CFP Symbolic Interaction and Identity Construction

“Publication

Call for submissions: Studies in Symbolic Interaction special issue: Symbolic Interaction and Identity Construction. Deadline: abstract by 15 May 2025; full paper by 30 November 2025.

Issue editor: Shing-Ling Sarina Chen (University of Northern Iowa, USA)

Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 63, is devoted to the discussions of identity construction in current social worlds from the symbolic interactionist perspective. Examinations of any form of identity construction in everyday life and in specialized temporal and spatial contexts are welcome. With this focus as the crux of Volume 63, the purpose is twofold: (1) to illustrate how symbolic interactionist theories are helpful in understanding the construction of an identity, and (2) how the construction of an identity serves to advance symbolic interactionist theories in identity construction.

The Role of Visual Arts in Improving Intercultural Dialogue 2025 (Malaysia)

“Collaborative

The role of visual arts in improving intercultural dialogue between sister cities, research project by Ramin Hajianfard, City University Malaysia, would appreciate your input.

Dr. Ramin Hajianfard, Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Art at City University Malaysia, is looking for those with interests in visual arts and/or sister-city exchanges to complete a brief set of questions. The project is titled Intercultural Exchanges Between Isfahan and Kuala Lumpur in the Context of Visual Arts. Your observations and experiences are critical to understanding how visual art can foster intercultural dialogue.

This study examines how visual arts can strengthen the sister-city partnership between Isfahan and Kuala Lumpur—established in 1997—by fostering intercultural dialogue, preserving shared heritage, and advancing Sustainable Development Goals in education, urban development, and global partnerships. Employing a qualitative approach that combines semi-structured text interviews with experts, artists, and intercultural specialists, alongside case studies and document analysis, the research identifies both the barriers (e.g., limited past collaborations and misaligned policies) and the opportunities (e.g., complementary Islamic art traditions and digital platforms) for meaningful exchange. Grounded in cultural semiotics and intercultural aesthetics, the findings will inform policy alignment, institutional partnerships, and practical programs—such as reciprocal exhibitions, artist residencies, and virtual platforms—to enhance mutual understanding and sustainable cultural cooperation between the two cities.

The questions to be answered are these:

  • Arts as a Dialogue Tool: From a global perspective, what makes visual art an effective tool for fostering intercultural dialogue between communities or cities?
  • Respecting Cultural Heritage: How can international art initiatives be designed to respectfully highlight each participant’s cultural heritage while engaging diverse audiences?
  • Aligning with Global Goals: In your experience, how do intercultural arts exchanges contribute to broader goals like education and sustainable community building (for instance, what impacts have you seen related to learning outcomes or community resilience)?
  • Sustaining Partnerships: What strategies or best practices are important for establishing and sustaining successful intercultural art partnerships (such as those aligning with international collaboration goals like SDG 17)?

If you are interested, please contact him directly via email.

International Summer School in MigrationMedia(tor): Empowering Voices of Migrants (Poland/Croatia)


Study AbroadInternational Summer School in MigrationMedia(tor): Empowering Voices of Migrants, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Krakow, Poland (also partially in Croatia), 8-17 September 2025. Application deadline: 30 April 2025.

This unique summer school provides an intensive, interdisciplinary learning experience designed to equip participants with the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to empower migrants and mediate migration-related challenges. Through interactive workshops, expert-led discussions, and practical activities, you’ll engage with topics such as migrant advocacy, anti-discrimination policy and cultural integration.

The MigrationMedia(tor): Empowering Migrant’s Voices International Summer School aims to create a space for people from the countries of the European Union, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Ukraine to discuss issues of media influence on perceptions of migration. The lectures and workshops will provide participants with the knowledge necessary to understand the processes of contemporary migration, as well as the tools to analyze and seek reliable information on the subject. An important part of the class will also be to give participants the opportunity to describe and tell migration stories from the perspective of their own experiences and observations, on the basis of which a publication summarizing the project will be created.

