Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager | Colorado State University (original) (raw)

Books by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager

For most migrants, developing communication strategies in host countries is vital for finding soc... more For most migrants, developing communication strategies in host countries is vital for finding social connections, navigating the pressures of assimilation, and maintaining links to their original cultures. Migrant World Making explores this process of constructing a homeplace by creating a network of communication tools and strategies to connect with multiple communities. Since what it means to be a migrant differs from person to person, the contributors to this edited collection showcase numerous practices migrants adopt to communicate and connect with others as they forge their own identities in globalized yet highly nationalistic societies. With varying aspirations and motives for seeking new homes, migrants build communities by telling stories, engaging in social media activism, protesting, writing scholarly criticism, and using many other modes of communication. To match this variety, the transnational scholars represented here use a wide array of rhetorical, cultural, and communication methodologies and epistemologies to describe what the experience of migration means to those who have lived it.

Whenever political and social decisions use categories of identity such as race, religion, social... more Whenever political and social decisions use categories of identity such as race, religion, social class, or nationality to distinguish groups of people, they risk holding certain groups as inferior and culturally “Other.” When people employ ideologies of imperialism, colonialism, patriarchy, and classism, they position certain groups as superior or ideal/ized people. Such ideological positioning causes nations to take actions that isolate or endanger minoritized populations. This cultural Othering can lead to atrocities such as Native Americans being expelled from their native lands through the Trail of Tears, millions of Ukrainians starving to death during the Holodomor, or millions of Jews exterminated during the Holocaust.

Communicating the Other across Cultures uses examples from the United States, Western Europe, and Russia to demonstrate historical patterns of Othering people, as well as how marginalized people fight back against dominant powers that seek to silence or erase them. Deeply ingrained in our society, cultural Othering affects information in history books, children’s education, and the values upheld in our society. By taking a closer look at historical and modern instances of Othering, Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager shows examples of how different societies created ideas of social and cultural superiority or inferiority, and how deeply they are ingrained in our current society. In everyday life—the cash in your pocket, the movies shown at your local theater, museum exhibits, or politician's speeches—certain cultural ideologies are consistently upheld, while others are silenced. By exposing the communicative patterns of those in power, Khrebtan-Hörhager then suggests alternative ways of thinking, communicating, and eventually being, that offer transformative solutions for global problems.

Academic Journal Articles by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2023

We argue that the Russian feminist and resistance groups, Pussy Riot, Feminist Antiwar Resistance... more We argue that the Russian feminist and resistance groups, Pussy Riot, Feminist Antiwar Resistance, and Les Pleureuses, operate and should be acknowledged as agents of social change, and leaders of cultural opposition during the current Russia-Ukraine war. We establish Second World Feminism and Russian feminism as its cultural product in this essay. We argue how, in the years preceding the war, Pussy Riot repeatedly protested the totalitarian grip of the Russian state, its corruption, and the concretion of the Russian Orthodox Church and the state in creating conditions of female obedience and oppression. Further, we analyze the emergence and the ongoing activism of the antiwar resistance movement, FAR and its branch Les Pleureuses, in their fight against war, patriarchy, authoritarianism, and militarism. We illustrate how and why Russian feminists/resistance groups became agents of dissent, and can become torchbearers of peace. We examine the collectives' potential contribution to and compatibility with transnational feminist alliances and make a case for including both Russian and Second World Feminisms as meaningful and impactful perspectives within the framework of transnational feminism.

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research , 2023

In this essay, we examine the role of visual and material rhetoric in rethinking and negotiating ... more In this essay, we examine the role of visual and material rhetoric in rethinking and negotiating identity, culture, and belonging. Specifically, we analyse the La Malinche temporary exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, and how it functions as an invitational site to critique and challenge pre-existing colonial boundaries; to rethink and renegotiate complex, hybrid feminine identities, and to engage in intercultural dialogue. We explore the relationship of the exhibit design and selected pieces to the concepts of mestizaje, Mexicanidad, and feminidad. Finally, we discuss the salience of la Malinche's cultural transformation from a traitor to an icon, and her importance to modern Chicano/a scholarship, through the connections created in artistic representations of her legacy.

Communication, Culture, & Critique, 2023

The release of Coco in 2017 came as a cultural reaffirmation for many Mexicans who have previousl... more The release of Coco in 2017 came as a cultural reaffirmation for many Mexicans who have previously seen themselves represented in animation as heavily-accented maids or comedic sidekicks included to forward the narrative of the White hero. Coco brought to screen the first animated Disney feature film with a Mexican protagonist. If previous animated Latinx representation has consistently relied on the same repeated archetypes (bandidos, bad hombres, machos, the constantly pregnant Latina, etc.), Coco took a different approach: celebrating mestizaje and contradictions of Mexican identities, and embracing a culturally nuanced portrayal of Mexicanidad. We explore how exactly those contradictions and paradoxes happen, and what they mean for the affected community. We argue that Coco subverts negative, narrow stereotypes by highlighting the complexities of Mexicanidad, while simultaneously paving the way for improved Latinx representation in children’s animation.

