U New South Wales job ad (Australia)

Associate Professor in International Studies

UNSW Australia is a progressive research-intensive university committed to academic excellence, social engagement and an international perspective. In 2013, both the Times Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings placed Social Sciences at UNSW in the top 40 in the world.

UNSW Arts & Social Sciences wishes to appoint an energetic and experienced scholar, at Associate Professor level, to provide academic leadership over the next five years for its prestigious Bachelor of International Studies program.  We welcome applications from scholars in disciplines such as Cultures and Languages; International Relations or International Politics; Transnational History; Comparative Literature; Area Studies, etc.  The person we are looking for will have an outstanding record in research and teaching, as well as experience of effective academic management.

The position is based in the School of Humanities and Languages, which is home to many internationally recognised scholars who are leaders in their fields. Humanities and Languages ranks as a national leader in a number of disciplines (Excellence in Research for Australia 2012), and in the top 150 internationally (QS World University Rankings 2014).

The UNSW Bachelor of International Studies program is a rigorous four year degree program which attracts bright and globally conscious students who, as graduates, go on to pursue exciting and unpredictable international careers.

The appointee will be expected to build academic staff capacity and rejuvenate the curriculum in the Bachelor of International Studies, and also to play an active role in the collegial life of the Humanities and Languages.

· The position is available on a continuing basis.
· The current salary range for an Associate Professor (Level D) is AUD$134,916 – $148,917 per annum.
· The position attracts up to 17% employer superannuation and leave loading.
· Base salary on appointment will be determined on the basis of previous experience and qualifications.
· The successful applicant is expected to commence in the role by January 2015.

Please direct enquiries about this post to Professor Vanessa Lemm, Head of School.

IFER Fellowships to France

This programme is open to applicants from all countries, belonging to a foreign research centre, who wish to undertake a research residency in France.

These post-doctoral research stays are designed to enable researchers to carry out a research project in a host laboratory, integrate scientific networks in France and other European countries and build lasting partnerships between their home institution and the host institution. Applicant’s projects should match the areas of research of these institutions.

All social and human sciences are eligible. An interdisciplinary approach to research topics is encouraged.

Candidates can apply to general fellowships and specific fellowships, offered by several research institutions and “Laboratories of excellence” (Labex) who are partners of the programme.

Online application platform is open from September 1 until September 30, 2014.
Deadline for submission : September 30, 2014.

Applications must be submitted electronically via the online application form soon available

Please read carefully the eligibility criteria and the application procedure before applying online.

Go to the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme for details and application.

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CFP Translation, Cosmopolitanism & Resistance

Journal of Communication and Culture

Theme: Translation, Cosmopolitanism & Resistance
Coordination: Maria Alexandra Lopes
Deadline for submission of original articles: 30th November 2014

Throughout history, translation has always been a site of multiple, often conflicting political, social and aesthetic agendas. Translation has diversely proven a pathway to conquering and steamrolling others into conformity, a locus of resistance and preservation of difference, as well as a space of dialogue between disparate worldviews. In either of these guises, translation has always had a powerful impact on different areas of human experience, from religion to science, from the media to politics, the economy and literature (Woodsworth and Delisle: 1995, 2012).

As an act of negotiation, translation is inextricably linked to processes of exchange of goods and ideas, cosmopolitization, hybridization and mobility (Cronin, 2002, 2010). Resistance, on the other hand, depicts a large array of attitudes, mentalscapes, emotions, political gestures that react against any given circumstance. ‘Resistance’ is taken here as a broad concept encompassing different meanings: on the one hand, the at times strong and/or violent opposition to something extant (the status quo, bigotry, censorship, ideology, globalization, etc.) or to come (new ideas, technology, value systems, etc.); and on the other hand, the ability to remain immune to something (other people, revolutionary trends, innovation, new ways of thinking, etc.). Thus, resistance may imply movement or immobility, creativity or epigone-like repetition, conservatism or unconventionalism with the decision to translate is often governed by one impulse or the other, depending on the degree of interest in change/preservation a given community evinces (Venuti, 2013).

