2027 Intercultural Conference, Lugano
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Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Jolanta Drzewiecka
Intercultural politics of AI: language, difference and power
Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that is already transforming how we live and work. It has the potential to change humanity itself by shaping the language we use and the ways we communicate. What are its implications for intercultural relations and intercultural communication? Can AI help overcome stereotypes, biases, power struggles, and exclusions, or will it deepen and reinforce them? Prof. Drzewiecka will offer reflections on the advantages and risks of using AI, and its potential to bridge and divide communities?
Prof. Dr. Jolanta Drzewiecka is Chair of Intercultural Communication at University della Svizzera italiana. She holds Master’s and PhD degrees from Arizona State University, Tempe, USA. Her research concentrates on migrant integration and the discursive construction of cultural, racial, and national differences and identities. She explores how inequalities, power relations, and emotions shape belonging and relations among groups. She has published her research in Communication Theory, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Media Studies in Communication, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and other journals.
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
We Wear Culture: Fashion and Intercultural Communication in the Digital Realm
Increasingly, fashion items are presented, promoted and sold in digital environments, while fashion itself – what is considered in or out, desirable or inappropriate – is discussed, interpreted and negotiated online. At the same time, fashion has gained increasing visibility in established cultural institutions and is being recognized as a significant expression of culture, identity and human creativity. “We Wear Culture,” as the title of Google Arts & Culture’s major fashion initiative suggests.
This growing visibility, together with the opportunities offered by digital platforms, has generated considerable interest and engagement. At the same time, it has created new challenges for intercultural communication, and even generated misunderstanding, controversy, and communication crises.
This keynote will explore fashion as an increasingly important arena of intercultural communication in the digital age. Through selected examples, it will examine emerging challenges and consider both the opportunities and the risks that digital fashion communication presents for intercultural understanding.
Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Cantoni graduated in Philosophy and holds a PhD in Education and Linguistics. He is full professor at USI – Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland), Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, where he serves as director of the Institute of Digital Technologies for Communication.
He is chair-holder of the UNESCO chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites, established at USI in 2013, and director of the Master in Digital Fashion Communication, done in collaboration with the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in France.
L. Cantoni has co-authored the book Digital Fashion Communication. An (Inter)cultural Perspective (Brill, 2022) and has launched, with other colleagues, the FACTUM Conference series, devoted to Fashion Communication in the digital world (digitalfashion.ch), whose 2027 edition will take place in Beijing. In the same area, he has co-edited the book ‘Made In’ and the Fashion Industry. A Comprehensive Perspective, just published by Palgrave Macmillan, and co-authored the report Fashion and Cultural Tourism. Connecting Creators, Businesses, and Destinations, jointly published by UN Tourism and USI.
More keynote details coming soon
Information about our second keynote speaker and presentation will be announced shortly.