Paper accepted for presentation at the Liberal Arts International Conference (LAIC)

I’m very pleased that my proposal for a paper has been accepted for presentation at the Liberal Arts International Conference (LAIC) at Texas A&M University in Qatar (Feb 2015). According to the acceptance notification, “the conference committee received over 200 abstracts and proposals, and (…) had a very competitive 29% acceptance rate”.

Conference theme:

LOOKING FORWAD, LOOKING BACK: Transnational Perspectives on Globalisation

My paper proposal:

A Cultural Other in Transnational Education:

Impact of Globalisation on Student/Teacher Identities

Abstract:

The presentation concerns the changing perceptions and interpretations of cultural identity in a pre-university English-language academic institution in Qatar where globalisation is traversing the once-impermeable boundaries of neatly delineated, ‘national’, higher education. The paper is based on my continuing doctoral research.

In this paper, I will look at the concept of a cultural other in the context of teaching English to Qatari students enrolled in a foundation programme preparing them to enter English-language universities at home and abroad.

The presentation will consist of the following parts:

1. Definition of terms (cultural other, transnational education, globalisation, cultural identity);  context and methodology
2. Traditional vs. contemporary narratives of teacher/student identity (native vs. non-native teachers of English; English teachers as ‘post-modern paladins’; foreign students abroad vs. local students in a foreign institution at home)
3. Who is a ‘cultural other’? Emerging discourse/s of ‘otherness’ (foreign teacher as a cultural other; otherised local students from non-local backgrounds)
4.  Conclusions (burgeoning ‘small’ classroom culture/s with new power relations and re-defined identities)

Magda