The director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, participates in the 2021 Nitobe Symposium “Language, Conflict and Security” on 26-27 July. The symposium is convened by Ulster University (Northern Ireland) and the Esperantic Studies Foundation (ESF). Nitobe 2021 (esfacademic.org)
The 2021 Symposium will explore four principal topics:
• Language policy in Northern Ireland and implications for power-sharing in contested societies;
• Language in the context of security and conflict resolution in Europe;
• Language in humanitarian crises and pro-active peace-building in the global context;
• Promoting Linguistic Justice.
The symposium takes its name from the Japanese scholar and diplomat Inazô Nitobe, who served as Under-Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Nitobe was also active during the peaceful resolution of the Åland Islands dispute in the League of Nations in 1920-1921.
