State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy su... more State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy suffers from weaknesses-as in the case of Taiwan-their institutions are advised to revise approaches and to consider engaging non-state actors in their strategies. This article critically explores how Indigenous peoples can be considered non-state diplomatic actors in Taiwan's public/cultural diplomacy. Considering various definitions of diplomacy and different understandings of the role of non-state actors, the article examines the legitimacy of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples to represent Taiwan internationally and their capacity to shape the perceptions of foreign publics about the country. Further, a contextualised analysis of Dispossessions: Performative Encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art-an exhibition and series of events that took place in May 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London-is used to demonstrate how the engagement between Taiwanese Indigenous peoples and foreign publics can happen in practice by examining the event through a public/cultural diplomacy lens.
Managing Culture: Reflecting on Exchange in Global Times, 2020
Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in considerat... more Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in consideration of engaging meaningfully in creating solutions for Earth's current ecological crisis within the interdisciplinary context of the Critical Zone. From this perspective, they examine relevant theory and practical aspects of international relations, arts and cultural management, and cultural policy to explore the possibilities and limitations of each of these areas of study in addressing sustainability during the Anthropocene era. Cultural relations and exchange are advocated for as critical contributions towards adapting to climate change alongside the underutilized potential of the arts and humanities. Cultural engagement within higher education, through arts and cultural management programs, is then positioned as a significant leverage point intervention to change systems in order to achieve a sustainable cosmopolitan and inclusive human society.
Thought piece for ifa Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, Alliance for Global Cultural Relations, o... more Thought piece for ifa Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, Alliance for Global Cultural Relations, on the topic: Pluriversal Equal - Cultural practices for an inclusive humanity. What needs to be done?
The authors, in their shared dual roles as international cultural relations academics and practit... more The authors, in their shared dual roles as international cultural relations academics and practitioners have brought together the literature with their thinking and experiences around the convergence of international relations, arts and cultural management toward the cultivation of an international cultural relations workforce through higher education postgraduate offerings. They argue that there is a need for reflection and further development of managerial and leadership competencies within the increasingly professionalized and complex area of International Cultural Relations (ICR); understood as a broad transdisciplinary area allowing for the exploration of culture and its implications in the contacts between groups of peoples and countries. The paper asserts that there is a need for ICR education programmes provided in a university setting but developed collaboratively with key stakeholders and based on pedagogies that link cross-cultural, interdisciplinary theory and practice. ...
The expert team who carried out this inquiry consisted of the Scientific Coordinator/Team Leader,... more The expert team who carried out this inquiry consisted of the Scientific Coordinator/Team Leader, Yudhishthir Raj Isar, together with four independent experts Rod Fisher (assisted by Dr. Carla Figueira), Dr. Damien Helly and, on an ad hoc basis, Gottfried Wagner. Mirjam Schneider at ifa and Yolanda Smits at KEA European Affairs also contributed to the analysis for certain countries as well as to the drafting of the present report. Professor Isar was the principal writer of this report. This document has been prepared for the European Commission; however, it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 7
Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in considerat... more Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in consideration of engaging meaningfully in creating solutions for Earth’s current ecological crisis within the interdisciplinary context of the Critical Zone. From this perspective, they examine relevant theory and practical aspects of international relations, arts and cultural management, and cultural policy to explore the possibilities and limitations of each of these areas of study in addressing sustainability during the Anthropocene era. Cultural relations and exchange are advocated for as critical contributions towards adapting to climate change alongside the under-utilised potential of the arts and humanities. Cultural engagement within higher education, through arts and cultural management programmes, is then positioned as a significant leverage point intervention to change systems in order to achieve a sustainable cosmopolitan and inclusive human society.
This chapter analyses a particular case of cultural policy-making beyond and between nation-state... more This chapter analyses a particular case of cultural policy-making beyond and between nation-states, that of lusofonia, a postcolonial politico-linguistic bloc of Portuguese-language countries and peoples, in one of its institutional forms, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (in Portuguese, Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, CPLP). The purpose is to demonstrate how cultural policy can be conceptualised and practised outside of the usual framework of a single state and developed multilaterally to potentially impact different national public spheres, by connecting cultural policy and cultural diplomacy. The countries that are part of lusofonia –Portugal, Brazil, five African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe) and Timor-Leste (all former colonies of Portugal) – institutionalised their relationship in 1996 through the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and have as recently as 2014 welcomed into this organisatio...
