A record of meetings from 2004.
December 2004 SIETAR DC 2004 Holiday Party
Please join us for the SIETAR DC 2004 Holiday party!
SIETAR-DC will provide food and drink and it will be up to you to provide the entertainment! To get you started we have a variety of activities planned:
*** A Cookie Decorating Contest: “Look Eunice, it's a gingerbread iceberg!!"..."No Vern, that's a bust of Stephen Moles"
*** A Gift Exchange: Bring a knickknack from your travels (or re-gift that certain something that is great, but just not your taste) as a part of our anonymous gift exchange.
*** Name That Song: Bring some holiday music from your travels around the globe.
November 2004
When: November 9th
Time: 6 pm - 8pm
Location: Capital Hill Starbucks
Title of book: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Book Description
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
When three-month-old Lia Lee Arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely people, have been less amenable to assimilation than
most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee Entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural communication.
Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness and healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness, qaug dab peg--the spirit catches you and you fall down--and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices.
October 2004
Topic: SIETAR-DC Business mtg and presentation by Jeff Countryman and Joyce Liu-Countryman.
What happens when companies go global? How does corporate culture interact with national culture? In particular, what happens when goals, objectives, and mission statements of a company conflict with the national culture of its employees? And what is the role of an interculturalist as a manager, consultant or human resource personnel in these organizations?
In this session we will explore the intersection between national culture and corporate culture through a group discussion and hands-on exercise.
June 2004
I'm pleased to announce that the Intercultural Management Institute at American University has agreed to host our all-day meeting on Saturday June 26th. See the following link to some very impressive upcoming IMI skills institutes. http://www.imi.american.edu/spring2004institutes.html
A detailed schedule of our meeting on June 26th is below, with details on the sessions by Jackie Wasilewski and Judee Blohm. Apologies to Jackie and Judee for my typos in the first email (i.e. Jackie will talk about Weaving Narratives - not "Waving" Narratives, although that sounds quite interesting also...)
Schedule:
9:30-10:00 Coffee and welcome
10:00 - 12:30 Jackie Wasilewski on "Weaving Narratives"
Jackie's topic for her presentation will be "Weaving Narratives." She will describe some of the work that she has been doing with Native Americans, some of her musings during her sabbatical year, and demonstrate an exercise that she uses to get groups working with the emergent meanings in every day narratives and stories.
Jackie Wasilewski is the former President of SIETAR International. Her work has a theme and focus around the questions of "how can we create a global system in which all voices are heard, and in which people can participate in the decisions that affect them, their families and their communities." Jackie was born in 1943 in the same month that work was started on the atom bomb in New Mexico (her father's home state) At that time, Japan was an enemy of the United States. With the passage of time and changes in the world it is interesting that Jackie now teaches in Tokyo (and has made Japan her home for many years). Jackie says she has always been an interculturalist, but had to wait for the field to be invented. First, she wanted to be a diplomat and came to George Washington University. Then she went to Georgetown University to learn to be an interpreter. Later she graduated with German literature from the University of Pittsburgh (where many pioneers of the field were based at the time). One pioneer, Marshall Singer, was one of her advisors for her Master's degree. Jackie went on to get a PhD from USC on life stories of people of color (Native American, Asian American, African American and Hispanic American) with an emphasis on discovering effective effective muliculturation strategies through the use of narratives.
12:30 - 2:00pm Lunch together and chat
2:00 - 3:30 Judee Blohm will lead an exploration of the simulation "An alien among us"
This simulation as published by Intercultural Press in 1999 and was created by Richard Powers. In the simulation players select people to go on a voyage to the planet Bora-X5" to accompany the alien Zor-Zeva back to her home. The purpose of the mission is to learn about each other's world. Please join us to see 9and influence) how this mission is accomplished.
Judee Blohm is a cross-cultural educator, training consultant, and instructional designer working in the Washington, DC area. She specializes in writing and editing training materials and publications, and delivery of training and educational programs targeted youth, families, and adults working and living in multi-cultural settings. Her clients include professional and educational organizations, the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, other development and service organizations, and the State Department. She is the author and editor of numerous training materials, including teaching games and simulations, a pamphlet series, manuals, and study guides. She has contributed chapters to various books in the intercultural field; most recently she co-authored with Sandra Fowler the chapter "An Analysis of Methods for Intercultural Training" in the third edition of the Handbook for Intercultural Training published by Sage in 20004. Her book, Where in the World are You Going?, creatively helps children prepare for international moves.
3:30 - 5:00 "Open Space" activity
We will use an "open space process to address issues that are of interest to the group who attends. Possible topics could include 1) careers in intercultural field and/or 2) trends and future direction. for more information on open space please got to http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-Openspace.html
May 2004
*REMINDER*
Our next meeting, focusing on international education, will be tomorrow, Wednesday, May 19, same time, same place! (6-7:30 pm, 1307 NY Ave.,NW, Washington, DC). Please see directions below.
The meeting will feature speakers from the American Council on Education and the National Defense University's Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS).
If you haven't had an opportunity to make it to a SIETAR-DC meeting or activity yet this year, we would love to see you! Our summer programming break begins after the June meeting. So, come on out to the May meeting! Bring a friend, co-worker, colleague, fellow or sister student... Most of all, bring your knowledge, experience, and ideas!
*Opportunity to participate*
Let's kick off this meeting with an ice breaker!! Would YOU like to be the person to lead this? This is a great way to test out a new activity, facilitate one of your favorites, get to know other members, and to spark some energy at the end of a long work day! E-mail me directly (lesliebozeman@h...)if you would like to be the person to lead the ice breaker. Awww....don't be shy. :o) Your participation will be greatly appreciated!
