Developing Across Differences: Authoritarianism & the Suppression of Intercultural Consciousness

About

Authoritarianism is a pre-conscious form of social organization — it demands obedience and prohibits agency. By exalting tribal “Us”-ness and denigrating Otherness, authoritarian leaders seek to suppress the self-consciousness that generates both personal agency and intercultural awareness. Authoritarians thereby fulfill their egocentric vision of Others being extensions of themselves, free only to parrot the leader’s words and thoughts.

Intercultural consciousness is the antithesis of this vision, because it recognizes Others as equally human but complexly different beings with their own words and thoughts.

Why should you attend?
Intercultural practitioners (trainers, facilitators, consultants, coaches) and academic / scholars of intercultural communication are in a unique position to combine their professional work with explicit and implicit resistance to authoritarianism.

In situations of relatively free speech, intercultural communication can be presented explicitly as theory and practice that encourages critical thinking and meta-level consciousness of Self / Other relations. But even if speech is constrained by some political or commercial circumstance, training or education in intercultural communication (IC) can nevertheless carry the implicit need for consciousness of Self / Other relations as a criterion of intercultural competence and a prerequisite for intercultural communication effectiveness.

Learn how in this timely new course.

Course leader

Dr. Milton Bennett

Target group

This course is for you if are:

An intermediate-level practitioner (trainer, facilitator, consultant, coach) who designs and delivers intercultural training / learning in either domestic multicultural or global intercultural contexts.

An academic / scholar working in intercultural communication and related fields who wishes to explore an updated communication-based alternative to various cultural comparison schemes often used for research and curriculum design in education, social service, and business contexts.

Contact the organisers at ic@rug.nlor info@iddifferences.orgif you have questions about the suitability of this course for your circumstances.

Level requirements
The DAD is for multipliers who help individuals, organizations and societies better recognize, appreciate and use differences as a way of better communicating, working and thriving together.

These are (in-house and external) trainers, educators, consultants, coaches, researchers, scholars, facilitators, HR staff, advanced-level (MA+) students, and professional development specialists with 5+ years of experience/study in the greater Differences field. Contact the organisers at ic@rug.nl or info@iddifferences.org for consultation about appropriateness and eligibility.

It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.

Course aim

In this course, you will learn how to help yourself and those you work with so that you/they can better:

- Understand authoritarianism in terms of culture and consciousness.
- Consider intercultural work as a form of critical consciousness development.
- Construct explicit and implicit techniques to make your intercultural practice a form of anti-authoritarianism.

Workload
6 hours of in-class learning and active participation using experiential methods.

Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 6 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.

Fee info