Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Dialogue across Differences: Public Conversations Project Workshop

Dialogue Across Differences: An Introduction to Reflective Structured Dialogue
September 16, 2016, Watertown, MA
May 16, 2017<, Cambridge, MA

25 years ago, Public Conversations Project created a unique approach to dialogue that promoted connection and curiosity between those who saw one another as the enemy. Our approach has transformed conflicts across the country and the world – but its principles are widely applicable for everyday conversation. An intentional communication process can help individuals, organizations and communities build trust, enhance resilience for addressing future challenging issues, and have constructive conversations with those they otherwise “wouldn’t be caught dead with.”

Learning Objectives:
• Learn basic theory and practice of Public Conversations’ relationship-centered approach to better communication and dialogue.
• Achieve shared, clear, and mutually understood purpose in a conversation.
• Design a framework for a constructive conversation that will encourage people to participate fully, listen actively, and enhance empathy.
• Stimulate self-discovery and curiosity about the “other” through questions that promote connection, curiosity and caring.

Results:
As a result of this workshop, you will be equipped to:
• Communicate with self-confidence about difficult or divisive topics.
• Break destructive communication habits like avoidance, silence, or reactive responses, enabling those in a conversation to feel truly listened to.
• Design conversations, dialogues, or meetings with clear purpose, full participation, and a structure for moving forward.
• Employ effective and satisfying communication exercises in a broad range of personal and professional settings.

Who might participate:
• Executives in the nonprofit, public, or private sectors interested in shifting the culture of communication in their workplace.
• Managers seeking to lead more constructive conversations with a divided, frustrated, or distracted team.
• Clergy looking to broach a challenging concept with their congregation or internal leadership.
• Consultants in strategic communications, strategic planning, or organizational development exploring new ways to improve client relations.
• Administrators seeking to encourage collaboration between departments.

Accreditation:
This workshop is approved for 6 clock hours for national certified counselors, Massachusetts licensed mental health counselors, MA licensed marriage and family therapists, and New Hampshire pastoral psychotherapists. Credits are accepted by the NH Board of Mental Health Practice for all licensed NH mental health professionals. For more information, please see our workshop policies. Public Conversations Project is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP™) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP solely is responsible for all aspects of the program.

For more information, please contact training[at]publicconversations.org

Public Deliberation & Dialogue at ICA

ICA 2016 This summer at the International Communication Association’s conference in Fukuoka, Japan, twenty communication scholars and students gathered for a preconference on Pubic Deliberation and Dialogue: Building an International Network of Research, Pedagogy, and Service. The group included faculty and students working in Denmark, Finland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, and USA. The gathering was designed to build a stronger international network by sharing ideas on public deliberation and dialogue in the areas of teaching, research, and service.

The preconference started with short 3-5 minute presentations from each participant. Invited to share their broad interests, a specific project, or questions they’d like to explore, each person introduced their work while also establishing our shared interest in deliberation and dialogue in media coverage, social media, classrooms, campuses, communities, and legislatures. These presentations planted the seeds of collaboration between participants while also raising issues and values that would be discussed in small groups.

In the first small group session, participants explored a range of research areas, including the need for theorizing the function of incivility and storytelling in deliberation as well as the importance of local cultures when studying deliberative characteristics such as politeness and rationality. Participants also discussed ways to give voice to underrepresented groups and to cultivate deliberative faith across cultures. In the second session, participants considered the opportunities and the challenges of conducting engaged work. Conversations on this topic revolved around the question of identity – “How do we engage authentically as a researcher, teacher, and community member?” The small group session ended with the exchange of ideas on ways to enhance intercultural dialogue through faculty-led study abroad trips and to develop deliberative skills in communication courses across different cultures.

The final part of the preconference looked at how a network on dialogue and deliberation consisting of scholars from around the world could be formed. There was a discussion on how to create supportive and informative relationships and linkages to others outside the network who may contribute to or benefit from the network. There was interest in having a range of academic disciplines, nationalities, concepts that differ across disciplines and cultures and taking into account common interests and common goals as well as what resources its members will want to exchange. Dialogue and deliberation to address regional challenges would be an interesting area to pursue: identifying challenges and opportunities facing regions, examining dialogue and deliberation research and aspirations in different parts of the world, exploring ways in which dialogue and deliberation can be deployed and coordinated to support shared interests, increasing understanding of emerging trends and new models, and creating opportunities to strengthen and leverage links and networks.