The present issue of Comunicação & Cultura wishes to address and highlight modes of resistance and cosmopolitanism that translation may have promoted or facilitated down the ages and, especially, in the present time, thus reflecting upon the role and the effects of translation in different media, in the shaping of present-day politics and global economy, in acquainting a given culture with different patterns of behaviour, ways of life, narratives and geographies. As a potent tool for spreading ideas and ideologies, translation helps shape worldviews and social attitudes in indelible ways that need further investigation.

Key Concept #25: Metacommunication by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz

Key Concepts in ICDThe next issue of Key Concepts in intercultural Dialogue is now available. This is KC25: Metacommunication by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz. As always, all Key Concepts are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download. 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.

kc25-sm

Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2014). Metacommunication. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 25. Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/key-concept-metacomm.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.

CFP Irish regional press (Dublin)

Proposals are invited for papers to be presented at an upcoming interdisciplinary conference on the Irish regional press to be held at Dublin City University (DCU) on Friday 12 December 2014. The conference aims to address the historical and contemporary development of the regional press in the major urban centres and rural areas across Ireland. This conference is organised in association with the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI).

Papers might address, but are not limited to, the historical and contemporary consideration of the following themes in relation to the Irish regional press:
·         Biographies of reporters, editors or owners
·         History of individual newspapers
·         Corporate and business organisation
·         Political influence and / or affiliation
·         Professional networks
·         Sport
·         Gender
·         Technological and communication developments
·         The community and social role of the regional press
·         The Irish Language and the regional press
·         The urban-rural divide
·         Union organisation

Papers which address these themes, and others, from an historical or regional perspective, through case studies or quantitative and qualitative analysis are welcome. The conference is open to all disciplines. Early career researchers and postgraduate students are particularly encouraged to contribute.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words, for papers of twenty minutes, should be emailed to irishregionalpress@gmail.com by Friday 3 October 2014. Abstracts should clearly indicate the proposed title, the paper’s main aims, and the name and affiliation of the author(s ). Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief biography and contact details.

For further information or enquiries please contact either Ian Kenneally (ian.kenneally@gmail.com) or James O’Donnell (jamesthomasodonnell@gmail.com

). It is intended that the papers and discussion at this conference will contribute to an edited volume on the history of the Irish regional press to be published with a leading academic publishing house.

EIUC Training for Int’l Electoral Observers

EIUC Training Seminar for International Electoral Observers

Early birds enrollment until 15 September

The EIUC training seminar for International Short-Term Observers is now ready to accept candidatures.

With the patronage of Italian, Spanish and Czech MFA, EIUC has developed two three day modules aiming at providing training to civilian staff in election observation missions at the first steps of their career (i.e. short term observers). Selected applicants will be allowed to become aware of the role, the tasks and the status of international observers, and will be given a theoretical and practical training on election observation and election observation missions functioning.

The first module (17-19 November 2014) will highlight the quantitative observation of the STOs. Starting with a thorough introduction on the international observation theory and legal standards the first module will analyse the practical life of a short term observer from the selection procedure to the end of mission including the observation of the polls, the filling of the forms, the reporting system and the code of the conduct.

The second module (20-22 November 2014) will introduce the participants to the long-term election observation by analysing in depth some of the aspects related to an international observation mission such as working relations, team-building, interviewing techniques and coordination of the STOs.

EIUC will accept candidatures for each separate module or both combined. Applicants will therefore have a possibility to choose the module which is more closely related to their interests and experience or combine the two of them for a more complete understanding of the topic.

The faculty is composed by well-known international trainers and professionals with a long standing practical experience in election observation missions within international organisations such as the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Interested candidates should register by compiling the online application form.

More information can be found at: http://www.eiuc.org/ieo/
For further enquiries please contact us at: training.ieo@eiuc.org

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Global Campus of Human Rights (Italy)

Late announcement: On Monday, 28 July, EIUC will hold a one-day event aimed at raising awareness of the Global Campus and fostering debate on some of the main issues connected with the human rights of migrants. In this regard, the event will bring into focus the UN Migrant Workers Convention.