Europe Now , 2022

This is part of a series on the Ukraine Crisis. Austro-Russian historic, political, economic, and... more This is part of a series on the Ukraine Crisis. Austro-Russian historic, political, economic, and cultural bonds Complex cultural relationships between Russia and Austria span hundreds of years, years deeply rooted in rich imperial, political, and cultural interdependence. Unlike many other European countries, these two former imperial powers managed to not wage wars against each other until World War I, when Russia and Austria involuntarily crossed swords for the first time. Even though they fought on the opposite sides, they both experienced a similar end-they lost the war and underwent major transformations of their respective states, governments, and political systems.[1] With numerous tragedies befalling the two royal families, including suicides, assassinations, and executions, both monarchies ceased to exist. In the end, Russia's monarchy was brutally replaced by the Soviet Communist regime, and Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved.[2] 2/15 Since then, according to the Russian ambassador to Austria Dmitriy Lyubinskiy, Russia and Austria have managed to maintain a very special bond and build "constructive relationships" that are mutually beneficial, pragmatic, and substantially dependent on the conscious personal contact and collaboration between the respective heads of the states. [3]Collaborative and mostly amicable relationships involve stable trade, numerous business and political visits, as well as vibrant cultural and scientific cooperation. Many of those bonds, however, have been highly controversial, questioning the ethics of the Austrian political elite and their dubious choice of profit versus patriotism. For example, in 2018, former Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl, who invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to her wedding and curtsied to him during the pompous ceremony in Austrian Gamlitz, was given expensive jewelry-and then a seat on the board of directors at the Russian state-controlled oil industry giant Rosneft.[4] A more recent corruption scandal, associated with Russian oligarchy and a honey-trap video that involved the Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, or FPÖ), pressured Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to step down in 2021.[5] Nonetheless, regardless of the scandals and controversies, various bonds remain strong. So is Austrian-Russian interdependency-and in some instances, Austrian dependency on Russia. According to Elisabeth Christen, Senior Economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, WIFO), about 80 percent of Austria's natural gas is imported from Russia.[6]What it means is that the immediate embargo on Russian gas would certainly hurt Austria more than it would hurt Russia, so the Austrian government declared it will continue to import Russian gas and oil.

Women's Studies in Communication, 2019

Quarterly Journal of Speech , 2020

This essay aims to contribute to the development of invitational rhetorical theory, using the tra... more This essay aims to contribute to the development of invitational rhetorical theory, using the tragic and sobering story of “comfort women” as an illustrative case study. By focusing on the relatively recent mediated and special turns in the rhetorical studies, we propose a critical cultural analysis and eventual addendum of mediated texts as well as the rhetoric of materiality as essential means to understand and apply invitational rhetoric. Our project demonstrates how—in a socio-political context of cultural erasure and forgetting—material and visual messages serve as the most invitational modalities. The material and visual rhetoric intervene in the context of strategic amnesia, endurance, and as they center the voices and experiences that historically have been made completely subaltern. Utilizing a selection of artifacts of the rhetoric of materiality and pieces of media rhetoric, we demonstrate how those forms of invitational rhetoric create and encourage safe dialogical spaces for traditionally silenced, marginalized communities. Ultimately, we aim to demonstrate how the new understanding and utilization of invitational rhetoric can become a mechanism for social change and enable a shift in the public consciousness.

KEYWORDS: Comfort women, invitational rhetoric, rhetoric of materiality, mediated rhetoric

Communication, Culture & Critique, 2019

In this essay, we analyze how the temporary photographic exhibits of Anna Magnani and Sophia Lore... more In this essay, we analyze how the temporary photographic exhibits of Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren served as artifacts of creating, circulating, and negotiating italianità: the essence of Italian culture and national identity. The photography exhibits in Rome and Sorrento anchor our study, but in order to understand more fully how they invite or reinforce cultural meaning, we evaluated these works in their larger architectural, regional, and urban contexts. We conclude that the exhibits communicate contrasting versions of italianità in order to subvert patriarchic tendencies in society, withstand globalization, challenge pan-European transnationalism, and create a strong sense of shared, yet diverse, identity by Italians, as well as manifest national pride to the visitors of the Belpaese.

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2019

This essay examines contemporary art as a tool of political resistance against existing and emerg... more This essay examines contemporary art as a tool of political resistance against existing and emerging ideologies as well as controversial and discriminatory cultural norms. On the example of the 2017 Venice Biennale, this research project analyses art, and more specifically, selected nation-specific exhibits, as pieces of critical pedagogy, representative of ideological and cultural resistance. Concentrating on the comparative analysis of art exhibits from US-American, Russian, and German national pavilions, this research project explains what their respective art communicates, what the main messages are, and elaborates on the impact, the salience, and the affect the exhibits have on their numerous audiences today, when the sphere of international and intercultural relations is challenged like never before. This essay further demonstrates that the exhibits challenge and critique the past and the present of their respective national cultures and attempt to refocus and humanize the future in the globalized world.

Communication, Culture, & Critique , 2018

This article examines the French Musée du quai Branly (MDQB) as a cultural and rhetorical site th... more This article examines the French Musée du quai Branly (MDQB) as a cultural and rhetorical site that communicates a vision of French-ness, contrasted by a particular memory of Otherness. I argue that the materiality of MDQB that officially promotes " cultural dialogues " exoticizes the Other as inferior to the French and invites a colonial gaze on the majority of the cultures of the world. This then indirectly reaffirms and revitalizes French colonialism, and radicalizes dialogue between the French and Others. Having analyzed the museum's multifaceted materiality in three categories (politics of location, representation, and pedagogy), I explore cultural and political implications of this site of public memory, and locate it in the current politically-and culturally-turbulent climate of France and Europe.

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2017

a Department of communication studies, colorado state university, fort collins, co, usa; b Depart... more a Department of communication studies, colorado state university, fort collins, co, usa; b Department of communication studies, the university of texas at el Paso, el Paso, tX, usa ABSTRACT This essay comparatively examines U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Mexican interculturality in the Despicable Me movie franchise. We argue that cultural transformations of the main protagonists -Russian Gru and Mexican El Macho -are politically significant cases of U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Mexican interculturality, reflected and constructed by popular culture in general, and by animated cartoons in particular.

