Calling strangers in riding gear in the Western US “cowboys”, refusing food in China, letting out the warm water from the bathtub of my Japanese host family – After having lived and worked in diverse countries from the West (USA) to the East (Japan and Hong Kong) I have put my foot into it many […]
The Athena Centre for Women opened in Chios in July 2016; it is the first female-only facility for the refugee population of the Greek island of Chios. On opening day, the women who arrived told us they immediately felt a sense of safety, comfort, and excitement when they stepped through the door. As they removed […]
“Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands”, is actually the title of a book that reviews various business practices and forms of greetings in about 60 countries. Needless to say, such general informative books are quickly outdated. But not so much when it comes to greeting practices, which tend to last longer. So what do you do […]
As SIETAR’s academic advisor, my column will review results of recent research relevant to readers. In this first column, my assistant and doctoral student, Gian Hernandez, and I review several recently published articles on diversity and workplace relations. Scholars have shown that social relations and social support among employees enhance a sense of well-being, both […]
This German booklet on intercultural competence gives a good overview of the topic and uses layman’s language to explain basics of intercultural dimensions, culture standards and differences based on research by Hofstede, Trompenaars, and Hall. The booklet also gives ideas on how to develop intercultural competence and has pragmatic examples, that are relevant in today’s […]
Born in Switzerland of Hungarian origin, Andreas Jean-Pierre Földényi can look back on a 25-year career as a CEO, chairman and entrepreneur. A university graduate in Education and Business Administration, Andreas has lectured in Switzerland and Vietnam, and been involved in education projects which required regular travel to China, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, UK, and all […]
The chubby teenage girl with somewhat shapeless clothes thought “hopefully everything is all right” when the customs officer approached her on the train. How uncomfortable she felt, how embarrassed she was, how uneasy she felt in her skin, to be the only pupil out of her entire class picked to be checked by the guards. […]
Mirza Khan has come to Basel via Italy. His request for asylum in Switzerland was denied. Not safe but you can survive there. His family might be active in politics and might fight for the separatist cause of the Kashmiris, but since this conflict is as old as most of us, we don’t hear about it […]
On 26 May 2016, Frédéric Docquier, Professor of Economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, gave an NCCR conference on “Income disparities, population and migration flow over the 21st century.” Without minimizing the importance of the current refugee crisis, his analysis adopts a longer-term perspective and focuses on the structural forces that affected past […]
It was a sunny afternoon in May and I was on my way to ‘On the Road with Migrants’, a SIETAR event, where people would be asked to imagine what it feels like to be an asylum seeker or refugee. I was walking quickly towards the Allegra Sprachschule, conveniently located at Löwenstrasse 51, just a […]
