Memorializing the Work of Bishop Cornelius Korir in Advancing Grassroots Peacebuilding in Kenya: Perspectives on Amani Mashinani

This special commemoration feature of Journal of Social Encounters focuses on the work of the late Bishop Cornelius Korir in advancing grassroots peacebuilding in North Rift region of Kenya. Bishop Korir is credited for developing a grassroots peacebuilding model popularly known as Amani Mashinani (Peace at the Grassroots) which brings together warring communities to collectively participate in activities geared at promoting peace. In this context, grassroots peacebuilding is understood in the same vein as locally led peacebuilding which is “an approach in which the people involved in, and most affected by, violent conflict work together to create and enact their own solution to prevent, reduce, and/or transform the conflict, with the support they desire from outsiders” (Locally Driven Peacebuiding, 2015). We memorialize this work in ways it embraces strategies for survival and co-existence among diverse ethnic groups, and has emancipatory potential to show “why and how locally led peacebuilding can add value and, importantly, make the world more peaceful” (Connaughton & Berns, 2020, p. 3)

A Cross-Cultural Approach to Environmental and Peace Work: Wangari Maathai’s Use of Mottainai in Kenya

Protecting the environment and nurturing peace are global concerns requiring scholarly attention across and within cultures. This essay proposes that cross-cultural exchange serves as an invaluable approach to the goal of communicating about creating a healthy environment and everyday peace. We examine how Wangari Maathai interpreted the meaning and purpose of Mottainai as a global call to save the environment. Mottainai is an ancient Japanese concept that means “Don’t waste! What a waste!” Of interest to us is establishing Maathai’s motivation to employ the concept of Mottainai as informed by her lived experiences in Kenya. The relevance of Mottainai to Maathai’s environmental work offers lessons for global concerns about peace. There is an opportunity to grow peace work by extending its focus to commonalities between various forms of local knowledge, beliefs, values and skills

A Social Media Strategy for an Academic Department

This essay describes the process one communication studies department used to develop a social media strategy. That process involved identifying the audiences to be reached, establishing goals and objectives, conducting an audit to identify possible message posts, and selecting posts to reach our goals and objectives. The resulting strategy involves posting messages two to three times per week targeted toward specific audiences and reflecting twelve objectives. A calendar was created to guide the posts. Future research will assess the effectiveness of the strategy

Aspects of information flow and strategies of communication among women's groups in rural Kenya The case of Central Division, Machakos District

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Internationalizing the communication curriculum: face-to-face communication.

In the bachelor course Face-to-Face Communication, students receive an introduction to pragmatics, specifically “talk in interaction.” Students learn (1) about pragmatic theories concerning how we get things done in talk; (2) how one’s cultural background and speaking in a second language influence interactional understanding; and (3) how to do research on intercultural interaction in formal and informal settings. This chapter includes the syllabus of the course, including a list of topics discussed, reading materials, course assignments (such as preparatory assignments for class and reflective diary assignments), and a step-by-step explanation of the various phases of the research project in which students learn to do research on intercultural interaction. Through carefully choosing literature, guiding students through a research project for which they gather real conversations in both a local and international setting, encouraging students to reflect on their own and other people’s (intercultural) interaction in diary assignments, and designing interactive seminar activities focusing on intercultural communication, the face-to-face communication curriculum can be “internationalized.” Through this curriculum design, students learn about, experience, and do research on face-to-face communication beyond their own culture, language and context

Internationalizing the communication curriculum: face-to-face communication.

In the bachelor course Face-to-Face Communication, students receive an introduction to pragmatics, specifically “talk in interaction.” Students learn (1) about pragmatic theories concerning how we get things done in talk; (2) how one’s cultural background and speaking in a second language influence interactional understanding; and (3) how to do research on intercultural interaction in formal and informal settings. This chapter includes the syllabus of the course, including a list of topics discussed, reading materials, course assignments (such as preparatory assignments for class and reflective diary assignments), and a step-by-step explanation of the various phases of the research project in which students learn to do research on intercultural interaction. Through carefully choosing literature, guiding students through a research project for which they gather real conversations in both a local and international setting, encouraging students to reflect on their own and other people’s (intercultural) interaction in diary assignments, and designing interactive seminar activities focusing on intercultural communication, the face-to-face communication curriculum can be “internationalized.” Through this curriculum design, students learn about, experience, and do research on face-to-face communication beyond their own culture, language and context