Eligible participants: age 18-30, from EU countries, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Ukraine
Language: English
Cost: free of charge (The organizers cover the cost of travel in Poland and Croatia and accommodation in the period 8-17.09.2025, catering, and the cost of additional attractions. Participants get to Gdynia at their own expense. The organizers cover the cost of round trip Krakow – Croatia)

U Groningen: PHD Studentship in Mediatizing the Homeland (Netherlands)

“Studentships“Mediatizing the Homeland: Diasporic Imaginaries of Palestine Ph.D. Studentship, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands. Deadline: 30 April 2025.

Fully funded four-year PhD position for the project Mediatizing the Homeland, positioned at the intersection of digital media, decolonial and diaspora studies. As a candidate, you will part of the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen, engaging with a thriving community of scholars at the forefront of critical media research. This PhD project offers a unique opportunity to work in an international environment and to acquire valuable research experience at a top-ranked European university. As a PhD student, you will develop your own research project in consultation with the associated supervisors. You will conduct independent and original academic research and report results via peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and ultimately a PhD dissertation. The PhD thesis has to be completed within four years. You will also have the opportunity to (further) develop your teaching skills.

This PhD project explores how diasporic identity and belonging are shaped through mediated imaginaries of the homeland. Focusing on the Palestinian diaspora as a case study, it examines how the homeland is discursively and visually constructed across various media forms, particularly as a space that remains largely inaccessible due to geopolitical constraints. More specifically, it investigates how Palestinian diasporic media production, content, and consumption contribute to identity formation and a sense of belonging in response to contemporary regional developments.

The project is guided by the central research question “How do Palestinian participatory media producers, content, and consumers construct diasporic identities and imaginaries of the homeland?” Instead of focusing on traditional media such as literature and cinema, this study looks at participatory media, such as social media, music and videogames. The aim is to inquire into how these media provide diasporic voices with new modes of expression, engagement, and identity negotiation, facilitated by their accessibility, platformization, and the blurring of production and consumption.

KC114 Digital Cosmopolitanism

Key Concepts in ICDThe next issue of Key Concepts in intercultural Dialogue is now available. This is KC114: Digital Cosmopolitanism, by Fergal Lenehan. Click on the thumbnail to download the PDF. Lists organized chronologically by publication date and number, alphabetically by concept in English, and by languages into which they have been translated, are available, as is a page of acknowledgments with the names of all authors, translators, and reviewers.

KC114 Digital Cosmopolitanism

Lenehan, F. (2025). Digital cosmopolitanism. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 114. Available from: https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/kc114-digital-cosmopolitanism.pdf

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue publishes a series of short briefs describing Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue. Different people, working in different countries and disciplines, use different vocabulary to describe their interests, yet these terms overlap. Our goal is to provide some of the assumptions and history attached to each concept for those unfamiliar with it. As there are other concepts you would like to see included, send an email to the series editor, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. If there are concepts you would like to prepare, provide a brief explanation of why you think the concept is central to the study of intercultural dialogue, and why you are the obvious person to write up that concept.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Auckland U of Technology: Director of AUT International (New Zealand)

“JobDirector, AUT International, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. Deadline: 30 April 2025.

AUT is seeking an innovative leader of tertiary international teams to help take AUT International to the next level. You will be responsible for providing strategic leadership, aligning international initiatives with the University’s overarching strategy, whilst ensuring operational excellence in the areas of student recruitment, global partnerships, transnational education, and internationalisation of curriculum and research.

The role operates in a highly dynamic and unpredictable global environment where external factors such as geopolitical shifts, government policies, international student mobility trends and more directly impact the role and the team. The ability to adapt, pivot and analyse data to make sound evidence-based decisions is critical. You will lead a growing team of around 30 highly committed and passionate staff; primarily across Student Recruitment & Marketing, Global Partnerships & Transnational Education and AUT’s English Language Centre teams.

 

College of the Canyons: Intercultural Center Coordinator (USA)

“JobIntercultural Center Coordinator II, College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA, USA. Deadline: open until filled; posted 7 April 2025.

