To mark the 10th anniversary of the Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair in Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California and the 70th anniversary of the Fulbright Program, Fulbright Canada, in partnership with the Annenberg School of Communication and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, hosted a one-day conference: ‘Rebooting Canadian Public Diplomacy’ The Current State and Future Prospects for Public Diplomacy in Canada.
Each of the Fulbright Canada-USC Chairs in Public Diplomacy (PD), since the program’s inaugural year in 2006, is scheduled to present at the symposium, alongside other experts in Canadian PD such as, Daryl Copeland, educator, author, consultant and retired Canadian diplomat. The morning session addressed the interplay between theory and practice. Among the presenters was Dr. Stefanie von Hlatky from Queen’s University (Fulbright Chair in 2015-2016) who spoke on recent foreign and defence policy shifts. The afternoon session explored various case studies in public diplomacy. Among others, Dr. Mark Kristmanson, CEO of the National Capital Commission (Fulbright Chair in 2010-2011) addressed the issue of international gifts and PD in the context of Canada’s 150th Anniversary.
The symposium was held at the Annenberg School at USC and was by invitation only. There was, however, a public lecture which was part of the program. The public lecture ran from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (PST) and featured Cory Doctorow the inaugural Fulbright Canada - USC Chair in Public Diplomacy. Cory is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons. His talk took place at the Annenberg School in room 207 and was entitled “Public Diplomacy, Private Laws: Global Netroots vs. Secret Trade Deals”.
The symposium highlighted the successes of the Chairs program and explored the potential implications of Canada’s shifting priorities and approach to public diplomacy under the new Liberal government. The co-convenors of the symposium, Dr. Nick Cull of USC and Dr. Michael Hawes of Fulbright Canada, have plans to produce an edited volume for the Palgrave Macmillan series in Global Public Diplomacy.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact:
Rebecca Dixon
Executive Assistant to the CEO, Fulbright Canada
rdixon@fulbright.ca