The thesaurus of contemporary cultural studies: polycultural and its terminological modifications

Abstract

Relevance of the study. As a result of a new wave of globalization at the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st centuries, new terms and concepts appear in the scientific paradigm, which characterize the new challenges of modernity: transculturalism, multiculturalism, polyculturalism. All these concepts describe the settlement and prevention of possible conflicts based on cultural differences, self-identification of an individual in a multicultural environment and the adoption of its (environment) features (as opposed to the struggle of cultures). However, they also have a number of significant differences. It is the lack of a clear separation of these concepts and terms in the national cultural discourse that makes the relevance of this study.Main objective(s) of the study. This article defines the difference between terms commonly used in the scientific literature as synonyms and the term “polyculturalism” borrowed from pedagogical and sociological scientific thought into national cultural discourse. The main purpose of this work is to systematize the terminological base for cultural studies with a description of the latest processes in the interaction of cultures, as well as to determine the most appropriate terms for use in the analysis of contemporary artistic practices.Methodology, how the study was done. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: etymological analysis of the studied terms, historical method (to determine the chronology of the appearance of terms in the scientific literature), comparative method (to determine differences between similar concepts “transcultural”, “multicultural” and “polycultural”), method of analysis and synthesis (to determine the main characteristics of the category “polycultural”), analogy and systematization.Results / findings and conclusions, significance. The lack of a clear definition of the term “polycultural”, the lack of system and/or inaccuracy of the translation of this term to describe the processes of intercultural communication in a globalized world, interferes with the accuracy of their scientific analysis. Having examined the history of the occurrence of relevant terms in cultural, sociological, and pedagogical scientific works regarding cultural interaction, they were delimited and the main differences between them were identified in order to systematize the corresponding conceptual and terminological apparatus. Prior to this, the terms were mainly used by representatives of sociological and pedagogical scientific schools to characterize certain social and political processes. We consider it necessary to introduce the concepts and terms “multiculturalism” (“multicultural”) and “polyculturalism” (“polyсultural”) into the cultural discourse, since the interaction (polylogue) of cultures is an integral part of the contemporary art processes. At the same time, we consider it more accurate to use the terms “multiculturalism”, “polyculturalism” etc. to define scientific approaches and methods, and “multicultural”, “polycultural” etc. to describe the characteristics of phenomena that occur in modern cultural environment. The concept of polycultural is a wider concept than multicultural, and most of all meets the needs of cultural studies.