Intercultural & Transcultural Communication

Department
  • European Master in Health Economics and Management
Course unit code
  • IHSM-EU-HEM-E2.2.2
Level of course unit
  • Master
Semester when the course unit is delivered
  • 2
Number of ECTS credits allocated
  • 5.0
Name of lecturer(s)
  • Guibert Isabelle, MA MA
Learning outcomes of the course unit
  • • Gain awareness of
    - the interconnection between peace, conflict, health
    - the different meanings and expressions of violence
    - the plurality of peace and your personal understanding of peace
    - conflict as a potential for transformation
    - inner peace as a prerequisite to better interact with others
    - your own needs and feelings
    - culture and intercultural communication
    • Practice communication tools for conflict transformation
    • Explore your own conflicts, and hence increase your empathetic qualities
    • Gain insight into your communication styles to identify mechanisms leading to dysfunctional communication and generating misunderstandings/conflicts in the private sphere, at work, in society
    • Improve your listening and expressing skills
    • Get out of comfort zone to see through new lenses and take a step back from your own (cultural) worldview.
    • Enhance your abilities by balancing mental, physical, emotional, spiritual skills
    • Learn through experiencing
Mode of delivery
  • -
Prerequisites and co-requisites
  • none
Course contents
  • PEACE, VIOLENCE, CULTURE - Conceptual aspects
    - Paradigm shift in the understanding of peace and health since 1945 (UNESCO/WHO) | Plurality of peace | Negative and positive peace
    - Meaning and dimensions of violence | Personal, structural, cultural violence
    - Possible strategies for dealing with conflict and for ensuring peace
    - Insight into culture and interculturality

    CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION - Practical methods
    - Mindfulness
    - (Defensive) Communication Styles
    - Active Listening
    - Nonviolent Communication
    - Theatre of the Oppressed/Theatre for Living
Recommended or required reading
  • Available on Sakai/Resources:
    - DIETRICH, WOLFGANG (2005): "Peace - Remarks on the Difficult History of a Key Cultural Term", SOSKinderdorforum, Vol. 30 (Innsbruck), 11-15
    - ESTEVA, GUSTAVO (2011): "Intercultural Inspiration: The Life and Work of Raimon Panikkar" in Dietrich, Wolfgang and Others (Eds.): The Palgrave International Handbook of Peace Studies: A Cultural Perspective, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 570-585
    - GALTUNG, JOHAN (1969): "Violence, Peace and Peace Research", Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 69, 167-191
    - LEDERACH, JOHN PAUL (2003): The Little Book of Conflict Transformation; Intercourse, Good Books
    - MARMOT, MICHAEL, WILKINSON, RICHARD G. (2003): The Solid Facts. Copenhagen: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe
    - ROGERS, CARL R. & RICHARD E. FARSON (1987): "Active Listening". In R.G. Newman, M.A. Danzinger, M. Cohen (eds). Communicating in Business Today. D.C. Heath & Company
    - ROSENBERG, MARSHALL (2003): Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, PuddleDancer Press.
    - SATIR, VIRGINIA (1988): The new peoplemaking, Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books
    - SEARS, MELANIE (2010): "Preface" and "A Crisis in Health Care", in Humanizing Health Care: Creating Cultures of Compassion in Health Care with Nonviolent Communication
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
  • • Interactive teaching and participatory learning
    • Unconventional teaching approaches involving mind, body, spirit, heart
    • Inputs and open discussion
    • Individual and collective work (research, reflection, exchange, creativity, diverse forms of communication and expression)
Assessment methods and criteria
  • To monitor the students’ learning this course will provide ongoing assignments as a basis for feedback and grading (formative assessment) and/or will evaluate the students learning at the end of the course or an instructional unit via exams, final project reports, essays or seminar papers (summative assessment).
Language of instruction
  • English
    • AACSB/FIBAA