Presentation of IOW project
Independent Scholar and Teacher of English, Literature and Visual Arts, Italy
E-mail: paola.giorgis@womaned.org
Institute of Rhetoric and Communications, Bulgaria
E-mail: mavrodieva@phls.uni-sofia.bg
University of the Arts, London; University of London, UK
E-mail: v.odeniyi@arts.ac.uk
Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine
E-mail: o.semenets@knute.edu.ua
South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
E-mail: bilyanatodorova@swu.bg
York University, Canada
E-mail: valentac@yorku.ca
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece
Email: vovou@panteion.gr
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the collaborative, analytical and methodological premises of In Other Words, a research project consisting on the creation and development of an online dictionary of keywords which are shaping the narratives of different forms of Otherness. In Other Words is a critical, collective, creative and intercultural project, structured as an open, collaborative online resource. The project finds its meaning in a context of engaged research: the dissemination of ideas and the use of critical tools beyond the borders of the academia in order to reach the contexts where they are most needed, as for example, those which are marked by overt or hidden forms of discrimination.
A sub-section of the online dictionary In Other Words is dedicated to the Words of COVID-19. It is particularly of this section that we are discussing in this paper. The section “COVID-19” of the dictionary analyses critically how, in different countries and different contexts, words have been used and mobilized to create specific narratives of the pandemic.
Keywords: Otherness, COVID 19, On line dictionary, Critical analysis, transcultural environment, crossed methodologies.