The co-chairs of the preconference were:
Soo-Hye Han, Kansas State University
Azirah Hashim, University of Malaya; Executive Director, Asia-Europe Institute (AEI)
Leah Sprain, University of Colorado, Boulder
Tim Steffensmeier, Kansas State University

For further information about the new network, contact Tim Steffensmeier, steffy[at]ksu.edu

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Tim Steffensmeier Profile

Tim Steffensmeier is an associate professor and director of the Leadership Communication doctoral program at the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University. This is a joint appointment as director of research at the Kansas Leadership Center based in Wichita, KS.

Tim Steffensmeier Tim’s publications focus on public deliberation, rhetoric, and civic leadership. This research has been grant funded by the National Science Foundation, Kettering Foundation, and Interactivity Foundation. Steffensmeier is a former department head of Communication Studies at Kansas State University (2012-2017) and served as editor for the Journal of Public Deliberation. Tim has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in Communication Studies/Rhetoric. His expertise includes consulting experience with companies and communities on leadership development and communication.

His publications include:

PytlikZillig, L. M., Steffensmeier, T., Campbell Hibbs, A., Champion, B., Hunt, E. D., Harrington, J., Jr., Spears, J., Umphlett, N., Bruning, R., & Kahl, D. (2013). Fostering climate change education in the Central Great Plains: A public engagement approach. International Journal of Sustainability, 8(1), 161-177.

Steffensmeier, T. (2010) Building a public square: An analysis of community narratives. Community Development, 41(2), 255-268.

Steffensmeier, T. & Schenck-Hamlin, W. (2009) Argument quality in public deliberations. Argumentation and Advocacy, 45(1), 21-36.

Key Concept #63 Interkulturelle Philosophie Translated into Hindi

Continuing translations of Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, today I am posting KC#63: Interkulturelle Philosophie, originally written by Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach for publication in English in 2015, has now been translated by Suman Lata of Hyderabad, India, into Hindi.

As always, all Key Concepts are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download. Lists of Key Concepts organized chronologically by publication date and number, alphabetically by concept, 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.

Kirloskar-Steinbach, M. (2016). Interkulturelle philosophie [Hindi]. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 63. (S. Lata, trans.). Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/kc63-interkulturell-philosophie_hindi.pdf

If you are interested in translating one of the Key Concepts, please contact me for approval first because dozens are currently in process. As always, if there is a concept you think should be written up as one of the Key Concepts, whether in English or any other language, propose it. If you are new to CID, please provide a brief resume. This opportunity is open to masters students and above, on the assumption that some familiarity with academic conventions generally, and discussion of intercultural dialogue specifically, are useful.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue
intercult.dialogue[at]gmail.com

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

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U Nebraska Lincoln Job Ad: Rhetoric of Identity & Difference

Assistant Professor, Rhetoric of Identity and Difference
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The Department of Communication Studies seeks a tenure-track assistant professor beginning August 14, 2017, focused in Rhetoric of Identity and Difference. We seek a humanities scholar, strongly grounded in the public address tradition of rhetorical studies, focused on the relationship between civic discourse, identity, and historically marginalized groups in civic life. Scholarly expertise may include, but is not limited to, rhetorics of identity, power, and difference in public argument, discourses of gender, sexuality, race, and class in
contemporary political discourse, or the role of rhetoric in enabling and constraining the development of citizens’ voice. Candidates will be expected to contribute to the department’s interdisciplinary ties and connect with strategic research initiatives/priorities on campus,
depending on research foci, e.g., Women’s and Gender Studies, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Digital Humanities, and Nebraska Public Policy Center.

Minimum Qualifications:
A Ph.D. in Communication Studies is required by the time the appointment begins. Applicants must demonstrate ability to conduct an active program of research in rhetoric and civic engagement, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, advise graduate students, and provide professional service.

Applicants’ research should complement the department’s scholarly initiatives aimed at understanding and explaining the role of communication in Civic Engagement (facilitating civic engagement, mediating public controversies, and organizing for social change), Health and Well-being (constituting individual and family health, promoting healthy behaviors, and helping persons navigate relational challenges), and Identity and Difference (creating, maintaining, and challenging personal, social, and community identity in a complex and
diverse world), and share the department’s strong commitment to the synergistic integration of humanities and social science scholarship. Candidates will be expected to contribute to the department’s interdisciplinary ties and connect with strategic research initiatives/priorities on campus, depending on research foci, e.g., Women’s and Gender Studies, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Digital Humanities, and Nebraska Public Policy Center.