The conference, to be held at the EIUC premises in the Monastery of San Nicolò in Lido-Venezia, will feature some of the leading experts on the Convention, including academics affiliated with universities within the network of the Global Campus regional master’s programmes. It will be attended by students from all of the regional master’s programmes and will consist of lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions where participants will have an opportunity to brainstorm on overcoming obstacles to ratification of the UN Migrant Workers Convention. The Convention is one of the ten core international human rights instruments, but since it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1990 it has been ratified by just 47 States.

Further information about the event is available here.

Conquering the Cultural Barriers of Teaching in Thailand by Charles McKinney

Guest PostsConquering the Cultural Barriers of Teaching in Thailand. Guest post by Charles McKinney.

Charles McKinney with students

I moved to Bangkok, Thailand in January 2013 to earn my master’s degree as a full-time student at Webster University Thailand. I needed to find work to support myself. After two months of hunting, I landed a job at a private language school teaching English, something I was qualified to do as a TESOL-certified American with two years of previous overseas ESL expertise.

Having never taught Thai students before, I initially struggled to satisfy their learning needs. The students expected me to teach by talking; they wanted to participate as little as possible. My boss told me that, unlike American students who take an active role, Thai students are often quite passive learners.

Classes were mostly one-on-one, a new format for me. A few lessons were cancelled after students griped about my teaching methods, disliking the fact that I was following the textbook lesson plan precisely rather than teaching from my knowledge of the topics and using the book minimally. I started out teaching academic writing and grammar to adolescents who found the material dry; thus my challenge was to make it more interesting for them.

Really, I had no lessons in technique: my busy boss usually gave me the necessary resources to teach and then left me to figure out the rest on my own with minimum advice. So, after nearly a month of floundering to improve my teaching performance my boss decided to give me a two-month hiatus (although I did not know this at the time). It turned out she was right: I needed more time to adapt to the culture and the students.

A few months later, I was called back to teach a new academic writing class for a mid-career professional who wanted to return to school. This time I brought my computer with me, using the Internet as an aid to my lesson plan. I prepared PowerPoint presentations to convey the material in an engaging and orderly manner. Throughout the two-month class, we managed to build rapport and exchange cultural knowledge that helped us to understand one another as individuals.

“Here are pictures of my Buddhist monk ceremony, a rite of passage that many Thai men experience,” my student shared with me one day. In return, I showed him a student newspaper from my college days. “This is my pride and joy as former editor-in-chief of the paper; you can learn about my culture through this medium,” I told him. It was one of those cultural insight moments I cherished. As our class progressed, he gave my boss positive feedback about me – and my confidence in my new techniques improved.

I was not only the first American, but the first African-American teacher this school hired. I have now taught students from Bhutan and Russia as well as Thailand. This experience has taught me the values of patience, flexibility, humility and effective cross-cultural communication. Teachers can make a difference in students’ lives, especially in cultures that are drastically different from their own, but students also make a difference in their teachers’ lives. They learned some English, but I learned about their cultures. Creating a comfortable space for students to be themselves, and remembering that teachers also learn from their students, can foster wonderful intercultural dialogues.

Charles McKinney is a recent MA media communications graduate from Webster University Thailand. Having embarked on a rewarding career of ESL/EFL teaching as an expat in East Asia, Charles is hoping to secure an English Language Fellowship with the US Embassy for the new school year and is making plans to possibly join the Peace Corps next year. CID’s website was helpful during Charles’s master’s thesis research, and he wrote this essay as a way of giving back. Contact him through LinkedIn.

Download the entire post as a PDF.

Key Concept #24: Asiacentricity by Yoshitaka Miike

Key Concepts in ICDThe next issue of Key Concepts in intercultural Dialogue is now available. This is KC24: Asiacentricity by Yoshitaka Miike. As always, all Key Concepts are available as free PDFs; just click on the thumbnail to download.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.

kc24-sm

Miike, Y. (2014). Asiacentricity. Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue, 24. Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/key-concept-asiacentricity2.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.