Interculturalism, Education and Dialogue

Abstract

Tina Besley and Michael A. Peters (eds.) (2012) Interculturalism, Education and Dialogue. New York: Peter Lang.Reviewed by Nesta DevineThis book is a direct response to a unique political event. It is an example of philosophy talking to policy. The editors of this book are both professors at the University of Waikato who have worked for much of the last 15 years in universities in Scotland and the United States.In 2008 the European Union produced a document which advocated 'Interculturalism': the White Paper on Intercultural dialogue: living Together as equals in Dignity. This was directly a result of the European Union itself, rather than a response to the multiculturalism of Europe. It is an appeal to Europeans to engage with each other, to put aside the history of various xenophobias and to develop an ongoing conversation. The idea is, that conversation will produce a shared understanding which will enable forward political, and social movement. However, although its initial impetus comes from the level of inter-state dialogue, the document apparently states thatno sphere should be exempt from engaging in intercultural dialogue - be it the neighbourhood, the workplace, the educations system and associated institutions, civil society and particularly the youth sector, the media, the arts world or the political arena (Council of Europe,, 2008a, p.10; original emphasis, quoted by Dulabaum, Besley and Peters p. 134-135)Besley and Peters and Jiang Xaioping took up this challenge first organising a special issue of Policy Futures in Education, and later inviting submissions on the theme, which became this book, which examines the idea of 'interculturalism' at a variety of levels.The very interesting Introduction lays out a fascinating history of Western thought with regard to conversation as a way of arriving at - something, - perhaps truth, perhaps agreement, perhaps a compromise or settlement. Besley and Peters review a series of philosophic engagements with conversation - I call it that as the least precise term, because the other terms they examine, have exact technical meanings which they describe briefly and usefully. It is a very readable trip through a particular element of western philosophic history, encompassing Socrates and dialogue, of course, Marx and dialectics, Freire and dialogue, Bahktin, Oakeshott, Martin Buber and his idea of the relationship Ithou, Wittgenstein's language games, Habermas's ideal speech communities. Europe has a long and respectable tradition of trying to find ways of peacefully accommodating difference through dialogue, argument, discussion, conversation. If one were a policy maker from the European community one could read this introduction with some satisfaction that the policy has a real grounding in a widely understood set of traditions. So far, so very good.However, a subtle note of caution is sounded immediately in Peters' first chapter: two notes in fact. One is in a reference to Lyotard's notion of the differend (Lyotard ). Lyotard suggests that where the terms of the debate are so materially different as to be mutually exclusive, no form of dialogue or compromise is possible. For instance if you are a fundamentalist Christian, and I think I have found evidence of a dinosaur in your backyard, there is simply no possibility that we can talk about this phenomenon to any purpose. Lyotard uses the notion in regard to a form of Marxism that knows the truth, in opposition to a form of poststructural thought that argues that truth is not singular, or certain.The second element of caution, stemming from the first, comes from the espoused purposes of interculturalism. Interculturalism is supposed to bring about greater peace and understanding, based on the acceptance of the language of 'rights'. This language in itself is redolent of European and United States history. Not all nations, not all cultures, regard 'rights' as the basis of political thought, even moral political thought. …

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 46 citations exist upstream.