Cosmopolitanism, Solidarity Activism and Cultural Connections Workshop
June 5 – 7, 2019
DIYALOG participated into the workshop Opening Communities to Newcomers at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Canada, with a presentation of the Mahalla Festival and a screening of In The Dark Times.
This workshop, organized by Dr. Kim Rygiel (Wilfrid Laurier University/BSIA) and Dr. Feyzi Baban (Trent University), brought together academics, artists and civil society groups from across Europe and North America interested in fostering pluralism and opening communities to newcomers. The workshop focused on understanding why, how and under what conditions some communities are more open to cultural differences than others and what types of projects facilitate openness to newcomers. Participants reflected on conceptual issues such as cosmopolitanism and solidarity and on how civil society initiatives, particularly using the arts, provide alternative sites from which to challenge notions of who belongs within the community and ways of fostering living together.
