Annual Report 2011 - NTNU

2.3 INTERCULTURAL DYNAMICS: COMMUNICATION, RESPONSIBILITY AND
DEVELOPMENT
Rationale and Research Objectives
While globalization has increased the interconnectedness within places and people, it
has also complicated the encounters among people with different cultural
backgrounds. Interplay, relationships and negotiations, which operate at socio‐political
and economic arenas, have become complex due to cultural diversities among people.
Emphasis is given to contemporary intercultural dynamics and to normative
approaches which seek to identify constructive ideas for the shaping of future
interculturalism. The focus area does not, though, exclude historicist analyses of
intercultural issues and welcomes research into events and conditions which produced
contemporary phenomena and situations.
The main objective is to foster the exploration of cultural borders and intercultural
contact from perspectives associated with the humanities and thereby to strengthen
the involvement of the humanities within NTNU's Globalization Programme.
Research within this focus area addresses issues relating to the flowing three themes:
Intercultural communication
Sustainable development
Governance, natural resources and climate change
The focus area brings together the work of scholars from the Department of
Philosophy, Department of Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Department of
Architecture and Urban Design and Planning, and Department of Sociology and
Political Science.
Main Activities 2011
In 2011, the focus area Intercultural Dynamics prioritized publication, project initiation and
project finalizing. Accordingly, the focus area allocated funds for 4 conferences, 1 workshop,
1 project initiation (writing an EU project proposal) and travel/network building. In addition,
the focus area was responsible for organizing the PhD course; Deliberating Controversies in
Globalization: Theory, Methodology and Ethics.
Conference/Workshop/Seminar Arranged
18 ‐19 September: Workshop Globalization, Governance and Natural Resources.
Workshop was organized in collaboration with focus area Global Economic Flows.
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