Tag: Germany

Kamali-Chirani: Does Intercultural Dialogue Matter?

“BookKamali-Chirani, Fatemeh. (2019).  Does intercultural dialogue matter? The role of intercultural dialogue in the foreign cultural policy of Iran and Germany. Berlin: Lit Verlag.

Fatemeh Hippler (birth name: Kamali-Chirani) examines intercultural dialogue as part of the foreign relations between Germany and Iran. She asks: “What role has intercultural dialogue played with regard to the foreign cultural policy of Iran and Germany towards each other, and why?” (p. 18).

Perhaps the most important quote from the book is this, from page 158, because it applies to all contexts, not just Iran-Germany exchanges:

It is necessary but not sufficient to offer dialogue; it is also necessary that the other side accepts to join the dialogue.

Kamali-Chirani first describes the foreign cultural policy of each country, and then presents details of a series of specific organizations and projects intended to further intercultural dialogue. In Iran, the most typical terms are “interfaith dialogue” and “dialogue among civilizations,” whereas Germany often uses “European-Islamic cultural dialogue.” This section is arranged by organization attempting dialogue, populated with quotes from the main actors. She gained remarkable access, up to and including the separate forewords by Mohammad Khatami (former President of Iran, known for promoting dialogue among civilizations as a goal) and Kurt-Jurgen Maas (former Secretary General, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations).

In the end, Kamali-Chirani concludes that “Intercultural dialogue was an instrument of political goals, not a goal by itself” (p. 198). Her final thought: “participants mostly agree that it was worth the effort, and that they should continue. This author, after spending five years of research on the topic, tends to agree.”

Bielefield U Research Group Funding 2021/22 (Germany)

FellowshipsFellowships for interdisciplinary research groups (not individuals), Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld University, Germany, 2020/21. Deadline: 1 October 2019.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld University offers the opportunity to establish an interdisciplinary Research Group in the academic year 2021/22. For several months up to one year fellows reside at the ZiF and work together on a broader research theme. ZiF provides funding, support by a research group coordinator, and a professional infrastructure (i. e. accommodation, conference facilities).

The Research Group may be applied for in two different formats: (1) Research Group with a duration of 10 months and a budget of 500.000 € (2) Research Group with a duration of 5 months and a budget of 250.000 €

Applications for organising a ZiF Research Group may be submitted by any scholar from Germany or abroad. In the initial phase, a draft proposal for a Research Group (up to 5 pages) is required. In a second phase, invitations to submit full proposals will be issued.

Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies Fellowships (Germany)

Fellowships25 Junior/Senior Fellowships, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Germany, for Academic year 2020/21. Deadline: 15 September 2019.

FRIAS is announcing its seventh call for applications for the FRIAS COFUND Fellowship Programme (FCFP) and invites outstanding international senior and junior researchers from all disciplines and nationalities to apply. Fellowships of 3 to 10 months in the senior scheme and of 12 months in the junior scheme may be applied for. Up to 25 FCFP fellowships are available to researchers regardless of their nationality and field of research. All fellowships will be awarded through a highly competitive, strictly merit-based selection process. The FCFP is co-financed by the EU’s Marie S. Curie Actions COFUND Programme.

FRIAS unites research in the humanities and social sciences, the natural and life sciences, engineering, and medicine. The Institute supports academic exchange across existing boundaries: between disciplines, between different cultures and countries, between established and younger researchers. Furthermore, FRIAS engages in activities opening the research community to society and politics. Fellows will be part of this community and profit from the lively research environment of the university and its eleven faculties.

U Applied Sciences Munich: Business Communication/Intercultural Competence (Germany)

“JobProfessor of Business Communication and Intercultural Competence, University of Applied Sciences Munich, Germany. Deadline: 21 June 2019.

The Faculty of Business Administration is seeking to appoint a Professor of Business Communication and Intercultural Competence for the Summer semester 2020 or later. The successful candidate should have both professional leadership and teaching experience and be passionate about transferring knowledge in the context of international business and communication.

You will teach subject-specific modules in Business English, Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Management for undergraduate and graduate business study programmes in English. You will contribute to the development of curricula and research in these fields and course management as required. The role further requires actively fostering relationships and exchange with international partner universities and contributing to research projects with industry and business.

 

GESIS/EUROLAB Research Grants (Germany)

EUROLAB Grants to visit GESIS for an onsite research visit, Cologne or Mannheim, Germany. Deadline: May 26, 2019.

GESIS Leibnitz Institute for the Social Sciences offers two grant programs to the academic community: GESIS Grants and EUROLAB (European Data Laboratory for Comparative Social Research) Grants, for which applications are accepted twice a year. Applications for self-funded stays are accepted all year round. The Call for EUROLAB Grants is now open.

For further information on the application process, please see the Call for Applications. Individual researchers who want to work on data available at GESIS may apply for support for a period of one month from September to December 2019.

