Dismantling the “U.S. vs. Int’l Dichotomy: Creating Synergy between Intercultural and Social Justice Amer F. Ahmed, Ed.D. AFA Diversity Consulting English Prounouns: He/Him amer@amerfahmed.com @dramerfahmed | @dramerfahmed amerfahmed.com| amerfahmed.com Honoring the People • Acknowledgment of the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc Nation, the indigenous people of this land. Gratitude to the indigenous people in each of the Four Directions. • Thank you to all the workers, whose labor allows us to eat, drink, have electricity and conduct all of our efforts that we are engaging in here today. • Thank you to Kyra and all others at TRU and beyond involved in organizing this important space for us today. 2 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com “Access without Support is not opportunity” Engstrom, Tinto (2009) 3 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Growing Up IndianAmerican Muslim (Hyderabadi) 4 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Springfield, Ohio: Prototypical American Post-Industrialism 5 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com “The oppressed will always believe the worst about themselves.” - Frantz Fanon 6 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Undergraduate Years • Miami University (OH) • Study Abroad • South Africa & Nepal • Anthropology & Black Studies 7 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Master Degree Years • Indiana University • More Travels • Anthropology/Black Studies • 9/11 (MSA) • Hip Hop Activism 8 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com From Spoken Word to Hip Hop 9 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Hip Hop & Activism 10 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com U.S. Diversity, Social Justice, AntiRacism (NCORE, WPC, etc.) 11 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Loras College: Dubuque, IA 12 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com The Journey to Intercultural (SIIC) 13 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Concordia College: Moorhead, MN 14 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Standing Rock (ND) 15 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com “For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity.” ― Frantz Fanan The Wretched of the Earth 16 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com University of Michigan – Ann Arbor 17 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Trying to Bridge the Divide • Bringing Intercultural and Global Ed to U.S. Diversity & Social Justice • Bringing U.S. Diversity & SJ to Intercultural and Global Ed • Why Resistance to Global Ed/ Intercultural? • Critiques: Global Ed/Intercultural often de-historicizes and lacks explicit power analysis. • Privileged groups benefit and marginalized don’t (who has access?) • Intercultural viewed as “International” and threat to U.S. Diversity in the name of “Globalizing Higher Education/Organizations” • Diversity and Social Justice often dismissed as U.S.-specific only and not relevant beyond, particularly with regards to race. 18 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com How U.S Diversity and SJ Can Benefit from Intercultural • U.S. Diversity and SJ tend to over-emphasize power and social identity with little cultural analysis, creating an imbalance in the approach and resulting in often-ineffective overall strategies, methods and efforts that are not holistic • Often does not focus on connections between U.S. context with inequity in other contexts. • Although the approach has real benefits, it should be part of a broader approach to strengthen effectiveness 19 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Why the Divide is so Problematic • U.S. vs. International framing and structure is dichotomous & inadequate in effectively engaging complexities of the 21st Century (e.g. Immigration) • Globalization is powerful & dynamic, we must better understand the interrelated and interconnected realities perpetuating global inequities that occur at the local, regional, and global levels • Lacking a postcolonial lens does not challenge historical implications on present-day circumstances, therefore benefiting the powerful. • Dealing only with culture, benefits the powerful • Intercultural lacks diversity from marginalized identities because of the dichotomy • Pretending that historical inequities like racism is U.S. specific ignores all of colonial history @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com 20 21 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com 22 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Decolonizing Intercultural 23 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com 24 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Confronting Nation-State framing and Neoliberalism in Intercultural • Purely engaging the work based on nationstates perpetuates the colonial process by ignoring the histories and identities of indigenous people and other marginalized groups. • Lacking an explicit power analysis makes the intercultural an agent of neoliberalism • We must decolonize intercultural education and question corporate and non-profit/NGO agendas that perpetuate neoliberalism and dominant corporate globalization 25 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Case Example History: Islam & “the West” • Orientalism • Crusades • Reconquista (Spain) • Colonialism • Post-Colonialism • Israel • U.S. inheritance of Colonial History • Neo-colonialism • Neoliberalism 26 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com 27 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com 2016 Presidential Election 28 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com “Muslim Ban” 29 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com What is One’s ability to effectively navigate Intercultural the complexity of human similarities and differences Competency? across various socio-cultural contexts accounting for privilege and marginalities as part of that negotiation. -Amer F. Ahmed (Adapted from Dr. Milton J. Bennett) 30 @dramerfahmed | amerfahmed.com Dismantling the “U.S. vs. Int’l Dichotomy: Creating Synergy between Intercultural and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Amer F. Ahmed, Ed.D. Director – Intercultural Teaching & Faculty Development University of Massachusetts Amherst @dramerfahmed | @dramerfahmed amerfahmed.com| amerfahmed.com