A workshop on "Intercultural Trends and Media: cross-cultural and gender sensitive reporting in the EuroMed region" was held on Tuesday, September 10, at the University of Jordan (UJ) with the participation of media, academics and civil society representatives.
Supported by the European Union, the workshop is organized by the Anna Lindh Foundation and the Union of the Mediterranean Universities (UNIMED) in collaboration with UJ.
The workshop seeks to debate on the way perceptions between Europeans and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean people have evolved in recent yearS as a result of migration and refugee movements and the rise of populist discourse and phenomena of violent extremism.
In his welcoming speech, UJ Vice President Ahmad Majdoubeh said "UJ is committed to the cause of cultural and cross-cultural understanding, cultural and cross-cultural tolerance and cultural and cross-cultural communication and interaction".
Majdoubeh added that there many programs at the University that adopt cultural, multicultural and cross-cultural studies, in addition to other mandatory courses on human civilizations and cross-cultural interaction for languages students.
The meeting aims at creating a sustainable bridge between the media, academia, and civil society to work together for the promotion of dialogue and collaboration in the region, said Dr. Nabil Al Sharif, the Executive Director of Anna Lindh Foundation.
Al Sharif pointed out in his opening remarks that the workshop reflects on the research results and research work conducted on intercultural trends in the Euro-Mediterranean region disseminated in the Anna Lindh report 2018.
UNIMED Director Marcello Scalisi stressed during the opening session the importance of international mobility, networking and co-operation in creating cultural awareness and fighting gender stereotyping.
The workshop's target is to contribute to facilitate an understanding of the research results and trends in the Anna Lindh report and define a methodology for the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean network for the exchange of information about the coverage of cross-cultural issues and gender stereotypes and images in the Media.