Center for Intercultural Dialogue

2018-19 Fulbright US Scholar Competition

The 2018-19 Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program competition is now open, and this year there are many awards in the field of Communications. Opportunities are found in the newly redesigned Catalog of Awards and include:

Swaziland: Mass Communication and Broadcast Journalism
United Arab Emirates: All Disciplines (Teaching or Teaching/Research)
Jamaica: All Disciplines
India: Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair (All Disciplines)
Norway: Digital Culture
Burma: All Disciplines
Zambia: Journalism and Broadcasting

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and the current competition will close on August 1, 2017.

Among the other Fulbright programs are those for Visiting (non-US) Scholars and Fulbright Specialists (short-term, US-based).

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Marika Preziuso Profile

Marika Preziuso is Associate Professor of World Literature at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the Caribbean Diaspora and an M.A. in Gender, Society and Culture, both from the University of London, UK.

Marika Preziuso

She writes: I teach 20th century and contemporary postcolonial literature, particularly by migrant and diasporic writers, and speculative fiction of the uncanny, magic realism and Afrofuturism. The transnational scope of my classes actively invites students to cultivate the skill of intercultural understanding, specifically for visual artists and designers. In summer 2019 I designed and taught a graduate seminar titled “Intercultural Lab for Artists,” which focused on the intersections of craft, world, and self.

My working definition of Intercultural Understanding is: the orientation to any meaningful encounter across differences in which all parties involved recognize each other’s complexities, specificity, and dignity, and choose to engage with them from a self-reflective, dynamic and culturally responsive place.

At MassArt, I am the organizer of Creative Counterpoints,an annual series in its fourth year, devoted to the intersections of narratives of creativity and difference as investigated by visual artists, writers, public intellectuals, and other culture makers.

My academic research examines the intercultural pedagogies that result from transnational visual and literary narratives. These employ strategies of resistance and “opacity” to critique and expand Western imaginaries of “otherness” and create syncretic safe and radical spaces for their authors and their art.

My most recent publication is my conversation with artist Wangechi Mutu, titled “Is America Really Full?”, which is forthcoming in Transition, the magazine of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard University.

I am a published poet and a RYT yoga instructor and meditation guide. My poetry stems from an intentional practice of “counterpoint”. As an immigrant woman, an academic of diaspora studies, a white “other” in a sea of American whiteness, I navigate layers of difference at times as a deficit, at times as an excess, a surplus. My poetry stems from this constant, exhausting and yet rewarding process of counterpoint, an alchemy, a (mis)translation. These qualities are both my curse and the lens through which I observe and make sense of the world, from the space of a sideway outsider, and suspicious insider space.

Outside Massart, I lead creative workshops in partnership with local communities in Boston to weave the practices of meditation, journaling, story-telling and verse in translation as gateways to explore our emotions and experiences as honorable and to practice holding space for them with curiosity, compassion, and a sense of humor. I particularly welcome the opportunity to work with creatives who straddle languages, cultures, and complex personal histories and support them in the (re)kindling of their creative light.

Academic website

Creative writing workshops

Work for CID:
Marika Preziuso offered her students credit if they would create potential CID Posters.

Constructing Intercultural Dialogue #7: When the East Meets the Middle East

The seventh issue of Constructing intercultural Dialogues is now available, “When the East meets the Middle East,” by Lauren Mark.

As a reminder, the goal of this series is to provide concrete examples of how actual people have managed to organize and hold intercultural dialogues, so that others may be inspired to do the same. As with Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, these may be downloaded for free. Click on the thumbnail to download the PDF.

Mark, L. (2017). When the East meets the Middle East. Constructing Intercultural Dialogues, 7. Available from: https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/constructing-icd-7.pdf

If you have a case study you would like to share, send an email to the series editor, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz.

