NCA Summer Conference 2009, Istanbul

[David Boromisza-Habashi]

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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