The Drum Beat 275 - Intercultural Communication

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This issue of The Drum Beat shares experiences, resources, and strategies focused on the use of communication to foster intercultural exchange and understanding and create "bridges" between cultures.

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ARTISTIC BRIDGES

1. South Project - Southern Hemisphere
Initiated in 2004, this 5-year programme is an effort to develop networks for cultural exchange between countries of the south, including southern Africa, Australia, the Pacific, and Latin America. Participants gather in Australia to exchange ideas and develop collaborative projects. Events, exhibitions, and workshops scheduled around these gatherings aim to involve members of the public in the understanding, creation, and celebration of southern art. (Artists share skills that are particular to a specific location or culture of the south). Created and managed by Craft Victoria, the South Project is the product of many organisations coming together with the goal of strengthening lateral connections and providing an alternative network to the dominant north-south paradigm.
Contact info@southproject.org

2. Speaking Out about Democracy through Photos
by Ivy Susanti
As part of a project that intended to reveal how people from different social classes understood democracy and Europe, 31 portraits from 16 photographers were displayed in Central Jakarta, Indonesia in May 2004. Reflecting on the exhibit, this author notes that "people tend to associate democracy with Europe, considering it a Western concept. Parmin, 68, a street cleaner, is photographed by Agus Setiono while sitting on a street curb. In his opinion, 'In democracy, we have freedom to express our opinion and to campaign and to elect our leader without fear of being arrested by the military...just like in Europe, where democracy exists'."

3. Fountainhead Tanz Theatre
Based in Berlin, Germany, this international, intercultural community works to increase understanding and cooperation between individuals and groups in support of democratic procedures and the elimination of violence; religious, ethnic, and gender persecution; youth exploitation; homophobia; and racial hatred through the processes of art, education, culture, and dialogue.

MEDIA BRIDGES

4. Media Initiative for Children (MIFC) - Northern Ireland
A joint effort of NIPPA - the Early Years Organization in Belfast, Northern Ireland (NI) and the Peace Initiatives Institute (Pii) in Colorado, USA - this multi-year effort uses mass media and classroom experience to teach young children to respect and include others who are different. As a coordinated educational peacebuilding programme using a combination of 60-second television messages and preschool curricula, it focuses on 3 types of differences: physical/disability, racial, and cultural. The purpose of the campaign is to help children ages 3 to 5 within NI (and, indirectly, their parents and teachers) understand what it feels like to be excluded and be more apt to include others who are different from themselves. The ultimate aim is to increase awareness of different cultural traditions, events, and orientations.
Contact mail@nippa.org OR Paul W. Harris paulwharris@comcast.net

5. Reel Intercultural Dialogue Project - Global
In 2003, UNESCO and the International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision - CILECT) launched the Reel Intercultural Dialogue initiative: "a youthful take on humanity and conflict - projecting the need for peace". The series of 5 short fiction films was released through the Internet and on DVD in April 2004. Produced by students at cinema and television schools in Burkina Faso, India, Israel, Mexico, and Romania, the films (fully screenable online) aim to increase intercultural understanding and to sensitise young people worldwide to the need for tolerance, dialogue, and peace. While providing a reflection on the sources of conflict between communities and cultures, the films present alternatives to violence and cultural domination.
Contact Rosa Maria Gonzalez r.gonzalez@unesco.org

6. Planet Africa Television - Africa & Canada
This 30-minute, regularly scheduled English language television series explores African heritage and current affairs from a Canadian perspective. The show airs in Canada and aims to show a more positive side of Africa - unlike the poverty that is often the focus of media on Africa. Planet Africa features interviews with business, development, and cultural heritage leaders; success stories featuring African enterprise (e.g., women in business); foreign companies and organisations in Africa; spotlight on people making a difference; and special features on such issues as heritage and attractions, exporting African culture, and country reports.
Contact silvertrust@rogers.com

7. mobile.culture.container - Former Yugoslavia
Launched by the Fund In Defence of our Future, this traveling media project sought to engage youth throughout the countries of former Yugoslavia. In response to mayoral invitations, mobile.culture.container spent 4 weeks in each of 14 cities, where it addressed the subject of media responsibility by itself becoming a medium. Young people were encouraged to reflect on their political and cultural environments by producing media (newspaper, radio, and television) to be published or broadcast at the local level. One focus of the workshops, which explored media like the Internet, theatre, and photography, was to get youth engaged in teams of peers with very different perspectives and from diverse backgrounds. As of late 2004, the project is being carried on by a local youth NGO in Mostar.
Contact Achim Koch a.koch@mobile-culture.org OR office@mobile-culture.org

