O interdyscyplinarności komparatystyki

For the past fifty years, the interest in issues beyond pure philology has been a watchword in comparative literary studies. Comparative studies, which by default employ a variety of methods, run the major risk – as the experience of American comparative literature shows – of descending into dangerous ‘everythingism’ or losing its identity. However, it performs well when literature remains one of the segments of comparison. In such instances, it proves efficacious in exploring the ‘correspondences of arts’, the problems of identity and multiculturalism as well as contributes to the research into the transfer of ideas. Hence, it delves into phenomena which exist on the borderlines of literature, fine arts and other fields of humanities, employing strategies of interpretation which are typical for each of those fields. This means that in the process there emerges a “borderline methodology”, whose distinctive feature is heterogeneity of conducting research. This, in turn, requires the scholar to be both ingenious and creative while selecting topics as well as to possess competence in literary studies and the related field.

From the demise of theory to its resurgence. A retrospective on the postmodern turn to rethink the 'desire for narrative' and the sublime untimeliness of emancipation

Cultural Marxist Theory, commonly known as theory, enjoyed a moment of extraordinary success in the 1970s, when the works of leading post-war French philosophers were published in English. After relocating to Anglophone academia, however, theory disavowed its original concerns and lost its ambition to understand the world as a whole, becoming the play of heterogeneities associated with postcolonialism, multiculturalism and identity politics, commonly referred to as postmodern theory. This turn, which took place during a period that seemed to have spelt the death of Marxism, the 1990s, induced many of its supporters to engage in an ongoing funeral wake designating the merits of theory and dreaming its resurgence. According to them, had theory been resurrected in historical circumstances completely different from those which had led to its rise, it would have never reacquired the significance that had originally connoted it. This thesis demonstrates how theory has survived its demise and entirely regained its prominence in our socio-political context marked by the effects of the latest crisis of capitalism and by the global threat of terrorisms rooted in messianic eschatologies. In its current form theory does no longer need to show allegiance to certain intellectual stances or political groupings in order to produce important reformulations of the projects it once gave life to. Though less overtly radical and epistemologically bounded, theory remains a necessary form of enquiry justified by the political commitment which originated it in the first place. Its voice continues to speak to us about justice ‘where it is not yet, not yet there, where it is no longer’ (Derrida, 1993, XVIII).

Roy Williams: representing multicultural Britain in Fallout

This article considers how Roy Williams's 2003 play, which dramatises a black-on-black killing and the flawed police investigation which follows, represents contemporary British society, particularly in relation to the vexed question of multiculturalism. Some have described "Fallout" as limited and bleak, reinforcing stereotypes of black experience and identity. By contrast, this article demonstrates that the play, through its analysis of both a conflicted police service and the societal divisions that push black youths towards criminality, draws attention to the underlying systemic causes of inner city violence and makes a constructive and valuable contribution to ongoing public debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representations of multicultural identities in British Cinema

This paper explores the transnational and interstitial dimensions of cultural production in Britain today, and the representation of migrant and diasporic identities in contemporary mainstream British cinema. The box office success of films like Gurindha Chadha’s Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and Bend it Like Beckham (2002) and East is East (Daniel O’Donnell 1999) and their precursors My Beautiful Launderette (Stephen Frears 1985), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (Stephen Frears 1987) and the TV mini-series Buddha of Suburbia (Roger Mitchell 1993) seem to celebrate and articulate a set of values around hybridity and alterity: a discourse of multiculturalism. This paper will engage with a series of key questions. Are there ideological values implicit within and common to all these texts? Can we map a rhetoric or discourse of multiculturalism within popular culture? Do mainstream representations of immigrant identities represent a discourse of resistance, a decolonising global culture or is this Western brand of multiculturalism still located within an Orientalising gaze? In what ways are multiculturalism and postcolonialism overlapping and yet opposing rhetorics? [From the Author]

The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing

To what extent do bestselling travel books, such as those by Paul
Theroux, Bill Bryson, Bruce Chatwin and Michael Palin, tell us as
much about world politics as newspaper articles, policy documents and
press releases? Debbie Lisle argues that the formulations of genre,
identity, geopolitics and history at work in contemporary travel writing
are increasingly at odds with a cosmopolitan and multicultural world in
which ‘everybody travels’. Despite the forces of globalisation, common
stereotypes about ‘foreignness’ continue to shape the experience of
modern travel. The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing is
concerned with the way contemporary travelogues engage with, and try
to resolve, familiar struggles in global politics such as the protection of
human rights, the promotion of democracy, the management of
equality within multiculturalism and the reduction of inequality. This is
a thoroughly interdisciplinary book that draws from international
relations, literary theory, political theory, geography, anthropology and
history.

Leading integrated schools: a study of the multicultural perspectives of Northern Irish principals

This article is concerned with the sustained peace education initiative of integrated schooling and in particular with leadership responses to cultural diversity. Using a case study group of principals of integrated (mixed Catholic, Protestant and other) schools in Northern Ireland, the author explores how principals perceive and lead their visions of integrated education. A combined framework of multicultural and school leadership theory is employed to analyse the findings. The perceptions of the principals reported are consistent with liberal interpretations of multiculturalism, although there is also evidence of a more pluralist perspective. Core liberal values appear to be central to the leadership style of these principals, in line with values-led contingency models of leadership. The article suggests that a sole emphasis on common humanity is an inadequate approach to peace education. It tentatively suggests a relationship between leadership styles and approaches to multiculturalism, and argues that a synthesis of multicultural and leadership theory can usefully guide the development of peace education leadership.