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

CFP Bringing International Perspectives to the Communication Curriculum

Special Issue Call for Papers
Eunkyong (Esther) Lee Yook, George Mason University, Paaige K. Turner, National Communication Association (Co-Guest Editors) of Bringing International Perspectives to the Communication Curriculum in an Era of Globalization for The Journal of Intercultural Communication Research (JICR)

This Special Issue of The Journal of Intercultural Communication Research (JICR) invites papers that advance internationalization of the communicaton curriculum and/or global education experiences through the application and integration of communication theory and research. The goal is to disseminate instructional approaches, ideas, and activities that bring a global perspective to the communication curricuum, and to generate an on-going discussion about the pedagogy of internationalization for intercultural competence in an era of globalization.

According to the International Association of Universities, an increasing interdependence among nations as well as intensified mobility of goods, ideas and people has had the effect of making internationalization more of an institutional imperative . Responding to this mandate, universities around the world have begun to participate in the higher education internationalization process in diverse ways, including expanded recruitment of international students, study-abroad programs, dual/joint degrees, and the development of international branch campuses. In the United States, international students will more than double from three to over seven million annually from 2000 to 2025 (Banks et al. 2007; Haddad 2006). Conversely, the United States and other nations recently have experienced a surge in nationalism that will challenge internationalization efforts by universities and faculty (e.g., Brexit, US/Mexico Border Wall) in all disciplines.

Given the trend towards globalization and its resulting internationalization of our campuses, it is timely to: 1) review the current limitations of the communication curriculum and revise it appropriately to adjust to the new global environment, and 2) integrate the knowledge and skills of the communication discipline with other curriculum to support the development of global citizens in all countries.

For this special issue we seek articles and teaching cases that reconceptualize communication curriculum (macro, meso, or micro levels) and/or ground global education experiences in communication theory and research. We seek projects that accomplish one of the following:
– internationalize assignments, courses or sub disciplines in communication (e.g., interpersonal communication, organizational communication).
– bring communication theory or research to other disciplines to advance internationalization efforts (e.g., intercultural communication and history)
– Integrate communication theory or research into a study-abroad experience
– Integrate communication theory or research into domestic, global educational experiences.

Manuscripts may have one of two foci. The first is a review and application of communication theory and literature to a curriculum or subject area in or outside of the communication discipline to support internationalization (3,500 – 4,000 words). The second is a detailed presentation of pedagogical activities that demonstrate a use of communication theory or literature that brings a global perspective to a class, unit activity, or semester activity (2,000 – 3,000 words). All manuscripts must demonstrate a substantive connection to communication theory and research while articulating a clear pedagogical practice and impact on social or curriculum goals.

Abstracts of 250 – 300 words should be submitted by July 1, 2017 to Esther Yook. Selected authors will receive an invitation to submit full manuscripts for consideration by August 1, 2017. Completed manuscripts are due November 1, 2017. Contact co-guest editor Paaige K. Turner or Esther Yook with questions.

Supported by the National Communication Association Task Force on Facilitating International Collaborations.

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CFP Nordic Intercultural Communication Conference 2017 (Finland)

Call for Proposals: 24th Nordic Intercultural Communication Conference: Diversities, mobilities, and cultural identities in the balance; 23-25 November, 2017, Jyväskylä, Finland; Deadline: 25 June, 2017

Human movement and relocation in the 21st century, by choice or in response to human-made or natural disasters, is becoming increasingly common. One outcome of this trend is that many people have become entrenched in, or fallen back onto, defensive lines and discourse as a means to protect their cultural identities. However, engaging dissimilar others–politically, professionally, or personally–from a defensive posture makes productive intercultural interaction and policy making difficult at best, and perhaps unattainable.

This situation poses significant challenges to ongoing peaceful negotiation of cultural identities. In other words, what makes me “me,” you “you,” and us “us”? Whether taken from the perspective of the immigrants, their offspring, host societies, ethnic minorities, or institutional actors operating in the field, the process of identity building and maintenance has always resulted from comparing oneself to “the other,” in seeking out both similarities and differences. It is enhanced or undermined by the stories told within oneself and among friends and compatriots. The process can be productive, mind-expanding, inclusive, and beneficial, just as easily as it can be fraught with contradictions, tension, fear, and reactionary stances.

But who is the owner of a culture or cultural information? Who is allowed to be an “authentic” representative of a culture? When is the assumed nature of a culture–or one’s cultural identity–allowed to evolve and by what means? What is the role of people invested in the field of intercultural communication? What kind of networks, initiatives, best practices, and hopeful ideas can be offered or advanced? How does theoretical insight best intersect with practical challenges?

