UNITWIN/UNESCO
Network of the Chairs on inter-religious dialogue for intercultural understanding
Phone: +41 (0)76 504 82 26
Mail: office@inter-cultural.org
UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and
The UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Inter-religious Dialogue Studies was established in 2001. It works actually in cooperation with research centers and scholars from all the universities in Israel and from different countries across the world: Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India and the USA. The Chairholder is Prof. Aviva Doron, who is active at the Research Unit for the Cultures of Spain, and her deputy is Prof. George Kanazi, who is active at the Department of Arabic Literature.
The story of the Chair began with a vision: The basic idea was to establish dialogue between Jewish, Moslem and Christian scholars, and more particularly to develop dialogue between scholars from Israel and the Arab countries, which should be based on the historical experience in Spain, that occupies an important place in the collective memory of the three cultures. The intercultural encounter in Medieval Spain has been inscribed in the History of the three cultures as an exemplar of hope for the building of human bridges. In order to implement this intercultural dialogue, the UESCO Chair in Intercultural and Inter-religious Dialogue at the University of Haifa focuses on scientific and academic collaboration with leading scholars in different universities across the world, while simultaneously initiating and realizing intercultural and inter-religious dialogue projects within the Israeli society and between Israel and its Arab neighbours. The main goals of the Chairs are to enhance dialogue among Jews and minority groups in the Israeli society (Moslems, Christians, Bedouins, Druzes), to encourage understanding between orthodox and non-orthodox Jews in Israel by means of joint encounters and projects and to develop a cultural dialogue between scholars from Israel and from Arab countries based on the Spanish connection.
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