[Bilimsel Haber] Call for chapters : Interculturality at stake

[Gonul Pultar]

Call for chapters (deadline for abstracts: 1st April 2009)

Interculturality at stake

Editors:

Anne Lavanchy
Maître-assistante & researcher
Anthropology
MAPS, University of Neufchatel, Switzerland
(e-mail: anne.lavanchy at unine.ch)

Fred Dervin
Senior Lecturer & researcher
Linguistics, Intercultural education & communication
Department of French Studies, University of Turku, Finland
(e-mail: freder at utu.fi)

Anahy Gajardo
Research assistant & lecturer
Education & anthropology
Université de Genève & Université de Fribourg, Suisse
(e-mail: anahy.gajardo at unige.ch)


Since 1970s, a profusion of terms such as pluri-, multi-, inter- or 
crosscultural have been used to describe the instruments permitting the 
resolution, by means of adequate communication and translation, of 
social and political problems defined as intrinsic to the interaction of 
people/groups of “different cultures”. Often indifferently understood as 
the study and management of relations in a social sphere qualified as 
multi- or pluricultural, interculturality is considered a priori 
positive and is rarely questioned as a term or a practice. In this call 
for chapters, interculturality is understood as a shifting set of 
phenomena, techniques and representations related to the meetings of 
people from different countries.

Under cover of the term interculturality or its synonyms, many 
collective entities, whether NGOs or public institutions, have been 
encouraged to take measures aimed at promoting and developing 
interculturality through the creation of meeting spaces or the 
development of educational tracks leading to specialization in 
intercultural mediation – as is the case, e.g., of the EU’s 2008 Year of 
Intercultural Dialogue. Sometimes relying on an ad hoc juridical 
apparatus, interculturality functions as a multitudinous process whose 
function would be to facilitate the integration of minority groups 
defined as « culturally different » within national societies implicitly 
perceived as homogenous and to help their interlocutors to communicate 
with them. In this sense, interculturality participates in a discourse 
on Otherness that presents cultures as discrete and essentialized 
entities. These entities thus appear to lead a clean, disembodied, 
autonomous existence, which in turn places communication and 
intercultural relations on an abstract level, functioning apart from 
social actors, contexts of interaction, historicity of relations and 
intertextuality.

The present work intends to add to critical reflection on the concept of 
interculturality, beginning with the analysis of contemporary practices 
claiming to be just that – intercultural. These contributions will be 
based on theoretical reflections and field studies carried out in 
different contexts. In order to understand the presuppositions and 
stereotypes that this scientific and societal concept conveys, to the 
extent that we can consider it as such, we wish to expand available 
knowledge on the following questions:

1. What logic can be located in the (educational, scientific, 
theoretical, media…) discourse and the policies of institutionalization 
of practices called intercultural?
2. What is the effect of these discourses and policies, their symbolic 
and practical efficacy, notably in the reproduction of social inequalities?

Our objective is to encourage reflection through the comparison of 
different apprehensions of interculturality, its potential interest and 
its limits. Any new approach to interculturality is favoured. From this 
perspective, we wish to promote a discussion between specialists from 
different disciplines: for example, those from the educational sciences, 
anthropology, sociology, communication sciences, linguistics and 
political science.

Potential authors are invited to submit a 300-word proposal (including a 
few lines about the author(s)) in English or French to the editors by 
April 1st 2009. The proposals should clearly explain the theoretical 
framework and concerns of the proposed chapter, and include a short 
description of a corpus (where applicable). A basic bibliography may 
also be added. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by May 
15th 2009.

Full chapters are expected to be submitted by September 15th 2009. The 
book is scheduled to be published in spring 2010 by an international 
publisher. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a blind review basis.





	Anne Lavanchy
Maître-assistante & researcher
Anthropology
MAPS, University of Neufchatel, Switzerland
(e-mail: anne.lavanchy at unine.ch)

Fred Dervin
Senior Lecturer & researcher
Linguistics, Intercultural education & communication
Department of French Studies, University of Turku, Finland
(e-mail: freder at utu.fi)

Anahy Gajardo
Research assistant & lecturer
Education & anthropology
Université de Genève & Université de Fribourg, Suisse
(e-mail: anahy.gajardo at unige.ch)
Email: freder at utu.fi <mailto:freder at utu.fi>