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication , 2016

This essay examines the topicality of intra-European intercultural tensions, focusing on German-I... more This essay examines the topicality of intra-European intercultural tensions, focusing on German-Italian relations. Grounded in Burke's interpretation of literature as "equipment for living," this project uses Marisa Fenoglio's Never without a woman-a novel about an Italian Gastarbeiter in Germany-as a case study and suggests a critical cultural analysis of German-Italian food-related rhetoric as reflective and constructive of German-Italian interculturality. This essay invites a nuanced understanding of the rhetoric of European foodways as representative of the contemporary European culture and intercultural communication because we are what we eat.

Studies in European Cinema , 2016

This essay analyses Accattone (1961), the first film of Italian director, poet, and novelist Pier... more This essay analyses Accattone (1961), the first film of Italian director, poet, and novelist Pier Paolo Pasolini. Specifically, we ground our reading of Accattone in a nuanced, culture-specific understanding of fluid gender relations in the culture of post-war Roman slums. We argue that, to date, the significance of the female characters in Accattone has been underappreciated. Our essay attempts to fill that gap in the literature by examining the central roles women play in Pasolini's first film. Indeed, the female characters create and delimit the world in which Accattone, the main male character, lives. Central to their importance to the plot is the gender fluidity and performativity of the women, as well as Accattone. We contend that the female characters perform complex identities that fuse motherhood, prostitution, and womanhood. We demonstrate how their identities necessarily contain a strongly historicized and cultured motherly element, which facilitates the poverty-stricken borgate and enables continuity of life in the Eternal City.

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2016

This essay critically examines the current duality of Russian-Ukrainian intercultural relations a... more This essay critically examines the current duality of Russian-Ukrainian intercultural relations and explores the subject of politics of active and selective memory as the claimed root of current controversies and military tensions. Through rhetorical analysis of historical and contemporary national narratives, it demonstrates how culturally defining experience of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War is remembered, rethought, and reused by respective parties to reinvent the Self and the Br/Other, as well as rethink ones positionality on the world arena.

Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 2016

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2015

In this essay, we examine corporeality, its discursive framings and the salience of cultural cont... more In this essay, we examine corporeality, its discursive framings and the salience of cultural contexts in the interpretation of embodied protest rhetoric on an example of originally Ukrainian and by now international feminist group Femen. We analyse the embodied rhetoric of Femen's activism from various angles, with a special focus on the pivotal role of cultural locations in the interpretation of Femen's embodied activism, in particular, and corporeal resistance, in general. With our findings, we hope to extend the existent knowledge on corporeal framing and politicalization of the body as a culture-specific site of resistance and social change.

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2023

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research , 2023

Communication, Culture, & Critique, 2023

Europe Now , 2022

Women's Studies in Communication, 2019

Quarterly Journal of Speech , 2020

KEYWORDS: Comfort women, invitational rhetoric, rhetoric of materiality, mediated rhetoric

Communication, Culture & Critique, 2019

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2019

Communication, Culture, & Critique , 2018

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2017

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication , 2016

Studies in European Cinema , 2016

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2016

Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 2016

Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2015

Women's Studies in Communication, 2015

The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, 2015

This essay analyzes Fatih famous German-Turkish cross-cultural drama Head On (2004) in the framew... more This essay analyzes Fatih famous German-Turkish cross-cultural drama Head On (2004) in the framework of the complicated and controversial phenomenon of German multiculturalism and its cultural selectivity. The celebrated cinematographic success and a multiple award winner, Head On focuses on the Turkish underworld of an urban and culturally diverse German city, Hamburg. Using harsh urban Head On as a cultural and political text, this essay focuses on the currently problematic cross-cultural dynamics between the Germans and the Turks. Specifically, this essay addressed the interconnected concepts of Turkish identity (ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and religion) in their opposition to the German identity as decisive for turning a Turk into an undesired cultural alien in the German environment and contributing to the selective nature of the German multiculturalism. This essay demonstrates how a unique German concept of Zweisamkeit (lonely togetherness) defines not only the German-Turkish cinematic dynamics but also reflects the actual non-fictional relations between the respective groups in the arguably multicultural German society.

Unsettling Intercultural Communication: Rethinking Colonialism through Indigeneity, 2024

Globalization, migration, and multiculturalism are inseparable constituents of the current centur... more Globalization, migration, and multiculturalism are inseparable constituents of the current century. So are the myriad of-isms and-phobias. Whether in forms of racism, xenophobia, or Islamophobia, cultural Othering is, sadly, another social Zeitgeist, rooted in the dark pages of history, such as slavery, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and colonialism. The ruthless duality of the West and the Rest, synonymous with the strategically created dichotomy of the dominant colonizer, the Occident, and the historically colonized Orient, has frequently justified and normalized discriminatory practices of the arguably multicultural Western societies towards their cultural Others. Paradoxically, cultural legacies of colonialism are almost as brutal as colonialism itself: while power, privilege, and agency remain the features of the mighty First World, cultural amnesia, invisibility, and misrepresentation, combined with denial of memory, remain the signifiers of the previously colonized, non-Western Others. A complex phenomenon of land expropriation contributed to a special type of colonialism-colonialism of the white, predominantly European settlers. Settler colonialism happened all over the world, on Native lands-in the Americas, in Asia, Africa, and Australia. Rooted in the centuries of French settler colonialism of Northern Africa, French-Algerian interculturality is highly problematic. In 2006, the Algerian Foreign Ministry declared: “Le colonialisme a été une longue, longue nuit. Mais nous sommes indépendants depuis quarante-cinq ans, et la page n’est pas
encore complètement tournée malgré les efforts de nos dirigeants respectifs./ Colonialism has been a long, long night. But we have been independent for forty-five years, and the page has not yet been completely turned despite the efforts of our respective leaders”1 (Stora and Jenni 199). I argue that decades after the War of Algerian Independence that officially ended the French colonial rule, the aftermath of colonialism still plays a crucial role in both the identity politics of the respective nations, and their understanding and interpretation of history, responsibility, and cultural memory.

