IAIR Podcase Series Launched - November 2020
Nov 16, 2020The International Academy for Intercultural Research’s (IAIR) Podcast Series Has Launched!
Adam Komisarof, PhD
President-Elect, IAIR
SIETAR is very close to my heart. I have been an active member of SIETAR Japan now for over 20 years. I also attended the global SIETAR Global Congress in Grenada, Spain, and have presented lectures and workshops sponsored by SIETAR France and SIETAR UK. My hope is that IAIR and SIETAR can work together to share our expertise with the world and nurture the next generation of interculturalists, whether their focus is on research, practice, or a combination of both.
Our work as interculturalists has never been more important. Today, much of what we hold dearest is threatened: intercultural understanding and acceptance are giving way to insularity, suspicion, and even violence, with many political leaders (and wide swaths of the populations they represent) engaging in the rhetoric of xenophobia, populism, and nativism. IAIR is a professional interdisciplinary organization, established in 1997, that is dedicated to the understanding and improvement of intercultural relations through world-class social science research. As IAIR’s President-Elect, I feel a strong sense of mission to do whatever I can to share insights globally from our field in order to improve intercultural relations, minimize interpersonal conflict, and create a more peaceful world. The leadership of IAIR shares this vision, so this fall, we launched the IAIR Esteemed Speaker Podcast Series, which is open to the public for free listening through our website.
We have already posted ten podcasts, and over the next few months, we plan to expand the collection to about 15 more or less to fifteen. I encourage you not only to enjoy them yourself, but also to share them with students and colleagues. The podcasters and the titles that have already been posted are:
- John Berry "How Shall We All Live Together?"
- Betina Szkudlarek, Selena Choo, and Eun Su Lee "Overcoming the Canvas Ceiling: Refugee Employment"
- Cornelius Grove "How East Asians Raise Students Who Excel" and "How East Asians Teach Students Who Excel"
- Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti "The Psychological Contract of Integration"
- Zhu Hua "Making a Stance: Intercultural Communication Research as Social Action"
- Claude-Hélène Mayer & Elisabeth Vanderheiden "The Bright and the Dark Side of Shame: Transforming Shame in Cultural Contexts"
- David Sam "Shades of Multiculturalism"
- Adam Komisarof "What Does It Take to Become 'One of Us'? National Identity and Inclusion (Part One)"
- Chan-Hoong Leong "What Does It Take to Become 'One of Us'? How Recipient Culture Shapes National Identity and Inclusion (Part Two)"
- Deborah Cai “Comparing Transitive and Intransitive Social Networks: Implications for Cross-Cultural Relationships”
As you can see, the podcasts address a broad variety of topics, perspectives, and methodologies. Some are more theory-driven, while others focus upon intercultural practice, and we have tried to gather a corpus of recordings that target a variety of audiences from the general public to academics. The podcasts (along with abstracts summarizing the content and presenter profiles) can be accessed at this URL, with no restrictions upon sharing them with the general public (under the "Publications" tab on the IAIR main website):
https://intercultural-academy.net/publications/podcasts.html
Also, while you are on IAIR’s website, consider joining the organization! Since its establishment, IAIR has provided an interdisciplinary venue to promote and encourage research, theory, and practice in the field of intercultural relations. The Academy strives to disseminate information and encourage interchange that spans a wide range of academic disciplines, from anthropology, communication, education, management, psychology and other areas in the social sciences primarily through biennial meetings, scholarly interaction, and publications like our flagship journal, the International Journal of Intercultural Relations (IJIR).
We welcome PhD students or professionals with doctoral degrees or equivalent scholarly accomplishments. Benefits of joining include a subscription to IJIR as well as access to our listserv and vibrant community of interculturalists. We host biennial conferences, which are friendly, warm affairs yet boast world-class research—a special combination. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our 2021 conference has been postponed to July 2022, where we hope you will join us in Rapperswil, Switzerland (near Zurich). To learn more about IAIR or access the podcast series (or any of our other website-based resources), visit us at: www.intercultural-academy.net. Or you are welcome to contact me at [email protected]. I encourage everyone to continue making invaluable contributions as interculturalists both globally and locally in these challenging times, and if you need sustenance to nurture you, listen today to an IAIR podcast that inspires you.
