DR ABBY DAYAHRC PUBLIC SECTOR PLACEMENT

FELLOW (BRITISH COUNCIL)UNIVERSITY OF KENT

UK

Policy and Partnerships Perspective

Translating Cultures: ‘Belief’ in Cultural Relations

‘Translation’: transmission and sharing of LanguagesValues BeliefsHistoriesNarratives

AHRC PUBLIC SECTOR PLACEMENT FELLOW (BRITISH COUNCIL)

‘Belief in Dialogue’ Programme

12 month Placement Fellowship: I help them understand ‘belief’

They help me understand how research informs policyMy ten years researching ‘belief’

British Council

76 years as cultural organisation in more than 100 countries - NGO, public (FCO) and private funds

Focus on cultural engagement, education, events

My work: BC offices in London, New York, Cairo, Tunis.

Belief in cultural relations:

What is belief?

How does it work over time and place?

‘belief’ in language and culture

Asad - what is religious belief varies by time and place – according to what is ‘authorised’

Austin, Butler - utterance brings something into being (performative)

Bourdieu – performative is relative to power, situated

Belief framework

Model developed through my research. See Day, Abby:“Believing in Belonging: Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World” Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2011.

Content Sources PracticesSalienceFunctionTime Place

AHRC/BC Fellowship

October 2011: ‘Belief in Dialogue’

Why not test in rapidly changing environments?

Like ‘transitions in the Arab world’

Cross Cultural Language

‘Arab Spring’ – less acceptable/ homogenous

Arab speaking countries are differentExperience in recent ‘revolutions’ are differentTunisia – rural; Egypt - urban

‘Revolution’?

Regime loses legitimacy Not over, incomplete, may not succeed: “too early to tell” - liminality? Unfair criticism: ‘No programme!’ (Occupy)Countered with ‘romantic horizontalism’ This is different: don’t know what will happen.

Ethnographic method

Ground up (history from below), based on belief narratives:

Focus groups, interviews, participant observation, social media – narratives.Current and previous literature/media Symposia/workshops

January/February 2012

Egypt visit January 2012

64 ‘young people’; focus groups, informal discussions, Cairo, Qena

Follow through via Facebook/emails

March 2012

International 3-day residential workshop : March 2012 University of Kent ‘What does it mean to believe?’

Students: Egyptians, Tunisians; UK. UK & US academicsSessions structured on Belief Framework:

Content, Practice, Source, Salience, Function, Time, Place.

Follow up

March 23rd - 25th Cairo: 15 from Kent symposium + Egypt, BC facilitated Cultural Exchange event

March 26 1 ‘stakeholder’ event - 24 young Arabs Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco [Syria] - BC Staff, Faculty University of York, American University in Cairo

International conferences: New York, UK, Sweden, Publications

Belief- as a value - religious & non religious

As a key contributor to understanding insocieties:

Pluralistic Changing Potentially divisive Culturally diverse

Translating values and beliefs: Relationship with the ‘others’

Contested position of ‘religion’

Generational relationships

Legitimacy and authority

Work in Progress

Partnership impact

Networks:

Participants invited by me (Kent, Sussex, BSA) British Council

Combined network of active participants - universities NGOs

Academic impact

Theory: social movement, identity, gender , power: anthropology & sociology of religion.

Practice Impact: Potential of ‘belief’

‘Belief’ has more explanatory and analytical purchase than ‘religion’

Through broadest translati0n, can be used to diffuse some of the barriers in plural, diverse societies

Partner impact

In progress:

Incorporate ‘belief’ over religion in communications

Templates for local and international events

Skills sharing in publishing and funding