European diversity and inclusive

education
Vita Kalnberzina,
Latvia University
 Plan
• Multiculturalism versus assimilationism
• Intercultural dialogue versus conflict theory
• Essentialist versus non-essentatialist paradigm
in education
• Yuval Harrari’s Cooperating Homo Deus
• Conflict resolution in the classroom
 Definition of the problem
• Education Inclusive of what?
• The ways we differ: Language, gender, age, status
and race
• Status (cyber)bullying
• Language (disorder)
• Colour (blindness)
• Age (too young, too old)
• Learning difficulties (dyslexia, loss of hearing, sign
language)
 Strange death of Europe
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stR5nWk
q3LU
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/the-daily-cartoon-760940.html?ino=4
22.10.2010
 Post multicultaralist Era
• Óscar García Agustín
• Intercultural Dialogue
• Visions of the Council of Europe and the
European Commission for a Post-
Multiculturalist Era
• Aalborg University - Denmark
•
Multiculturalism vs assimilationism
• In policy terms multiculturalism emphasizes
the distinctiveness of ethnic, cultural and
religious minorities
• whereas assimilationism does not recognise
such differences and places the responsibility
of integration on immigrants (Emerson 2011).
 Multiculturalism abandoned
• Multiculturalism is being abandoned even in
countries that once embraced it,
• such as England and the Netherlands,
• and very few countries aspire to an
assimilationist approach to deal with cultural
diversity (Watt 2006).
 Civic integration
• Civic integration now seems to be the
hegemonic integration model.
• Developed in countries such as Denmark,
France, Germany, and the Netherlands,
• it consists of strengthening the obligations of
immigrants and requiring them to learn the
norms and values of the host society.
 Interculturalism
• Another approach to integration in the post-
multiculturalist era is interculturalism,
• which aims to establish a dialogue between
coexisting cultures.
• Differences must be mitigated in order to
eliminate conflicts and achieve harmonic
relations between cultural groups (Megías
Quirós 2008).
 Intercultural dialogue
• Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden have
adopted this approach for their integration
policies in the form of intercultural dialogue
(ICD),
• which combines social cohesion and emphasis
on host country values with respect for
diversity (ERICarts Institute 2008).
 Stereotypes
• http://oltreuomo.com/le-mappe-degli-
stereotipi-europei/
 CoE versus EU
• Interest in ICD has increased in the last decade in
international organizations such as the United
Nations, the Council of Europe (CoE), and the EU.
• The EU’s cultural policies in the 1990s have been
criticized for lacking definition (Barnett 2001;
Shore 2006).
• In the 2000s ICD became one of the main
objectives of EU’s cultural policies (Wilk-Wos
2010)
• but vagueness remains and a coherent policy has
not been developed (De Kock 2010; Näss 2010).
Definition of Intercultural Dialogue
• While ICD in the cultural context can be seen
as the relationship between groups and
individuals,
• it is not so clear whether ICD in the context of
integration can represent an alternative
approach to the dominant civic integration
model.
 Hypothesis
• I argue that the CoE attempts to develop a
new model based on ICD, as opposed to
assimilation and multiculturalism,
• whereas the EC is limiting the scope of ICD,
• does not intend to establish a model to
replace civic integration,
• and expresses only the need to overcome
multiculturalism.
 Council of Europe
• The representation of cultural diversity as a
problem relates to potential conflicts that
might occur due to the co-existence of
different cultures,
• leading some to view cultural diversity as a
threat to social cohesion in national societies.
 Universal versus particular
• The CoE interprets the challenge of dealing
with cultural diversity in terms of the
opposition between the universal and the
particular,
• and it is seeking a way to reconcile the need
for social cohesion with the value of diversity.
 Culture as a cause of conflict
• Perceiving potential conflict as a consequence
of cultural diversity could result in viewing
cultures as being irreconcilable
• and considering some cultures to be more
legitimate than others.
 Conflict resolution
• The CoE has developed a discourse opposed
to the dominant one (clash between cultures);
• the goal is to promote a diplomatic way of
resolving conflicts (i.e., the CoE is against
military solutions)
• and not to stigmatize entire civilizations (i.e.,
the CoE is against the opposition between
Islam and the West).
 Diversity as a human universal
• the intention is to rearticulate the discourse
on cultural diversity:
• ‘Cultural diversity should go beyond the
“majority/minority” dichotomy,
• extending to the complementarity of the
“universal” and the “singular”,
• so that ICD is experienced in a flexible,
dynamic and open way’ (CoE 2005a:27).
 Assimilation
• The ‘old approaches’ entail contrary ways of
understanding integration and the ways in
which majority and minority groups should
coexist,
• producing retreatment (multiculturalism)
• or domination (assimilationism).
• [ICD] recognises that public authorities must be
impartial, rather than accepting a majority ethos only,
if communalist tensions are to be avoided.
• Unlike multiculturalism, however, it vindicates a
common core which leaves no room for moral
relativism.
• Unlike both, it recognises a key role for the
associational sphere of civic society where, premised
on reciprocal recognition, intercultural dialogue can
resolve the problems of daily life in a way that
governments alone cannot (CoE 2008:20).
 Religion
• In the CoE definition of ICD, religion acquires
remarkable relevance.
• This is emphasized by the San Marino
Declaration on the religious dimension of
intercultural dialogue (CoE 2007) and its inclusion
into the White Paper.
• As mentioned in the Opatija Declaration,
interfaith and interreligious dialogue must be
viewed in terms of its cultural and social
implications.
 Religion as culture
• The cultural dimension avoids considering
religion only as a matter of faith
• and makes it possible to include it in the
common heritage without colliding with
individual beliefs of the members of the
community.
 Religion as human rights
• religion is approached through the
perspective of human rights as freedom of
thought, conscience, and religion,
• thus synthesizing the universality of rights
with individual consciousness.
 Religion as a game: Yuval Harrari

