05/03/2026
Διαδικτυακά Σεμινάρια στην Κριτική Διαπολιτισμικότητα (University of Helsinki & Routledge).
Registration is now available for 10 online talks on critical interculturality (April-May 2026):
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ZtVnJUxgikCKYFXQ3J2da-suxUXMpCdNkZWCDUo955ZURU1OSEFLOFZTMjJNVEVNM0FSOUxVNEVSRS4u&origin=Reminder¶m=Form---1-0
You can register until 26th March to receive the Zoom link.
Please do not hesitate to spread the word!
Warm regards,
Fred Dervin
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10 online talks on Critical Interculturality (April-May 2026)
The TENSION research group (Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki) and Routledge present a series of 10 international talks offering new perspectives on critical interculturality. Each session features an author from the Routledge book series on interculturality edited by Fred Dervin (https://www.routledge.com/New-Perspectives-on-Teaching-Interculturality/book-series/NPTI), discussing their work. They will explore their book’s genesis, key findings and research challenges, focusing on how it provides new critical understandings of interculturality. These talks aim to showcase up-to-date and critical work on this complex notion. Join us Thursdays between 16:00 and 17:00 Finnish Time (EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3) in April-May 2026 for these insightful presentations, followed by a live Q&A with a global audience.
Schedule
1. Thursday April 2 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Robyn Moloney
Intercultural Communication: A Personal Approach
I introduce a new user-friendly textbook “Intercultural Communication: A Personal Approach” designed for international teaching across disciplines. Through responding to Encounters (interview transcripts) with 30 individuals, the reader critically engages with lived experience of intercultural communication in diverse workplaces.
Robyn Moloney is an experienced and committed teacher, teacher educator, and writer in intercultural education.
2. Thursday April 9 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Mélodine Sommier, Anssi Roiha & Malgorzata Lahti
Interculturality in Higher Education
In this talk, we will present examples from different educational contexts and disciplines that illustrate how to move away from essential traps and implement critical intercultural education in higher education.
Dr. Mélodine Sommier currently works as an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland).
Dr. Anssi Roiha works as a University Lecturer in special education at the Department of Education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Dr. Malgorzata Lahti works as a Senior Lecturer in communication at the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
3. Thursday April 16 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Deborah Darling
Plurilingual and Intercultural Pedagogy for All in Higher Education
International higher education is evermore converging on instruction in a limited number of languages. Sharing a language has multiple benefits but also comes at the expense of delegitimising other languages in higher education. This presentation outlines the rationale and framework for a plurilingual approach for English-Medium Instruction lecturers.
Debbie Darling is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Queen Mary, University of London.
4. Thursday April 23 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Vander Tavares
Researching Interculturality in Post-Colonial Contexts: Indigenous Perspectives and Beyond
In this talk, I will focus on the place of (primarily) Indigenous perspectives and experiences in post-colonial educational contexts and what these perspectives and experiences help to reveal about interculturality both conceptually and pedagogically. Considering the Eurocentric character of interculturality, this talk centers Researching Interculturality in Post-Colonial Contexts: Indigenous Perspectives and Beyond in order to offer a decolonial critique of the field.
Vander Tavares is a multidisciplinary scholar working within and across language, teacher, and higher education. He is currently an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Inland Norway.
5. Thursday 30 April 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar
Teaching Interculturally in Qatar
This book explores the teaching of intercultural communication in Qatar. It concentrates on local epistemologies and ethical practices that influence curricula across schools and universities. It advocates for cross-cultural pedagogies, examines verbal and nonverbal interactions, identity, media, and language learning. It addresses teaching culture, citizenship, interfaith dialogue, and internationalization, and offers models for intercultural competence, translation, and social reform in education.
Wisam Kh. Abdul‑Jabbar is currently an assistant professor and assistant dean at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. His work aims to bridge cultural and philosophical perspectives to resolve conflict and enhance educational practices and policies.
6. Thursday May 7 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Wei Liu
The Lebowski Shock: Deconstructing Normative Intercultural Paradigms
This talk will introduce “Lebowski Shock” as a new concept in intercultural communication to complement and contrast with Culture Shock. The talk will also share the four design features of Lebowski Shock which will help deconstruct normative intercultural paradigms.
Wei Liu, PhD, is a scholar administrator in international higher education at the University of Alberta, Canada.
7. Thursday May 14 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Fred Dervin & Jun Peng
Interculturality Online: Ideological Constructions and Considerations for Higher Education
Why do we overlook ideology in online intercultural communication education and research? We explore how students and teachers worldwide experience virtual exchanges. Using concrete examples, we critically examine the ideologies shaping these digital encounters and propose a more equitable and reflexive approach to ‘doing’ interculturality online in higher education.
Fred Dervin is Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Over a career of 25 years, Dervin has made substantial contributions to global scholarship on interculturality.
Jun Peng is a PhD researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research focuses on interculturality in education, online intercultural interactions and foreign language education.
8. Thursday May 21 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Julie Byrd Clark
Ecointerculturality: Communing with the more-than-human world
In this talk, I present Ecointerculturality, an original contribution which seeks to engage new and ancient ways of communicating referred to as ecotranslanguaging. In doing so, my presentation underscores voices and works that have been largely ignored in intercultural communication education and research, namely the more-than-human world.
Julie S. Byrd (aka Byrd Clark) is Professor of Critical Language, Intercultural, and Indigenous Education at Western University, Canada.
9. Thursday May 28 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Ning Chen
Intercultural Preparation in Higher Education
In my talk, I critique simplistic intercultural preparation in higher education. Drawing from data collected in China and Finland, I advocate for reflective, context-sensitive and intersectional approaches that address power dynamics and linguistic diversity in global engagements.
Dr Ning Chen is Lecturer at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and Visiting Researcher at the University of Helsinki.
10. Thursday June 4 2026 (16:00-17:00 Finnish Time; EET/EEST, UTC+2/UTC+3)
Lian Sun, Taylor & Francis-Routledge, Fred Dervin, University of Helsinki, Finland (editor-in-chief); Marina Alonso Bolaños, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico; Julie Byrd Clark, Western University, Canada; Patrick A. Danaher, University of Southern Queensland, Australia; Daniel Fried, University of Alberta, Canada; Shaun O’Dwyer, Kyushu University, Japan; Aziz Qaissi, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco; Elatiana Razafi, University of New Caledonia; Vander Tavares, University of Inland Norway, Norway; Zhongfeng Tian (田中锋), Rutgers University-Newark, USA.
Global Voices: Translating Research to Decolonise
This session introduces the new Routledge series, Global Voices, which champions a plurilingual and intercultural vision for global scholarship. By translating key works into English, the series aims to liberate important ideas, diversifying international conversations. Editorial Board members will join this session to discuss the role of language and translation in decolonising knowledge and academic practices.
