Intercultural Dialogue

Chapter 2

What strikes me in this report is the focus on culture being an individual characteristic rather than one than be ascribed to a nation-state. In other words, we each have our own culture or cultures based on who we 'are' and the 'experiences' we have had. As an American living in Italy I have often described myself as a 'hybrid', but maybe I am no more different than anyone else who lives these multiple identities-multiple cultures. This is the quote from the report that led me to these 'musings'.
"To describe as fault lines the differences between cultures — even those characterized by divergent or opposing beliefs — is to overlook the porosity of cultural boundaries and the creative potential of the individuals they encompass. Civilizations, societies and cultures, like individuals, exist in relation to one another. As one historian has noted, ‘consciously or otherwise [. . .] civilizations observe one another, seek each other out, infl uence one another, mutually defi ne one another. Their founding texts may endure, but they themselves do not remain static’ (Baubérot, 2003). Culture, it has been said, is contagious."

It would be nice to be able to say I am objective and can separate myself from what I'm studying, but if I'm investing time and energy into studying something, there has to be intrinsic motivation (especially considering that the extrinsic motivation in Italy is null!).

Interesting:
"Underlying this multifarious heritage, it is possible to distinguish three main modes of cultural interaction:

1. cultural borrowings,
2. cultural exchanges and
3. cultural impositions ("Yet even in the extreme condition of slavery, discreet processes of reverse enculturation take place and the cultural practices of the dominated populations come to be assimilated by the dominating culture (Bhabha, 1994).")

While ethically distinctive, all these forms of interaction have impacted very significantly, and in many cases very fruitfully, on forms of cultural expression."

Again, how can I as an American living abroad not react to these? Number 2 is what I believe in and what I do. Numbers 1 and 3 what I hate about the influence of America abroad.

Multiple Identities
"Today globalization, international trade and the rise of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the media are making for more systematic encounters, borrowings, juxtapositions and cultural exchanges. Yet this new degree of mutual receptiveness among cultures will not place them on an equal footing if we do not begin to rethink our shared cultural categories. The transcultural ties that manifest themselves across the complex interplay of multiple identities are potentially powerful facilitators of intercultural dialogue. Irrespective of the stances adopted by the various parties, or their identifi cation with the particular culture of which they believe themselves to be the ‘representatives’, the acceptance of multiple identities shifts the focus away from ‘differences’ and towards our shared capacity to interact and to accept encounters, coexistence and even cohabitation between diff erent cultures."
"Indeed, as illustrated by opinion surveys such as the World Values Survey (see Table 6 in the Statistical Annex), when individuals are asked to which geographical groups they feel they belong, in many countries in the world they declare multiple identities (see Figure 2.1)."

How to promote cultural dialogue: (Schoefthaler, 2006)

1. Traditional modalities of dialogue between cultures, developed over the past decade, have largely failed because of their almost exclusive focus on what cultures and religions have in common. The present crisis calls for dialogue on differences and diversity.
2. The lack of mutual knowledge about sensitive issues linked to religions and any other belief is obvious. This gap needs to be filled as a matter of urgency. Information on religious pluralism needs to be provided at all levels of formal and non-formal education, in a terminology that is not faith-loaded but accessible to people maintaining diversifi ed beliefs and opinions. This information must include difficult concepts, such as what is ‘sacred’, ‘holy’ or ‘insulting’.
3. Too often, dialogue events have stressed collective identities (national, ethnic,religious) rather than identities of individuals or social groups. Dialogue fora composed of ‘representatives’ of religious or ethnic groups are counter-productive and contribute to the clash of civilizations scenario rather than preventing it. Dialogue between cultures must create space for mutual perception and appreciation of overlapping, multiple and dynamic cultural identities of every individual and social or cultural group.
4. [...]
5. Active tolerance, involving mutual respect, needs to be promoted rather than mere acceptance of diversity.

"Just as it can provoke a retreat into separate identities, cultural diversity can also be experienced as an invitation to discover the other. It is somewhat misleading to speak of cultures in this context, however, for, in reality, it is not so much cultures as people — individuals and groups, with their complexities and multiple allegiances — who are engaged in the process of dialogue. To be eff ective, intercultural dialogue must free itself of the concept of exclusive and fi xed identities and embrace a worldview predicated on pluralism and multiple affiliations."

Intercultural Competencies
"Defined as the ‘complex of abilities needed to perform eff ectively and appropriately
when interacting with those who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself’ (Fantini, 2007), these abilities are essentially communicative in nature, but they also involve reconfi guring our perspectives and understandings of the world."
"Various strategies exist for acquiring intercultural competencies and facilitating cultural encounters in the promotion of intercultural dialogue (Bennett, 2009).
[...] The ultimate goal would be that intercultural competencies become an indispensable element of school curricula within a larger framework of cultural literacy training (see chapter 4)."

In an intercultural encounter, basic capacities include the ability to listen, dialogue and wonder. Eberbard, 2008