Intercultural Understanding and Global Threat

• In Event: 32.043 - Opportunities for Learning From Participation in International Professional Experience

Abstract

This study aims to explore one particular complexity that arose during an IPE in Malaysia - the perceived threat of terrorism and how participants managed this challenge. This incident calls into focus the role of the supervising academic and local liaison, as well as the understandings built through pre-departure and in-country orientation and support. Using the perspectives of Krumer-Nevo and Sidi (2012), we explore this incident and its implications through critical and cultural lenses. We argue that deeper knowledge of real and imagined global threat, thrown into relief in this Malaysian instance, carries resonances for intercultural understanding. Building resilient and critical dispositions to known and unknown challenges is significant not only for off-shore students, but for those at home. The persistent threat of terrorism appears to be a growing reality and we, as yet, have limited knowledge of, and thus response to its presence.

Authors

• Julie Faulkner, Monash University

• Anne Keary, Monash University