the Silk Roads.

Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Postdoc (Italy)

PostdocsPostdoctoral Research Fellow, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. Deadline: 18 October 2019.

The EUI has a vacancy for a Research Fellow in the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), Florence, Italy. The position will be full-time, two years, starting 01/01/20 or as soon as possible after this date. Subject to the availability of future funding, the contract can be further renewed several times up to a total of 5 years (including the first contract period).

The Mercator Dialogue on Asylum and Migration (MEDAM) conducts new research on some of the most pressing public policy issues related to asylum, migration and mobility in the European Union. To support MPC’s work on the MEDAM project, they are seeking to recruit a post-doctoral researcher with strong quantitative skills and experience in cross-country analysis of public attitudes to migration and/or public preferences for migration policies.

The Research Fellow will work with Professor Martin Ruhs (Deputy Director of the MPC) to analyse public attitudes and preferences for migration policies in selected countries in Europe and Africa. The Research Fellow will help design, commission, and analyse data from new surveys of public policy attitudes (incl. conjoint survey experiments). The work will also involve a number of in-depth interviews with policymakers. Project outputs will include academic publications, blog posts, and policy briefs.

OpenLearn Resource: Migration (UK)

Intercultural PedagogyOpenLearn: Exploring how migration changes the places where we live. The Open University, UK, 2018.

Migration has a major impact on local communities, leading to a series of contexts in which intercultural dialogue either occurs, or would be useful if it did occur. This course, prepared by The Open University, integrates multiple short videos discussing relevant matters. It could be usefully followed by an individual interested in the content, or parts of it might be integrated into an existing course.

Full description from the course site:

“In this OpenLearn resource, we have raised the question of how migration changes the places we live in and the communities of people with whom we live. We looked at the ways in which migration can change the everyday sense of belonging and how local authorities, voluntary sector and local communities can work together to create an inclusive narrative. We also looked at how communities and a sense of belonging to a place can be challenged by policies such as the hostile environment, aiming to make life more difficult for undocumented migrants. These policies, we have argued end up challenging a sense of social cohesion by dispersing asylum seekers to places where they might be at risk of hate crime, by uprooting them from their communities through detention, as well as engendering feelings of unbelonging through border checks in everyday situations such as at work, when renting a flat or sending their children to school. On the other hand, these policies also have a detrimental effect on community for those who are not migrants. While they can affect black and ethnic minority citizens in particular by casting doubt on their belonging and requiring them to prove they are not indeed migrant newcomers, they also affect other citizens by requiring everyone to take part in everyday bordering practices, checking the migration status of people who register with the GP or enroll their children in school. Yet, there are also oppositional communities of resistance who build solidarities across the boundary of migrant and non-migrant.”

CFP Brazil-US Colloquium on Communication 2020 (USA)

ConferencesCall for Publication and Participation: 9th Brazil-US Colloquium on Communication Studies 2020: Present and Future Directions of Research on Brazil and the US – Media, Communications, Literature, Culture, and History, March 24-25, 2020, University of Texas Austin, Texas, USA. Deadline: October 15 2019.

Organizers invite submissions to the ninth Brazil-U.S. Colloquium on Communication Studies to be held at the University of Texas at Austin on March 24-25, 2020. The event is co-sponsored by the Brazilian Association of Interdisciplinary Studies in Communication (Intercom).  Research is welcome regarding the central theme and on any theme relevant to Brazil and the U.S., as well as other topics on history, literature, media, culture, and/or communication studies in the Americas. Comparative work Brazil-US is welcome but not required. Research may be in Portuguese or English. For selected Brazilian papers, presentations may be in Portuguese but with Powerpoint in English.

An edited volume will be published with Emerald Studies in Media and Communications highlighting scholarship from the Colloquium. For consideration in the volume, full papers are due by December 1, 2019.

Thick Description as a Tool for ICD

Resources in ICD“ width=Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2019). Thick description. In P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, M.A. Hardy, & M. Williams (Eds.), SAGE research methods foundations [Online]. doi: 10.4135/9781526421036765746

Several years ago I was asked to write about “thick description,” a concept used mostly by ethnographers. Briefly, thick description recognizes complexity and the role of context. It is often contrasted with “thin description,” understood to be limited and superficial.

Thick description typically takes a semiotic approach, emphasizing how people construct and convey meaning through signs and symbols, both for themselves and others.

The volume has just been published, which leads me to think about ways in which thick description might be useful to understanding and encouraging intercultural dialogue. The essay describes some research by Jeff Todd Titon which points in a useful direction. Titon is an ethnomusicologist who “proposes a move to multivoiced interpretive accounts, that is, ensuring that multiple voices be heard—not only that of the ethnographer but also those of multiple informants from different positions, exploring potential gaps or disagreements. He emphasizes dialogue (including study participants speaking back to the ethnographer), questioning the analysis, as well as ethnomusicology in the public interest.”

