Students and lecturers from Germany, India, Malaysia and South Africa met to discuss inequalities within and among countries (IWAAC-10).
In 2021, the Frankfurt UAS together with the National University of Malaysia (UKM), the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) entered into a DAAD funded subject-related partnership on "Inequalities within and among countries". Since then, monthly meetings took place to create subject-related online courses, and a yearly IWAAC-conference offers emerging researchers the opportunity to engage and exchange.
This year’s IWAAC-summer school took place in Malaysia. It included a writing workshop under the guidance of Prof. Nicolette Roman from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the participation in the 13th International Malaysian Studies Conference (>> https://pssm.org.my/msc13/).
From August 6 to August 12, 2023 participants from the four partner universities were encouraged to do and reflect their own writing. The workshop started off with challenges and stages in the writing process (day 1); it continued with inputs on methodology (day 2), results and discussion (day 3), recommendations and conclusions (day 4). Each day students had to do their own writings, share it with other students and give feed-back. Thus, students steadily pursued their goals of writing chapters of their respective thesis or articles for publication.
In addition, all students were asked to present an academic poster at the 13th International Malaysian Studies Conference as part of an institutional panel on inequalities within and among countries. The panel was embedded with other sessions that looked into the Sustainable Development Goals and their impact on local, national and international level. The posters are published on the project-website: >> www.frankfurt-university.de/IWAAC-10.
Being asked about the relevance of SDGs for their own learning, many students referred to social inequalities as a core theme and cross cutting issue of social work. They highlighted the interdependence of poverty, social and gender equality, health and education, but they also emphasized that the goal underscores the imperative for a just society with respect for everybody’s dignity and a focus on vulnerable individuals and marginalized groups. All participants enjoyed the transnational work environment and found it stimulating with regards to their own academic work.
Outlook: The next steps for the project will be a conference on >Inequalities within and among countries< in February 2024 at the TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India, and a subsequent book publication of the papers presented at the conference. For further information please visit www.frankfurt-university.de/?id=10785
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