Let Me Know You United in Diversity

The State of the Art

On Culture

“No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive”

Mahatma Gandhi

Culture is not only part of our identity, but also part of our problem. It remains the primary source of our identity, and the primary source

of our marginalisation of others which it constantly reproduces and reaffirms.

On Dialogue

Culture is an operative and not a descriptive concept one.

Therefore Culture needs to be resituated in the sense that its diffuseness has to be accepted and must lead to a constant historicisation and contextualisation , to gain meaning on

intercultural dialogue.

In skilful discussion, you make a choice; in a dialogue, you discover the nature of choice.

William Isaacs

The nature of dialogue is “exploratory” and

no rules can be fixed for processes of dialoguebecause

its essence is learning which must be based on

exploration, a process that defies limitation and restriction.

On Intercultural Dialogue

Dialogues between cultures and peoples has never been

needed more urgently than it is today. Romano Prodi

We are working to defeat

stereotypical simplification, prejudiced mystification and

monocultural confrontation disguised as dialogue, with the firm belief that intercultural dialogue is not an end in itself.

What do we need

We need an everyday action geared to help generate “dialogic imaginations”and “dreams” a la Martin Luther

King Jr., Tony Morrison and Arundhati Roy, which foster networksof solidarity and connectivity without erasing the uniqueness

of others

Equally, we require conceptual tools that will enhance our understanding of psychosocial and cultural processes, and shed light on constructive ways towards the regeneration of ethics capable of dealing with problems without falling

into simplistic relativism.

Conclusion

“Those who are locked in the cage of one culture, their own, are always in a state of latent war and do not know it” Robert Hanvey

This statement by anthropologist Robert Hanvey may be expressed also in another way: those who feel uncomfortable away from

their homeland or away from their language are only half citizens and inadequate actors in the global market.

Opening up to the world without losing one’s roots; addressing reality from many perspectives; discovering the boundaries of

one’s culture by interacting with that of others; experiencing the commonality of human links in spite of visible differences: these

are the goals to which the Intercultura Foundation will give substance and support, by studying and developing structures

and practices for intercultural learning.