Civilizations: Clash or Dialogue?

Content

-  Download Program Booklet: click here

-  Register: click here

-  Info & Updates Workshops

-  Info & Updates Master Classes

-  Information on the conference theme 

Register

Registration system online: www.ucsa.nl/conference

We would like to ask all participants to do so by Monday April 20^th at the latest! 

Registration procedure

1)     Choose your favourite workshops and masterclasses from the booklet distributed in your mailbox or from the online version on www.ucuniverse.com/page/conference

2)     Go to www.ucsa.nl/conference and fill out the registration form

3)     After registering online, you will receive an e-mail: use this e-mail to confirm

4)     You will be informed about the final division in the days before the conference

5)     Enjoy the speeches, workshops and masterclasses on April 24-25

Please note that the sooner you register the more chance you will have to be registered for your favourite workshops and masterclasses.

For all further questions about the conference: please contact ucu.conference@uu.nl

Info & Updates Workshops

Info & Updates Master Classes

Master: Willemijn Aerdts

Class: World Connectors

Assignment:

In 2008, the Worldconnectors spoke on the matter ‘Connection of Civilizations: a Practice of Connecting Identities’. Attached is the Worldconnector’s statement of September 2008, the result of the working group and Round Table efforts on this matter. I would like to ask you to write a short essay (200-300 words) on this statement. What do you think are the two strong qualities of the statement and which two issues need improvement?  All essays of good quality will be published on the website of the Worldconnectors. Furthermore, the writers of the two best essays shall be invited to discuss their papers with (members of) the Worldconnectors working group Connection of Civilization. During the Masterclass we shall discuss your essays, try to improve the statement, and think about ways to get our message across.

Statement on the Connection of Civilizations Download

Master: Peter Ho

Class: Embedded activism and political change in a semi-authoritarian context

Read the following articles:

- China’s Embedded Activism – Index Download

- China’s Embedded Activism – 1. Introduction Download

- China’s Embedded Activism – 2. Self-imposed censorship Download

And please make the following assignment, which can be discussed during the master-class:
According to sociological theory, environmental movements generally arise because of four factors or pre-conditions.
1.      In the article, these four factors are applied and analyzed in a semi-authoritarian context. Provide a summary of the main argument and conclusion of this article.
2.      What specific term is used to capture this argument?
3.      Do you think this is a good term? If so, or if not, why? (There is no right or wrong answer to the last question. It is a matter of seeing whether you have given the article some thought, so feel free to give: i) your opinion; and ii) the arguments why you think so).

Master: Sake Slootweg

Spending his childhood abroad and in the Netherlands all Sake wanted were 'normal' Dutch student years. Instead he chose University College. During his studies he obtained an academic interest in South East Asia and an exchange to Mahidol University in Bangkok followed. He wrote his bachelor thesis on 'architecture as a means of nation building in Malaysia.' After UCU Sake further pursued his Asian and political interest and interned at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok. There he researched how Dutch professionals deal with Thai business culture. After returning from Thailand Sake interned as personal assistant to Mr. Alexander Pechtold (MP) in the Dutch Parliament. Currently, Sake Slootweg is pursuing his childhood dream, working as a flight attendant for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. In September he will start a Master in Contemporary Asian Studies at the University of Amsterdam.  

Class: The Clash of Doing Business Abroad; experiences of Dutch professionals in Thailand

Doing business in a culture that is not your own, always comes at a risk. Some risk factors have a temporary nature and are dependant on time and place; e.g. natural disasters, regime changes or social upheaval. Other risk factors are constant. An important factor of the last category is that of differences in business cultures. Whether it be Belgium, the United States or Malaysia, differences in business culture will always come up.

The master class discusses the cultural difficulties Dutch professionals experiences while doing business in Thailand. Professionals encounter problems and try to find solutions in areas of: daily management, communication, hierarchy, trust, adaptation and managing expectations of head offices. Examples in each of these categories are given. What becomes apparent is that although cultural differences are initially overlooked they seriously harm successful entrepreneurship.

What do the experiences of these professionals tell us about Thai and Asian business culture? What does it tell us about the willingness of western entrepreneurs to deal with differences in culture? Is the key to successful entrepreneurship abroad just about learning a trick? Or does it require a real and profound understanding of another (business) culture? Ultimately, are differences in business culture there to stay or can they be overcome? Such questions are debated at the end of this masterclass.

A Clash of Civilizations?

The conference uses Samuel Huntington’s much debated Clash of Civilizations thesis from 1993 as a starting point. In this thesis the author distinguishes between the following civilizations: Western, Latin American, Confucian, Islamic, African, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Japanese, Buddhist. In his view, the twenty-first century will be characterized by an inevitable clash between civilizations, for which he saw evidence in the Middle-East, central Africa and former Yugoslavia. Huntington’s ideas have received lots of criticism and many experts from a wide range of fields have contradicted its bleak perspective of an inevitable clash between cultures. The questions that Huntington and his many critics put on the agenda, however, are hard to ignore. We will ask ourselves if his framework is relevant and useful in tackling world issues. Does it explain political tension? Does it make sense from an economic point of view? What happens if you look at it from a theological perspective? How can insights from disciplines such as philosophy, evolution biology or the social sciences add to the discussion? Is Clash inevitable? What can be the role of the arts?

This conference concentrates on the probabilities and possibilities of clash or dialogue in the “post-Huntington” era, focusing especially on three of these civilizations: the West, China, and Africa. Since the civilizations-debate has been dominated by clash and dialogue between the West and the Islamic world, the Organizing Committee has opted for a different focus in order to allow for new perspectives and creative contributions. It should be evident that such a focus does not exclude the Islamic world and participants are very welcome to address the conference theme from this perspective.

Sub-themes

The conference is subdivided into nine sub-themes. These nine-subthemes fall within the three academic departments: Humanities, Social Sciences and Science.

Humanities
Arts & Literature
Truth & Language
Religion & Ethics

Social Sciences
Globalization & Development
International Human Rights
Conflict & Cooperation

Science
Natural Resources
Biodiversity & Evolution
Western & Traditional Medicine