Autobiography of intercultural encounters E-Book

Martyn Barrett

• Herausgeber: Council of Europe
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 137

Beschreibung

A tool for developing intercultural competence and facilitating the emergence of intercultural citizenship in those who use it.

In the contemporary world, encounters with people from other cultural backgrounds have become part of our everyday lives. These intercultural encounters may be used as an opportunity to learn about other cultures, to develop our capacities for effective and respectful communication, to think about our own cultural affiliations and to reflect on ways in which we might take action for the common good.

The Autobiography of intercultural encounters (AIE) is an educational resource that can be used by learners to achieve all of these outcomes. It supports learners in thinking about and learning from intercultural encounters that they have experienced either face to face, through visual media (such as television, films, magazines) or through the internet.

Revised and updated editions of the various versions of the AIE that have been developed can be found in three separate volumes which accompany the present volume. The present volume contains two accompanying papers, “Context, concepts and theories” and “Concepts for discussion”. The former discusses the policy context and conceptual and theoretical issues relating to intercultural encounters and is intended for readers who wish to understand the ideas that underlie the design of the AIE. The latter provides less technical discussions of key concepts related to culture, identity and intercultural encounters and can be used with learners in upper secondary education or the early years of higher education and in non-formal and informal education.

Leseprobe

 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF INTERCULTURAL ENCOUNTERS

 

CONTEXT, CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

 

Contents

Click here to see the whole table of contents, or go on the « Table of contents » option of your eReader.

The first edition of the Autobiography of intercultural encounters (AIE) was published by the Education Department of the Council of Europe in 2009. It was a concrete response to the recommendation made by the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue “Living together as equals in dignity”, which recommended that new educational tools should be developed to encourage learners to reflect critically on their own responses and attitudes to experiences of other cultures.

The reference for the first edition is:

Byram M., Barrett M., Ipgrave J., Jackson R. and Méndez García M.C. (2009), Autobiography of intercultural encounters, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, France.

The AIE has since been complemented by two further tools, the Autobiography of intercultural encounters through visual media (AIEVM) and the Autobiography of intercultural encounters through the internet (AIETI).

The current volume contains updated and revised versions of two supporting documents which accompanied the original AIE. The scope of these documents has been broadened to encompass all three autobiographies and to align them with the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (www.coe.int/competences) which was published in 2018.

The first edition of the AIE and its supporting documents were developed for the Council of Europe by:

Michael Byram, Martyn Barrett, Julia Ipgrave, Robert Jackson and María del Carmen Méndez García,

with contributions from:

Eithne Buchanan-Barrow, Leah Davcheva, Peter Krapf, Jean-Michel Leclercq.

This second edition of the Autobiography of intercultural encounters: context, concepts and theories (incorporating “Concepts for discussion”) was prepared by:

Martyn Barrett and Michael Byram,

with additional contributions from:

Luisa de Bivar Black, Gustavo Gomez Mejia, Elizabeth Milovidov and Aude Seurrat.

Introduction

The AIE is a set of resources designed to encourage people to think about and learn from intercultural encounters they have had either face to face, through visual media such as television, magazines and films, or through the internet.

There are three separate but parallel tools:

the Autobiography of intercultural encounters (AIE);

the Autobiography of Intercultural encounters through visual media (AIEVM);

the Autobiography of intercultural encounters through the internet (AIETI).

All three tools come in two versions:

a “Standard version” – for use by older learners and adults;

a “Version for younger learners”– for use by children who need help from an adult in reading and writing and in thinking back over their encounter.

The focus of all three autobiographies is on intercultural encounters that have made a strong impression or had a long-lasting effect on the people who use them. In discovering what underlies these encounters, users become more aware of their experiences and reflect on their reactions, thereby developing their intercultural competences.

Revised and updated editions of all three autobiographies can be found in three separate volumes which accompany the present volume. The present volume instead contains two accompanying papers, entitled “Context, concepts and theories” and “Concepts for discussion”.

“Context, concepts and theories” discusses the policy context and the theoretical and conceptual background to the three autobiographies. It is intended for readers who wish to understand the ideas that underlie the design of the autobiographies.

“Concepts for discussion” provides less technical discussions of some of the key concepts underlying the autobiographies. It is intended for use with young people in the final years of school education or the early years of higher education, to enable them to engage with key concepts related to culture, identity and cultural interaction.

Context, concepts and theories

1. The policy context of the Autobiography of intercultural encounters

Education policy is an integral element of social policy, not least because of its contribution to social inclusion. Education policy is also central to economic policy, due to the fact that education systems enhance human capital. These views have been expressed at state level in many parts of the world and at supra-national level by the Council of Europe and the European Union, although by its very nature the Council of Europe pays more attention to social than to economic policy, for example in the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue (2008), which is a fundamental document for the construction of the AIE.

