Creating Better Transatlantic Understandings: Defining Our Terms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding the weight of words and how they are used as signifiers of social and political ideas became important during the Transatlantic Seminar – a four-day seminar organized by Fulbright Germany and the Leibniz Association, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C – and a glossary of sorts resulted. In exploring terms like DEAI (diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion), collaboration, and discourses, the bigger socio-culture constructs that are associated with them became clear. Discussing inclusivity, race, accessibility, and many other challenging concepts was more difficult for the lack of understanding about one another’s cultures. Careful consideration and reflection was needed to clearly explain the terms across linguistic and cultural boundaries, and doing this work required a reflexive practice, time, and trusted colleagues. In creating definitions the historical and cultural constructs of our respective nations as well as our education, personal experiences, and professional experiences were all brought to bear, each of us recognizing that we speak for ourselves and our perceptions of the field.