State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy su... more State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy suffers from weaknesses—as in the case of Taiwan—their institutions are advised to revise approaches and to consider engaging non-state actors in their strategies. This article critically explores how Indigenous peoples can be considered non-state diplomatic actors in Taiwan’s public/cultural diplomacy. Considering various definitions of diplomacy and different understandings of the role of non-state actors, the article examines the legitimacy of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples to represent Taiwan internationally and their capacity to shape the perceptions of foreign publics about the country. Further, a contextualised analysis of Dispossessions: Performative Encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art—an exhibition and series of events that took place in May 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London—is used to demonstrate how the engagement between Taiwanese Indigenous peoples and f...
Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée, 2002
This article provides a snap-shot of Portuguese governmental action to promote national language ... more This article provides a snap-shot of Portuguese governmental action to promote national language and culture abroad and places it in the national and international context. More than giving an exhaustive factual description it is aimed to raise discussion and pin point issues for further reflection. The following issues are focused : relationship between language and culture ; the Portuguese government action to promote national language and culture abroad : national context and the role of civil society ; the international context and the contemporary trends : the building of language based spaces in international relations.
This study explores the argument that postcolonial Africa has been the setting for competing exte... more This study explores the argument that postcolonial Africa has been the setting for competing external language spread policies (LSPs) by ex-colonial European countries at the turn of the 21st Century. It focuses on the external LSPs developed by the governments of Portugal, Brazil, United Kingdom, France and Germany towards Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau from the 1990s to the present. The study offers a perspective on the web of relationships involving European ex-colonial powers and the African postcolonial countries of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The author seeks to examine the development of external (European) LSPs and the construction of politico-linguistic blocs in a complex context whilst taking into account the colonial heritage and its lingering dependencies, the construction and maintenance of nationhood and the increasing globalisation of the world.
Cultural diplomacy is not explicitly mentioned in the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promo... more Cultural diplomacy is not explicitly mentioned in the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. However, the Convention itself can be viewed as a classic normative instrument of multilateral cultural diplomacy harbouring, nevertheless, a potentially transformative metanarrative of accepted patterns of diplomatic relations. The Convention, dealing with the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and emphasizing balanced partnerships between developed and developing countries, as well as making links between culture and other policy areas, challenges traditional cultural diplomacy, often associated with the uniform representation of discrete cultural nation-states and their imbalanced relations in narrowly defined areas. The Convention presents a unique opportunity to transform cultural diplomacy.
Content: Martina Topic/Cassandra Sciortino: Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Hegemony. A Framework... more Content: Martina Topic/Cassandra Sciortino: Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Hegemony. A Framework for the Analysis - Miklos Szekely: Rebuilding History. The Political Meaning of the Hungarian Historical Pavilion at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition - Margarita Kefalaki: Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Communication. Example of France and Corsica - Atsuko Ichijo: Cultural Diplomacy in the Contemporary United Kingdom. The Case of the British Council - Ayhan Kaya/Ayse Tecmen: The Role of Yunus Emre Cultural Centres in Turkish Cultural Diplomacy - Laurens Runderkamp: Dutch and German International Cultural Policy in Comparison - Ovidiana Bulumac/Gabriel Sapunaru: Loosing Focus. An Outline for Romanian Cultural Diplomacy - Daniela Chalaniova: Cultural Diplomacy and Stereotypes in Present-Day Czech-Slovak Relations Breaking with the Past? Hetero-Stereotypes of Czechs and Slovaks Twenty Years from the Velvet Divorce - Diego Albano: Italian Cultural Diplomacy. A Playboy's Diplomacy? - Alexandros Sakellariou: Greek Orthodox Church's Public Discourse. Balancing between Cultural Hegemony and Cultural Diplomacy - Martina Topic: Culture and Identity as Tools for Forging Europeanization.
