notes from UNESCO report

from the General Intro

the relationship of cultures to change. For, as noted by Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, almost seven decades of the 20th century were to pass before cultures started to be understood as shifting entities. Previously, there was a tendency to view them as essentially fi xed, their content being ‘transmitted’ between generations through a
variety of channels, such as education or initiatory practices of various kinds. Today culture is increasingly understood as a process whereby societies evolve along pathways that are specifi c to them. ‘What is truly specifi c in a society is not so much people’s values, beliefs, feelings, habits, languages, knowledge, lifestyles etc. as the way in which all these characteristics change’ (Cunha, 2007).

a new approach to cultural diversity — one that takes account of its dynamic nature and the challenges of identity associated with the permanence of cultural change.

culture and identity:
The challenge inherent in cultural diversity is not posed simply at the international level (between nation-states) or at the infra-national level (within increasingly multicultural societies); it also concerns us as individuals through those multiple identities whereby we learn to be receptive to diff erence while remaining ourselves.

although it's become quite a buzz word in HE, there are true social implications for improving intercultural communicative competence:
Thus cultural diversity has important political implications: it prescribes the aim of freeing ourselves of stereotypes and prejudices in order to accept others with their differences and complexities. In this way, it becomes possible to rediscover our common humanity through our very diversity. Cultural diversity thereby becomes a resource, benefitting cultural intellectual and scientific cooperation for development and the culture of peace.

good justification for telecollaboration:
It has become clear that cultural diversity should be defined as the capacity to maintain the dynamic of change in all of us, whether individuals or groups. This dynamic is today inseparable from the search for pathways to an authentic intercultural dialogue. In this regard, it is important to analyze the causes (stereotypes, misunderstandings, identity-based tensions) that make intercultural dialogue a complex task. It is also necessary to explore the potential benefits of novel approaches, paying particular attention to new actors (women, young people) and the creation of new networks at all levels.
four key areas — languages, education, communication and cultural content, and creativity and the marketplace — with respect to the future of cultural diversity.
the fields in question are particularly relevant in the sense that cultural diversity both depends on and significantly influences their evolution.

1. Languages doubtless constitute the most immediate manifestation of cultural diversity. Today they are facing new challenges and steps must be taken both to revitalize endangered languages and promote receptiveness to others through a command of several languages — mother tongue, national language and an international language — and through the development of translation capacity.
2. In the field of education, we must seek to strike a balance between the requirements of education for all and the integration of cultural diversity in educational strategies through the diversification of educational contents and methods, and a new emphasis on the development of intercultural competencies conducive to dialogue. More generally, there is a need to promote practices involving out-of-school learning and value transmission, notably in the informal sector and through the arts, as developed by societies worldwide.
3. Concerning communication and cultural content, the focus is on the importance of overcoming certain obstacles that, by hampering the free circulation of ideas by word and image, can impair our responses to cultural diversity. Persistent stereotypes and major disparities in the capacity to produce cultural contents are a particular concern and call for greater efforts to promote media literacy andinformation skills, particularly through the information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Cultural diversity accordingly becomes a key instrument for the effective exercise of universal human rights and for the renewal of strategies aimed at strengthening social cohesion through the development of new and more participatory forms of governance.