Master of Advanced Studies in
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

An interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding how culture and cultural differences shape interpersonal, intergroup, and mediated communication. You will be introduced to concepts of culture, communication, and identity. The module will outline principles for inclusive communication with Others based on recognition of differences, privileges, and disadvantages.

Objectives
To understand issues pertaining to cultural differences;
To perceive the enrichment that diversity offers;
To develop skills for engaging with cultural Others;
To comprehend how culture shapes communication;
To acquire analytical skills to diagnose problems, and design creative plans for inclusion and enrichment.

Topics
Theoretical framework;
Principles for inclusive communication with Others based on recognition of differences, privileges, and disadvantages;
Why groups and individuals disagree about their meaning or how to resolve them;
Integration of migrants;
Relationships in multicultural environments.

This module will present theoretical concepts and methods for analyzing how meanings are constructed linguistically and visually in interpersonal and mediated communication. Let us follow Gumperz’ argument that "conversational interpretation is cued by empirically detectable signs, contextualization cues, and that the recognition of what these signs are, how they relate to grammatical signs, how they draw on socio-cultural knowledge and how they affect understanding, is essential for creating and sustaining conversational involvement and therefore to communication as such" (1992, 42). Acknowledging that context can be co-constructed by the persons involved, we will work on the analysis of intercultural interpersonal communication.

Objectives
To investigate contexts and processes of intercultural (interpersonal) communication;
To critically analyze and expertise signs (in intercultural communication situations) with respect to its modes of interpretation;
To propose adequate interventions within organizations or enterprises where intercultural encounters play a role;
To analyze, deploy and create visuals in intercultural settings, by consciously leveraging the universal advantages of visual mapping for intercultural communication, while being aware of the cross-cultural variations in their interpretation. 

Topics
Detailed linguistic analysis of signs and symbols in intercultural communication;
Construction of otherness and difference;
Cross-cultural variations in interpretation of visual communication;
Practical applications to facilitating intercultural communication.

The plea of intercultural education is to « take culture seriously in education »: what should this mean for intercultural education? Why are school systems so weak in promoting the school success of students from minority groups? How far are teachers competent to acknowledge cultural diversity, to address the needs of students with diverse cultural references and diverse experiences? What difficulties do teachers encounter in teaching a diverse class, what difficulties do teachers’ trainers experience in preparing teachers for interculturality? After identifying the different facets of the cultural dimension of education, we will critically consider what has been accomplished by intercultural education so far.

Objectives
To reach a more comprehensive understanding of intercultural education, addressing all the facets of the cultural dimension of education;
To provide students with an overview of issues concerning worldwide multiculturalism and cultural diversity;
The students will acquire knowledge of the theories and practices used in multicultural education in different national contexts;
To explore the critical views of both intercultural and multicultural education with similarities and differences examined;
To define and explicate approaches to the training of intercultural competence, with a focus on distinguishing those based on cross-cultural psychology and intercultural communication.

Topics
Intercultural education in schools: consequences for training of teachers;
University mobility: multiculturality or uniformization: implications for didactics;
 Mono- ou intercultural approaches in educational policies;
Education and intercultural competence training;
New media, social networks, cultures and «sub-cultures».

The impact of culture at the level of the individual, the team, and the organization. This module aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the issues involved in cross-cultural management. It will focus on the impact of culture at the level of the individual, the team, and the organization; it will demonstrate how cultural factors influence behaviors in the workplace and will develop some of the skills needed to manage effectively in cross-cultural situations.

Objectives
Gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of culture, the theories and frameworks that help in highlighting similarities and differences across cultures, and comparative business practices and behaviors;
Be able to apply these theories and concepts to a range of different cultural and organizational settings;
Be able to analyze and synthesize different theories and concepts and critically evaluate their usefulness in addressing the problems of managing people from different cultures;
Improve your ability to work in, manage and lead culturally diverse groups and teams;
Increase your awareness of the economic, social, political and ethical issues related to globalization. 

Topics
Business organization/management and multiculturality:
Basic value orientations and frameworks of cultural dimensions;
Organisational culture;
Diversity and inclusion;
Business ethics and CSR;
Expatriation.