István Fekete Profile

ProfilesIstván Fekete did his postdoctoral training in psycholinguistics at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, where he worked also as a consultant in statistics and research methods.

István Fekete

Previously, he was a research fellow at the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and earlier a research assistant at the Department of Cognitive Science of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where he received his PhD in psycholinguistics in 2013. He earned his M.A. degrees in English and German language and literature from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest in 2006.

His research focuses on psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, semantics and pragmatics, the understanding of exhaustivity in wh-phrases, and isolating language disorder using machine-learning approaches. His wider research interests include interdisciplinary work and the application of advanced statistical methods to linguistic data. He has worked with EEG, eye-tracking and behavioral methods.

For publications, please see
https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/491179/overview

Alina Timofte Profile

ProfilesAlina Timofte is currently a Lecturer for Transferable Skills at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Her teaching and research interests cluster around three themes: a) 21st-century skills (global citizenship, intercultural communication, and critical thinking), b) service learning, and c) academic writing.

Alina TimofteShe is also a practicing GlobeSmart Profile℠ certified consultant, utilizing the GlobeSmart Profile, a statistically validated cultural intelligence software developed by Aperian Global, mostly in academic contexts (as in her seminar “Globally Competent Citizens: Communicating Across Cultures”). Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Center of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Social Integration” at the University of Konstanz. The main activities within this academic position were working on a literary science project focusing on Austrian literature after 1945, as well as writing and publishing research articles in peer-reviewed journals.

She holds a Master of Arts with honours in German Studies, with cultural theory, sociology, multilingualism, and translation studies as additional fields. In 2009, she received the Alumni Award for Excellence “Best Exam Achievement by a Graduate Student of Literature” at the University of Konstanz. Her Master’s thesis dealt with the solitude vs. sociability debate in connection with cultural criticism in the European literary anthropology of the 18th century, with a special emphasis on contributions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, J. G. Zimmermann, and Immanuel Kant.

Following her Bachelor’s in German Studies and Classical Philology at the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza,” Alina worked as a Cultural Program Coordinator at the Goethe-Zentrum associated with Goethe-Institut in Iasi, Romania.

Alina has a track record of research, teaching, and curriculum design in cultural studies, intercultural communication, and literary criticism. Her work and study has been supported by grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), as well as from the Herbert-Quandt-Foundation (Humanities Fellowship), among others.

Her research articles, reviews, and translations have appeared in Limbus. Australian Yearbook of German Literary and Cultural Studies, IASL: International Archives for Social History of the German Literature, Recherches Germaniques, Literaturkritik as well as in other journals and volumes.

On a more personal note, Alina lives with her German-Romanian-Senegalese family in the picturesque city of Konstanz, where they are jointly navigating the complex waters of living multilingually and multiculturally. She sees herself as an educator and a life-long learner at heart, and a world citizen in the making.

Work for CID:

Alina Timofte has translated KC5: Intercultural Communication, KC12: Third Culture Kids, KC22: Cultural Identity, KC49: Intersectionality, KC55: Stereotypes, and KC93: Transnationalism into German, and KC22: Cultural Identity into Romanian. She has also served as a reviewer for German.

Listen: Learning from Intercultural Storytelling (Germany)

Applied ICDListen: Learning from Intercultural Storytelling (Germany).

The aim of LISTEN is to use “applied storytelling”, meaning storytelling without “professional” storytellers, in its many forms and functions as educational approach for the work with refugees – be it to support language learning, to exchange about cultural differences, to create visions etc.

In order to give refugees a voice in the receiving societies and to support their integration, LISTEN will explore different approaches to storytelling and how radio and other forms of audio broadcasting (e.g. podcasting) can be used as medium to share those stories.

EUROLAB Grants (Germany)

GrantsCall for Applications: EUROLAB Grants, Mannheim, Germany. Deadline: November 30, 2018.

EUROLAB – Gateway to Research Stays at GESIS is pleased to invite applications for one-month research stays. Individual researchers who want to work on data available at GESIS may apply for support to access EUROLAB for a period of one month from April to June 2019.

Successful applicants will receive a travel grant that covers travel costs (economy class, up to 500 euros for short-haul flights and up to 900 euros for long-haul ones) and accommodation.

During their stay, visiting researchers will profit from a wide range of services including an individual workspace, access to data and to GESIS library with various online databases, as well as direct contact to GESIS experts.

Opera as a Way to Integrate Refugees (Germany)

Applied ICDBarone, J. (12 August 2018). A German opera spotlights the refugee crisis, with refugees. New York Times.

A performance of Moses, by the Bavarian State Opera’s youth program, written for refugees, children of immigrants and born-and-raised Bavarians, demonstrates how to integrate and welcome refugees while simultaneously giving them language skills and producing opera. “In the opera, a mixture of new music by Benedikt Brachtel and adapted excerpts from Rossini’s “Mosè in Egitto,” the teenagers tell the story of Moses — common ground for followers of the Bible, Torah and Quran — with Brechtian interludes about refugee experiences and current events.”