A Presentation of IDIN
”Interculturalism and Diversities: Developing intercultural models and thinking in the Nordic Countries” (IDIN) is a research network with participants from Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
Read More...Category Archives: Volume 10, no. 2 (2015)
Enemies of Interculturalism: The Economic Crisis in Light of Xenophobia, Liberal Cruelties and Human Rights
In this paper I discuss the notion of interculturalism, or at least some aspects relating to it within “the Nordic context”, namely the failure in the “inclusion” of “minorities” (section 1 “Xenophobia”) and some of the defining “political… cultural, and economical” features of liberalism, which is today’s political norm in Nordic states too, i.e.: its contrariness to cruelty (cf. section 2 “Cruelty”) and its inherent inability to get rid of it (cf. section 3 “Liberalism”). The specific context for my reflections is Iceland in the 2000s, and particularly the nation’s experiences of a hot-money-induced boom in the early years of the century, a world-famous bust in 2008, and a less-known recovery over the years 2009-2013.
Read More...Nation-building in the Scandinavian Welfare State: The Immigration Challenge
Scandinavia represents a particular type of welfare state, characterized by institutionalized social rights, universal access, generous benefits, a high degree of public involvement and comparatively high levels of redistribution. The basically tax-based system, which was designed to constitute a basic safety net for all citizens from cradle to grave, has been remarkably generous – and thereby also costly. It is thus vulnerable in relation to newcomers who cannot support themselves economically. In all of Scandinavia, the welfare state was from the beginning the self-evident instrument for incorporation of newcomers. Gradually, this instrument has turned more controversial, in parallel with general processes of social reform, in which the restructuring of policies has been regarded as necessary in order to avoid dependency traps and “overconsumption”. This article spells out the historical background for the specific Scandinavian approach to immigration, and discusses the current dilemmas attached to this normatively complicated policy field.
Read More...Postcultural Communication? – Intercultural communication from a postcultural position
When we as scholars use the concept of intercultural communication in its classic definition, as communication between people with different cultural backgrounds, we perpetuate the notion that national differences influence communication more than other differences; in doing so, ethnic minorities in multicultural societies are silently/verbally excluded from national communities. The aim of the article is to develop a theoretical position, which is able to conceptualize intercultural communication in complex multicultural societies and function as a frame for empirical analysis. The theoretical position is presented as a postcultural prism composed by practice theory (Schatzki 1996, Reckwitz 2002, Nicolini 2012, Kemmis 2012), Intersectionality (Brah, Phoenix, Collins Rahsack) and positioning theory (Harre & Langenhove 1998).
Read More...Teaching History in a multicultural society
Meeting the history and heritage of the majority culture in a pluralist society might, at worst, mean giving up the control of one’s own past and assimilating into a new ’master narrative’. By re-defining history as a school subject, putting at its core not a set narrative of the past but the cognitive process of thinking about the past, the very process of knowing and understanding might form a ground for a shared experience of history while at the same time allow for the co-existence of different narratives. History curricula in the Nordic countries have for the last two decades gradually moved in this direction. Whether classroom work has done so as well remains less certain. Recent studies suggest that History teachers acknowledge that teaching and learning must adjust to the reality of pluralism but are less confident about how to meet the challenge in concrete terms.
Read More...The Cultural Heritage of Interculturalism
The article traces the cultural heritage of inter-cultural contexts, which have had profound impact over long time. It takes its departure in antique and culturally complex environments in the eastern Mediterranean. One millennium later corresponding inter-cultural conditions are explored in the western part of the Mediterranean. Both cases demonstrated their wide and long lasting influences on posterity. The cultural heritage implied the deep effects of cross-fertilization and ensuing cultural enrichment as the conflation of several well-endowed cultures took place. A similar, more powerful outcome followed the Radical Enlightenment in Leiden around 1650s and in Vienna some centuries later.
Read More...Pragmatic Universalism – A Basis of Coexistence of Multiple Diversities
The authors examine the paradigms hitherto employed to understand and regulate relations between minorities and majority: universalism, multiculturalism/differentialism and interculturalism. These theories are referring to an idea of original purity rooted in a classificatory logic that ultimately inhibits positive coexistence. The complexities of belonging and practices of translation underscore the inadequacy of these theories. The authors propose a new road to universalism based on the transindividual perspective, which sees individuals as continuous processes of individualisation, modifying holistic perspectives on society. This allows for a dialectic approach to universalism and diversity. Universalism loses its abstract-dogmatic aspect and becomes a historico-pragmatic concept.
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