June, July and September Workshop
Theme: Paradigm-shifting Teaching Methods for Intercultural Communication
Please see attached for details.
Registration is available via Peatix.
“There are people with different cultural backgrounds. There are cultures that are different from ours. And such differences should be respected.” Intercultural communication education, which has flourished in the age of internationalization, began with this kind of narrative. However, when we engage in this kind of narrative, social categories are more likely to be perceived as substantive. For example, people who are represented by the names of categories such as Japanese, Americans, the elderly, politicians, and athletes are more likely to be perceived as if they really exist in the world in such a way. Today, as the word diversity becomes more familiar, we need intercultural communication with an updated narrative in order to be aware that we create many different positionalities in every aspect of our daily lives. Supporting this paradigm shift was the purpose of “Intercultural Communication Training: Growing Up with Differentness” (2022, Sanshusha), which was published last December.
While some people said that they could grasp the ideas they wanted from this book easily, others said that it was too theoretical and difficult to understand, or that they were confused because it was quite different from traditional intercultural training. Therefore, we have planned a three-part series of workshops to discuss frankly about today’s societies and educational practices in the field, and to find points of contact between contemporary issues and this book so that we can make the best use of it.
Session 1: Sunday, June 25, 2023, 13:00-16:00
What can we do now for intercultural communication?: Facing the “differentness” that has manifested itself in our immediate surroundings. Shizu Yamamoto and Taketo Ishiguro, Method: ONLINE (ZOOM), Japanese.
Session 2: Saturday, July 15, 2023, 13:00-16:00
Overcoming Stereotypes: Establishing a Context in which Using Cultural and Social Categories is Not Detrimental. Yuka Suzuki, Shizu Yamamoto, Taketo Ishiguro, Method: in-person,
the location: Tokai University (Shinagawa Campus, Room 1201, 2nd floor, Bldg. 1), Language: Japanese.
Session 3: Sunday, September 3, 2023, 13:00-16:00
A New Starting Point for Intercultural Communication Education: Clearing Up the Ambiguous and Fuzzy Points. Milton Bennett, Shizu Yamamoto, Takehito Ishiguro, Method: in-person, the location will be in Tokyo. We will inform you as soon as it is decided. Japanese and English.