International Summer University - a free summer school for students

The Context
The Aladdin Project, in partnership with Bahcesehir University of Istanbul and Turkish NGO Anadolu Kültür, has launched a new initiative that consists of a three-year annual summer university programme bringing together students from Europe, the U.S., the Middle East and North Africa. The aim is to equip these young leaders with knowledge and skills necessary for promoting intercultural relations in the 21st century. Students will attend only one summer school, but will join an alumni network that will ensure their continuing participation in the programme. This initiative is run in conjunction with partner universities including New York University , L’Institut d’études politiques de Paris  -Sciences Po -, The School of Oriental and African Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel Aviv University, Al-Quds University, Mohamed V University, University of Tunis, Bogazici University, Bahcesehir University and Dakar University.

The Invitation: a free summer school for students
SOAS as one of the partner universities can select and nominate 4 students (2 female and 2 male) to participate in this summer school.  All travel and accommodation costs, as well as meals and social programmes, will be taken care of by the organisers, namely the Aladdin Project, Bahcesehir University and the Turkish NGO, Anadolu Kültür. See further information below.

The Program
The lectures and workshops will be conducted in English. An international group of distinguished academics will give students a good introduction to the social and cultural causes of mass violence in 20th century Europe, the use of propaganda and communication by dictators through the 21st century, the European experience of post-war reconciliation, strategies for conflict prevention and resolution, the impact of the Internet and social media on modern societies; developing strategies for effective intercultural communication, and critical assessment of data, information and ideas.

Students will also participate in group activities such as field work on Istanbul’s ethnic neighbourhoods. Participants will arrive in Istanbul on June 30. The program will officially begin on July 1st at 10am with an opening ceremony.  From July 2, classes will be held every morning from 9 am to 12.30 pm in two sessions of 90 minutes. The afternoon will be devoted to workshops, from 2 pm to 5pm. In the evening, Anadolu Kültür will organize a range of social activities. There will be no teaching on Sunday July 7. The closing ceremony will take place on the morning of July 15. Students and guest lecturers will leave Istanbul in the afternoon.

Academic Program
Students will receive a total of 19 lectures over a two-week period, with plenary sessions of 90 minutes every morning that will include a 50-minute lecture, followed by 10 minutes of group discussion and then a 30-minute Q&A session with the lecturer. The first week’s lectures will give students a broad understanding of the causes and consequences of mass violence in 20th century Europe. During the first half of the second week, students will learn about the process of peace and reconciliation in Europe after World War II leading to political and economic union in the shape of the European Union. The final lectures will focus on a critical analysis of Europe today:

1. An “overview” of the two-week program
2. History of mass violence in Europe, including overviews of the World Wars, the Balkan wars and European colonial wars
3. The role of ideologies and states, political propaganda, perpetrators and their environment, and resistance)
4. Post-1945 peace and reconstruction in Europe
5. Franco-German reconciliation
6. Europe and its Mediterranean neighbors
7. Sociological and anthropological analyses of Europe today: identity, immigration, minorities, women...
8. Intercultural dialogue in the 21st century

Group projects
To encourage the students to engage in team work and develop their intercultural skills, they will be divided into groups bringing together students from different countries and cultural backgrounds to work together on a research project. The groups will be asked to choose their projects from a list previously determined by the teaching staff. An international panel of academics will evaluate the submissions and members of the group with the best project will be invited to a ceremony in Paris to receive their award and participate in other events. Projects are to be submitted to the jury before October 1, 2013. A panel of three professors will meet in late September to examine the projects and award a prize for the best work. Winning students of the selected group will be invited to the second session of summer schools in 2014.

On July 14, after a morning of preparation with their tutors, the groups will present a first draft of their project and explain their plans to complete it in the following months.

After the program
Students will receive a summer school diploma from BAU at the end of the course. They will also join an alumni network and will be encouraged to organize conferences on the theme of intercultural rapprochement in their home universities.

Background information
The Aladdin Project is an international organization based in Paris and created in 2009 under the auspices of UNESCO to promote intercultural relations, to prevent conflicts through a better knowledge of History and its teachings, to bring together world leaders and international institutions against Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and all forms of exclusion and racism, and to enhance mutual knowledge through the production, translation – into the languages of the relevant people – and propagation of books, films, documentaries, websites and other sources of information.

Anadolu Kültür is a Turkish NGO created in 2001 and based in Istanbul that works through the sharing of Arts and Culture to overcome conflicts and social tensions, promote mutual understanding, and raise awareness of the common cultural heritage between cultures via movies, literature, photography and all forms of artistic expression to encourage dialogue. The organization already set up such encounters between Turkish and Armenian youth.

The University of Bahcesehir is a private university founded in Istanbul in 1997 to teach the future leaders of the country by training them to think critically, do research and by raising awareness of local and world-wide issues. The university fulfills international criteria and underlines the promotion of mutual respect, the appreciation of difference and a constructive way of expression. Currently, 15 000 students are enrolled, with 900 professors and 100 study programs on two campuses. The University also manages a unique network of primary and secondary schools in Turkey.

Source: www.soas.ac.uk