Miercuri, 9 Octombrie 10:00-12:00

Sala de conferințe, Institutul de Studii Africane

• 10.00 Domnica Gorovei, Faculty of Political Science and Institute of African Studies (ISA), University of Bucharest: “Some Remarks on the State of Democracy in Africa”.
• 10.25 Daniela Deteşanu, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest: “Africa Facing International Law – Some comments on Its Old Contributions and on the New Challenges”
• 10.50 Constantin Stoenescu, Faculty of Philosophy and Center for Logic, Philosophy and History of Science (CELFIS), University of Bucharest: “Bioculture and Environmental Ethics from an African Perspective”   
• 11.15 Eyimba Maduka, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar: “Unveiling African Philosophy of Environmental Education through the Integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems”
• 11.40 Dorothy Oluwagbemi-Jacob, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, “Pan-Africanism and Contemporary African Unity: Opportunities and Challenges”
• 12.05 Masă rotundă și observații finale

This conference aims to bring together professors and researchers affiliated with UNESCO departments from Romania and from across Europe, in order to assess the human capital resources involved in the UNESCO network to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the field of culture and education.

The theme of this year’s edition was inspired, on the one hand, by the 25^th anniversary of the UNESCO Chair for Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, within the University of Bucharest, and, on the other hand, by the 160^th anniversary of the University of Bucharest and implicitly, of the Faculty of Philosophy, the co-founder of U.B.

The two anniversaries mark the enduring educational traditions and solid organizational cultures that have over time strengthened the prestige of our academic community. In this context, it is our responsibility to evaluate the reception, at the level of the public sphere and contemporary mentalities, of the role that the Humanities field — and especially the discipline of Philosophy — holds in shaping rational, free and responsible citizens. The on-going debates on the relationship between culture and education are becoming increasingly thorny, focusing on the reform processes and also on the public policy improvements in these fields. In such situations, we notice how rarely the role of Philosophy is invoked — the same Philosophy which UNESCO recognizes as a “school of human freedom” (Philosophy as a School of Freedom – 2007) and to whom it dedicates, ever since 2008, a commemorative day every third Thursday in the month of November.

Thus, we intend to investigate to what extent intercultural perspectives regarding fundamental values such as autonomy, freedom, and independence can be supported through a philosophical education in a global paideic space, by training citizens capable of understanding and respecting pluralism, diversity and equality between people. The subject of how philosophy upholds the education of cultural imagination, nurturing empathy and solidarity between individuals of different origins, together with the topic of various beliefs and histories will be approached through the lens of UNESCO’s stated objectives since 1998 — following a world conference dedicated to the differences between institutionalized philosophical education and philosophizing in the public space — up until today, when philosophy is employed as a form of life education through formal/non-formal/informal means.

This conference is also a cultural follow-up to the Declaration for Philosophy in Paris, launched in commemoration of the 1995 UNESCO conference: we therefore seek to critically analyse what efforts have been made, at the level of European society, for the expansion of philosophical education, for the promotion of philosophical knowledge in different cultural communities, institutions and social circles, and for the imposition of Philosophy on the public agenda, as a discipline that can support the development of the relationship between culture and education.

Since this is a conference organized by the UNESCO Chair of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest, the organizers, together with the partners, believe that, given their professional expertise, they can respond to UNESCO’s call to evaluate the connections between “creativity, innovation, critical thinking, resilience and empathy”[1] in establishing the society of the future in a post-pandemic society, focused on sustainable growth, on the digitalization of cultural capital and the stimulation of intercultural education, while advocating for “philosophy as a school of freedom.”

The significant importance of examining the synergy between culture and education also stems from the current geopolitical and social context, in which migration, climate change and the collapse of representative and participatory democracies signal the need to respond to these clashes through the help of European communities of citizens who are ready to manage such challenges. Moreover, last year the Final Declaration of the UNESCO World Conference for Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, MONDIACULT[2] 2022 was signed with the purpose of affirming culture as a global public good. The conclusions that arose after the previous edition of our conference emphasized the need for increased philosophical reflection on these three fundamental notions — culture, public good and education — an aspect we wish to support by creating a new framework for reflection and for critical thinking.

Therefore, the conference proposed by the UNESCO chair of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest aims to evaluate the ways in which cross-sectoral, educational and cultural forms of cooperation between the UNESCO departments can respond to the MONDIACULT objectives and to the SDG objectives of the Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030.

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[1]   https://www.unesco.org/en/culture-education

[2]   https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/mondiacult-2022-states-adopt-historic-declaration-culture?hub=701

Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes and topics:

a) The role of intercultural communication in understanding the differences between autonomy, freedom and independence;

b) Cultural conditioning of freedom;

c) Combating social deprivation through culture;

d) Contemporary democracies: the meanings attached to freedom and to social responsibility;

e) Intercultural approaches to academic freedom;

f) ‘Everyday Europeanhood’[1]: a matter of autonomy, freedom and independence?

g) Philosophy, “the school of freedom”[2]: UNESCO’s role in protecting and promoting the Humanities field as a resource for shaping and educating contemporary democracies

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[1] See Alexander Frame & Barbara Curyło (18 Oct 2022): “Bringing Erasmus home: the European universities initiative as an example of ‘Everyday Europeanhood’,” Journal of Contemporary European Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14782804.2022.2134986

[2] See the UNESCO report on Philosophy as a School of Freedom, https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/philosophy-school-freedom?hub=779

• PhD. Viorel Vizureanu, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• PhD Oana Șerban, Executive Director of the Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• PhD Lilian Ciachir, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• Phd Candidate, Andreea Vlad, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania

• Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• The UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
• CCIIF – The Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

Context

This event aims to bring together professors and researchers affiliated to UNESCO Chairs across Europe, in order to assess the capacities of the human capital involved by the UNESCO networks to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the field of culture and education.

