Your Name and Title: Ioana Literat, PhD student, NML Researcher
School or Organization Name: New Media Literacies, University of Southern California
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: US
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): K-12 teachers, educational researchers
Short Session Description (one line): This session explores the educational potential of virtual environments in stimulating students' intercultural understanding and ethnic tolerance.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Joshua Fouts and Rita King have recently released an insightful report on Islam and digital diplomacy, focusing on the immense potential of virtual worlds to bring about a better understanding of foreign cultures and and break down intercultural barriers. “Virtual interactions, while they involve real people, do not involve physical contact and therefore provide a medium for exploring productive ways to channel conflict (and the anxiety created by change) without the threat of violence and intimidation,” Fouts and King write. “Additionally, the Internet gives individuals a chance to be highly creative while strengthening the relationship between local and global communities.”
One of the most interesting examples they explore is the virtual community of Al-Andalus, named after a real nation that existed in medieval Spain, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together harmoniously based on the principle of “convivencia”, or cohabitation. The SL community of Al-Andalus was founded by Georgiana Nelson, a Houston-based attorney who goes by the avatar name of Rose Springvale. Al-Andalus – which is composed, in roughly equal parts, by Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and atheist SLers – now has 350 contributing members and is visited by thousands of users every day. Its visitors can attend religious services in the community’s mosque, synagogue or church, and even take an aerial magic carpet tour, enhances with audio information about the history and principles behind Al-Andalus.
Virtual communities like Al-Andalus are instrumental in enriching the experience of non-Muslims and Muslims alike. For instance, via the virtual reproduction of traditional mosques, women who are denied access to this in real life cannot take part in a virtual service and see, for the first time, the interior room of the mosque, where only men would be allowed to enter.
Similar initiatives that Fouts and King’s report describes are the digital recreation of Mesopotamia, as a research and learning hub, and a virtual pilgrimage – or “haj” – to Mecca in Second Life. By examining this type of virtual public diplomacy as a blueprint for tolerance and international understanding, “we can draw on the art, creativity, and interaction of individuals in the virtual world and take what they’ve learned into the physical world.” While the digital divide still renders digital participation as contingent on a certain type of cultural and economic capital, and while the role of governments and public institutions in virtual diplomacy remains to be determined, the potential of such initiatives to impact the future of intercultural relations should not be underestimated.
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