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CFP In Defense of the Humanities

Call for Paper Submissions for Special Journal Issue
In Defense of the Humanities: What Does Communication Studies Give?
Guest Editor: Mari Lee Mifsud

In the legacy of a long western history of a “crisis in the humanities,” the latest has been proclaimed [e.g., Don A. Habibi, “The Indispensability of the Humanities for the 21st Century,” Humanities, 5, no.1 (2016)11: 1-23]. Twenty-first century globalization, economic shifts, extensive budget cuts, political divisions, and culture/al wars all take a toll on attitudes towards the humanities in the United States. In 2007, the National Communication Association took stock of the discipline’s intellectual armory in defense of the humanities, giving account in a white paper. Their tally, in brief, shows the study of communication:

-offers essential exploration of the means and modes of democratic life and the orchestration of a free people whose organizing principle is a shared responsibility as citizens to engage in living well together

-offers critical understanding and resources for navigating, critiquing, engaging, and preserving the ever-changing arts of expression, systems of exchange, and structures of power through the ages and across cultures

-maps, archives, and preserves the diversity of human knowing, being, and doing by traversing historical, interpretive, theoretical, performative, critical, and cultural lines. (Barbara Biesecker, James Darsey, G. Thomas Goodnight, Marshall Scott Poole, David Zarefsky, Barbie Zelizer, Communication Scholarship and the Humanities: A White Paper Sponsored by the National Communication Association, Washington, DC: National Communication Association, 2007)

This special issue of The Review of Communication seeks scholars to continue the tally, and to enhance and add to our intellectual armory for defense of the Humanities. This call extends to all categories of humanistic communication studies, including for example, argumentation, communication philosophy and ethics, critical and cultural studies, discourse studies, media studies, performance studies, public address, publics and counter-publics, rhetorical theory, history, and criticism. The call extends also to categories of communication studies beyond the humanistic, recognizing that science ought not, and perhaps cannot, proceed without the humanities. With these considerations in mind, we invite submissions that explore the following, though all novel and compelling topics are welcome:

-Communication studies as a resource for exploring and exchanging with concepts, practices, and embodiments of difference, the foreigner question, the alien, the other

-Communication studies as a means of examining the ontological, epistemological, existential, and ethical implications of our communicative being, our being constituted by symbolic action and mediated exchange

-Communication studies as a discipline emerging from rhetoric, one of the original liberal arts, yet transforming the binary of humanities and sciences

-Communication studies as a tool for decolonizing knowledge(s) across territories such as ability, class, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexuality.

-Communication studies as a humanistic tool for exploring, critiquing, and engaging the new media of our digital lives together

-Communication studies and digital humanities as a means of shaping and sharpening the cutting edge of knowledge-making

-Communication studies as a method and mode for the public humanities

DEADLINE: MONDAY JULY 31, 2107

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the ScholarOne Manuscripts site for Review of Communication.

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Intercultural Dialogue via Organizing International Academic Conferences

My name is Margarita Kefalaki and I hold a doctorate in Intercultural Communication. When I returned to Greece after 8 years study in France, I knew exactly what I would like to do: to communicate and exchange with people from all around the world.

The organization of international academic conferences was a dream come true. This dream became reality with the Communication Institute of Greece (COMinG) in 2013. This association was established originally in France in 2003, under another name, but the focus on communication and interaction was always central. Academics, researchers, PhD students and anyone interested in communication, interaction, education, and exchange is welcome to join the association and/or participate in our conferences. Continue reading “Intercultural Dialogue via Organizing International Academic Conferences”

Lauren Mark Profile

Lauren Mark is a doctoral student and Graduate Teaching Associate at the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. Lauren is currently researching the possibility of bringing Asian epistemologies to Western contexts.

