I feel very honored that I have been interviewed by Patrick Schmidt, editor-in-chief of SIETAR EUROPA Journal. I met Patrick at the 2015 Annual SIETAR Europa Congress in Valencia where I had been invited as a key note speaker. After my presentation, he kindly asked to conduct an interview with me for the journal of the Society of Intercultural Education Training and Research.
In the editorial, he mentions the quote by Jonathan Ive from the sidebar of this website, that serves as a personal motto for me. He writes:
This quote from Apple’s chief designer, Jonathan Ive, is probably what best summarizes our interviewee, Professor Dr. Stefanie Rathje. As keynote speaker at the SIETAR Europa Congress in Valencia, she dazzled her audience with a simple and clear talk about how intercultural training can exacerbate problems like stereotyping and adversary group dynamics. Whereas by teaching people to perceive common membership, interculturality disappears.
Keying on the fact that most people today are part of numerous social groups, she developed the notion of multicollectivity to make cross-cultural situations less daunting.
I am really grateful for this wonderful feedback for my presentation and my theories.
The interview was published in the fall edition of 2015. It touches on my personal background, how I came about to develop my theories and my future ideas for the field of intercultural communication. Check out the full text here.