Negotiating Identity and Transnationalism: Middle Eastern and Northern African Communication and Critical Cultural Studies Series, 2020

At the heart of Communication and Critical Cultural Studies is a discipline that has been slowly ... more At the heart of Communication and Critical Cultural Studies is a discipline that has been slowly expanding its borders around the issues of racism, sexism, ability, privilege, and oppression. As Latinx, African American, Asian Pacific American, Disability and LGBTQ Studies widen and shift the scope of Communication Studies, what often gets underplayed is the role of transnational Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Studies. For this reason, the goal of this book is to begin to bring Middle Eastern and North African Communication and Critical Cultural Studies in conversation with Global and Transnational Studies. We ask, how can scholars make a space for transnational MENA Studies within Communication and Cultural Studies? We seek to build on existing scholarship by including essays that theorize from a Communication and Critical Cultural Studies lens. This book aims to bring together work by established and new or emerging scholars. University of Denver) is Assistant Professor and coordinator of graduate studies in the Department of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University. Her research engages critical rhetoric, political communication, new media, gender and sexuality studies, transnational feminism and social change in a variety of contexts, including social movements, political discourse and pop culture. More particularly, Dr. Alaoui's scholarship considers how the often non-normative, un-institutionalized voices of resistance work to change their communities, and how normative or institutionalized discourses reinforce their ability to maintain power.

Victims, Frauds and Floods: National Rhetorics in the Syrian Immigration Crisis , 2019

The Syrian refugee crisis seriously challenged countries in the Middle East, Europe, the United S... more The Syrian refugee crisis seriously challenged countries in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, and elsewhere in the world. It provoked reactions from humanitarian generosity to anti-immigrant warnings of the destruction of the West. It contributed to the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” from the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. This book is a unique study of rhetorical responses to the crisis through a comparative approach that analyzes the discourses of leading political figures in ten countries, including gateway, destination, and tertiary countries for immigration, such as Turkey, several European countries, and the United States. These national discourses constructed the crisis and its refugees so as to welcome or shun them, in turn shaping the character and identity of the receiving countries, for both domestic and international audiences, as more or less humanitarian, nationalist, Muslim-friendly, Christian, and so forth. This book is essential reading for scholars wishing to understand how European and other countries responded to this crisis, discursively constructing refugees, themselves, and an emerging world order.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Child Migrants , 2018

Communicating Differences: Culture, Media, Peace, and Conflict Negotiation, 2015

Forum for Ukrainian Studies, 2024

Among numerous approaches to waging successful warfare, education and instrumentalization of yout... more Among numerous approaches to waging successful warfare, education and instrumentalization of youth have always played an immense (yet often overseen and understudied) role in crafting and manifesting non-democratic ideologies, like fascism, that eventually become cultural axioms. Although we often vehemently refuse to learn from history, revisiting some of its darkest pages demonstrates how instrumentalizing and weaponizing youth—the research focus of this piece—has always been a successful strategy of fascist governments, be it in Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, or now, Putin’s Russia. This troika of murderous masterminds not only perfected the art of ideological and informational warfare, but it also crafted and created its own child soldiers, ready to kill for their Motherland and their charismatic and inspirational leaders. That is why revisiting the phenomenon of fascist youth organizations cross-culturally and cross-generationally can better inform our understanding of the European theatre of war and encourage our attempts towards preserving democracy and peace.

The Conversation , 2024

Over the summer of 2024, some 250 Russian children traveled to North Korea for a 10-day-long kids... more Over the summer of 2024, some 250 Russian children traveled to North Korea for a 10-day-long kids camp. Framed as cultural diplomacy, the event was the result of a new youth exchange launched in 2022 that sees Russian youth compete for the free trip abroad. To win a place, children have to write an essay on one of three subjects: the role of Russia in a multipolar world; children's interest in the culture of North Korea; or the story they would like to tell North Korean children about Russia. The launch of the program comes as ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have grown closer. In the aftermath of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has needed to strengthen its relationship with anti-Western allies, not least to expand its ammunition supply market. But the North Korea trip is merely one of recent myriad state-sponsored efforts to cultivate nationalism among Russia's youth under President Vladimir Putin. The Russian state is increasingly trying to instill values of patriotism and loyalty among children through educational initiatives and the creation of new youth organizations.

The Conversation, 2024

Femicide is a cultural phenomenon with deep roots that go back millennia. Many premodern societi... more Femicide is a cultural phenomenon with deep roots that go back millennia.

Many premodern societies were patriarchal and violent, but Italy is in many ways unique. The legacies of the Roman Empire, Italian Fascism and Roman Catholicism still loom large. Each, I would argue, has contributed to a modern Italy in which male violence has been normalized....

Femicides do not occur in a vacuum; they are the outcome of a society that legitimizes violence against women. And while I believe changes to the law to better protect Italy’s women are welcome, looking at the country’s culture – both past and present – may also be a necessary step. Until then, Italy’s daughters will not be safe, or fully free.

Wilson Center, 2024

Two years into the war with Ukraine, today’s Russia can best be understood through the lens of as... more Two years into the war with Ukraine, today’s Russia can best be understood through the lens of as logan that once appeared in a Solovki special prison, part of the extended gulag system: “With an iron fist, we will drive humanity to happiness!” (Железной рукой загоним человечество к счастью!)
As the war drags on, those who anticipated a collapse of Putin’s regime and Russia’s economy find themselves disappointed. Despite the draconian sanctions and cultural isolation, Russia is experiencing what looks like a bloody, ruthless Renaissance. Economically, socially, and culturally, Russia is reforging itself.

