News
The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, outside Geneva, Switzerland, is inaugurating its first summer school by hosting an internationally focused session on communication and religion.
From 1 to 14 August 2011, 17 students from Armenia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Ukraine are taking part in the course.
Jointly organized by the Institute of Christian Communication of the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremburg, Germany, the Ecumenical Institute Bossey of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), the programme is intended to broaden students’ understanding and appreciation of the globalization of media and culture, with a particular emphasis on the role of religion and religious communication.
The teaching staff, drawn from German and Swiss institutes and the WACC, includes Professors Johanna Haberer, Andreas Nehring, Florian Höhne, Dagmar Heller, Heiner Bielefeldt, Stephen Brown, Irena Pavlovic, Daniela Frank, Steve Hamilton, Samuel Meshack, Nicolae Dascalu, Christoph Stueckelberger, Karin Achtelstetter and Philip Lee.
The for-credit programme focuses on communication and media theories; oral, textual and visual cultures; public theology and religious rights; challenges facing interfaith dialogue; and media and fundamentalism; as well as media ethics.
“Gaining knowledge about media systems in different countries or reflection on ethical issues related to communication is complemented by the living experience of the difficulty of communication among people from different cultural contexts and languages,” stressed Prof. Dagmar Heller.
WACC received more than 60 applications for support to attend the school. WACC sponsored three students and two teachers. An additional participant, a student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was unable to attend when his application for a visa was rejected after long delays.
WACC student Priscila Vieira e Souza, a doctoral candidate at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said, “I find the topic very important for communication research and practice, especially in regard to rights issues in my country.” Commenting on the programme, she observed that, “Debate and discussion is an important methodology for young people who are training to work in communication and religion.”
“This is an exciting pilot project,” says WACC general secretary, Rev. Karin Achtelstetter. “We very much hope that the Summer School will be repeated at two-yearly intervals, providing an opportunity for much needed South-North exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of communications.”