The Santa Clarita Community College District/College of the Canyons is seeking a full-time Intercultural Center Coordinator II under the Institutional Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness office. Under the direction of the Dean of Institutional Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, the Intercultural Center (ICC) Coordinator II oversees events and services that promote identity exploration, cultural, social justice education, and student retention. This position provides daily oversight of the ICC operations and staff, supports planning, budgeting, and participates in the program review process for the District’s Intercultural Centers. The Coordinator plays an integral part of the ICC team by contributing to the overall vision and mission of student diversity and belonging, which includes dialogues on various multicultural and intersectional issues. In addition, the Coordinator provides support for events in the ICC and supports the Dean in ensuring that the center is meeting the needs of students and the campus community. The Coordinator serves as an ICC liaison for district-wide initiatives, connects students to resources, and collaborates with the Dean and other District stakeholders to educate and support the campus community on diverse identities and concerns. Additionally, the ICC Coordinator II serves as an administrative aide to the Dean and works directly with administrators, faculty, staff, students, and community partners. Performs other duties as assigned.

Depolarizing Dialogue (Netherlands)

EventsDePolarizing Dialogue. Speaker: Maja Nenadovic, Institute for Developing Across Differences, University of Groningen, Netherlands, 7-8 July 2025. Registration deadline: 3 May 2025.

DePolarizing Dialogue workshop with Maja NenadovicEveryday interactions increasingly provoke angry divisiveness , making civil discussion and respectful disagreements seemingly a thing of the past. Addresses the pressing issue of divisive rhetoric and polarized encounters in Europe and beyond – whether about the pandemic and self-expression, freedom of expression versus hurtful rhetoric, or otherwise.

Register for this workshop to help yourself and those you work with:
1. “Dial down” intense verbal encounters.
2. Diagnose communication problems in real time.
3. Apply “on the spot” strategies to transform polarizing interactions.

CFP Minoritized Languages in an Age of (Im)mobility

“Publication

Call for book chapters: Minoritized languages in an age of (im)mobility: People, places and practices. Deadline: abstracts only due 22 April 2025.

Editors: Carla Jonsson, Annika Norlund Shaswar, Andreas Nuottaniemi

“We are pleased to invite chapters for a planned volume on minoritized languages in education and other contexts such as work life and community life. We have been in contact with the editors of the book series ‘Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism’ and we have been encouraged by them to edit a peer reviewed academic volume about this topic. We are now calling for chapters and alternative forms of publications to be included in the proposed volume which Routledge will then consider for publication and accept subject to peer-review.

The chapters can be based on empirical studies (qualitative or quantitative), literature studies or conceptual / theoretical discussions. We are also interested in alternative forms of publications (such
as for instance, but not limited to, written conversations/dialogues/interviews/thought pieces).
These could be written by representatives from organizations and civil society and/or researchers.

We have the possibility to offer two writing retreats in Sweden: one for researchers (prel. in November) and one for representatives from organizations and civil society and or researchers (prel. in September).

The volume aims to critically explore questions about minoritized languages in contexts of education
and work, investigating the possibilities and limitations of language policies in supporting their use.

By bringing together researchers from different fields the book will emphasize interdisciplinary perspectives on minoritized languages, language policy, and multilingualism in education.

This book will be aimed at academic researchers, but will also be of interest to practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders.

We want this volume to include international perspectives and therefore hope for contributions from different contexts/places.

U Strathclyde: Role of 3rd Sector Organizations in Supporting Asylum Seekers and Refugees (UK)

Postdocs

Postdoctoral Researcher: Role of Third Sector Organizations in Supporting Asylum Seekers’ and Refugees’ Integration, Citizenship, and Belonging, University of Strathclyde, UK. Deadline: 9 May 2025.

The role of charities and community groups has become more prominent over the last decade of austerity and ongoing cost-of-living crisis, including in relation to support for asylum seekers and refugees. The aim of the study is to address this gap and provide evidence on the role of third sector organisations in supporting refugee integration and individuals who are navigating the UK asylum system.  This opportunity is for 3 years.