Forum for Ukrainian Studies, 2024

The USA and the West are "truly an empire of lies," so obsessed with the inevitable and continuou... more The USA and the West are "truly an empire of lies," so obsessed with the inevitable and continuous loss of its slipping neo-colonial possessions that it has started a bloody hybrid war against Russia, declared Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov without a trace of irony in his most recent address to the UN General Assembly. A mere few weeks prior to Lavrov's speech, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (who coined the term "empire of lies" in relation to America) accused the West of having placed "an ethnic Jewish neo-Nazi and followers of Adolf Hitler, covering up Nazism and fascism, at the head of Ukraine." It has been insinuated that Putin's own Jewish friends criticize Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as "a disgrace to the Jewish people," a traitor, a fascist, and "a Jew who covers up the glori cation of Nazism and those who led the Holocaust in Ukraine." According to Putin, an anti-human essence forms the very foundation of the [1]

The Conversation , 2022

In the autumn of 1922, Benito Mussolini, the ambitious and charismatic founder of the Fascist Par... more In the autumn of 1922, Benito Mussolini, the ambitious and charismatic founder of the Fascist Party, became Italy’s youngest prime minister – seizing power in a march on Rome that ushered in a dark period of totalitarian rule.
A century on, Italy looks set to get its first far-right leader since Mussolini’s body was strung up for all to see at the end of World War II. On Sept. 25, 2022, voters are widely expected to elect as prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Fratelli d’Italia, or Brothers of Italy – a party whose lineage traces back to the rump of Mussolini’s fascists.

The Conversation , 2022

Russia's war against Ukraine is pressing into its fifth month-despite several rounds of failed pe... more Russia's war against Ukraine is pressing into its fifth month-despite several rounds of failed peace talks, and Western countries' issuing severe economic sanctions against Russia. The war isn't happening just on Ukrainian soil. President Vladimir Putin's propaganda is propelling the Ukraine war through Russia media, while continuing to intensify tensions with the West. This propaganda-whether featuring broadcast as talking points on TV shows, or appearing as the now ubiquitous symbol "Z"-works and will continue to work because it is a tried and true tactic repackaged from Russia's complicated history. The appeal of Putin's propaganda is its repetition. It draws from similar kinds of disinformation used during Russia's imperial and Soviet eras that recycle age-old narratives of the evil West.

NCA Communication Currents , 2017

Communication Currents , 2018

NCA Communication Currents , 2021

During and prior to World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army forced thousands of women into sexua... more During and prior to World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army forced thousands of women into sexual slavery. Known as “comfort women,” many of them were just teenagers, atrociously abducted and kept in military brothels called the “comfort stations,” where Japanese soldiers physically abused, raped, and dehumanized them on a regular basis. Many of the women lost their lives. Some survived the atrocities yet struggled their entire lives with post-traumatic (physical and mental) issues, combined with complete cultural marginalization and social amnesia about their experiences. In a new article published in 2020 in NCA’s Quarterly Journal of Speech, Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager & Minkyung Kim challenge the lack of communication about the phenomenon, and apply “invitational rhetoric” to a documentary film and three memorials honoring comfort women. They consider what it would mean for the public to accept the “invitation” to understand these women’s experiences. The project was researched and written in hopes of bringing justice to the victims of one of the most controversial human rights violations that still remains unresolved.

NCA Spectra , 2022

During the Cold War, Soviet Russia employed self-glorifying rhetoric to create a master narrative... more During the Cold War, Soviet Russia employed self-glorifying rhetoric to create a master narrative that was used to justify expanding Soviet hegemony and communism. Having previously forced the Soviet geo-political and ideological totality on 14 republics (Ukraine among them), after WWII the USSR started liberating Eastern Europe by occupying countries near its boarders – Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and many others. The result became known as the “Soviet Bloc” or “Eastern Bloc…” Behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviets celebrated their victories as liberators of Europe. And every time an occupied country (for example, Czechoslovakia) tried to resist, the mighty Red Army corrected the reality, while the communication “apparat” in Moscow corrected the narrative, enriching it with such terms as “Пражская Весна – Prague’s Spring,” and “Советский солдат освободитель – Soviet-Soldier-Liberator,” and, of course, “Светлое коммунистиченское будущее – Bright communist future.”

TRT WORLD, 2024

Women in parts of Europe are being killed - many by partners or family members. So what’s being d... more Women in parts of Europe are being killed - many by partners or family members. So what’s being done to stop femicide across the continent? Our guests for this show: Silvia Boccardi Journalist Ilaria Baldini Front line operator and a board member at CADMI Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager Associate Professor of Communication Studies and a Director of Education Abroad Programs in Italy at Colorado State University

The Academic Minute, 2024

Cultural Othering synonymizes difference between the Self and the Other as deviance, as a marker ... more Cultural Othering synonymizes difference between the Self and the Other as deviance, as a marker of social and cultural inferiority. Extreme forms of cultural Othering can lead to atrocities such as genocides.

Cultural Othering happened when Native Americans were expelled from their native lands through the Trail of Tears in the United States, millions of Ukrainians were starved to death during the Holodomor in the Soviet Union, and millions of Jews were exterminated in Germany and Poland during the Holocaust.

Cultural Othering has always existed, in various forms. It is paradoxical: it is timeless and time-sensitive, it is culturally unique and universal.