The Department:
The Department of Communication Studies, housed in the College of Arts & Sciences, has a long tradition of excellence in research, teaching, and service. The successful candidate will join a faculty offering graduate emphases in Interpersonal, Family, and Intergroup Communication and Rhetoric and Public Culture, with a strong commitment to the synergistic integration of humanities and social science scholarship. The department enrolls over 2,700 students per semester in graduate and undergraduate courses, including 200 majors earning the B.A./B.S. degree. The department offers a Ph.D. and M.A. in Communication Studies, funding 21-23 graduate students per year.

The University and Community:
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with 26,000 students, is located in the state capital. Lincoln and the surrounding community has a population of approximately 315,000 and enjoys many of the cultural and entertainment benefits of a much larger city, with the feel of a friendly Midwestern community. The city has a flourishing economy with large employment sectors in education, government, health care, banking, insurance, and technology. Lincoln has first-rate schools, a wonderful park and trail system, museums, and affordable housing. Recent development includes a new entertainment district next to campus and downtown. The Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area (pop. 895,000) is 45 minutes away offering additional recreational and entertainment opportunities and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Application:
In order to ensure consideration, applications must be received by September 25, 2016. To apply:
(1) log on to this site, requisition # F_160188 and complete the Faculty/Administrative Information form, submit an online letter of application addressing the candidate’s match with the required qualifications, a Curriculum Vitae (including a list of courses taught),
and the names, addresses, and email addresses of at least three references to this site;
(2) send as attachments electronically to commstudiessearch@unl.edu samples of recent scholarly work, evidence of teaching effectiveness and,
(3) have sent to commstudiessearch@unl.edu a minimum of three letters of reference sent directly from the letter writers.

Inquiries about the position or search process should be made to Dr. Ronald Lee (rlee1[at]unl.edu), Search Committee Chair. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is committed to a pluralistic campus community through affirmative action, equal opportunity, work-life balance, and dual careers.

National University of Singapore 6 job ads

Six tenure-track Assistant Professor Positions at National University of Singapore

The Department, a part of the globally ranked Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS and ranked first in Asia, offers degree programs at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels, and is home to cutting-edge multi-disciplinary scholarship on digital media studies. Remuneration and work support provided are internationally competitive.

The Department of Communications and New Media (CNM) at the National University of Singapore seeks outstanding candidates for six tenure-track Assistant Professor Positions. Successful candidates must demonstrate a record of excellence in research in one or more of the
following broad areas.

Position 1. Assistant Professor Tenure-track position in Public Relations and Strategic Communication [#2016.01.01]

We seek a scholar with expertise in one or more of the following areas: 1) public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, and/or digital and social media. A thorough grounding in theory, research, and practice related to public relations and/or strategic communication is required.

Position 2. Assistant Professor Tenure-track position in Health Communication [#2016.01.02]

We seek an engaged scholar with demonstrated expertise in health communication broadly defined. Areas of teaching and research interests include but are not limited to: culture and health, health campaigns, health promotion, health information seeking, patient-provider communication, health risk perception and behavior, social support, e-health, and/or health care advocacy.

Position 3. Assistant Professor Tenure-track position in Organizational Communication [#2016.02.03]

We seek a scholar with expertise in organizational communication, leadership, and/or new communication technologies. In particular, research and teaching interests in gender, diversity, and organizational culture in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields are desired.

Position 4. Assistant Professor Tenure-track position in New Media and Political Communication [#2016.02.04]

We seek a scholar with expertise in- activism, elections and campaigns, power and politics, collective action, social movement, civic engagement, public opinion, and/or political psychology and behavior.

Position 5 Assistant Professor in Qualitative Communication Research Methods [#2016.01.05]

We seek a scholar with expertise in qualitative research methods in communication. Areas of teaching and research interests include but are not limited to: health communication, organizational communication, digital media studies, social change communication, development
communication, science communication, and/or performance studies.

Position 6 Assistant Professor in Critical/Cultural Studies and New Media [#2016.02.06]

We seek a scholar with expertise in critical/cultural studies of new media. Areas of teaching and research interests include but are not limited to: digital rhetoric and digital humanities, cultural studies of new media, political economy of new media, postcolonial theories of new media, new media mobilities, digital Marxist theory, performance studies and new media, new media policies and regulations, and/or digital ethics.

