Should we still be talking about interculturalism? There may be no other option

Paul R. Carr

Abstract


The world has the resources, capacity and ingenuity to (more) effectively address serious global problems (including the environment, mass migration, warfare, feminicide, racism, inequalities, poverty), and there is no need to debase the “other”. No one is born racist but we can become racist, and no one is born focused on building a democracy but one can become engaged in democracy. These thoughts act as a preamble to my text, a reflection, on what interculturalism means for me at this time. I will briefly present my reading of two central themes (identity and social justice, and democracy and social change) in dialogue with interculturalism and cultural pluralism stances/perspectives, and then present a case study of interculturalism in Québec. The text seeks to, humbly, elucidate some of the complexity, the paradoxes, the political and socio-cultural nuances and implications of debates over identity in culturally diverse societies, and concludes with some thoughts on where we might be headed.

Il mondo dispone delle risorse, delle capacità e dell’ingegno necessari per affrontare in modo (più) efficace i gravi problemi globali (tra cui l'ambiente, la migrazione di massa, la guerra, il femminicidio, il razzismo, le disuguaglianze, la povertà), senza bisogno di denigrare l’“altro”. Nessuno nasce razzista, ma possiamo diventarlo, e nessuno nasce focalizzato sulla costruzione di una democrazia, ma possiamo impegnarci nella democrazia. Questi pensieri fungono da preambolo al mio testo, una riflessione su cosa significhi per me l'interculturalismo in questo momento. Presenterò brevemente la mia lettura di due temi centrali (identità e giustizia sociale, e democrazia e cambiamento sociale) in dialogo con le posizioni/prospettive dell'interculturalismo e del pluralismo culturale, per poi presentare uno studio di caso sull'interculturalismo in Québec. Il testo cerca, umilmente, di chiarire alcune delle complessità, dei paradossi, delle sfumature politiche e socio-culturali e delle implicazioni relative ai dibattiti sull'identità nelle società culturalmente diverse. L’articolo conclude con alcune riflessioni su dove potremmo essere diretti.

Parole chiave


Interculturalism; Identity; Social Justice; Democracy; Social Change; Interculturalismo; identità; giustizia sociale; democrazia; cambiamento sociale

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.13129/2035-858X/QdI.2023.17-34