25.11.2020

17th of November 2020: KomGeDi Salon meets International Week

“Digital story telling in higher education in Turkey” and “A great place to work for women in Argentina?”

On Tuesday, November 17, Prof. Dr. Burcu Şimşek from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey and Prof. Dr. Emilia Montero from Universidad Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, joined the Diversity Management Master’s class from Prof. Dr. Renate Bitzan and Prof. Dr. Laila Hofmann, to talk about their current projects.

Prof. Şimşek introduced the students to her method of research – giving people, especially women, a voice through digital story telling (DST; please click here for further information and examples of the work of Prof. Şimşek). Together with her team, she opts to create an environment where people often invisible to society can share their story. In just two to three minutes it is possible to gain a glimpse into the life of a mother fleeing from war in Syria or a man finally being able to live with his male life partner. The digital stories library at Hacettepe University has become so extensive, that the stories are now used as course materials.

Prof. Montero painted a striking picture of Argentina under the COIVD-19 lockdown which has been in place ever since March, without interruption. The pandemic sharply highlights the already existing inequalities in the country and exacerbates them in many cases. One aspect of Prof. Monteros current research – the study “Great place to work” – focuses on how many firms in Argentina offer a great place to work for women. The study is one of the most extensive done in Argentina and points out that the majority of the companies still have a long way to go before their female employees would vouch for them being a truly great place to work.