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88KzM_6
4xM4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLucUm
QVBAE
 European commission
• The EC has no meta-narrative similar to that of the CoE.
• There is no opposition between two models, and no
well-defined model is presented as an alternative.
• However, a chronological story exists in which one
model, namely multiculturalism, has failed and the
changes that need to be accomplished require a new
model.
• One way of moving away from the mistakes attributed
to multiculturalism is to stress individual rights instead
of collective rights
 Frattini 2007a:2
• We must therefore rethink and promote a culture
of rights that can compensate for the errors of
sustaining an incorrect multicultural model which
in today’s Europe has failed.
• A model based solely on recognising religious and
cultural groups is limited in its ability to recognise
individual rights.
• Treating as one entity and giving priority to
groups’ values and rights can sometimes be at
the expense of individuals within that group
 Solutions
• Significant intercultural dialogue initiatives have
been launched or planned,
• for example in the fields of culture, lifelong
learning, youth, citizenship,
• combating discrimination and social exclusion,
• combating racism and xenophobia,
• policy on asylum and the integration of
immigrants,
• audiovisual policy and research (EC 2005a).
 Two approaches in intercultural
education: essentialist versus non-
essentialist

• The first approach is based on knowing as

much as possible about the people with
whom one is communicating to avoid
misunderstandings.
• Adrian Holiday
The paradigms of essentialism vs. non‐
essentialism

ESSENTIALIST PARADIGM NON‐ESSENTIALIST PARADIGM

• Rooted in human nature • Rooted in human conditions
• Static • Dynamic
• Homogeneous • Heterogeneous
• Holistic • Internally driven
• Deterministic • Changeable
• Bounded • Blurred boundaries
The Shabaab movement in Somalia have
issued strict decrees banning
1.films,
2.plays,
3.dancing at weddings,
4. football matches
5.all forms of music,
6.ring tones on mobile phones
 In Sudan the police examine
women's clothing with extreme
vigilance and arrest any woman who
is wearing trousers.

They force her to make a public

apology for what she has done and
then they whip her in public as an
example to other women.
In Egypt, extremists not only advocate that women wear
the niqab but also that they wear gloves on their hands,
which they believe will ensure that no passions are
aroused when men and women shake hands.
 BY DENIS HAMILL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 03, 2011

The most compelling

international story of the month for
me was not the fall of Mubarak in
Egypt, the upheaval against Khadafy
in Libya or the earthquake in New
Zealand.

The global story that resonated

loudest for me was the moviegoer in
Latvia who shot a guy dead for eating
his popcorn too loudly during "Black
Swan.“
MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND
CONFLICTS
 Misunderstandings in the focus
• The second approach is based on making the
assumption that misunderstandings are the
only thing certain about interdiscourse
[intercultural] professional communication.
(Rehbein, 2006 p. 13)
Intercultural communication in one
language via
Cultural apparatus

