2022 Global Humanities Symposium: Engaging in Cultural Diplomacy

 

The Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy and the National Endowment for the Humanities hosted the 2022 Global Humanities Symposium: Observing Cultural Diplomacy on July 21 in Washington, DC. The Global Humanities Symposium is part of the Global Humanities Initiative, a slate of programming carried out by Meridian International Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities, that seeks to amplify contemporary scholarship and scholars that focus on cultural diplomacy.

For the 2022 Global Humanities Symposium, the theme was “Engage,” a crucial step in building bridges across cultures. The Global Humanities Symposium examined the following themes: material culture, visual arts diplomacy, and music diplomacy.

 
 

Symposium Schedule 

Keynote Address

Keynote speaker: Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, PhD

Material Culture Panel  

This panel examined how objects created, kept, and left behind by people have been used as representations of cultural heritage and shape bilateral relations through museum interpretation and historical sites. 

Moderator: T.K. Harvey, Vice President of Cultural Programs, Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy

Panelists:  

  • Dr. J. Eva Meharry, presenting “Engaging in Cultural Diplomacy in Afghanistan: During Times of Peace and Conflict”  

  • Kate LaPrad, presenting "Two Arrows, the One Headed and the Other Unheaded: Cultural Diplomacy in the Earliest Intercultural Encounters at Patuxet (Plymouth)” 

Visual Arts Panel   

 This panel produced a conversation focusing on cultural appreciation and shared artistic achievements across nations through the medium of visual arts. 

Moderator: Laura Ballman, Founder, Capital Art Strategies

Panelists: 

  • Isabel Lee-Rosson, presenting “Soft Power: The Complexities of United States and Lebanon Cold War Cultural Diplomacy Initiatives c. 1970s” 

  • Briar Rose Pelletier, presenting “Visual Art as Envoy: US-Japan Sister Exchange Programs’ Shift to Visual Culture Exchanges during the COVID-19 Pandemic” 

Music Diplomacy Panel  

This panel featured contemporary scholars studying how music has been used to promote mutual understanding, collaboration, and change cultural perceptions.   

Moderator: Jennifer Lin, award-winning journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker

Panelists: 

  • William Bradford Smith, presenting “Presentation, Preservation, and Performance: Methods of Music Diplomacy from Thailand to Turkmenistan” 

  • Carla Dirlikov Canales, presenting “Lessons Learned in Music Diplomacy: Metrics for Long-Term Success in a Post-COVID Era” 

The Global Humanities Initiative is implemented by Meridian International Center with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.