Power relations are partly shaped by political and socioeconomic factors, but they are also very much construed by the way in which we interact.
The Trump-Zelensky interaction in the White House famously showed this, but also address forms (e.g. you, Sir, Madam, my dear,…) contribute to creating power relations. Indeed, addressing a politician as senator or by means of their first name establishes a very different relationship.
Research has shown that women are less frequently addressed with their professional titles than men, which downplays their professional position of expertise. Furthermore, while some languages distinguish between two address pronouns, which indicate a difference in distance or formality (e.g. French tu-vous, German du-Sie), other languages have only one form (English you), leading to challenges in multilingual settings.
In addition to these more intrinsic linguistic differences, interaction conventions are also culturally negotiated, with differences in expected degree of formality.
While international interactions are increasingly an everyday part of student experiences and professional lives, the challenges that such interactional differences raise as to how power relations are constructed and as to how democratic participation functions, are rarely addressed.
In this Open Conversation, we want to discuss these differences with students and colleagues who have first-hand experience with living and interacting in international contexts, and with researchers who have looked into this topic from different fields.
This Open Conversation then aims at raising the public’s awareness concerning how power relations unfold in interaction and through how we address each other. In doing so, it aims to better prepare participants both for interacting in different languages than the one they’re most familiar with, but also for better interacting with co-students and colleagues from abroad.
Learning outcomes:
After this Open Conversation, participants:
• understand power relations in political and professional contexts can be created, reinforced or contests by address forms and pronouns
• have acquired insights into how intercultural differences regarding the use of address forms can be a challenge to integrate into new contexts and how this can create power asymmetries
Speakers:
- Barbara De Cock, Democracy KH Chair, UCLouvain
- Mette Zoelner, Professor, Aarhus University
- Hilde Reinertsen, Professor, University of Oslo
- María Sampedro Mella, Postdoc, UCLouvain
- Ariana Pinto Moreira, Student, UCLouvain
Non-Circle U. experts:
- Bettina Kluge, Bielefeld University
- Johanna Isosävi, Helsinki University
