Some Questions I Will Be Answering

I don't like to get too academic on this blog because I like to keep a conversational tone, but sometimes academic and especially - gasp! - critical theory is a useful tool to work out these kinks, thought experiments, and to be able to read something through a lens that you don't use often.

Anyway, here are some questions I hope to answer or tackle in the upcoming posts, with links to external information! That's a new thing on this blog!:

Can consuming world literature really help understand cross-cultural situations?

Is world literature really representative of those people's experiences?

Is entry into a people's culture necessarily tied up with its politics? I am on the side that culture is inextricably linked to current politics and history, so the question that remains is
How can we start to comprehend another people's culture, politics and history if it is so different from our experiences? Empathy? Solidarity? Is that enough?

I will perhaps post up my critical and cultural theory reading list that is connected to intercultural exchanges.

I also hope to revamp my online presence by linking this blog to my social media pages and possibly creating a Twitter account. Hopefully this will then lead to articles on guest blogs, podcasts, videos, conferences, talks!!! All on the subject of culture and crosscultural relations. Like I said in my last post, I. AM. EXCITED.

Job Change, City Change

I am yet again moving...to Kingston, Ontario! It's not really an adventure for me, and yet I've never been there, so it is. I am moving there to work at Queen's University International Centre as an international education intern, and I am really excited.

This internship will solidify my intercultural insight skills. I will be posting up on here resources, tips and general information about intercultural and cross-cultural exchanges. Do I want to go into this field? Franchement, I don't know yet, but I am very interested. I think this kind of field is the sum of all the things I am interested in: linguistics, geography, culture, higher education, travel...and I really want to help people create those experiences and help them see that intercultural/international education is transformative, at individual, local, regional, national and international scales. Does that sound too much like world domination?