A particular focus in the White Paper is on promoting social cohesion through interculturality and intercultural dialogue. Social cohesion is defined as follows.

Social cohesion, as understood by the Council of Europe, denotes the capacity of a society to ensure the welfare of all its members, minimising disparities and avoiding polarisation. A cohesive society is a mutually supportive community of free individuals pursuing these common goals by democratic means. (Council of Europe 2008: paragraph 24)

The role of intercultural dialogue is considered fundamental in creating and maintaining social cohesion, andintercultural competence is its practical foundation.

The learning and teaching of intercultural competence is essential for democratic culture and social cohesion. (Ibid: paragraph 151)

The AIE is one instrument for promoting and enhancing intercultural competence.

The need to promote social cohesion within a society is not a new concern, but the increase in migration and mobility in recent years has created new minority social groups within states which hitherto considered themselves to be homogeneous, albeit with only limited justification since minorities are not a new phenomenon. Both old and new minority social groups are often vulnerable because they lack social status, and the Council of Europe is particularly concerned to ensure the social inclusion of vulnerable groups of all kinds in contemporary societies including, in particular, migrant or immigrant groups.

The Council of Europe’s Warsaw Declaration of 2005 – entitled “Building a more humane and inclusive Europe” – anticipated the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue and listed some examples of activities which could be used to enhance social cohesion. These include:

co-operation and networking in the field of education and student exchanges at all levels;

relevant intercultural programmes and exchanges at secondary school level, both within Europe and with neighbouring countries;

empowering young people to participate actively in democratic processes so that they can contribute to the promotion of core values.

The first edition of the AIE, which was published in 2009, was designed for use in all of these types of activities. It was constructed specifically to help participants analyse and reflect on their participation in intercultural encounters of any kind, and to foster relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes in the process.

The White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue had noted the importance of learners’ knowledge, skills and attitudes and put particular emphasis on the capacity for reflection and the self-critical disposition necessary for life in culturally diverse societies (see paragraph 94). The inclusion of reflection on personal development through an intercultural experience and, secondly, on the values, beliefs and behaviours of all involved, is a crucial element of the AIE.

The AIE was also designed to promote the development of the competences and identities of intercultural citizens in a multilingual and multicultural world, in accordance with the vision laid out in the White Paper. An intercultural citizen has, firstly, the competences of active citizenship needed in a community, whether local, regional, national, continental (for example European or Asian) or global. An intercultural citizen also has the values, attitudes, knowledge, critical understanding and skills of intercultural competence which enable them to participate in multilingual and multicultural communities. Such communities exist within states, and increasingly so, due to mobility and migration. They also exist when citizens of different states participate together in any form of joint activity. Thus, the AIE was designed to promote not only intercultural competence but also intercultural citizenship in its users.

The White Paper noted that the competences necessary for intercultural dialogue are not automatically acquired. They need to be learned, and practised and maintained throughout life, and all providers of education – working in all institutional contexts and at all levels of education – can play a crucial role here (section 4.3). The White Paper identified democratic citizenship, language and history as key disciplinary or subject areas where intercultural competences can be promoted. Education about diversity in religious and other beliefs – to be distinguished from religious education – can also contribute to intercultural competence and citizenship. Indeed, interreligious dialogue is recognised in the White Paper as an important dimension of intercultural dialogue.

A new policy initiative

The Council of Europe has pursued the enhancement of teaching and learning in the four areas of democratic citizenship, language, history and religion in numerous projects over many years. However, these projects have not always been linked into a coherent whole and the intercultural dimension has not always been prominent. This problem was noted by the member state of Andorra when it held the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2012-13. Andorra made education the priority of its political and policy programme, and it placed, at the core of this programme, the issue of how education may be used to create the conditions required for living peacefully together with others in culturally diverse, democratic societies. In particular, Andorra proposed that a common reference framework including both democratic and intercultural competences should be developed. Such a framework would enable teaching and learning in all relevant subject areas to be harnessed in a more coherent manner in pursuit of the overarching goal of fostering a culture of democracy and intercultural dialogue in the member states.

There was strong political support from the member states for the Andorran initiative and, as a result, the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) was developed and published by the Council of Europe in three volumes in 2018. The RFCDC provides a comprehensive description of the intercultural and democratic competences that an individual needs to acquire through education in order to:

promote and protect human rights;

act as a responsible democratic citizen;

comprehend and appreciate the perspectives and world views of those who have different cultural affiliations from themselves;

engage in respectful intercultural dialogue.

