When you meet people from different backgrounds, sample foods with distinct flavor profiles and walk streets that look nothing like your hometown, your perspective begins to shift. By leaving behind the familiar, you...
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The Role of Symbols in International Exchange
Although international exchanges have been a mainstay in public diplomacy since their inception—and academic discussions regarding exchanges have been commonplace—these discussions have traditionally been based on what Andreas Pacher terms the "opinion leader-model."
Thus, Pacher proposes a different model for examining exchanges: Interaction Ritual Theory.
"[I]nternational exchanges are rituals which strategically immerse targeted individuals into personal experiences with a shared focus on the host country, transforming the latter into a symbol charged with emotional energy," writes Pacher. "The symbol is then recurrently invoked to re-circulate through the networks of the participants."
The article, "The Ritual Creation of Political Symbols: International Exchanges in Public Diplomacy" is available here.
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