Changing the narrative: the power of language and media to promote societal change
Live on Zoom May 24, 3 pm
With ISL interpreting
Language is one of the most creative tools at our disposal. We can use language to build peace and reconciliation, to create inclusive environments and celebrate diverse identities, but also to spread hate and division. How can we as citizens promote positive change in our society and counteract hate and division?
This panel, chaired by Joy-Tendai Kangere, will bring together Hazel Chu, Lord Mayor of Dublin, linguist Federico Faloppa, Associate Professor in Italian Studies and Linguistics at the University of Reading, and Zbyszek Zalinski, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at RTE
Hazel Chu
Lord Mayor of Dublin
Councillor Hazel Chu was elected the 352nd Lord Mayor of Dublin at the Annual Meeting of Dublin City Council held on 29th June 2020 in the Round Room at the Mansion House. Councillor Mary Callaghan was elected the Deputy Lord Mayor.
Hazel Chu was born and raised in Dublin. She grew up in the suburb of Firhouse, before moving to Celbridge, and now lives in Ranelagh with her partner Patrick and their 2 year old daughter Alex.
She first became involved in politics in 2014, when she ran her partner’s local election campaign. In 2019, she became the first Green Party councillor to be elected in the local elections for the ward of Pembroke and topped the poll with over 4,000 first preference votes. In the same year she was elected Chair of the Party.
She studied politics and history in UCD and trained to be a barrister at Kings Inns. While studying she worked as a fundraising consultant for non-profits and as a production manager for music festivals. After being called to the Bar in 2007 she worked in Sydney, Hong Kong and Guilin. Upon returning home she was offered a Fellowship by UCD Smurfit and worked in New York for Bord Bia. She has worked in various management roles and in 2013 became Diageo’s Head of Brand, Corporate and Trade Communications.
Councillor Chu was the first person in her family to finish school and go to college. Her parents are from Hong Kong. They met in Ireland in the 1970s.
In her spare time she lends her voice to promoting diversity and equality, and is a regular media contributor. Her first loves are her daughter, running election campaigns, surfing, and cooking. Since she was a teenager she has worked in her mother’s restaurant in every position from dishwasher to waitress, to sous chef.
Hazel Chu is the 9th woman to hold the office of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
Joy-Tendai Kangere
Education, Adult Learning and Diversity,Equity and Inclusion Advocate
Zimbabwean born Joy-Tendai Kangere is an education equity, adult learning and diversity, equity and inclusion advocate. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from UCD Sutherland School of Law, a Denham Fellow and studied at the Honorable King’s Inns. Joy-Tendai is a Board Member of AONTAS and Co-Founded Roots in Africa-Ireland Network. Her deep commitment to social justice and racial equity is what motivates her advocacy work for equality for women, girls and ethnic minoritized communities. She has lived experience of discrimination; she understands the challenges faced by ethnic minorities and young people of African descent living in Ireland. She also has worked on various projects to promote education and literacy for primary school children on the African continent. Joy-Tendai also facilitates community and organisational discussion on diversity, equity and social inclusion.
Federico Faloppa
Associate Professor in Italian Studies and Linguistics in the Department of Cultures and Languages at the University of Reading (UK)
For twenty years Faloppa has been working on the construction of otherness through language, on language policy and migration, on the representation of minorities and migration phenomena in the media, on racism in language and hate speech. On these topics he has published extensively, and written several monographs: Lessico e alterità. La formulazione del diverso (2000), Parole contro. La rappresentazione del diverso in italiano e nei dialetti (2004), Razzisti a parole (per tacer dei fatti) (2011), Sbiancare un etiope. La pelle cangiante di un tòpos antico (2013), Destination Italy. Representing migration in contemporary media and narrative (co-edited with Emma Bond and Guido Bonsaver, 2015), Contro il razzismo. Quattro ragionamenti (with Marco Aime, Guido Barbujani and Clelia Bartoli, 2016), Brevi lezioni sul linguaggio (2019), and #Odio. Manuale di resistenza alla violenza delle parole (2020). Since 2017, together with photographer Luca Prestia he has been working on the interdisciplinary project and exhibition Beyond the border. Signs of passages across European frontiers, whose catalogue was published in 2019 by the “Nuto Revelli” Foundation. Is currently co-investigator in the EU-funded ITN Multimind – The multilingual mind, in the Erasmus-Plus project Key-Co System – Key-competences for adult migrant learners, and in the GCRF-funded project CHAS-BIH – Conflict and HAte Speech Bosnia-Herzegovina. He collaborates with the journalist association “Carta di Roma”, Cospe ONLUS, and the “Alexander Langer” Foundations, of which he is currently the vice-president. Since 2018, he has been working as a consultant and a researcher on hate speech and language and discrimination for Amnesty International Italy. He is the coordinator of the Rete nazionale per il contrasto ai discorsi e ai fenomeni d’odio, and a member of the Committee of Experts for combating Hate Speech of the Council of Euroope, which is drafting the new recommendations on hate speech for the 47 state members of CoE.
Zbyszek Zalinski
Diversity and Inclusion Lead at RTE’
Check out the Full Programme!
Join us, as we celebrate Ireland’s rich artistic and linguistic diversity with plenty of thrilling events and workshops from dumpling making to clowning practices for all ages.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