Please submit: (1) Research and teaching interest statements, (2) Curriculum Vitae including publications and teaching experience, (3) names, affiliates, and contact details of PhD supervisor and three other references, (4) selected copies of up to 2 journal/conference articles or book chapters representing best work. Please indicate on your application the position you are applying for. These appointments are set to commence in 2017.

A Ph.D. in Communication or relevant fields is required. Candidates who are at the ABD stage and can show clear evidence of PhD completion are also welcome to apply. We strongly uphold the principle of nondiscrimination and encourage every qualified individual to apply. Review of applications will begin on 31 August 2016 and continue until the positions are filled. Enquiries and applications should be sent to Gayathri Dorairaju at cnmcareer[at]nus.edu.sg

CFP Roles of Communication on a Regional Conflict

Journal of Asian Pacific Communication (JAPC) Special Issue Call for Papers
The Roles of Communication on a Regional Conflict: Antipathy, Nationalism, and Conflicts in Territorial Disputes among China, Japan, and South Korea

Submissions are encouraged from scholars that use different theoretical and empirical approaches to the special issue of Journal of Asian Pacific Communication on the role of communication (e.g. legal, diplomatic, and public discourses) in territorial disputes among China, Japan, and South Korea. Territorial disputes between China and Japan over Diaoyu (Chinese) or Senkaku (Japanese) island and between Japan and South Korea over the Dokdo (Korea) or Takeshima (Japanese) island have escalated particularly in recent years and given rise to concerns about peace and security in the region. The special issue will examine the roles of communication and discourse on their political, cultural, historical, and economical aspects of the territorial disputes with a focus on the key internal and external factors shaping current and future relations. The articles will examine communication and discourse in institutional and political settings, i.e., in and around organizations, in the media, and on the internet. They will focus on how use of language and non-verbal symbolic systems in specific, esp. institutional, communicative contexts, including face-to-face diplomatic interactions/conversations, news release, and popular cultural texts such as films, music, animation, television drama, etc. impact the territorial disputes.

(1) News Coverage on the Disputes: Articles may examine how news media cover the disputes and the accompanying debates on international and domestic levels by conducting content (quantitative) or textural (qualitative) analysis of newspaper articles or broadcasting news contents in two territorial disputes among three nations (or comparative studies). They may also examine how media represent conflict and its potential impact on the audience.

(2) Public Opinion and Propaganda: Although territorial disputes are one of the most fraught issues among states, how public opinion and official and unofficial propaganda on territorial disputes varies within states and what explains the variation are often overlooked. Some articles may examine the dynamics of messages and see how public prioritizes and processes nationalistic, historical, and economic considerations over such disputes. They may hypothesize, for example, that younger generations are more likely to support some level of compromise while older generations would take a more a hawkish stance.

(3) Political and Diplomatic Communication: There are inevitable political aspects in disputed territories. The role of the U.S. can be an explosive force in these disputes. Although the U.S. may maintain the neutrality in the territorial disputes among three nations, the U.S. concerns that China’s muscle in the region could escalate the conflicts with neighboring Vietnam, Malaysia, and Philippine and Japan. The U.S. may support their territorial disputes in order to counter China’s regional hegemonic ambition. The papers may examine rhetorical aspects of political communication (emails, news releases, press conferences, legal action threats, languages of peace and conflicts) in these disputes.

(4) Role of Social Media and Bloggers: Angry and reasonable participants of social media have escalated various international conflicts including the territorial disputes. Papers may analyze social media, internet, and cyber warfare on the disputes among three nations and see how these disputes are mediated, produced, received, and reconstituted.

(5) Role of Popular Cultural Texts: These disputes have been constructed and deconstructed through comics, television dramas, films, dance, theaters, and music in three nations. They are also largely consumed and shared in internet. Papers may explore how these popular cultural texts can personalize and frame the disputes and make the readers to frame of references in their opinions on the topic. Or analyze the texts based on power, ideology, and discourses.

All manuscripts will be reviewed as a cohort for this special issue. Manuscripts must be submitted here. All submissions will go through a regular double-blind review process and follow the standard norms and processes. The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2016. Submissions should be emailed to Eungjun Min, emin[at]ric.edu.