According to UNESCO, “the relationship between culture and sustainable development has been the subject of discussions over three decades, culminating in four  United Nations  General  Assembly resolutions on the topic that confirm culture’s role as being both an enabler and a driver of sustainable  development,  and  that  call  for  the  mainstreaming  of  culture  in  the  international development agenda.”[1]

UNESCO, being the specialized UN agency for culture, has the crucial responsibility to monitor the relationship between culture and sustainable development, but also to contribute to the realization of proposals for public policies that can support such synergy. Although UNESCO exercises this role through its policy and normative work at the global level, including its efforts to promote the role of culture in the implementation of the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and by supporting programs and projects at national level, it is time that representatives of UNESCO educational sectors get involved in the evaluation of the standards invested in the sustainable development of culture and education.

The scope of this conference is to provide insights into the relevance, effectiveness and coherence of UNESCO’s academic communities engaged to support the policies and priorities of sustainable development. Since it is a conference organized by the UNESCO Chair of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest, the organizers, together with their partners, given their professional expertise, are ready to respond to UNESCO’s call to evaluate the connections between “creativity, innovation, critical thinking, resilience and empathy”[2] invested in building the society of the future, in a post-pandemic society, focused on the digitization of cultural capital and the stimulation of intercultural education. The conference aims to investigate the ways in which cultural heritage and cultural-creative industries can be integrated into a range of cross-cultural educational approaches for training young people in an equitable environment.

The urgency of evaluating the synergy between culture and education also emerges from the current geopolitical and social context, in which migration, climate changes and failures of representative and participatory democracies reflect the need to respond to such challenges by educating communities of European citizens, capable of managing these phenomena. Moreover, last year, the Final Declaration of the UNESCO World Conference for Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, MONDIACULT 2022, was signed, with the aim of affirming culture as a global public good.

Therefore, the conference proposed by the UNESCO chair of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest aims to evaluate the ways in which educational and cultural cooperation between UNESCO chairs can meet the MONDIACULT objectives and the SDG objectives for the Sustainable Development Agenda for 2023.

The objectives of this first edition are:

O1. To test the capacity of the academic environment involved by the UNESCO chairs to support the 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the priority strategies established by the MONDIACULT Declaration for increasing the synergy between culture and education through UNESCO public policies

O2. To assess the coherence and effectiveness of UNESCO`s public policies for culture and development.

O3. To assess the way in which the digitization of cultural heritage and the challenges faced by the creative cultural sectors in a post-pandemic society support the affirmation of culture as a global public good according to the 2022 UNESCO MONDIACULT Declaration.

O4. To develop a network of researchers and teaching staff of UNESCO chairs who can work together for projects supporting the 2023-2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the fields of culture and education.

Contributors are encouraged to submit their papers inspired by one of the following proposed topics:

• Cultural mediation and negotiations;
• Culture as a global public good;
• Educational challenges in teaching cultural heritage;
• Digitalization of cultural heritage;
• The role of culture in supporting SDG strategies;
• Sustainable development at the cross-roads of culture and education;
• Intercultural communication and intercultural sustainability;
• Academic response to the list of objectives and priorities developed by UNESCO through the 2022 statement MONDIACULT;
• Philosophical approaches of cultural sustainability, cultural heritage and culture as a common good.

Deadline and submission

Contributions (including an abstract of 300 words, title and a short professional bio in English) are expected to be submitted no later than the 1^st of July 10t^th of September 2023, at https://forms.gle/6YwJA3bWiGY7Vq257 Evaluation results will be communicated to participants before July 20 September 13, 2023.

The conference will be held at Bucharest, at the UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, on the 2^nd of October 2023.

Organizing Committee

• Prof. PhD. Viorel Vizureau, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• PhD. Lecturer Oana Șerban, Executive Director of the Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• PhD. Candidate Lilian Ciachir, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania

Organizing Institutions

• Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania
• The UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
• CCIIF – The Research Center for the History and Circulation of Philosophical Ideas, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

Scientific Committee

• Prof. PhD. Franz-Lothar Altmann, Associate Professor, UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
• Prof. PhD. Alex Frame, University of Burgundy, Dijon, France
• Prof. PhD. Tobias Goessling, KEDGE Business School, Marseille, France
• Associate Prof. PhD. Cristian Iftode, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
• Prof. PhD. Veronique Parissot, Director of the Institute Denis Diderot for Education, Formation and Culture, University of Burgundy, Dijon, France
• Prof. PhD. Habil. Mugurel Păvălucă, Department of Humanities and Theology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
• Prof. PhD. Pia Stalder, Business School Institute for Marketing and Global Management, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland
• Prof. PhD. Thomas Steger, Faculty of Business, Economics, and Management Information Systems, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
• Prof. PhD. Thomas Straub, Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

[1] UNESCO’s work on culture and sustainable development: evaluation of a policy theme, IOS/EVS/PI/145 REV.5 (REV.8 in Fre), 2015.

[2] https://www.unesco.org/en/culture-education