The Korea Times, 2020

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced," wro... more "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced," wrote James Baldwin. The uncomfortable truth about comfort women must be faced. We owe it to them ― the involuntary subjects to sexual slavery and crimes against humanity. We owe it to us ― a society that needs to learn to live with the past and build a better future for our children, before it is too late.

Europe Now, 2019

World War II, the most brutal and devastating conflict of the twentieth century, is typically ass... more World War II, the most brutal and devastating conflict of the twentieth century, is typically associated with Europe as the bloody arena of countless battles, with Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, with ambitious and power-thirsty warriors driven by insatiable ambitions, by stories of victimhood and, eventually, the grand victory of countless brave men, whose sacrifice and patriotism are glorified in contemporary history books and world cinematography. Grand master narratives of contemporary history rarely correlate war with womanhood, especially if the latter has some dark, shameful, and controversial nature, like the infamous stories of comfort women.

Mediterranean-First?: La pianificazione strategica angloamericana e le origini dell'occupazione a... more Mediterranean-First?: La pianificazione strategica angloamericana e le origini dell'occupazione alleata in Italia (1939Italia ( -1943 by Marco Maria Aterrano europenowjournal.org/2018/10/01/mediterranean-first-la-pianificazione-strategica-anglo-americana-e-le-origini- delloccupazione-alleata-in-italia-1939-1943-by-marco-maria-aterrano/ World War II was the most significant European and global conflict of the twentieth century -historically, politically, ideologically -a conflict, whose cultural legacy still greatly affects international relations on the world arena today and reminds us about le passé qui ne passe pas. War pages of history are comprised of complex and controversial narratives of perpetrators and victims: those who later became celebrated, glorified, forever commemorated; or those who become feared, loathed, pitied, or forever forgotten. At the same time, with all due respect to the arguably immune factuality of history as it should be, as wisely pointed out by Koselleck , "we still lack a history of a formula historia magistra vitae"(24). Winners write history as we know it today from national Grand Master Narratives (Winter, 2016), often resulting in what Nietzsche once defined as "the use and abuse of history," for the sake of fitting certain national agendas, and reconfirm ideological status quo, as demonstrated by countless traditional understandings of the origins, the proceedings, and the outcomes of the World War II.

s Disability, Discourse, and Technology is an original, innovative, culturally rich, and socially... more s Disability, Discourse, and Technology is an original, innovative, culturally rich, and socially inclusive study of disability, rhetoric, and agency in the framework of the technological advancement of the 21st century and its integration in learning experiences. Zidjaly uses an ethnographic lens to look at disability, through the specific case of Yahya, a 46-year-old quadriplegic man from Oman. In the case study, Yahya gradually overcomes adversity and serves as Zidjaly's inspiration for writing the book-a process that began in 2002. Importantly, the book starts with a universally applicable statement about diversity, and more specifically, biases and stereotypes about people with disabilities. The author acknowledges that people with disabilities face discrimination and exclusion across contexts and cultures at both interactional and social levels. Furthermore, the book dispels stereotypical beliefs about people with disabilities, specifically in the Middle East-the geopolitical focus of the case study. It does so by answering important questions about the strong technological skillsets of learners with disabilities, their mastering of language, and the psychological effects of technology-based language learning. The book focuses on the nature and the availability of technological resources for disabled individuals and explores the role of agency and discourse in their learning experiences. In line with the famous work by Alcoff (1991), the author emphasizes a typical problem with agency, that is, that other people often speak on behalf of people with disabilities.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2024

WELCOME/BENVENUTI! Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all’Italia, il paese piu bello del mond... more WELCOME/BENVENUTI!
Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all’Italia, il paese piu bello del mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures in Roma: CSU Academic Blog 2024.” Please meet our squadra di cuore: a group of CSU Rams, our eternal Wanderlusts in the eternal city of Rome.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2023

Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all’Italia, il paese piu bello del mondo, and welcome to t... more Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all’Italia, il paese piu bello del mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy-USA” 2023 blog. Please meet our squadra di cuore: a group of CSU Rams, our eternal Wanderlusts in the eternal city of Rome!

Reawakened Rams in Rome: Accademia, Amicizia, Amore in the Eternal City of Memories , 2022

Benvenuti! Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all'Italia, il paese piu bello del mondo, and ... more Benvenuti!

Buongiorno, tutti – dagli Stati Uniti, all'Italia, il paese piu bello del mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy-USA” 2022 blog. Please meet our wonderful CSU Rams, our eternal Wanderlusts in the eternal city of Rome!
I nostri ragazzi came to Italy in turbulent times, and had to master quite a few unexpected challenges– with elegance and style, always making una bella figura! They even formed a few squadre – ad-hoc squads, to handle the unexpected! La Squadra Chicago 6 had a 3-day delay in the windy city on the way to Rome. La Squadra della Quarantena 5 had a week of self-isolation and Roman solitude. La Squadra Medusa 4 experienced all the beauty of the Mediterranean Sea and the unplanned tattoos of its jelly fish. In the end, all of them are la Squadra di Cuore.
This fascinating summer education-abroad course in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy, focuses on theory, concepts, principles, research methods, and practical skills of communication with a global mindset. It explores concepts of intercultural and cross-cultural communication, construction, and negotiation of Italian identity (italianità), and the strategies of an effective dialogue with the Italian Other. It explores la vita italiana and makes us aware of what it means
to be americani in Italia and provides us with aspirations and skills of becoming world citizens with a global, cosmopolitan and inclusive mindset. While the course Bridging Cultures equips us with theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step: with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2019

