2019 UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages

Applied ICD“On 21 October 2016 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages, beginning on 1 January 2019. The International Year is an important international cooperation mechanism and a year-long celebration, involving a range of different stakeholders, dedicated to preserve, revitalize, and promote indigenous languages; as languages matter for social, economic and political development, peace building and reconciliation.

Indigenous languages are essential to sustainable development; they constitute the vast majority of the world’s linguistic diversity, and are an expression of cultural identity, diversity and a unique understanding of the world. The disappearance of indigenous languages has a negative impact on areas directly affecting lives of indigenous peoples such as, politics, health, justice, education and access to ICTs among other things.”

CFP ICA Preconference: Digital Journalism in Latin America (USA)

ConferencesCall for Papers – ICA 2019 Preconference: Digital Journalism in Latin America, May 23th, 2019, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, George Washington University, Washington, DC. Deadline: November 1, 2018. NOTE: Deadline extended to December 15, 2018.

Research on digital journalism has by now a solid tradition that spans more than two decades (Barnhurst, 2012; Boczkowski, 2002; Reich, 2018; Steensen, 2011). For the most part, this scholarship has focused on industrialized nations in North America and Europe (Mitchelstein and Boczkowski, 2009) and has paid comparatively less attention to other regions such as Latin America (for some notable exceptions, see Bachmann & Harlow, 2011; Boczkowski, 2010; González de Bustamante and Relly, 2014; Harlow and Salaverría, 2016; Vimiero, 2017). This relative scarcity contrasts with the prominent role of digital journalism in the news diets of Latin Americans: around 9 out of 10 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico access news online (Newman, et al, 2017). The growth in online audiences has been paralleled by the expansion of digital news operations, either as the internet operations of print media (Bachmann & Harlow, 2011) or as new online enterprises (Harlow and Salaverria, 2016; Requejo Alemán and Lugo Ocando, 2014).

As both digital news production and consumption have featured increasingly more prominently in the information landscape of Latin America, it is worth inquiring into whether the specificity of Latin America and its culture and institutions might entail differences with digital journalism as it is practiced and appropriated in other parts of the world. For instance, Latin American journalism has been described as less professionalized and less independent than in more stable democracies (de Albuquerque, 2005; Hallin and Papathanassopoulos, 2002; Hughes, 2006). How have these two long-standing features affected the practices of online news production and the self-perception of reporters? Has the development of online journalism allowed for the emergence digital start-ups and fact-checking organizations that compete with traditional news organizations with long-standing links with politicians and corporations? Have online news operations conducted mostly partisan journalism, due to their dependence on government advertising? Moreover, Latin American audiences tend to show high levels of skepticism towards news (Newman, et al, 2017). Has this lower level of credibility been tied to differences in willingness to pay for digital news, information acquisition online, and uptake of alternative media sources, among other activities?

The ICA pre-conference on Digital Journalism in Latin America invites scholars to examine the production, distribution, and consumption of digital journalism in Latin America. Both empirical and theoretical conference presentations; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches; single-country and comparative research (with a major focus on Latin America); and historical and contemporary inquiries are welcome.

2019 Learning at Intercultural Intersections (Canada)

ConferencesCall for Papers: 2019 Learning at Intercultural Intersections (LII): Toward Equity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation, March 13-15, 2019, Thompson Rivers University, Canada. Deadline: November 18, 2018.

This third gathering will bring together researchers, practitioners, learners, and community to envision and explore the intersections of intercultural learning, internationalization, and Indigenization with a focus on educational approaches to equity, inclusion, and reconciliation. Proposals may take a broad view of intercultural learning or be focused on one of three thematic areas: Indigenization, internationalization, or web-based/blended intercultural learning. Examples of areas of interest are cultural and social sustainability, global development, mobility, language preservation, inclusive pedagogies, educational leadership and policy. Educators or students who wish to share ideas for future research are invited to propose a poster.

Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations: An interview with Eugene Quinn

“Interviews”Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations. An interview with Eugene Quinn by Gabriel Furmuzachi.

Eugene Quinn is a Londoner who lives in Vienna. He is an urbanist, a DJ, one of the founding members of the social intervention group Space and Place. He is a rebellious optimist, as he puts it himself. One of his projects is the Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations. Inspired by An Intimate History of Humanity, a book by the English philosopher Theodore Zeldin, he tries to bring people together and give them the chance to have meaningful conversations about how they see the world and about life in Vienna.

Where did you get the idea to do something like this? What made you think that people who do not know each other would happily sit together for a meal and talk not only about what it means to be a foreigner or a native in a city or in a country but also about their life and sometimes even about their hopes and fears?