State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy su... more State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy suffers from weaknesses-as in the case of Taiwan-their institutions are advised to revise approaches and to consider engaging non-state actors in their strategies. This article critically explores how Indigenous peoples can be considered non-state diplomatic actors in Taiwan's public/cultural diplomacy. Considering various definitions of diplomacy and different understandings of the role of non-state actors, the article examines the legitimacy of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples to represent Taiwan internationally and their capacity to shape the perceptions of foreign publics about the country. Further, a contextualised analysis of Dispossessions: Performative Encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art-an exhibition and series of events that took place in May 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London-is used to demonstrate how the engagement between Taiwanese Indigenous peoples and foreign publics can happen in practice by examining the event through a public/cultural diplomacy lens.
Managing Culture: Reflecting on Exchange in Global Times, 2020
Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in considerat... more Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in consideration of engaging meaningfully in creating solutions for Earth's current ecological crisis within the interdisciplinary context of the Critical Zone. From this perspective, they examine relevant theory and practical aspects of international relations, arts and cultural management, and cultural policy to explore the possibilities and limitations of each of these areas of study in addressing sustainability during the Anthropocene era. Cultural relations and exchange are advocated for as critical contributions towards adapting to climate change alongside the underutilized potential of the arts and humanities. Cultural engagement within higher education, through arts and cultural management programs, is then positioned as a significant leverage point intervention to change systems in order to achieve a sustainable cosmopolitan and inclusive human society.
Thought piece for ifa Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, Alliance for Global Cultural Relations, o... more Thought piece for ifa Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen, Alliance for Global Cultural Relations, on the topic: Pluriversal Equal - Cultural practices for an inclusive humanity. What needs to be done?
The authors, in their shared dual roles as international cultural relations academics and practit... more The authors, in their shared dual roles as international cultural relations academics and practitioners have brought together the literature with their thinking and experiences around the convergence of international relations, arts and cultural management toward the cultivation of an international cultural relations workforce through higher education postgraduate offerings. They argue that there is a need for reflection and further development of managerial and leadership competencies within the increasingly professionalized and complex area of International Cultural Relations (ICR); understood as a broad transdisciplinary area allowing for the exploration of culture and its implications in the contacts between groups of peoples and countries. The paper asserts that there is a need for ICR education programmes provided in a university setting but developed collaboratively with key stakeholders and based on pedagogies that link cross-cultural, interdisciplinary theory and practice. ...
The expert team who carried out this inquiry consisted of the Scientific Coordinator/Team Leader,... more The expert team who carried out this inquiry consisted of the Scientific Coordinator/Team Leader, Yudhishthir Raj Isar, together with four independent experts Rod Fisher (assisted by Dr. Carla Figueira), Dr. Damien Helly and, on an ad hoc basis, Gottfried Wagner. Mirjam Schneider at ifa and Yolanda Smits at KEA European Affairs also contributed to the analysis for certain countries as well as to the drafting of the present report. Professor Isar was the principal writer of this report. This document has been prepared for the European Commission; however, it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 7
Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in considerat... more Figueira and Fullman reflect on the need to rethink cultural relations and exchange in consideration of engaging meaningfully in creating solutions for Earth’s current ecological crisis within the interdisciplinary context of the Critical Zone. From this perspective, they examine relevant theory and practical aspects of international relations, arts and cultural management, and cultural policy to explore the possibilities and limitations of each of these areas of study in addressing sustainability during the Anthropocene era. Cultural relations and exchange are advocated for as critical contributions towards adapting to climate change alongside the under-utilised potential of the arts and humanities. Cultural engagement within higher education, through arts and cultural management programmes, is then positioned as a significant leverage point intervention to change systems in order to achieve a sustainable cosmopolitan and inclusive human society.
This chapter analyses a particular case of cultural policy-making beyond and between nation-state... more This chapter analyses a particular case of cultural policy-making beyond and between nation-states, that of lusofonia, a postcolonial politico-linguistic bloc of Portuguese-language countries and peoples, in one of its institutional forms, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (in Portuguese, Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, CPLP). The purpose is to demonstrate how cultural policy can be conceptualised and practised outside of the usual framework of a single state and developed multilaterally to potentially impact different national public spheres, by connecting cultural policy and cultural diplomacy. The countries that are part of lusofonia –Portugal, Brazil, five African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe) and Timor-Leste (all former colonies of Portugal) – institutionalised their relationship in 1996 through the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and have as recently as 2014 welcomed into this organisatio...
