Aladdin Project International Summer University for International Leadership-2015 will take place in Cappadocia, Sinasos Gül Konakları (Ürgüp-Mustafapaşa) from July 19 to August 1, 2015 by İstanbul Bahçeşehir University (BAU). The program will be on the theme “The Power of Images: Truth, Manipulation and Intolerance” with a series of lectures by eminent scholars in the field. Through team projects and group discussions groups, the program will enable students to openly debate different world views around a specific theme and to find common paths that lead to mutual understanding and tolerance.

Participant universities of Aladdin Project-International Summer University for International Leadership 2015:

Ain Shams University (Egypt), Al Mesbar Studies and Research Center (United Arab Emirates), Al-Quds University (Palestine), American University of Iraq (Iraq), Bahçeşehir University (Turkey), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Columbia University (USA), Florida International University (USA), Freie Universitat Berlin (Germany), Graduate Institute  of International and Development Studies (Switzerland), Harvard University (USA), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Institut D’Etudes Politiques de Paris (France), Kadir Has University (Turkey), Mohamed V University (Morocco), New York University (USA), Salahaddin University-Erbil (Iraq), Sapienza University (Italy), University of London (England), Tel Aviv University (Israel), Université Polytechnique de L’Ouest Africain (Senegal), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) ve University of Tunis-Manuoba (Tunisia).

The Power of Images: Truth, Manipulation and Intolerance

With the advent of mass media and the internet, the modern world has shifted from a print culture to a visual culture: a new age of image-centered communication has begun. In this transition, the use of analogical thinking has also shifted from verbal metaphors to visual ones. This shift is particularly evident in the use of intercultural communication. This year’s program explores the power of images as a basic and indispensable tool of cultural interaction: how images are processed, how they function in relation to our innermost beings, and how they form the psychological fabric of our political, social, and economic environment.

There will be a focus on the role of the various media in creating the images which impact our lives: how visual images create a language with profound psychological meaning, and how print, television, film and the newly-arrived social media manipulate images to create desired emotional effects. We will look at the most controversial areas of image persuasiveness today — advertising, politics, and entertainment. Cutting across many disciplines (psychology, politics, history, sociology, law, religious studies, journalism…), the course will be done in the form of a lecture series combined with active participation by students in the form of project presentations and discussion groups.

Program content

The course is designed for students who already have a background or a strong interest in the following disciplines (social science, political science, international relations, sociology, international law, anthropology, peace and conflict studies). Lectures and workshops will be conducted in English by professors and academics who will come from each partner university.

The course includes

Morning lectures on the following topics:

-   Image and representation of the Other throughout history

-   Role of images and media in creating acceptance, or fostering differences, hatred

-   Authoritarianism, radicalism, extremism

-   Images and the shaping of a culture or religion

-   Images, archives and history

-   Forbidden/authorized images (why? Can we show everything? Should we show everything?)

-   Media and images in today’s globalized world (omnipresence of images as tools to depict reality)

-   Terrorism and use of media (ISIL, etc…)

-   New media and social media

-   Self-perception and self-promotion (generation selfie and social media)

 Afternoon workshop and visits

-    In depth and small group research / study of selected issues addressed during morning lectures

-    Visits of Cappadocia

-    A range of extra-curricular activities

Research project