Where Do You Stand?: Intercultural Learning and Political Education in Contemporary Europe

ISBN-13: 9783531180311 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 280 str.

Ohana, Yael

Opis

This publication takes up the many and often controversial debates about the nature, content, methods and political significance of intercultural learning in and for the European youth field. Its starting point is the current depoliticisation of intercultural learning in this field, and especially in the programmes of the European Commission and the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe over the last several years. At the same time, the elevation of 'intercultural dialogue' to panacea for all societal problems, from civil war to educational failure, is putting the mobilisational value of intercultural learning to the test. §Ongoing debates about the changed conditions of contemporary multi-cultural societies, and the failure of state policies to integrate people deemed from elsewhere in inclusive, just and empowering ways, point to the need for renewal of the founding principles and re-conceptualisation of intercultural learning as political learning in the context of youth work in Europe, and even further afield. §A full-scale publication bringing together retrospectives and latest thinking on this theme specifically thought through for the European youth field has not appeared. The time is ripe for more recognition of the added value of self-reflective and self-critical intercultural educational approaches, that take into account the many pitfalls and inadequacies of the conceptual development and practice in this educational field, and make an effort to be a vehicle for educational renewal and improvement.

Spis treści

Retrospectives. - Perspectives.

O autorze

Yael Ohana is a specialist in non-formal education and international youth work. She is the co-founder of and principal project officer at “Frankly Speaking – Training, Development & Research”, a small educational consultancy, based in Bratislava, Slovakia & Berlin, Germany.

Dr. Hendrik Otten is a specialist of political education. He is the director of the Institute for Research in Applied Communication (IKAB) in Bonn, Germany.

Blurb

This book considers the many and often controversial debates about the theoretical underpinning, ideological positioning and political significance of intercultural learning in and for the European youth field. Its starting point is the current de-politicisation of intercultural learning in the field, which sees it as a central approach.

Contributors challenge the elevation of intercultural dialogue to panacea for all societal problems from civil war to educational failure, the problematic position of notions of culture at the heart of intercultural learning practice and much of the accepted wisdom on the purposes, contents, approaches and methods of intercultural learning and on the competences required of those delivering it. In an attempt to breathe new life into what is criticised as a stagnant debate, this book asks all those concerned with political education and intercultural learning to rethink where they stand in relation to the theoretical foundations and basic principles of an educational practice that seems to be in need of radical re-politicisation if it is to live up to the contemporary challenges putting its mobilisational capacity to the test.