The RFCDC offers a unified and comprehensive conceptual framework which can be used to guide teaching and learning in all of the key education areas that can contribute to the attainment of these four goals, including democratic citizenship, language, history and religion. The RFCDC also contains detailed guidance on how curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, a whole-school approach and teacher education can all be optimally harnessed in order to achieve these goals, as well as on the significance of language in learning intercultural and democratic competences, how the RFCDC can be applied in higher education and how it can be used to build learners’ resilience to radicalisation.

In the wake of the publication of the RFCDC, it was decided to prepare a second edition of the Autobiography of intercultural encounters, in order to align it with the terminology used in the RFCDC. The intention is for this second edition of the Autobiography to form part of the large set of materials that may be used by member states to implement the RFCDC within their education systems.

2. Concepts and theories underlying the Autobiography of intercultural encounters

As noted above, it is intended that the Autobiography of intercultural encounters will contribute to the development of intercultural competence and will facilitate the emergence of intercultural citizenship amongst those who use it. This section discusses some of the key concepts which underlie these notions of intercultural competence and intercultural citizenship.

2.1. Culture

Culture itself is a notoriously difficult term to define and describe. This is because social groups and their cultures are always internally heterogeneous and embrace a range of diverse practices and norms that are often contested, change over time and are enacted by individuals in personalised ways.

Social groups and their cultures

Distinctions can be drawn between the material, social and subjective aspects of culture. Material culture consists of the physical artefacts which are commonly used by the members of a cultural group (for example the tools, goods, clothing). Social culture consists of the social institutions of the group (for example its language(s), religion(s), laws, rules of social conduct, folklore, cultural icons). Subjective culture consists of the beliefs, norms, collective memories, attitudes, values, discourses and practices which group members commonly use as a frame of reference for thinking about, making sense of and relating to the world. Culture itself is a composite formed from all three aspects – it consists of a network of material, social and subjective resources and experiences. The total set of cultural resources is distributed across an entire group, but each individual member of a group appropriates and uses only a subset of the total set of cultural resources potentially available to them.

Defining “culture” in this way means that groups of any size may have their own distinctive cultures. This includes families, generational groups, neighbourhoods, nations, sexual orientation groups, ethnic groups, cities, work organisations, occupational groups, sports groups and disability groups, for example. For this reason, all people belong simultaneously to and identify with many different groups and their cultures.

Variability within cultures

Variability within the cultures of groups is created by the fact that the material, social and subjective resources which are perceived to be associated with membership of the group are often contested by different individuals and subgroups within it. In addition, even the boundaries of the group itself – and who is perceived to be within the group and outside the group – may be contested by different group members. Social group boundaries are often very fuzzy.

This internal variability and fuzziness are, in part, a consequence of the fact that all people belong to and identify with multiple groups and their cultures but participate in different constellations of groups, so that the ways in which they relate to any one group and its culture depends, at least in part, on the points of view which are held by the other groups and cultures in which they also participate. In other words, cultural affiliations intersect in such a way that each person occupies a unique cultural positioning. Furthermore, the meanings and feelings which people attach to the particular cultures in which they participate are personalised according to their own life histories, personal experiences and individual personalities.

It should be noted that while cultural identities, which are derived from people’s memberships of cultural groups, usually form a very significant and salient component of their self-concept, these are not the only identities that people may hold. They might also use their personal attributes (for example shy, studious, fun-loving), interpersonal relationships and roles (for example mother, friend, colleague) and autobiographical narratives about their lives (for example born in London to middle class parents, educated at a state school) to define themselves and their own uniqueness further. All of these multiple identifications with different cultural groups, attributes, relationships, roles and narratives help them to define, position and orientate themselves within the social world relative to other people.

That said, it is people’s cultural affiliations that are of particular relevance to intercultural encounters. These affiliations are fluid and dynamic and, as a consequence, the salience of cultural identities fluctuates as people move from one situation to another. Different affiliations – or different clusters of intersecting affiliations – become salient (and are presented by the individual and noticed by those with whom they are interacting) depending on the particular social context encountered. Fluctuations in the salience of cultural affiliations and identities are also linked to the changes which occur to people’s interests, needs, goals and expectations as they move across situations and through time.

Furthermore, cultures change over time. Change happens as a result of political, economic and historical events and developments, and as a result of interactions with and influences from other groups and their cultures. Cultures also change over time because their own members contest the meanings, norms, values and practices of the group. If, in the process of contestation, meanings, values or practices emerge which are sufficiently novel and then become “fashionable” or attractive to other people within the group, these novel constructions may in turn contribute to the total pool of cultural resources available to group members and therefore change the culture itself in the process.

Cultures – and the languages associated with them – can therefore be analysed both diachronically and synchronically. The changes in the culture of a social group – and the make-up of the group itself – can be analysed historically. It is also possible to analyse the group and its culture at a given point in time, usually contemporaneous with the analysis. This can be useful for teaching purposes for example.

Individuals and cultures