Location
This course will be taught at the Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Evolutions and «involutions» of cultures, in particular, national cultures, in view of economic and political changes. In the last 10 years, the world has changed tremendously because some countries/regions have emerged with very high rates of development. The BRIC countries, in particular, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, as well as a large part of the ASEAN region in South-East Asia. The impact these countries will have on the functioning of the world, not only from the economic point of view but also culturally, is an ongoing process.

Objectives
To understand the relationship between globalizing forces, political and economical change;
To acknowledge about evolutions and involutions of the local cultures;
To comprehend the impact that both traditional values and societal changes have worldwide.

Topics
SEA countries as emergent economies;
India as an emergent economy;
China as an emergent economy;
Economic and Political Change;
Involution in management;
ASEAN Shared Culture in the 21st Century.

Location
This course will be taught at the Kasetsart University, Thailand.

This module will present detailed information about intercultural communication research methods and project management. The focus of this module lies in understanding and identifying research methods appropriate to theory and research questions or hypotheses; managing projects.

Objectives
Part 1: Quantitative Research Methods - Prof. Suzanne Suggs
Understand the basic principles of quantitative research methods from a social science perspective;
Know the differences between methods for analysis and methods for data collection and the relationship between them;
Know how to formulate research questions, develop research and statistical hypotheses;
Know how to design a quantitative study;
Know how to find and design measurement items;
Have confidence in one’s ability to decide which method is most appropriate for answering research questions.

Objectives
Part 2:  Project Management - Prof. Paulo Gonçalves
Introduce students to the basic principles, methods and tools for project management;
Understand the theory underlying two project management methods:
a.  Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
b.  Critical Path Method (CPM)
 Apply the Project Management Framework and understand its limitations;
Improve students’ ability to structure and manage Intercultural Communication Projects.

Objectives
Part 3: Qualitative Research Methods - Prof. Jolanta Drzewiecka
 Understand assumptions and evaluation criteria of qualitative research;
Understand the major qualitative methods: ethnographic observation, interviews, focus groups and textual analysis;
Formulate research questions;
Design a qualitative study;
Understand data collection process: sampling, organization, recording, and more;
Grasp basic data analysis procedure and presentation of results.

In this course, we will begin with an overview of the literature on social change communication. We will examine how social change communication is defined, the frameworks of social change communication, and the methodological anchors for communication for social change. This overview will offer the basis for introducing the culture-centered approach to communication for social change, walking through the key concepts of the CCA, the role of social change communication from the global margins, and the transformative power of communication for social change when grounded in the voices of the margins. The course will critically interrogate the dominant ideas of development and situate these ideas in the backdrop of community voices at the global margins.

The focus of the course is to analyze the complex relationship between the concerned actors and stakeholders. Development cooperation and humanitarian action, most often, bring together actors and stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds. Their relationships are complex, not only on account of this cultural diversity but also because of the ‘awkward nature’ of the relations between recipient and donors of official development assistance (ODA) compounded by differences of power and wealth, of historical experiences as well as by different goals and time horizons.

Topics
Part 1
A theoretical framework for social change communication;
Dominant structures, development communication, and social change;
Cultural anchors for social change communication;
Voice, subalternity, and erasure;
Listening, dialogue, infrastructures of communication;
Projects of social change communication;
Activism and social movements.

Topics 
Part 2
The international environment of humanitarian action and international development cooperation;
The architecture of international development cooperation and of humanitarian action: key concepts, approaches, actors, and instruments;
Recipient and donors.

It is a platitude to say that ever-accelerating flows of ideas, commodities and people across the globe are changing the nature of societies forever. The migration of people, real human bodies seems to present the greatest challenges to whatever sense of equilibrium may have prevailed in earlier times.  Flows of people add to the complexity of societies and place demands on both the migrants and the hosts at individual and societal levels to think and behave differently in regard to “others.” Evidently, the old ways of engaging human diversity simply will not suffice in a closely-knit, interdependent world in which societal heterogeneity has become the norm and some form of integration has become imperative.

This course will give delegates insight into how we came to think about differences the way we do in the modern era – which differences came to matter, and why --   evaluate some of theories and approaches that have been proposed to engage with diversity, and offer a critical perspective on how we may think in new ways and better equip ourselves for an interrelated future.

