Abstract
This paper assesses the dangers of the use of the concept ‘culture’ in present political and educational rhetoric. The first section offers a critique of the use of the term ‘culture’ in the so-called intercultural educational efforts. It asserts that ‘culture’ in its present use is a proxy for ‘race’ and supports views, which ignore diversity and suggest, purposely or not, an homogeneity which can easily spread into the sphere of biological resemblances and differences. The paper, then, identifies possible alternative understandings of culture through the examination of the contribution of anthropology to cultural research. In the last section of the paper suggestions are made to overcome current approaches to intercultural education through a call to diversify the understanding of diversity to include not only ethnic/cultural differences but also, physical, and cognitive ones. To achieve this goal a turn to the ontological and the training of teachers as ‘critical experts of design’ is suggested.
Highlights
This paper assesses the dangers of the use of the concept ‘culture’ in present political and educational rhetoric
It asserts that ‘culture’ in its present use is a proxy for ‘race’ and supports views, which ignore diversity and suggest, purposely or not, an homogeneity which can spread into the sphere of biological resemblances and differences
I know little about the algorithm that drives Google Books Ngram Viewer but if to judge by the results I get when registering the words ‘culture, race’ in the ‘Graph these commaseparated phrases’ box, I have little choice but to worry about the growing use in education of compound words or expressions which include the word “culture”
Summary
I know little about the algorithm that drives Google Books Ngram Viewer but if to judge by the results I get when registering the words ‘culture, race’ in the ‘Graph these commaseparated phrases’ box, I have little choice but to worry about the growing use in education of compound words or expressions which include the word “culture” (e.g. multicultural, intercultural, culturally sensitive, etc.). The concept ‘culture’ was conferred a distinctive and abstract meaning, addressing two developments taking place in the emerging national dominant community: on the one hand, it reflected the Christian distinction between moral and rational pursuits and the production of goods and merchandises in a world of industrial expansion: and on the other, it positioned itself as a human court that rises above practical human judgment. These events accord significance to the understanding of culture postulated by the British educator and philosopher. Education is in urgent need of revising its paradigmatic bases while problematizing the social political structures that maintain the conflicts it tries to overcome
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