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Monday, May 8, 2017

Pax Populi, now a subject of Intercultural Communication research

In September 2016, Priya More, a student at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication (#FJC) at #Vadodara's MS University (#MSU) told me she would like to study Pax Populi for her Masters' dissertation on Intercultural Communication. #PaxPopuli is a people-to-people #peacebuilding initiative founded by Prof Robert McNulty of Bentley University, Massachusetts, #USA. As part of the initiative is an online school, Pax Populi Academy, where tutors from all over the globe teach students in #Afghanistan. Since 2015, I have been volunteering my services as tutor and social media manager. After almost nine months of study, which involved interviews with students of Pax Populi in Afghanistan and tutors in India, surveys and lengthy discussions with Robert when he visited #India last year, Priya has completed and submitted her dissertation, "Intercultural #Communication: A Study on Pax Populi," at the university. This image of the cover brought a smile to my face. In her research she concludes that there has been a change in the outlook of Afghan students after they were initiated into Pax Populi Academy, in the way, they shared their ideas with people of other cultures, overcame their shyness while interacting with people from another country and learned about the cultures of at least two different countries (US and India, in this case). She even recommends that such education-for-peace projects "should be replicated in other colleges and universities to foster one-to-one understanding of different #cultures."



1 comment:

Robert McNulty said...

t would be remiss of me not to also express my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Eisha Sarkar, Priya More's professor, adviser, and mentor and a central pillar in the Pax Populi effort. Eisha has many talents and responsibilities and yet she chooses to share them through Pax Populi. What an honor. This initiative has been enriched, strengthened, and made more beautiful, loving, and wise, thanks to Eisha's selfless giving. To say thank you is so inadequate, but it must be said. Thank you Eisha. Every day, I think about you and others who keep our program going. It is tree that we are collectively caring for and its fruit is leading to new trees and new fruits in Afghanistan and around the world. Pax!