She is a certified Civil Dialogue Facilitator and holds an M.Ed in Educational Organization, Leadership and Policy, an M.A. in Dance, and a B.A. in English Literature and French. Prior to joining Hugh Downs, Lauren worked as a co-founder and project manager of two cross-cultural learning organizations in Taipei, Taiwan – Becoming, 緣創an intercultural development platform, and the East West Culture Project. Lauren has also worked as a translator and interpreter in Taiwan and Israel across a variety of business and artistic sectors.Rooted in her experiences in the field, Lauren’s general research interests focus on identity shifts in acculturation. Her studies focus on the intersection of ethnic, linguistic and performative factors in acculturation, as well as how local cultures influence people’s ways of being.

Pedagogically, Lauren explores innovative means to bring embodied self-reflexivity to classroom contexts, within courses such as Communication and Creativity, Intercultural Communication, and Identity, Performance, and Communication. Her work in this arena began with her thesis work, Visible Histories, in which she explored how the sharing of embodied reminiscence and the collective physical reconstruction of memories served as a meeting ground for multiple generations exploring the art of dance. Lauren continues to experiment with ways that purposeful nonverbal communication can enhance reflexivity and promote collective care. This is an extension of her previous work in Taiwan, where she managed creative interdisciplinary labs and choreographed works that tested the boundaries between audience and performers.

Publications:

Mark, L. (2019). An Exploratory study of part time minorities: Finding home as a minority member. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 3. doi: 10.1080/17475759.2019.1602071

Wells, T., Mark, L., and Sandoval, J. (2019). Affect, space and the everyday: A reconsideration of waste in academic inquiry. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education. Special Ed. Waste. [Manuscript accepted].

Ray, C. D., Floyd, K., Mongeau, P. A., Mark, L., Shufford, K. N., & Niess, L. C. (2019). Planning improves vocal fluency and appearance of concern when communicating emotional support. Communication Research Reports, 36, 57-66. doi: 10.1080/08824096.2018.1560251

Brezis, R. S., Singhal, N., Daley, T., Barua, M., Piggot, J., Chollera, S., Mark, L., & Weisner, T. (2016). Self- and other-descriptions by individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Los Angeles and New Delhi: Bridging cross-cultural psychology and neurodiversity. Culture and Brain, 4(2), 113-133.

Work for CID:
Lauren Mark wrote Constructing Intercultural Dialogues #7: When the East Meets the Middle East.

The Art of Being Human

Dr. Michael Wesch, who teaches Anthropology at Kansas State University, is opening up his online course, ANTH 101, to everyone, as an experiment in pedagogy. Having distilled the basic insights of anthropologists into 10 lessons (starting with People are different), he’s developed 10 challenges, including Other Encounters). He has also drafted a new book as companion to the course, The Art of Being Human, which is being shared in digital format through the course site.

Given that his research focus is on the effects of social media and digital technology on global society, it probably makes sense that he is currently exploring how best to use an online course to share information even beyond his own university. The class begins June 5, 2017.

Wesch has posted a description of the course, and the ways in which others may choose to use some of his content, in a post to Savage Minds.

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Migration, Language and Dialogue

Migration, Language and Dialogue
by Gabriel Furmuzachi

Migration brings with it, no doubt about it, important changes in the lives of those who chose to leave. Identity is one these fundamental changes. One needs to find one’s place and one’s self in a new environment without the benefit of a tradition and without the support of one’s family, history and language. As an immigrant, one becomes another, one’s identity has to be reassessed, built up from scratch. We are not talking here about personal identity in the sense analytic philosophy considers it. Instead, our understanding of identity relies on narratives: we come to understand ourselves and our place in the world through stories we tell or are told about ourselves. The fabric of these stories gets torn once we decide or are forced to leave. We should strive to mend it and we think one can only do this dialogically. These are the issues we will try to discuss here.

We are going to quickly follow three accounts of immigrant lives. Then we will attempt to make sense of them by appealing to a couple of philosophical concepts, namely dialogue and cosmopolitanism, which we consider to be viable solutions to the difficulties brought about by migration.

The first account we’ll talk about is the one from Strangers to Ourselves by Julia Kristeva, the second, from Eva Hoffman’s autobiographical novel Lost in Translation and the third focusing on the immigrant stories documented by the Haitian/American writer Edwidge Danticat in her Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Writer at Work.

Read the full essay.

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