Suchergebnisse

Explores the complex relationship between linguistic diversity & intercultural communication, competition, & cooperation in Guatemala where 21 Mayan languages, Nahua, & an Afro-Caribbean language are spoken in addition to the official Spanish. The importance of ethnic diversity & multilingualism in Guatemalan history is discussed, along with the emphasis on "interculturalism" in the 1996 peace accords. Language shifts that have occurred over the last 25 years in Mayan regions are examined, noting the widespread trend toward bilingualism in the Mayan & Spanish languages in the highland regions, & in Spanish & another language (mostly English) in urban areas. A state sponsored bilingual education program in Mayan languages & Spanish was instituted in 1980. Steps outlined in the peace accords for achieving an authentic bilingual intercultural education are described, along with the meaning of "intercultural;" the implications of putting interculturalism into practice; & recommendations of the Special Parity Commission on Indigenous Language Officialization. Prospects for a future pluricultural & multilingual Guatemala are discussed. 1 Figure, 13 References. J. Lindroth

Explores the possible meanings of interculturalism & multiculturalism in the late capitalist world characterized by a globalization synonymous with standardization & uniformity. The 20th-century world has been characterized by increased cultural harmonization, conformity, & the spread of Western commodification, draining meaning from the concept of an interculturality between distinctive peoples. Meanwhile, the politics of multiculturalism within countries, particularly the US, serves the interests of advanced capitalism; it obscures economic reality & social isolation, positions peoples as cultural interest groups, & contributes to a "generalized alterity" in a world where ritual & noneconomic needs are commodified. Multiculturalism displaces most political criticism, which, when it challenges the economic order, continues to be quashed. E. Blackwell

For a long time French local and regional authorities were largely excluded from debates on cultural policy, and even more so from international cultural exchanges. Their intervention in this second area, in its most conventional forms to its contemporary networks, occupies a special place in the present issues. Being sustained by large increases in local and national budgets for culture, such an evolution necessarily raised certain strategic issues and debates, which are discussed in the paper. The international element of local cultural policies has only recently appeared as a potential area for local strategy development. It can be seen as the result of the cultural generation of the 1980s, from the point of view of actors in both the public and professional domain. This paper examines the three following aspects: the forms taken by cultural decentralization in its main stages, through the conferral of negotiated powers; the modifications in centre‐periphery relations brought about by this decentralization; and the emergence of an international exchange dynamic as a result of these first two processes.

The debate on multiculturalism in Australia & Canada has provided a forum for a conceptualization of its alternatives. By the late 1980s, both governments abandoned the utopian pluriculturalist experiments of the 1970s & introduced interculturalist policies. However, the early 1990s have seen the emergence of another ethnoracialist ideology -- multiracialism -- which presents many similarities with institutionalized multiculturalism. At the same time, a new transcultural understanding of Canadian & Australian social realities has suggested avenues by which to reach a model of nonracialism. The features of these pluralist society projects are outlined, & their relevance for the process of nation building in postcolonial democracies is assessed. Adapted from the source document.

After the fall of the communist regimes in East European countries a new trend has arisen among literary and theatrical circles of the West of a strong curiosity for and fascination with the opening up "dark mysteries" of East European politics and cultures. How do western eyes visualize and translate such intra-European cultural differences? In what ways does western theatre represent these close but only recently fully disclοsed "other" European cultures and for what ends? Βy analyzing the case of four major British plays which deal with the sweeping sociopolitical changes in ex-Eastern Block countries and which were produced on the London stage in 1990 and 1991, Ι want to argue that in the process of this intra-European cultural transference an analogous cultural slippage occurs (implying various degrees of intentionality and complicity) as in the much more discussed intercultural practices between First and Third World that have been systematically brought to our attention though the recent bloom of postcolonial theory. ; Μετά την πτώση των κομμουνιστικών καθεστώτων στις χώρες της Ανατολικής Ευρώπης μια καινούργια τάση παρουσιάστηκε, μια ισχυρή περιέργεια και μαγνητική έλξη προς τα μόλις αποκαλυπτόμενα σκοτεινά μυστήρια της ανατολικοευρωπαϊκής πολιτικής και κουλ­τούρας. Πώς βλέπουν οι Δυτικοί και πώς μεταφράζουν τέτοιες ενδοευρωπαϊκές πολιτι­σμικές διαφορές; Με ποιους τρόπους το δυτικό θέατρο αναπαριστά αυτές τις γειτονικές αλλά μόνο τώρα πλήρως προσπελάσιμες κουλτούρες και με ποιους σκοπούς; Αναλύοντας την περίπτωση τεσσάρων σημαντικών Αγγλικών θεατρικών έργων που ασχολούνται με τις πρόσφατες κοινωνικοπολιτικές αλλαγές στις χώρες του τέως Ανατολικού Μπλοκ και τα οποία παρουσιάσθηκαν στη σκηνή του Λονδίνου το 1990 και 1991, θέλω να αποδείξω ότι στη διαδικασία αυτής της ενδοευρωπαϊκής πολιτισμικής μεταφοράς συμβαίνουν ανάλογα πολιτισμικά ολισθήματα (που υπονοούν ποικίλους βαθμούς σκοπιμότητας και συνοχής), όπως στις πολύ εμφανέστερες διαπολιτισμικές πρακτικές μεταξύ Πρώτου και Τρίτου Κόσμου, στις οποίες ...