Key Concept #39: Otherness Translated into German

Continuing translations of Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, today I am posting KC#39: Otherness and The Other(s), originally written by Peter Praxmarer for publication in English in 2014, now translated by him into German. While translating, he has taken the opportunity to slightly revise and update the original English version as well.

Praxmarer, P. (2016). Anderssein und die Anderen. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 39. Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/kc39-otherness_german.pdf

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

CFP Journal of Communication Special Issue

Call for Papers: Ferments in the Field
Ferments in the Field: The Past, Present and Futures of Communication Studies

In 1983, Journal of Communication (JoC) published the special issue “Ferment in the Field” (Volume 33, Issue 3, co-edited by George Gerbner and Marsha Siefert). The issue focused on “questions about the role of communications scholars and researchers, and of the discipline as a whole, in society” (Gerbner & Siefert, 1983, p. 4). The 35 contributions reflected “on the state of communications research today; the relationship of the researcher to science, society, and policy; the goals of research with respect to social issues and social structure; and the tactics and strategies for reaching their goals” (ibid). In 1993, two comparable JoC issues were dedicated to “The Disciplinary Status of Communication Research” (Volume 43, Issues 3-4, co-edited by Mark Levy and Michael Gurevitch). In 2008, a JoC special issue discussed “Epistemological and Disciplinary Intersections” (Volume 58, Issue 4, edited by Michael Pfau).

More than three decades after the original Ferment issue, it is again time to reflect on disciplinary transformations in communication studies. By calling this new special issue Ferments in the Field, we see historical continuity in our efforts along JoC’s tradition of inviting communication scholarship to reflect upon itself. Meanwhile, we ask questions with a special eye on the increasing complexity and diversity of the field:
• What does the field of communication research look like?
• What have been the key tendencies and developments in communication(s) research and its subfields?
• How has the field developed in the past decades? What have been long-term continuities and discontinuities since the 1980s?
• What is the actual and desirable role for communication studies in contemporary academe and society?
• What is the status of theory, methods, critique, ethics, and interdisciplinarity in our field?
• What is the status of critical research and theories?
• How should the field position itself vis-à-vis key contemporary processes and challenges?
• What does the future of communication studies look like?

With these questions in mind, we hope to encourage authors to revisit the classic “ferment” themes as identified by past contributions to JoC. It is our belief that past arguments and issues need to be re-examined given new developments in communication in contemporary societies, changing media systems and communication processes, the digitization of communication, global and regional crisis, and the dynamics of knowledge production in academic institutions around the world.

Contributions to a new edition of “Ferments in the Field” should be provocative essays that offer bold ideas with broad implications for the field as a whole and areas of specializations. This special issue speaks of ferments in the plural in order to spur reflections beyond established academic boundaries and stimulate discussions that encourage scholars to think beyond comfort zones. From multiple theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary perspectives, it asks about the continuities and discontinuities in communication research in an attempt to initiate a new round of debates about the past, present and futures of the field.

The special issue will be published in 2018. The editors are Professor Christian Fuchs (University of Westminster) and Professor Jack Qiu (Chinese University of Hong Kong).

Authors are welcome to submit extended abstracts to the Editors by December 1, 2016. Extended abstracts should have a length of 400-1,000 words (excluding tables, figures, and references). Abstracts should be submitted to c.fuchs[at]westminster.ac.uk and jacklqiu[at]cuhk.edu.hk.

After the editors review the abstracts, authors will be informed about acceptance or rejection by early February 2017. In reviewing abstracts, special attention will be given to whether the proposed pieces take a broad view on the past, present and future of communication studies from specific angles. Subsequently, authors who were asked to submit complete papers will need to submit their manuscripts by May 2, 2017. Each manuscript should not exceed 4,000 words (including tables, figures, and references). Manuscripts should be submitted to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcom. Please indicate submission for the special issue “Ferments in the Field” in the cover letter.

Extended abstracts and manuscripts must conform to JoC guidelines, including the use of APA 6th edition.

Besides extended abstracts and manuscripts, the editors welcome expression of interest in reviewing submissions. Questions and comments should be directed to Jack Qiu and Christian Fuchs.

Key Concept #63: Interkulturelle Philosophie Translated into Marathi

Kirloskar-Steinbach, M. (2016). Interkulturelle philosophie [Marathi]. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 63. (P. P. Gokhale, trans.). Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/kc63-interkulturelle-philosophie_marathi1.pdf

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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

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