Journeys into the unknown: shared schooling and social change in Quebec and Northern Ireland

This article compares experiences of shared schooling in societies with 2 distinctive traits: first, a history of intercommunity conflict and isolation; and second, a segregated school system. Drawing on Parekh’s (2006) reconceptualisation of multiculturalism, this article analyses issues arising from experiences of intercommunity contact in shared schools in Quebec and Northern Ireland—in one case, bringing Anglophones and Francophones together and, in the other, Protestants and Catholics. Research data from both contexts is drawn upon to reflect on how this experience is lived. The metaphor of a journey is used to capture what it represents for those involved. A need to clarify, recognize, and exploit the potential of shared schooling for the transformation of divided societies is identified.

Negotiating difference in post-conflict Northern Ireland: an analysis of approaches to integrated education

In this article, the author critically examines a variety of approaches to multicultural education noted in integrated (mixed Catholic and Protestant) schools in Northern Ireland and considers their implications in the context of the wider debate around multiculturalism. She argues that educators should challenge sectarianism, but should also resist the essentialization of group identities.

Community Cohesion and Social Inclusion: Unravelling a Complex Relationship

In a global context of an emphasis on identity politics and a ‘cultural turn’ in social analysis, deep concern has been expressed about multiethnic Britain becoming a broken society with many ‘sleepwalking’ into segregation and separatism. Given the close correspondence between areas of acute ethnic segregation and those of multiple deprivation, intercommunal tensions have included disputes about the equitable allocation of scarce urban resources across ethnicity. This creates the possibility that urban programmes may inadvertently accentuate intercommunal tension and confound efforts to synchronise cohesion and inclusion agendas. Following recent debates about the implications of increased diversity, influenced by arguments that multiculturalism has encouraged ‘parallel lives’, an emergent policy framework emphasises more proactive integration to promote ‘common belonging’. Criticism of this agenda includes its confusion between community and social cohesion, and its disproportionate focus on cultural aspects such as identity formation and recognition, relative to structural issues of income and class. In exploring this contested terrain in Britain, the article suggests that the longer-term debate about segregation, deprivation and community differentials in Northern Ireland can offer useful insight for Britain’s policy discourse.

Politics and Gender in Ireland: The Quest for Political Agency

This book explores the relationship between women, the state and democratic politics in Ireland today. It highlights the conservatism of the political culture shared by all traditions on the island, and how this culture circumscribes women’s political agency in Northern Ireland and Ireland. The book explores the opportunities and obstacles to women’s participation and representation on each side of the border. The chapters take the view that public decision-making institutions and processes are subject to rules and practices that reinforce the gendered foundations of democratic politics. They document women’s continuing quest for full participation and equal representation in these male-gendered arenas. The contributors focus on the marginalised experiences of women in modern politics in Ireland and detail their efforts to challenge the masculinized status quo. The book addresses the classical issues of citizenship, participation, representation and equal rights in a sustained analysis of the political systems on the island. It also deals with modern issues – multiculturalism, peace-building, the male-gendered legislature and the unequal nature of women’s citizenship in constitutional, institutional and policy contexts. The book is completed by a comprehensive appendix of all women elected to political office on the island from 1918-2013.

Escola e diversidade: os desafios da diversidade cultural na gestão do currículo : alunos imigrantes nas escolas do 1º ciclo do ensino básico de Abrantes: um estudo de caso

Partindo do objeto de estudo: a gestão do currículo para a diversidade cultural é nossa intenção compreender a forma como o discurso do multiculturalismo se encontra presente nos principais documentos definidores de uma política de escola e na postura desta e dos professores, através das decisões e práticas adotadas perante uma realidade diversificada, na presença de culturas de imigrantes. A construção do saber e a análise que fazemos da forma como o currículo é gerido, seguiram um percurso assente num quadro teórico nos campos curricular e da educação intercultural, bem como nas opções metodológicas em que o estudo assenta, e às quais recorremos para a realização da componente empírica. Nesta, analisamos a forma como as escolas-alvo de estudo e os professores respondem à presença dos alunos imigrantes através das representações dos próprios alunos, seus professores e responsáveis pelas escolas; ou seja, analisamos a forma como é gerido o currículo para a diversidade cultural. /ABSTRACT - Taking the subject under study: curricular management for cultural diversity, as our starting point, our aim is to gain an understanding of the nature of multiculturalism as portrayed in the main documents that define school policy as well as in the position taken both by the school and the teachers, in the light of the decisions and practices adopted in the presence of a culturally diverse reality, immigrant cultures. The construction of a body of knowledge and the assessment we make of how the curriculum is managed, has been based on a theoretical framework in the areas of intercultural curricula and education, as well as on the choice of methodology for the study used in carrying out the empirical component In the latter, We have analysed the way in which the schools and the teachers under study responded to the presence of immigrant pupils, seen in the descriptions given by the pupils themselves, their teachers and those responsible for the schools, that is to say, we have analysed the way in which the curriculum for cultural diversity has been managed.

Multiculturalismo e ensino : um estudo de caso numa turma do Curso Profissional de Técnico de Turismo do 10.º ano de escolaridade

Relatório da prática de ensino supervisionada, Mestrado em Ensino da Economia e da Contabilidade, Universidade de Lisboa, 2011

A escola e a interculturalidade : capacitar os atores para semear a mudança

Trabalho de projeto de mestrado, Ciências da Educação (Educação Intercultural), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2013