Topics
Deep ideologies: the construction of difference in the modern social imaginary.
Diversity dimensions, intersections, and unravelling binaries: National status, Race, gender, sexuality, disablilty, coloniality.
Some theories/approaches to integration: Multiculturalism, “Berry boxes,” Cultural translation; Critical Diversity Literacy.
 Diversity in organisations: The challenges get personal. 
 Dialogue: some principles and limitations.

The approach of this module is to discuss and contrast different angles to the media’s role in cross-cultural encounters in society: insider perspectives and outsider perspectives; aspects of media production and journalism, and the changes that this field is currently facing; the change in media landscapes, and the changing functional aspects of media use in different cultural settings including the recent representations of migration into Europe.

During the course we work to detect, identify and analyse mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion of culturally distinct groups. We also look at research on how the media address such situations. To broaden the spectrum, the analysis covers a multitude of different types of encounters: how different media represent and affect ethnicity; religion; immigrant- and diasporic communities; linguistic diversity and minority languages, and the possibilities and problems that come with new media technologies.

The particular tasks of journalism with respect to conceptualizing the world, and in creation of self-identification and social competence are discussed against practical examples from different cultural settings. Attention is given to how media works in representing the cultural “self” and “others”, based on the literature distributed before the course. The role of the media is discussed against examples of good and bad practice. 

Topics
The predicament of cultures in a mediatized society;
The role of journalism and media in the evolution of migration and intercultural relations;
Media and (national, ethnic, linguistic, religious …) minorities;
New forms of media and journalism and their relations to social networks, cultures and sub-cultures;
 Useful practices in intercultural communication.

After a general introduction to human rights, emphasis will be placed on the limits to fundamental freedoms and on the legal mechanisms that ensure respect for these freedoms at national and international level. Human rights (human rights) and / or "rights of cultures"; The legal choices of the State in the face of multiculturalism; Citizenship and integration policies today. In the second part, the course will concentrate on three guarantees that are essential today in a multicultural context. Freedom of religion in particular, the right to express one's religious beliefs and proselytism and the denominational neutrality of the state; Freedom of language, in particular, the status of official languages, and the conflict between freedom of language and the principle of territoriality; Equal treatment, in particular, the prohibition of discrimination.

Topics
Part 1
After a general introduction to human rights, emphasis will be placed on the limits to fundamental freedoms and on the legal mechanisms that ensure respect for these freedoms at national and international level.
Human rights (human rights) and / or "rights of cultures";
The legal choices of the State in the face of multiculturalism;
Citizenship and integration policies today.

Topics
Part 2
In the second part, the course will concentrate on three guarantees that are essential today in a multicultural context. 
Freedom of religion, in particular, the right to express one's religious beliefs and proselytism and the denominational neutrality of the state;
Freedom of language, in particular, the status of official languages, and the conflict between freedom of language and the principle of territoriality;
Equal treatment, in particular, the prohibition of discrimination.

The course aims at familiarizing the students with the struggles over global, regional and state power, international conflicts, and global issues by providing a variety of historical, political, social, cultural and economic factors.

Objectives
To provide an overview of the main stress factors affecting the world community and of the main characteristics of international relations;
To analyze the role of international organizations and NGOs in this evolution;
To familiarize the participants with recent endeavors to define and promote new norms to protect the life and dignity of individuals and, inter alia, the concept of human security;
To raise the awareness of the relevance and relative importance of cultural and political factors in the different approaches to those issues;
To shed light on the evolution of the key concept of state sovereignty and on the opportunities, obstacles, and dilemmas linked to the implementation of human rights norms.

Topics
Introduction to IGOs (international governmental organizations) and INGOs (international non-governmental organizations);
IGOs and INGOs in conflict resolution and sustainable development;
International relations at the beginning of the 21st century;
International actors and the challenge of global governance;
Developing new norms in the field of human security: the role of states,  international organizations, and NGOs;
Challenges of global and state security frameworks.

Workshops
The clash of civilization;
Universalism and cultural relativism in practice:
The promotion of human rights and human security values: opportunities, obstacles, and dilemmas.