Thoughts on the relationship between

language, culture, and society*
Jochen Rehbein, 2006
 Data of intercultural research
• researchers have usually devoted their
attention to investigating differences in
• linguistic structure (e.g. Wierzbicka 1991),
• discourse structure (e.g.Scollon & Scollon 1995),
• speech acts (e.g. Blum-Kulka,House, & Kasper
1989),
• cognition (Gudykunst 1988; Kim1991)
• and social systems between people of different
cultural backgrounds (e.g. Hofstede 1980;
Trompenaar 1993).
 Jochen Rehbein, 2006
• Cultural filter v.s. cultural apparatus
• habit v.s. creativity
 Cultural filter development
Repetitive
– Action practices,
– thought patterns,
– conceptual forms,
– experiences,
– pattern knowledge
are fixated as prejudices (unreflected
knowledge)
and form “cultural filter” (House 1997).
 Cultural filter in action
1. Pursuit of standard action
2. Negating action (suspension due to
problems; identification of the problem)
3. No cultural action: renewed use of standard
forms (normal course of action)
4. Problems become fixed through repetition
5. Presuppositions of the normal course of
action become fixed
 Breaking the cultural filter
• Breaking the cultural filter by applying the
cultural apparatus to mental processes of the
respective participants
• especially necessary in international
confrontations
• against the shadow of unquestioned warfare
action practices, as in the Near East.
 Nude: is the hot fashion colour racist?
Nude is the fashion colour du jour. But it's only nude if you're
white, not if you're black
Paula Cocozza , guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010
 Beauty of human skin colour
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiMgOkl
geos
 Cultural apparatus
1. Pursuit of standard action
2. Negating action (suspension due to
problems; identification of the problem)
3. Restructuring action practices, thought
patterns, forms of imagining, social
experiences, pattern knowledge etc. in the
ourse of communication possible
4. Process of reflection
 Cultural apparatus: Learning
5. Emergence of new forms possible
6. Subsequent effects on action practices,
thought patterns, conceptual forms, forms of
imagining, social experiences, pattern
knowledge etc.
7. Modificaton of presuppositions (change
of thought, attitude and action systems)
 Cultural apparatus
• constructs an understanding by making
recourse to a higher level of mediation,
• generates new productive and receptive forms
on the part of speaker and hearer
• gives rise to innovative forms of
communication.
US: Conflict resolution skills training in
Brooklyn
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhF3WgF
jT88
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXy2V1J
mJUs
Precondition of Cultural apparatus
One of the interlocutors should try to reorganize
(at least partially)
• mental structures and processes,
• like action practices,
• thought patterns,
• conceptual forms,
• experience,
• pattern knowledge
which underly communication
 Case 1: misunderstanding
• Misunderstanding,
– cultural filter,
– action practice
• at an opening of a telephone conversation:
 Telephone conversation
• (1) ((Telephone rings, Prof. Müller answers:))
• (s1) Prof. Müller: Müller.
• (s2) American woman: Professor Müller?
• (s3) Prof. Müller: Am Apparat.
• Speaking. [Literally: at the apparatus]
• (s4) American woman: Bitte?
• Pardon?
• (s5) Prof. Müller: Am Apparat.
• Speaking. [Literally: at the apparatus]
• (s6) American woman: Wo ist er?
• Where is he?
 Cultural filter
• (s7) Ich verstehe nicht.
• I don’t understand.
• (s8) Prof. Müller: Er spricht selbst zu Ihnen.
• ((smiling)) He is speaking to you himself.
• (s9) American woman: Bitte?
• Pardon?
• (s10) Prof. Müller: Er selbst spricht zu Ihnen.
• ((louder)) He himself is speaking to you.
• (s11) American woman: Sprechen Sie Englisch?
• Do you speak English?
• (s12) Prof. Müller: Yes.
 Case 2: Cultural apparatus
• 1 A yes?
• 2 P yes hello Mrs. Adler.
• it’s Peter Sikes again speaking.
• 3 A ah hello Peter=
• 4 P =hi=
• 5 A =how are you?
• 6 P I a:m very very hot. ((clears his throat))
• 7 A you’re what?
• 8 P very hot.
• 9 A oh, ((embarrassed laughter))
• 10 P but otherwise not too bad.
• 11 A it’s- it isn’t raining in London?
 Beyond misunderstanding
• misunderstandings are a second step within a
sequence of communication,
• which, in its turn, does not achieve its
completion as long as the misunderstandings
are not solved.
 Misunderstanding resolved by others
• Means of a solution of a misunderstanding
reached – according to Kameyama (2004) –
– repairs,
– redraftings,
• till the participants are retraced back to
familiar and routinized structures of
knowledge and discourse
Resolving misunderstanding ourselves
• at least one of the participants should submit
the communication to reflection
• by opening his or her eyes on the tacit
presuppositions made
The role of intercultural education
• Misunderstandings are a sign of a gap of
cultural knowledge
• We all possess cultural apparatus to bridge
that gap that needs development
– Observe misunderstandings, conflicts
– Hypothesise the reasons
– Experiment with the solutions
 Cultural filter
attitudes thought patterns experience

Cultural action
suspension of
reflection negotiation
communication

Cultural apparatus
gaining new experience building new practices
 Task 1
• Examine the situation
• what are newspapers reporting
– cultural filter,
– cultural action
– or the work of cultural apparatus?
 European court of human rights rules crucifixes that hang in classrooms
violate religious and educational freedoms
• John Hooper in Rome
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 19.11 GMT
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3104
 Racial or religious groups could be picked out
for hi-tech airport checks
• James Sturcke and Allegra Stratton
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 January 2010 22.09 GMT
 Live long. Stay healthy. Join the immortals
The seven ages of man are a thing of the past. We're never too old to find a
new lover, start a business or even have a baby. Now, we're ready for
anything – except death. Welcome to the world of amortality.

Catherine Mayer
The Observer,
Sunday 1 May 2011

The meanings of age have become elusive; visual clues untrustworthy.

Children dress like louche adults.
Their parents slouch around in hoodies and trainers