Please meet our wonderful Wanderlusts, our Rams in Rome – i nostri ragazzi a Roma! This fascinati... more Please meet our wonderful Wanderlusts, our Rams in Rome – i nostri ragazzi a Roma! This fascinating six-week-long summer education-abroad course in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy, focuses on theory, concepts, principles, research methods, and practical skills of communication with a global mindset. It explores concepts of intercultural and cross-cultural communication, construction, and negotiation of Italian identity (italianità), and the strategies of an effective dialogue with the Italian Other. It explores la vita italiana and makes us aware of what it means to be americani in Italia and provides us with aspirations and skills of becoming world citizens with a global, cosmopolitan and inclusive mindset. While the course Bridging Cultures equips us with theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step: with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2018

This 6-week-long research-intense study abroad seminar examines historical, cultural, and communi... more This 6-week-long research-intense study abroad seminar examines historical, cultural, and communicative specificities of Italian-American intercultural relations, from the dawn of Roman civilization till the present day. Students are engaged in rigorous intercultural research in various locations: Rome, Sienna, Florence, Trequanda, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, and Naples. The aim of the course is to transform its participants into culturally aware, communicatively skilled democratic citizens of global community.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2018

This 3-week-long study abroad seminar familiarizes students with theory and research methods in g... more This 3-week-long study abroad seminar familiarizes students with theory and research methods in global communication, construction and negotiation of transnational Italian identity (italianità), and fundamentals of management with a global mindset. The aim of the course is to transform its participants into culturally aware and skilled world travelers with empirical experience of cultural bridging.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2017

Buongiorno America, buongiorno Italia, buongiorno tutto il mondo, and welcome to the official “Br... more Buongiorno America, buongiorno Italia, buongiorno tutto il mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy-USA” 2017 blog. Please meet our wonderful Rams in Rome, or “Rams ROME’in around.” This fascinating six-week-long summer education-abroad course in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy, focuses on theory, concepts, principles, research methods, and practical skills of communication with a global mindset. It explores concepts of intercultural and cross-cultural communication, construction, and negotiation of Italian identity (italianità), and the strategies of an effective dialogue with the Italian Other. It explores la vita italiana and makes us aware of what it means to be americani. While the course Bridging Cultures equips us with theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step: with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2017

Welcome to the official “Managing across Cultures” 2017 blog. Summer 2017 marks the 5th anniversa... more Welcome to the official “Managing across Cultures” 2017 blog. Summer 2017 marks the 5th anniversary of this fascinating program. This three-week-long University of Colorado Denver summer study-abroad course in Southern Italy focuses on global communication, development of intercultural awareness, in particular for Italy, and the exploration of hands-on cross-cultural management with a global mindset. While the course equips us with the theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step, with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, technological challenges, and complex heritage. Based in the charming town of Sorrento, nestled between the Amalfi coast and vibrant Naples, we explored culture close and far. Together we explored the art-historical wonders and modern vibrancy of Rome and Naples, the beauty of the world heritage sites of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello, the living geological complexities of the active volcano Vesuvio, as well as Pompeii, the island of Capri, and all the charm of Sorrento itself. We explored various aspects of Italian life, ranging from the magnificent cuisine, the world of fashion, advertising, healthcare and beauty industry, police and crime, education, wedding planning, to important topics in Italian society such as the various facets of leadership, communication, hierarchy, patriarchy, masculinity and femininity, and regional characteristics. As a vibrant and diverse group, with students of various ethnic and linguistics backgrounds enriching its culture every single day, we grew together and bonded into a caring familglia sorrentina. And all this was accomplished while being keen intellectual learners, making the most out of the comprehensive theory researched and presented together in class, doing ethnography work and interviewing local professional in various fields, as well as taking Italian language classes offered by our host in Sorrento, Sant’Anna Institute.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2016

Buongiorno ragazzi, buongiorno tutto il mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: It... more Buongiorno ragazzi, buongiorno tutto il mondo, and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy – USA” 2016 blog. This fascinating six-week-long summer education-abroad course in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy, focuses on theory, concepts, principles, research methods, and practical skills. It explores concepts of intercultural and cross-cultural communication, construction, and negotiation of Italian identity (italianità), and the strategies of an effective dialogue with a global mindset. It explores la vita italiana and makes us aware of what it means to be americani. While the course Bridging Cultures equips us with theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step: with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage.

Intercultural Communication: Difficult Dialogues Around the Globe, 2016

Welcome to the official “Intercultural Communication: Difficult Dialogues around the Globe 2016” ... more Welcome to the official “Intercultural Communication: Difficult Dialogues around the Globe 2016” blog. This fascinating 16-week-long graduate seminar examined theoretical and practical issues concerning interculturality and cultural diversity around the globe from a multitude of perspectives. It focused on the concepts of cultural memory, ideology, hegemony, world travel, identity, positionality, representation, agency, othering, reciprocity, intersectionality, and multiculturalism around the world.

In addition to a great variety of perspectives, subjects, and research approaches, we were very fortunate to have a lovely diversity of brilliant minds in the classroom. Those included:
Alissa who is a world-traveler who loves to challenge herself with new perspectives.
Ryan, an interpersonal scholar attempting to help individuals overcome communication inhibitors.
Laila, a Saudi Arabian scholar and teacher, pursuing her doctoral degree.
Molly, whose academic journey to Italy inspired her to flourish into a passionate educator aimed to teach cultural fluency.
Min, a cultural hybrid who proudly embraces her Korean heritage and thrives to empower and educate others through the world of organizational and intercultural communication and hopes to make changes in the world.
Rebecca, a dedicated interculturalist with the interest in the intersections between cultural knowledge and personal and professional spheres.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2016

Welcome to the official “Managing across Cultures” 2016 blog. This three-week-long University of ... more Welcome to the official “Managing across Cultures” 2016 blog. This three-week-long University of Colorado Denver summer study-abroad course in Southern Italy focuses on global communication, development of intercultural awareness, in particular for Italy, and the exploration of hands-on management with a global mindset. While the course equips us with the theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step, with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage. Based in the charming town of Sorrento, nestled between the Amalfi coast and vibrant Naples, we explored close and far.

