DAD - Authoritarianism & suppression of intercultural consciousness

Guest faculty

Milton J. Bennett, PhD

Why participate

Authoritarianism is a pre-conscious form of social organization — it demands obedience and prohibits agency. By exalting tribal “Us”-ness and denigrating Otherness, authoritarian leaders seek to suppress the self-consciousness that generates both personal agency and intercultural awareness. Authoritarians thereby fulfill their egocentric vision of Others being extensions of themselves, free only to parrot the leader's words and thoughts. 

Intercultural consciousness is the antithesis of this vision, because it recognizes Others as equally human but complexly different beings with their own words and thoughts. 

Intercultural practitioners (trainers, facilitators, consultants, coaches) and academic / scholars of intercultural communication are in a unique position to combine their professional work with explicit and implicit resistance to authoritarianism. 

In situations of relatively free speech, intercultural communication can be presented explicitly as theory and practice that encourages critical thinking and meta-level consciousness of Self / Other relations. But even if speech is constrained by some political or commercial circumstance, training or education in intercultural communication (IC) can nevertheless carry the implicit need for consciousness of Self / Other relations as a criterion of intercultural competence and a prerequisite for intercultural communication effectiveness.

The course instructor is Dr. Milton J. Bennett, whose Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) and other contributions to the IC field are considered seminal. 

Participant profile/requirements

This course is for you if you are — or are helping those who are —

• An active or aspiring practitioner (trainer, facilitator, consultant, coach) or scholar / academic in the intercultural communication (IC) field who see this topic as one increasingly raised in your work and wish to prepare yourself accordingly. 
• An IC practitioner or academic who wishes to bring relevant activism within your work. 
• A global learning / civics educator or trainer who wishes to broaden their knowledge and skills by integrating this IC lens into your work.

This course is designed with the understanding that participants will already have familiarity with fundamental IC theories and practices.

Contact us if you have questions about the suitability of this course for your circumstances.

Learning outcomes

In this course, you will learn how to help yourself and those you work with so that you/they can better: 

• Understand authoritarianism in terms of culture and consciousness.
• Consider intercultural work as a form of critical consciousness development.
• Construct explicit and implicit techniques for making your intercultural practice a form of anti-authoritarianism.

Upon successful completion of the program, you will receive a Certificate of Participation listing 6 contact learning hours. 

For course additional details see the Institute for Developing Across Differences website. 

€ 615
 

Available dates