8. Week of Action - Europe
In March 2004, Online/More Colour in the Media (OL/MCM) conducted a Week of Action on media and minorities as part of its European Day of Media Monitoring project. Consistent with the theme of the Europe-wide action week - "Reporting On Diversity: From the Week of Monitoring To the Week of Action" - a wide range of national events involved NGOs, journalists, broadcasters, editors, and public officials in a dialogue. The resulting report found that minorities are still underrepresented in the European media: "Journalists should debate how to make their structures accessible to journalists from minority or excluded groups. OL/MCM will encourage Unions of Journalists to consider setting up working groups to deal with issues of how to develop and implement new intercultural media competencies for journalists".
Contact Joost van Beek jobeek@miramedia.nl

9. Aboriginal Media Project - Fiji, Vanuatu, and Canada
This project uses face-to-face dialogue to find cultural bridges, which are then shared globally through a variety of media. In May 2003, Canada's Pacific Peoples' Partnership (PPP) sent 3 Canadian journalists within the Aboriginal media and a PPP staff person to Fiji and Vanuatu to explore and document common experiences of colonisation, poverty, organising, and resistance among indigenous peoples of Canada and the South Pacific. Through articles, comic strips, and documentaries for radio and television, team members reflected on - and shared - their experience in an effort to support intercultural dialogue, awareness, and understanding. The PPP website is one means of sharing the journalists' stories and creations with a global audience. The aim is to challenge Canadians to move beyond their stereotypical assumptions of the South Pacific as island paradise and to bring a deeper, more international perspective to the coverage of indigenous issues in the Canadian media.
Contact general@pacificpeoplespartnership.org

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Pulse Poll

Development institutions rely on gender stereotypes rather than foster resistance to them.

Do you agree or disagree?

[For context, please see The Drum Beat 273]

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DIALOGUE BRIDGES

10. UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi Fellowships
UNESCO is calling on young researchers with advanced degrees (M.A., M.Sc. or equivalent) in developing countries to apply for a fellowship supporting research in intercultural dialogue or one of 3 other areas of study. The award ranges between USD $6,000 to USD $10,000 (depending on duration and place of study). Deadline: January 14 2005.
Contact Ali Zaid l.zas-friz@unesco.org

11. Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (CONTACT) Summer Peacebuilding Institute
Held in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA from May 30 to June 17 2005, this residential educational and experiential training will use a participatory, experiential approach to support the professional development of peacebuilders and their communities. Intended for those with a strong commitment to coexistence and the transformation of intercultural conflicts, the course will offer core skills and practical tools for analysing and responding to conflict in intergroup, communal, and public life. Deadline: April 15 2005.
Contact contact@sit.edu

12. Intercultural Dialogue and Conflict Prevention Project - Europe
The Cultural Policy and Action Department of the Council of Europe has launched a pan-European cultural cooperation project to prevent, analyse, and heal conflicts through cultural action. Cooperation between towns and regions will be set up in its 45 member states and in the wider context of the Mediterranean. Key components of this collaboration will involve establishing networks, developing the European dimension of cultural projects, and setting up flagship initiatives. The overall project aim is to promote intercultural and inter-religious dialogue and mutual respect and understanding between the different communities and to prevent conflicts through cultural policies and cultural action.
Contact Simone Bernhardt simone.bernhardt@coe.int OR Sandra Ferreira sandra.ferreira@coe.int

TECHNOLOGICAL BRIDGES

13. Pulse Poll topic: The Internet is a force that destroys cultural diversity
[From the CI Network's Pulse Opinion Poll process]
Comment: "On the web distance and culture are bypassed and a human experience is what matters and connects one person to groups or to another individual. Ultimately it is beneficial in [that] cultural fusion is already taking place on many levels...the net further enhances the fusion and creates a united world community ...on the downside it enhances disconnected and mechanically minded communities."

14. Educating on Peace and Reconciliation after a Decade of War - Sierra Leone
This tele-collaborative project between iEARN Sierra Leone and Virtual Activism USA uses technology (email and a website) to reach youth. The aim of the project is to enable students in Sierra Leone and the United States to interact, share ideas, and explore their talents in various forms on the theme of peace and reconciliation. For example, Sierra Leone schools use the Internet to share in online educational projects with their US counterparts.
Contact Andrew Benson Greene andrewgreene_c21st@iearnsierraleone.org

15. Virtual Forum on Intercultural Communication
Provides the opportunity for discussion about themes from different papers written exclusively for the special sessions on Intercultural Communication held during the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Barcelona (July 2002).

16. Mondialogo - Global
Mondialogo aims to help different cultures live together and develop attitudes of respect and tolerance by encouraging young people to communicate with their peers from other parts of the world. Tools supporting this DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO effort include an interactive website, a worldwide school contest, and an engineering award. Available in English, Spanish, French, and German, the Mondialogo portal includes features such as the Mondialogo World Link, which enables youth to find a partner and "create a link" by engaging in a virtual dialogue with a particular individual across the globe. In addition, users of the Worldwide Dialogue Forum are invited to engage in dialogue with many different people worldwide, sharing their thoughts and posting their opinions about cultural diversity and other issues.
Contact info@mondialogo.org

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This issue was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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