“Ensuring that multiple voices be heard” – now that seems useful to intercultural dialogue! So a thick description will typically involve multiple layers of meanings, supplied by different participants, gathered over time, which together permit a better understanding of human behavior by interweaving separate descriptions into a single, complex whole.

U New Mexico State U: Cultural/Intercultural Comm (USA)

“JobAssistant Professor in Cultural/Intercultural Communication and/or Health Communication, Department of communication Studies, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. Deadline: November 1, 2019.

The Department of Communication Studies at New Mexico State University seeks to hire one tenure-track faculty member to begin in the fall semester of 2020. The department seeks a colleague to teach and conduct empirically-based research in cultural/intercultural communication and/or health communication. Other desired areas of scholarship include communication theory, communication technology/social media, quantitative or qualitative research methods, and/or experience in the basic course in Communication.

Queensland U Technology: Digital Media & Comm (Australia)

“JobAssociate Professor in Digital Media and Communication, School of Communication, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Deadline: 20 October 2019.

The School of Communication seeks an Associate Professor who can develop and teach subjects in the School’s undergraduate and postgraduate courses, contribute to the research themes in the Digital Media Research Centre, and supervise higher degree research students.

The School of Communication is in a phase of expansion and renewal and seeks an Associate Professor who can develop and teach subjects in the School’s undergraduate and postgraduate courses, contribute to the research themes in the Digital Media Research Centre, and supervise higher degree research students.

The department is interested in strengthening their capacity in innovative blended and digital approaches to learning and teaching and one or more of the following research areas and teaching areas (both undergraduate and postgraduate coursework): complementarity between digital communication and media industry studies; the future of digital media platforms, industries, and economies; critical data studies and digital methods; social media; algorithmic culture; emergent business practices and branding strategies; policy developments in music and other entertainment industries. Expertise in social media industries and platforms in Asian contexts will be advantageous.

Furman U: Open Rank Faculty in Civic Communication Processes (USA)

“JobOpen Rank- Assistant, Associate, or Professor of Communication Studies (Civic Communication Processes), Furman University, Greenville, SC. Deadline: Open until filled; posted September 12, 2019.

The Department of Communication Studies at Furman University invites applications for an open rank tenure-track position. The ideal candidate will demonstrate excellence in teaching and a vibrant research agenda in the study of civic communication processes which include dialogue, deliberation, organizing, and media creation and circulation. We welcome applications from scholars in communication fields as diverse as health, sport, environment, non-profit, risk, conflict resolution, or social justice and reconciliation. Our curriculum features both a Rhetoric & Advocacy track as well as a Media Studies track in a rigorous liberal arts context.

The successful candidate will create and teach innovative upper-level courses in their area of expertise that aligns with these tracks. They will also be responsible for foundational courses of public speaking or digital storytelling; introductory-level courses; and research methods courses.

Mi’kmaq Version of Beatles ‘Blackbird’ (Canada)

Applied ICDVan Evra, Jennifer. (1 May 2019). Cape Breton student sings beautiful Mi’kmaq rendition of the Beatles’ Blackbird’. CBC Radio.

This essay and video about a translated song serve as a reminder that language and culture are bound together, and thus that intercultural dialogue has an important link to multilingualism.

“Blackbird is one of the Beatles’ most beloved songs — and now a small East Coast school has made it their own by creating a rendition in the Mi’kmaq language. Music students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni, Nova Scotia created the cover as part of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, a United Nations initiative aimed at raising awareness of endangered Indigenous languages around the world. Led by music teacher Carter Chiasson, students recorded the Paul McCartney classic in their native Mi’kmaq language, with translation by Chiasson’s colleagues Katani Julian and Albert ‘Golydada’ Julian.”

CFP Communication Media & Governance in the Age of Globalization (China)

ConferencesCall for papers: Third Biennial Conference on Communication, Media, and Governance in the Age of Globalization, June 19-21, 2020, Communication University of China, Beijing, China. Deadline: November 1, 2019.

The National Communication Association (NCA) announces the Third Biennial Conference on Communication, Media, and Governance in the Age of Globalization, to be held on the Beijing campus of the Communication University of China (CUC), June 19-21, 2020. The conference seeks to foster greater understanding between and collaboration among Chinese scholars of Communication and a wide range of international colleagues affiliated with NCA.

For this event, organizers will be using the United Nation’s “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs). Approved in 2000, and signed by all 191 UN members, the MDGs serve as benchmarks in human development, quality of life, and global partnership.