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 Transcultural Studies,
The UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace at the University of Oregon Eugene started its activities during the summer 2006 under the direction of its Chairholder Professor Steven Shankman. In the first year (2006-2007) of the establishment of the UNESCO Chair at the University of Oregon, the Chair will be housed in the Oregon Humanities Center, which is an interdisciplinary research center that encourages the teaching of innovative, interdisciplinary courses; supports interdisciplinary scholarly research; and reaches out to the public at large by offering a wide array of public programs, including the production of its own public-access television program, “UO Today,” which has the capacity to reach at least half a million households in the region. The Oregon Humanities Center has an established reputation, throughout the region, for its effective and wide-ranging efforts at public outreach. The Center is known for its work and programming in the area of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. The Chair will later be moved to a newly created Center for Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace. The Chair proposes an on-going and regular series of conferences and symposia in collaboration with a number of centers around the world in which it would share the results of its inquiries. Ethics, Comparative Religion, Interreligious Dialogue, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, Law, Peace Studies are all the domains and disciplines the Chair allocates.
The long-term objective of the Chair is to integrate the United States and the region of the Pacific Northwest – both inside and outside of the academy – within the broader world community and specifically within the context of trans-cultural studies, inter-religious dialogue, and peace studies. Currently, there is no UNESCO Chair in the United States in this program. A related goal is the establishment of an International Licentiate in Trans-cultural Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue to be offered by the institutions participating in the network of Chairs in UNESCO’s Inter-cultural and Inter-religious Dialogue Program. In the short term, the Chair plans to strengthen existing partnerships with colleagues around the world in different activities and the University of Oregon wants to offer an International Licentiate in Trans-cultural Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue through its association with the UNESCO Chairs around the world, and as part of its contribution to the UNESCO Inter-cultural and Inter-religious Dialogue Program.
|