In five units, we introduce participants to relevant social theory, present cutting-edge research findings, and discuss the applications and implications in various hands-on exercises. The module begins with how humans perceive the world and how immigration plays an important role in understanding and classifying the everyday. We then explore the consequences of this with regard to political representation, exclusion, the media, and right-wing populism to underline how migration poses a challenge to democracy.

Topics
Social relations;
Political representation;
Social exclusion;
The role of the media;
Right-wing populism.

This module addresses macro (i.e. society) meso (i.e. community) and micro (i.e. individual and family) processes of integration. In order to set the scenery of such processes, the module begins by studying diversity of migrant population and integration policies in Europe; this allows locating the Swiss experience in the broader European picture. Moreover, it outlines the main theoretical approaches to integration in the scientific literature in order to provide a common background for the study of integration processes. More generally, the module shows the dynamic of ethnic boundaries at play in integration processes. Finally, the module tackles the issue of the interplay between processes of integration and migrants’ transnational practices.

Topics
Diversity in migration and integration policies;
Theoretical frames for integration processes;
 Structural integration: a quantitative approach;
Intergenerational social mobility: resource mobilization, strutural barriers and ethnic boundaries;
Integration and transnationalism.

The first Unit is devoted to the post Berne Initiative global framework and initiatives in the governance of migration as the context for the EU free movement of persons. The following unit focuses on recent developments in the international framework of refugee and IDP protection in Switzerland, the Middle East and Europe. Unit 3 looks at the recent shift in research from a policy oriented to a migrant informed perspective of decision making in migration.
The next section discusses border controls, visa policies and cross border services as well as smuggling and human trafficking, which are often purposefully confused in public debates. Unit 5 focuses on particularly vulnerable migrant groups and investigates the underlying factors and structures that create unequal power relations and dependency, how migration management regimes of control and enforcement are practiced and how they shape individual irregular migrants’ experiences in diverse ways. On the side of policy responses, the so-called durable solutions – local integration, return, resettlement – are addressed with particular interest being paid to the reactivation of resettlement regimes in Switzerland and EU countries (unit 6).  
Finally, we focus on the sub-state level and show the implications migration has on the regional and local level (unit 7). In particular, we analyse the challenges faced by minority regions, where new diversity stemming from migration encounters historical linguistic, religious and cultural diversity.

Topics
Towards global governance of migration;
International governance of refugee and IDPs;
Determinants of (refugee) migration movements;
From migrant smuggling to trafficking in persons;
Vulnerability and migrations;
International refugee resettlemen and relocation in within the EU;
 Migration to and within minority territories.

The course aims to present and discuss the sociological and political philosophy issues related to multiculturalism. It starts from an apparently distant phenomenon, but which weighs heavily on these stakes, the rise of individualism and personal subjectivity in contemporary societies. It situates the issue in what is the major global change, globalization, and will invite the participants to "think global." And in the face of these phenomena, multiculturalism has been an institutional and philosophical response since the end of the 1960s.  The content, the history, as well as the limits of this response will be discussed in light of the question whether intercultural dialogue could be another answer. The module will also address specific guidelines and measures for integration.

Objectives
Address diversity management as a form of public policy, showing that it can be addressed with the tools of policy selection, design, and evaluation;
Investigate the concept of 'language regime' and discuss the benefits and costs of multilingualism, addressing the ways issues related to translation, interpreting, the use of a 'lingua franca,' and other strategies s 'intercompréhension';
Develop the concept of tolerability, focusing on establishing the latter's empirical validity through a quantitative approach.

Topics
Philosophical and political challenges of monoculturalism and multiculturalism;
Multiculturalism: theory and practice;
Managing differences and "intercultural conflicts";
Diversity and multilingual public policy.

Psychology offers a nuanced understanding of the link between the individual, emotion, cognition, and culture. How are the "cultural" dimensions of human behavior taken into account in psychology? What is the place of culture in this discipline? What can be the contributions of psychology to the understanding of intercultural communication? The theoretical contributions will be brought through numerous examples and activities so that the participants can establish links with their practices and concerns and develop a "psychosocial and cultural" approach to intercultural communication.

Topics
Psychology, individual and culture;
Prejudice and stereotyping.