Call for Applications
Are you an undergraduate student at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) who is interested in understanding tribalism, identity, belonging, diversity and how we can live with difference?
The University Dialogue Hub is inviting students to apply for the first cohort of a seven-month learning and dialogue programme designed to create a space where students can explore some of the challenges that shape university life and Kenyan society.
The University Dialogue Hub is inviting students to apply for the first cohort of a seven-month learning and dialogue programme designed to create a space where students can explore some of the challenges that shape university life and Kenyan society. Universities are important spaces where young people develop ideas about identity, leadership, citizenship and community. However, universities can also reflect wider social divisions, including tribalism, stereotypes, ethnic tensions and exclusion. The University Dialogue Hub seeks to create a different kind of space, one where students can openly examine these issues, encounter different perspectives and learn how to engage constructively across differences. The programme is built around the idea of Living with Difference. It does not seek to erase our ethnic, religious, cultural or social differences. Instead, it asks an important question: How can we live, learn and work together while recognizing and respecting our differences?
Through the Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion (CEDAR) pedagogy, participants will engage in a combination of cognitive learning, dialogue, experiential learning, creative activities, community encounters and reflection. Fellows will not only learn about communities and differences from a classroom. They will have opportunities to learn with and from people in different communities, visit selected community learning sites, engage in difficult conversations, examine their own assumptions and reflect on how identity and belonging shape the way we understand others.
The University Dialogue Hub will explore issues including:
- Tribalism and ethnic identity
- Identity, belonging and community
- Stereotypes, prejudice and the "Other"
- Living with religious and cultural differences
- Boundaries, conflict and community relationships
- Dialogue and difficult conversations
- Knowledge, experience and perspective
- Inclusive leadership and civic responsibility
- Community engagement and collective action
The programme will bring together 22 undergraduate students from different years, genders, religious and ethnic backgrounds. Diversity will be an important part of the learning process because participants will themselves become a community in which different experiences, perspectives and identities can be encountered.
The University Dialogue Hub is more than a classroom programme. It is an opportunity to learn by doing, learn from difference and learn how to build relationships across boundaries. We invite students who are willing to ask difficult questions, listen to different perspectives, reflect on their own experiences and participate actively in a shared learning community.
If you are interested in exploring differences, exploring how young people can contribute to communities where people with different identities can live, and work together, we encourage you to apply for the first cohort of the MMUST University Dialogue Hub.