Acquiring intercultural competencies at UiB: New course at the Department of Foreign Languages

In Spring 2023, a new and unique seminar on Intercultural Competence (KIN205/305) was launched in the recently established Master’s program in Chinese at the Department of Foreign Languages at UiB. The seminar aims to help students gain advanced knowledge about pressing issues relative to the societies in China, Taiwan, and Hongkong, motivate them to reflect on these issues against their own culture and society, and apply their freshly acquired knowledge in a practical setting. 

This semester’s seminar tackled "Dealing with climate change in China and Norway", approaching it from three different angles: politics, society, and literature. During the first weeks, students had to read a pre-arranged selection of academic literature to gain a common understanding of how climate change affects and is approached by different actors in China. Then, they advanced their knowledge through an independent, in-depth research on a self-chosen topic within the thematic framework of the seminar, discussing it from a comparative perspective. Finally, they summarized their findings in a 3000 words essay and presented them in a digital research poster.

Håvard Kristiansen tackled emission trading systems (ETS) as policy tools to reduce greenhouse gases in both China and Norway. His paper not only explains the different setups and motivations behind the designs. He also reveals the central role the European Union played in both countries’ ETS. 

Regine Xia Sylta Paulsen studied how eco-anxieties provoked by climate change—“klimaangst” in Norwegian and “qihou youlü“ (气候焦虑 ) in Chinese—affect young people’s choices to become parents. Her essay demonstrates that cultural differences between societies disappear when it comes to central human desires. (Future) parents, irrespective of their cultural background, wish their children to grow up in the best possible environment.

In a collaborative effort with Bergen Global, we organized an outreach event on 20 April, inviting popular Chinese science fiction author Chen Qiufan, his English translator Emily Jin, and postdoctoral researcher Jessica Imbach from the University of Zurich to an online roundtable “Chinese Climate Fiction”. We discussed the unique characteristics of science fiction as a literary genre to tackle climate change and its potential to diffuse knowledge and create awareness in societies. Regine and Håvard prepared and led the moderation of the event, thereby applying their newly gained knowledge in the role of cultural mediators.

The seminar “Intercultural Competences” (KIN205/305) is offered every spring semester at the Department of Foreign Languages. Each year the seminar will focus on a different topic.

Chinese Climate Fiction: Meet Author Chen Qiufan

Stay tuned to learn which exciting topic will be the focus of next year’s seminar!