Vienna is not a city which welcomes strangers. The locals are shy, intellectual and full of angst. It can be difficult for incomers to make friends, or understand the soul of the city. But I know that there is lots of curiosity amongst the Viennese about the international community here – specially the U.N. office – and so we wanted to create a forum where insiders and outsiders meet as equals. In an age of right-wing intolerance, we wanted to send out another message – that Vienna is engaged and modern and open to the world. And for travellers, there is a fashion to go beyond the cliches and discover the real life of locals, instead of Sissi and Schnitzel.

Our urban culture group Space and Place explores the soul and identity of contemporary Vienna. We celebrate the city in all its modern complexity. I find the coffeehouses an important part of our evening (we have moved between 5 different cafés), because so many radical and avant-garde movements in art, literature, architecture, psychoanalysis and music were developed in these brown, intimate, bohemian spaces. We want to tell some new stories about our home town, and open up new dialogue.

Read the entire interview as a PDF.

IIE Job Ad: Director of Academic Relations – Fulbright Program (USA)

Job adsDirector of Academic Relations, Fulbright Program, The Institute of International Education (IIE), Washington, DC. Deadline: Open until filled, posted October 11, 2018.

The Institute of International Education (IIE) seeks a talented academic scholar and professional to join the Fulbright Program as the Director of Academic Relations. This individual will be responsible for overall outreach strategy for the Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Student Programs. The Director of Academic Relations will represent the Fulbright Program externally, engage with higher education leaders in the United States, and supervise Fulbright outreach and recruitment activities that will impact and benefit both U.S. and non-U.S. Fulbright Programs. The Director of Academic Relations will have a special focus on extending the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program’s reach by fostering increased collaborations with higher education institutions and academic and professional associations and enhancing its identity and levering IIE-wide support for the Scholar Program.

UC Merced Job Ads: Language Communication & Culture (USA)

Job adsAssistant Professor of Language, Communication & Culture, University of California, Merced, CA. Deadline: November 15, 2018.

The University of California, Merced, is the newest of the University of California system’s 10 campuses and the first American research university built in the 21st century. The Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences (CIS) at UC Merced seeks applicants for four (4) tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant Professor level to cover overlapping areas:  Cognitive and Data Science,Language, Communication, and Culture, and Applied Ethics. In Language, Communication and Culture: We are interested in individuals who take a holistic and scientifically grounded approach to the study of language and/or communication, situating individuals in their social and cultural environments. Approaches may derive from any discipline associated with the cognitive science of language and communication, including linguistics, experimental psychology, communication studies, or anthropology. 

embRACE LA

Applied ICDThis nice example of applied intercultural dialogue was published a few months ago, but I just ran across it:

Bliss, Laura. (19 April 2018). What happens when 1,000 strangers talk race in L.A.? CityLab.

1000 Angelenos gathered at 100 dinners in April 2018 “in private homes around town…through a city-backed initiative to spark civic and civil dialogue…embRACE L.A., a city council initiative to open up civic and civil dialogues about race…The goal is simply to create space for neighbors to talk frankly about race.”

ACLS Grants: Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society

GrantsCFP ACLS Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society. Deadline: November 7, 2018.

ACLS invites proposals in the humanities and related social sciences that adopt an explicitly cross-cultural or comparative perspective. Projects may, for example, compare aspects of Chinese history and culture with those of other nations and civilizations, explore the interaction of these nations and civilizations, or engage in cross-cultural research on the relations among the diverse and dynamic populations of China. Proposals should be empirically grounded, theoretically informed, and methodologically explicit.

The program supports collaborative work of three types: Continue reading “ACLS Grants: Comparative Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society”

Study Abroad: New Zealand/Australia (2019)

Study AbroadStudy Abroad in New Zealand and Australia, Media and Society or Intercultural and International Communication, May 20 – June 13, 2019. Deadline: October 31, 2018.

Open to undergraduate and graduate students, who will experience the cultures first hand through visits to television and movie studios, live performances, guest lectures from professionals, and guided tours of museums, and cultural events.  The program has been offered most summers since 2005 in conjunction with an established International Education Provider having safety and emergency procedures and personnel in place on site.   The program is sponsored by Radford University and taught by Matthew Turner, Professor of Communication.  Students can apply at:    The application deadline is October 31.  Thank you for your help.

CFP IABC: Think Forward 2019 (Canada)

ConferencesThe International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) World Conference: Think Forward, June 9-12, 2019, Vancouver, Canada. Deadline: October 26, 2018.

With the theme Think Forward and an eye toward the latest trends, solutions and ideas, the 2019 IABC World Conference will explore new challenges and opportunities facing the communication profession. Renowned for it’s natural beauty, rich history, diverse cultures and mild climate, Vancouver was selected as the ideal location choice for this year’s event.