When you e-mail, please put SIETAR-DC in the subject line.
Thank you, and see you May 19th!!!
April 2004 – Mtg #2
Our next meeting will take place this Wednesday, April 21, 6-7:30 pm at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1307 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.
This month we will address intercultural communication issues in the Pk-12 school environment. To do help us do so, Bim Shauffler will share the efforts of Sandy Spring Friends School in Montgomery County, Md towards addressing these issuues.
Our major focus will be the following question:
"With the increasing international and intercultural student population, what intercultural communication issues are teachers and school administrators facing with students and parents, and what strategies are the school systems putting in place to address these issues?"
As interculturalists, intercultural-minded professionals, and possibly even parents of children in the school system, we encourage you to come out and discuss this important topic that has implications for the continued provision of a quality education for all our youth, ultimately effecting all aspects of our society- social, cultural, and professional.
April 2004
Michael Gates of Richard Lewis Communications will present their model and demo an online self-assessment tool that uses the model. The online tool, CultureActive, generates a profile of a person based on answers to series of questions and then shows how the profile compares with respondents from a country of your choice. This is very interesting tool and is one that we may all wish to be aware of, or use in our work.
Please join us at AACTE (address and directions below)
6:00-7:30pm, Thursday April 1
March 2004
SIETAR DC Reception and Meeting: Thursday, March 11, 2004
Note: this meeting is held in conjunction with the annual IMI conference. See www.imi.american.edu for conference details.
Everyone is welcome regardless of whether you are attending the IMI conference. Our program for the evening will be a repeat of a workshop addressing diversity and team building from the conference. You are encouraged to attend the conference and then stay for...
Schedule:
Light reception: 5:30-6:30pm (sponsored by SIETAR-DC)
Meeting: 6:30-8:30 pm (later end time to allow for processing of the simulation)Location: American University, Ward building, lower levelJurassic Spark: Experiencing Creative Energy in a Team
Through exploration of their own empowering experiences, participants will ignite creative energy as a powerful force of synergistic relationships to address a global challenge.
PresentersJudee Blohm is a cross-cultural educator and training consultant in the Washington, DC, area. She specializes in instructional design, writing and editing publications, and delivery of training and educational programs targeted at youth, families, and adults working and living in multi-cultural settings. Her clients include professional and educational organizations, Peace Corps and other development and service organizations, and the State Department. She has conducted pre-service, in-service, and reentry programs for Peace Corps staff and volunteers, international secondary school and adult exchange participants and host families, business and diplomatic employees and their families, and city employees. Judee is the author and editor of numerous training materials, including teaching games and simulations, a pamphlet series, manuals, and study guides. She has contributed chapters to various books in the intercultural field, including "An Analysis of Methods for Intercultural Training" in the Handbook of Intercultural Training, Third Edition, Sage, 2004. Her book, Where in the World are You Going?, creatively helps children prepare for international moves.
Carol Townsend, President of ChangeMasters Ltd, has over 20 years of experience as a manager, educator, counselor and consultant. Her passion is equipping emerging leaders. She use models, metaphors and stories to develop self-awareness, uncover work/life potential and increase productivity. She is equally skilled in using future searches and scenario planning to help organizations articulate their desired futures.
In a publicly traded national corporation, Carol designed a corporate university capable of supporting 12 markets and 250 locations. In a manufacturing firm, she aligned business goals with training and career development activities for over 2,700 employees. In public service, she designed and coordinated executive conferences that reshaped strategic processes and business planning skills. Carol completed a post-graduate program in Bowen Systems Theory at Walter Reed Army Hospital, a Certificate in Organization Development from Georgetown University, and a Master of Science degree from the University of Alabama. She is certified as a performance coach by the Center for Creative Leadership.
February 2004
Our next meeting will be Wed. Feb. 18th from 6:00-7:30pm at the offices of AACTE (see below). Our guest for the evening is Dr. Michael Agar, professor of applied anthropology and principle in ethknoworks consulting (see below).
Michael will show how ethnographic field methods can be used to develop ongoing cultural learning in participants. We will also discuss the implications of such an approach and contrast it with many of the "area studies" sessions commonly used in cross-cultural training. For those of you who have seen Mike present before I think you will know that this promises to be a very engaging and provocative evening. Please join us !!
About Dr. Michael Agar
Michael Agar currently works out of Ethknoworks in Takoma Park, MD. He has faculty appointments at the University of Maryland, College Park and the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta, as well as an appointment as Senior Research Scientist at Friends Research International in Baltimore. He is the author of over 100 books, chapters and articles that describe or apply ethnography, including his recent chapter on the topic in the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. His work spans areas as diverse as intercultural communication, language and society, public health, transportation, and organization theory, and he has conducted organizational development work for businesses, for educational institutions, and for public health. His two most recent books are The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography (second edition) and Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation.
January 2004
The January SIETAR-DC meeting will be held Wednesday, the 28th at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) located at 1307 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.
This month's featured topic is U.S. Culture. Join us for an interactive discussion and share your views on how culture in the U.S. is viewed from a variety of perspectives.
Also during this month's meeting you'll meet the new SIETAR-DC liaison to SIETAR-USA, hear her ideas for linking SIETAR-DC with other SIETAR organizations, receive information about the SIETAR-USA conference, and learn about upcoming SIETAR-DC activities.
Looking forward to seeing you at our first meeting of 2004!
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