Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Languages Lost And Found – A New Role For Language Educators, Beverly Burkett Mat, Visiting Assistant Professor, Elka Todeva Phd, Professor, Leslie Turpin Phd, Adjunct Faculty

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

For a number of years there has been growing concern about the loss of the world’s linguistic diversity and the connection between language loss, culture loss, and environmental degradation. In part this has been linked to the effects of globalization and the spread of English as a lingua franca. This unprecedented phenomenon has given rise to further concerns that English is turning into a ‘killer language’ and that teachers of English are agents of imperialism, western thought and ideology. This has been countered with the notion that English is a tool for empowerment and as such should be viewed as …

Hands-On Or On-Hands: An Approach To Fine Arts Learning In The Senegalese Context, Souleye Diallo Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

Everything in Arts is communal and participatory as the stage in the African context is different. There is always an exchange between performers and the audience. Our students during their hands-on workshop on Batik, Visual arts and music and dance share those wonderful moment s with their families the community of artists working with them. As stated by one British artist John Ruskin “Fine Art is that in which the hand, the head and the heart of man goes together”. Most of our students during these workshops find Fine arts as integrating and a liberating tool to culture learning. During …

Educating Policy Advocates – Current And Potential Roles For Sit And World Learning, Jeff Unsicker Phd, Professor, Charlie Curry-Smithson Phd, Professor

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

The session will focus on ways that we are now engaged and could become more engaged in educating students and civil society leaders to influence the policies of governments, international organizations, corporations and other institutions of political and economic power – in local, national and global contexts. Presentations will focus on the Policy Advocacy concentration, courses and field-based learning within the SIT Graduate Institute; Civil Society and Governance programs managed by World Learning; any similar courses or programs connected with SIT Study Abroad (e.g., host country universities and capacity building organizations, such as the Democracy Center in Bolivia); and our …

The Feminization Of Hiv: Patriarchy As A Threat To Public Health In Ecuador – A Trans-Feminist Perspective, Fabián Espinosa Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

This article attempts to analyze male sexual conduct in Ecuador and its determining role in the feminization of HIV. Male promiscuity, not only tolerated but celebrated by sexist discourse, severely impairs public health initiatives and remains one of the critical issues for both individuals and collectives struggling for structural changes in sexual politics. The exercise of citizenships, sustained by a new constitutional framework, embraces the principle of “subversion from within”, the only significant way of challenging heterosexist imaginaries and practices. This type of activism focuses on the formal and normative political dimension of sex and gender, but also and most …

Reconciling Post-Genocide Rwanda, Stefanie Pollender Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

My presentation is a case study of Rwanda and will circle around different approaches to reconciliation and the role of memory. Following a brief overview of the situation at the end of the genocide in 1994, I will introduce the different approaches the Rwandan government has undertaken to build unity and reconciliation amongst its citizens in order to lay the foundation for a strong nation. In my presentation I will also touch upon the role of memorials, the necessity to remember and the challenges of divisionism and denial of the genocide.

Social Identity Development: Africans To United States, Claire Halverson Phd, Professor

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

There are a plethora of racial identity development models based on experiences of racial minorities in the United States which Halverson and Ken Williams use in their Social Identity class. None of these models describe the experience of immigrants and long-term residents of color from Asia, So America, and Africa. Halverson and Williams interviewed 25 Black and Arab Africans who have lived in the United States in order to understand if there is a pattern of identity development for this population that could be replicated in a model. Based on these interviews, they developed a model which they named the …

The Central America Peace Accords, Demobilization And Reconciliation: Experiences In Nicaragua And El Salvador, Aynn Setright Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

In 2010 Nicaragua is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Peace Accords the end to a previous twenty years of violence in the struggle to overthrow the Somoza family dictatorship and then the contra war against the Sandinista Revolutionary government (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional –FSLN) in the 1980s. In El Salvador the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) is celebrating their 2009 electoral victory over the ARENA party. What shapes these national liberation parties today? How have these processes of reconciliation been realized? What are the lessons to be learned and applied in other war torn societies? …

Learning From Homestay Hosts, Alison Swartz Mph Candidate, Program Assistant, Jesse Delaughter Ma, Assistant Program Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

Homestay hosts play a pivotal role in many study abroad programs, including all of ours at IHP. We know that homestays are an important part of the learning experience for our students. We hear it anecdotally from alumni and read generally positive reviews of homestays in student evaluations. We talk about homestays as a program element that contributes to learning and fosters intercultural exchange, but we don’t really know what students are learning from their hosts or what kind of exchange is occurring. We have not typically incorporated hosts into the core of the academic program in the way that …

New Lines Of Inquiry: Arts-Based Research For Bridging Cultures, Sarah Brock Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

This paper explores the implications for arts-based research (ABR) methods in fostering cross-cultural dialogue in international study. It reviews the academic arguments for and against the use of arts-based methodologies in qualitative research where more traditional, methodologies in the social sciences are combined with creative inquiry – narrative, poetic, dance, and visual forms of inquiry, for example – as well as the technical challenges and benefits associated with drawing on the humanities and arts as primary modes of inquiry; it explores the relevance and potential for ABR within the broader context of the study and use of the arts and …

The Anatomy Of Conflict, Lahcen Haddad Phd, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

The need for peace in today’s world has become an existential issue for humanity. Without a sense of shared earth and its resources and a shared humanity governed by universal and local values, the human race seems to be more threatened with a crippling propensity for self-destruction than ever before. Some theories, systems of thought even religious currents like Marxism, fascism, jihadi Islam, crusading Christianity, expansionist Zionism think that conflict is fundamental to History inasmuch as it allows for justification of the self through the use of power. For Marxism, struggle as conflict between classes is the engine that drives …

Where Do We Go From Here: The Intersection Of Culture, Communication, And Technology, Mokhtar Bouba Ma, Med, Instructional Technologist, Sora Friedman Phd, Associate Professor And Degree Chair

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

SIT has long been involved with the nexus between culture and communications. Historically, this has caused us to ask how we can “properly” and “effectively” navigate in cultures that are foreign to us. More recently, however, communication platforms are changing and therefore, we see a rising need for rethinking some of the cross cultural models in use. This session will thus explore the changing nexus between cultures, communication, and technology.

Our context will consider questions such as how students’ experiences are different because of increased use of technology, how social media affects cross cultural experiences, and the degree to which …

Giving Voice To Our Students And Partners: From Principles To Actions, Ana Rita Diaz-Munoz Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

The principle of reciprocity guides our daily work: the idea that we are giving something back to the community in order to make a difference. We try not only to implement it, but pass it on to our students.

The core of our work as educators is possible thanks to the relationship with the host communities and organizations with which we work. This is the reason why it is crucial to find ways to give back to those organizations that work to improve the community.

Based on a dialog with students, colleagues and partners, we intend to answer a few …