Bridging Cultures: Civilization, Culture and the City, 2015

Buongiorno and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy – USA” 2015 blog. This fascinati... more Buongiorno and welcome to the official “Bridging Cultures: Italy – USA” 2015 blog. This fascinating six-week-long summer education-abroad course in the Eternal City of Rome, Italy, focuses on theory, concepts, principles, research methods, and practical skills. It explores concepts of intercultural and cross-cultural communication, construction, and negotiation of Italian identity (italianità), and the strategies of an effective dialogue with a global mindset. While the course Bridging Cultures equips us with theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step: with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2015

This almost three-week-long University of Colorado Denver summer study-abroad course in Southern ... more This almost three-week-long University of Colorado Denver summer study-abroad course in Southern Italy focuses on global communication, development of intercultural awareness, in particular for Italy, and the exploration of hands-on management with a global mindset. While the course equips us with the theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step, with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage. One of the key exercises was to challenge participants to go out and interview Sorrento locals, and thereby bringing in valuable empirical intercultural data into the classroom assignments. Based in the charming town of Sorrento, nestled between the Amalfi coast and vibrant Naples, we explored close and far. Together we discovered the art-historical wonders and modern vibrancy of Rome and Naples, the beauty of the world heritage sites of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello, the living geological complexities of the active volcano Vesuvio, as well as Pompeii, the island of Capri, and all the charm of Sorrento itself. We explored various aspects of Italian life, from the magnificent cuisine, the world of fashion and advertising, important topics in Italian society such as the various facets of communication, patriarchy, masculinity and femininity, and regional characteristics. As a group we started as a diverse and loose bunch, and together grew and bonded into a caring and effective unit, in mirror image of a real familia napolitana. And all this was accomplished while being keen intellectual learners, making the most out of the comprehensive theory researched and presented together in class, as well as Italian language classes offered by our host in Sorrento, Sant’Anna Institute.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2014

Welcome to the official “Managing Across Cultures” 2014 blog. This almost three-week-long Univers... more Welcome to the official “Managing Across Cultures” 2014 blog. This almost three-week-long University of Colorado Denver summer study-abroad course in Southern Italy focuses on global communication, development of intercultural awareness, in particular for Italy, and the exploration of hands-on management with a global mindset. While the course equips us with the theoretical tools, we set off on navigating contemporary Italy step by step, with all its natural beauty, cultural richness, and complex heritage. Based in the charming town of Sorrento, nestled between the Amalfi coast and vibrant Naples, we explored close and far. Together we explored the art-historical wonders and modern vibrancy of Rome and Naples, the beauty of the world heritage sites of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello, the living geological complexities of the active volcano Vesuvio, as well as Pompeii, the island of Capri, and all the charm of Sorrento itself. We explored various aspects of Italian life, from the magnificent cuisine, the world of fashion and advertising, important topics in Italian society such as the various facets of communication, patriarchy, masculinity and femininity, and regional characteristics. As a group we started as a diverse and loose bunch, and together grew and bonded into a caring and effective unit, in mirror image of a real familia napolitana. And all this was accomplished while being keen intellectual learners, making the most out of the comprehensive theory researched and presented together in class, as well as Italian language classes offered by our host in Sorrento, Sant’Anna Institute.

Managing across Cultures: Italy-USA, 2013

This dissertation addresses a complex cultural and social phenomenon: German multiculturalism in ... more This dissertation addresses a complex cultural and social phenomenon: German multiculturalism in the framework of the European Union in the century of globalization and global migration. I use selected cinematographic works by Fatih Akin, currently the most celebrated German and European filmmaker, as cultural texts. This project illuminates cultural controversies, political complexities, and the discriminatory nature of German multiculturalism. Specifically, I show how and why the German society eagerly accepts and successfully integrates Italian immigrants, yet, culturally marginalizes and socially excludes the Turks. My work illuminates how complex historical and political processes of the past, guided by the principle of Euro-centricity, affect the multicultural dynamics in the German society. I also analyze Akin’s positionality as filmmaker, political figure, and a poster-child of contemporary German and European cinema. This project invites critical re-consideration of the que...

Die Angst vor Anderen , 2024

„Was haben die Sklaverei in Europa, der Holocaust in Nazi Deutschland, die post-9/11 Islamophobie... more „Was haben die Sklaverei in Europa, der Holocaust in Nazi Deutschland, die post-9/11 Islamophobie in den Vereinigten Staaten, der Frauenmord in Italien, und die Popularität von rechten Parteien gemeinsam? Die Angst vor Anderen, in deren historischen und zeitgenössischen Vielfalt: …Vor den Schwarzen. Den Juden. Den Muslimen. Den Frauen. Den Migranten.“

In diesem Vortrag geht es um das Konzept des „Othering“ – die Unterscheidung zwischen „uns“ und „den Anderen“ – und wie es unser Verständnis von Identität, Geschichte und Kultur(en) prägt. Der Vortrag thematisiert, wie durch Kategorien wie race, class, gender, social class, und religion über Jahrhunderte bestimmte Gruppen ausgegrenzt und marginalisiert wurden, während andere Gruppen unsere Narrative bestimm(t)en. Es geht um die Frage, welche Folgen „Othering“ für Politik, Bildung, Kultur und sogar unser alltägliches Leben hat.