State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy su... more State-centred diplomacy is primed by foreign policy objectives. Yet when traditional diplomacy suffers from weaknesses—as in the case of Taiwan—their institutions are advised to revise approaches and to consider engaging non-state actors in their strategies. This article critically explores how Indigenous peoples can be considered non-state diplomatic actors in Taiwan’s public/cultural diplomacy. Considering various definitions of diplomacy and different understandings of the role of non-state actors, the article examines the legitimacy of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples to represent Taiwan internationally and their capacity to shape the perceptions of foreign publics about the country. Further, a contextualised analysis of Dispossessions: Performative Encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art—an exhibition and series of events that took place in May 2018 at Goldsmiths, University of London—is used to demonstrate how the engagement between Taiwanese Indigenous peoples and f...
Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée, 2002
This article provides a snap-shot of Portuguese governmental action to promote national language ... more This article provides a snap-shot of Portuguese governmental action to promote national language and culture abroad and places it in the national and international context. More than giving an exhaustive factual description it is aimed to raise discussion and pin point issues for further reflection. The following issues are focused : relationship between language and culture ; the Portuguese government action to promote national language and culture abroad : national context and the role of civil society ; the international context and the contemporary trends : the building of language based spaces in international relations.
This study explores the argument that postcolonial Africa has been the setting for competing exte... more This study explores the argument that postcolonial Africa has been the setting for competing external language spread policies (LSPs) by ex-colonial European countries at the turn of the 21st Century. It focuses on the external LSPs developed by the governments of Portugal, Brazil, United Kingdom, France and Germany towards Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau from the 1990s to the present. The study offers a perspective on the web of relationships involving European ex-colonial powers and the African postcolonial countries of Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The author seeks to examine the development of external (European) LSPs and the construction of politico-linguistic blocs in a complex context whilst taking into account the colonial heritage and its lingering dependencies, the construction and maintenance of nationhood and the increasing globalisation of the world.
Cultural diplomacy is not explicitly mentioned in the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promo... more Cultural diplomacy is not explicitly mentioned in the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. However, the Convention itself can be viewed as a classic normative instrument of multilateral cultural diplomacy harbouring, nevertheless, a potentially transformative metanarrative of accepted patterns of diplomatic relations. The Convention, dealing with the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and emphasizing balanced partnerships between developed and developing countries, as well as making links between culture and other policy areas, challenges traditional cultural diplomacy, often associated with the uniform representation of discrete cultural nation-states and their imbalanced relations in narrowly defined areas. The Convention presents a unique opportunity to transform cultural diplomacy.
Content: Martina Topic/Cassandra Sciortino: Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Hegemony. A Framework... more Content: Martina Topic/Cassandra Sciortino: Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Hegemony. A Framework for the Analysis - Miklos Szekely: Rebuilding History. The Political Meaning of the Hungarian Historical Pavilion at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition - Margarita Kefalaki: Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Communication. Example of France and Corsica - Atsuko Ichijo: Cultural Diplomacy in the Contemporary United Kingdom. The Case of the British Council - Ayhan Kaya/Ayse Tecmen: The Role of Yunus Emre Cultural Centres in Turkish Cultural Diplomacy - Laurens Runderkamp: Dutch and German International Cultural Policy in Comparison - Ovidiana Bulumac/Gabriel Sapunaru: Loosing Focus. An Outline for Romanian Cultural Diplomacy - Daniela Chalaniova: Cultural Diplomacy and Stereotypes in Present-Day Czech-Slovak Relations Breaking with the Past? Hetero-Stereotypes of Czechs and Slovaks Twenty Years from the Velvet Divorce - Diego Albano: Italian Cultural Diplomacy. A Playboy's Diplomacy? - Alexandros Sakellariou: Greek Orthodox Church's Public Discourse. Balancing between Cultural Hegemony and Cultural Diplomacy - Martina Topic: Culture and Identity as Tools for Forging Europeanization.
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