[ecrea] NCA Summer Conference 2009, Istanbul

The National Communication Association Summer Conference on Intercultural Dialogue for 2009 will be held July 22-26, 2009 at Maltepe University in Istanbul, Turkey.

The conference website www.natcom.org/Istanbul

Conference description:
This conference is designed around two main issues: to discuss the current status of intercultural communication in various cultural, social, historical and political contexts, including the term "culture," and to explore ways of understanding and managing productively intercultural interactions through dialogue.

We will use a series of case studies to show how scholars approach cultural
misunderstandings or conflicts from different theoretical perspectives and to ensure that we are looking at real examples of actual problems in particular contexts. As a city geographically and historically located between Europe and Asia, East and West, Istanbul forms a symbolic space for scholarly attempts in the search for cultural dialogue.

The conference is designed to be interdisciplinary, international, collaborative, and applied. We are inviting scholars from different disciplines and countries in order to expand the conversations on the interactions between culture, conflict, and dialogue and to develop research partnerships. Questions asked could include: How do scholars in different contexts define the concept of culture? What are dominant epistemological and ontological approaches to culture and communication scholarship in various contexts? What is the politics of representation and power in the situations of cultural conflict and misunderstanding? What are the roles of alternative discursive spaces and political consciousness in building cultural dialogue? How can we approach the issues of cultural conflict and dialogue from the intersection of various identities such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation or religion? What is the role of dialogue in managing
 intercultural/international conflicts? What are the limits of current intercultural communication scholarship for contributing to pressing social and political problems?

Conference format:
This will be a small working conference, facilitating conversations intended to develop future connections between participants. Each scholar is asked to submit one case study of intercultural communication in which there was a conflict or misunderstanding, and to provide one approach, theory, or analytical tool that can be used to productively understand and/or resolve the issue presented in the case study. Examples could include a media text, such as a film, documentary, television or radio program; a transcript of a conversation; a videotape of interaction; a web page; or a narrative written by a group member. Participants will share their case studies before the conference, and spend time during the conference analyzing them from a variety of approaches. After the conference is over, the case studies will serve as a common database to facilitate further research.

Deadlines:

The case studies will be due by December 31, 2008 to
www.natcom.org/Istanbul. Papers at the time of initial submission should be approximately 10 pages in length, and should present and analyze a single case study. Papers will undergo a process of blind peer review; those accepted will be organized into topics.

Some likely topics include: tourism, intergenerational familial relations in migrant families, youth culture, international teams in the corporate realm, NGOs working on conflict resolution, new media technologies, popular culture, transnational feminist practices, international journalism, and space/place/identity. We expect to be able to send an email notification of acceptance or rejection, and information about ravel stipend awards (see below), in February, 2009. Final, more complete case studies will need to be posted to the conference website by April 15, 2009; participants are asked to read all those on the same topic as their own work ahead of time. The deadline for conference registration will be May 1, 2009. To facilitate discussions at the conference, the conference language will be English.

Conference fees:
Registration:
 $120 (The conference fee will include participation and program, opening reception dinner, 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 2 dinners)

Accommodations:
Marma Convention Hotel - 
$80/night/single,
$120/night/double

Dormitory: $35/night/single
 
Stipends:
NCA has provided funds to award travel stipends of 500-$1000 to participants either based outside the United States, and/or who are junior faculty. Interested parties should include the requested information with their applications for consideration if their papers are accepted. Please note: since these stipends are funded by NCA, only those who are members at the time of application are eligible.

Organizing Committee: 
Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Chair)
Nazan Haydari, Maltepe University, Istanbul (Local Arrangements Chair)
Donal Carbaugh, University of Massachusetts
Kristine Fitch, University of Iowa
Tamar Katriel, University of Haifa
Yves Winkin, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon, France
Saskia Witteborn, Chinese University of Hong Kong
 
www.natcom.org/Istanbul




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