A Good End to a Good Conference

After two filled and fulfilling days of intercultural sharing, dialogue, and learning, the 11th Annual IMI Conference came to a close this evening. This was my first time at an intercultural relations conference (I have been to a variety of ethnomusicology conferences, which tend to be somewhat different) and I must say that it was a great experience.

For me, the highlight of day 2 was by far the keynote speech by Mona Eltahawy. What an inspiring, energetic, and courageous individual! Not only was her discussion of Arab women's empowerment through social media and Internet-based forums enlightening, but she was an absolutely fabulous and engaging presenter. I think that everyone at my table was really blown away by her enthusiasm and poise. I, for one, left lunch feeling inspired and wanting to go out and enact the change that Ms. Eltahawy called for when she quoted one of her Egyptian inspirations: "Since when has the majority changed anything? Forget the mainstream and be ok with being the minority."

Ms. Eltahawy focused her talk on the ways in which the Internet provides a third space - a liminal space - in which individuals who might not be able to meet in real life are able to form communities, bridge intercultural barriers, and express opinions that are not allowed by external censorship. I have been thinking a lot about marginalized communities in my work, lately, and I think that her arguments raise an interesting point about the Internet as providing a level playing field. Are the Internet and its various branches - blogs, forums, chat rooms, social media outlets - the great democratizing force of our age? Or is it a space that adds to the saturation of information and technology that surrounds us? Certainly in the cases mentioned in the keynote speech (for example, www.meem.com, the SaudiGirl blog, and the Musawah Movement) I would have to believe the former. What I do think, however, is that these kind of discussions are absolutely pertinent to our greater analysis of cross-cultural interactions. While most of us would agree that there is a great deal of difference between an Internet-based cross-cultural interaction and a face-to-face one, the world wide web nonetheless provides an arena that is ripe for study, critical evaluation, and future intercultural development.