Aspectos ambientales implicados en la construcción de la identidad en una muestra de adolescentes de la Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas

The general aim of this paper is to explore and illustrate the role of the physical and psychological surrounding in narrative making ofthe personal identity. A qualitative study is put forward. It consists of a reduced version of the autobiographical multi-methodology(Bagnoli, 2004). That has been applied to a sample of six students of the Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas. The specific goals are: a) to illustrate, through citations obtained from interviews and graphical material, the theoretical concepts of attachment to theplace (Pol, 2002; Vidal y colaboradores, 2004) and community sense (Kim y Kaplan, 2004); and b) to detect the most relevantfactors of such concepts manifested in the students. Data was analyzed through the Atlas.ti computer program, version 5.0 (Muñoz, 2005). The findings suggest that sense of connection and participation in the community (action - transformation) has been observed as the most significant factors in our studied sample

La construcción narrativa de la identidad en un contexto educativo intercultural = The narrative construction of identity in a intercultural educative setting

En este trabajo se expone e ilustra un modelo teórico para entender las funciones de la identidad, así como los mecanismospsicosociales asociados a su construcción: “Modelo Evolutivo y Funcional de la Identidad Mediada” (MEBIM). La identidad, mediada narrativamente, cumple una función personal orientada a la dirección de la propia vida, así como una función sociocultural vinculada a la búsqueda de reconocimiento de los derechos de los grupos sociales a los que uno se siente apegado. Se ilustran los factores asociados a la construcción de la identidad personal (sí mismos posibles, transiciones vitales, vínculo afectivo) y sociocultural (acción-transformación e identificación simbólica) a partir de 12 historias de vida realizadas con mestizos e indígenasde la Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas (México). Se sugiere que en contextos educativos formales, como la escuela o la Universidad, se deben propiciar narrativas personales y socioculturales con el objetivo de optimizar la identidad en un mundo a la vez globalizado y plural

Educación musical intercultural a través de un proyecto europeo Comenius y su aportación a las competencias básicas

La experiencia se enmarca en un proyecto de intercambio Comenius desarrollado entre los años 2002-2005, con la participación de seis centros europeos. A partir de la asignatura de prácticas de los alumnos de la Universidad de Girona, se ha implicado la educación musical en el proyecto y se ha desarrollado, a lo largo de tres cursos, una rica experiencia intercultural a través de la canción, la danza y la composición. A su vez, se analizan las aportaciones del proyecto al trabajo de las competencias básicas de la etapa

Per una educació intercultural

L'escola tradicional s'ha vist impotent quan s'ha reconegut el dret que tenen totsels alumnes a rebre atenció educativa en els centres ordinaris, independentment de lesseves característiques individuals.Si, per una banda, la realitat escolar és -i ha estat sempre- heterogknia i desigual,per l'altra, tots els alumnes participen d'un mateix sistema educatiu que es proposa elple desenvolupament de la seva personalitat, l'adquisició d'hibits intel.lectuals, detkcniques de treball i de coneixements en tots els imbits del saber, la capacitació pera l'exercici d'activitats professionals, la preparació per participar activament en lavida social i cultural ... tal i com ha quedat escrit en l'article 1 de la LOGSEL

'L’escriptura del jo', una proposta d’educació intercultural i tractament de la diversitat per a l’ensenyament secundari obligatori = The writing of I, an intercultural educational proposal and treatment of diversity for Compulsory Secondary Education

The writing of I is a project that starts an itinerary through past, present and future experiences of each of our students based on following research activities. Reading, creation and recreation of text and other items that turn essentially around autobiographical writing and culminate with the elaboration of a free autobiography

¿Puede un modelo educativo intercultural combatir la discriminación y la xenofobia? = Can an intercultural education model combat discrimination and xenophobia?

In this article we present a qualitative study conducted with six indigenous and six mestizos from Intercultural University of Chiapas. The aim of the study is to exemplify the mutual perception between different ethno-linguistic groups, as well as the possible change occurred after the admission to the University. That is, opinions about the other group after and before entering the University. We conclude that a higher education intercultural model can promote mutual understanding and relationship between indigenous and mestizos and thus combat prejudices and stereotypes

Ethnic Identity in an Intercultural Geography: an Empirical Study = L’identité ethnique dans une géographie interculturelle: une étude empirique

This study explored the ethnic identity among 331 emerging adults (144 mestizos and 187 indigenous) from the Intercultural University of Chiapas (México). Scholars suggest that ethnicity is much more salient for ethnic minority adolescents than for adolescents who are members of the ethnic majority. Our aim was to compare the results of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) between the majority ethnic group and the minority group studied. Specifically, the following hypothesis was examined: adolescents who are members of the ethnic minority group (indigenous) will score significantly higher on ethnic identity than adolescents who are members of the ethnic majority group (mestizos). The results supported these hypothesis. We suggest that the effect of an intercultural educative model could explain these results

Intercultural bridges in teenagers' theatrical events : performing self and constructing cultural identity through a creative drama process

The overriding aim of this drama educational case study is to deepen the understanding of meaning making in a creative intercultural youth theatre process and to examine it in the context of the 10th European Children's TheatreEncounter. The research task is to give a theoretical description of some key features of a creative drama process as the basis for theory about meaning makingin physical theatre. The first task is to illuminate the culture-historical connections of the multilayered practice of the EDERED-association. The second taskis to analyse and interpret theatrical meaning making. The ethnographical research site is regarded as a theatrical event. The analysis of the theatrical eventis divided into four segments: cultural contexts, contextual theatricality, theatrical playing and playing culture. These segments are connected with four research questions: What are the cultural contexts of a creative drama process? How can the organisation of the Encounter, genres, aesthetic codes and perception ofcodes be seen to influence the lived experiences of the participants? What are some of the key phases and characteristics in a creative practice? What kind of cultural learning can be interpreted from the performance texts? The interpretative question concerns identity and community (re)construction. How are the categories, `community´ and `child´ constructed in the Encounter culture? In this drama educational case study the research material (transcribed interviews, coded questionnaire answers, participant drawings, videotaped process text and performance texts) are examined in a multi-method analysis in the meta-theoretical framework of Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism. A three-dimensional research interest through a combination of lived experiences, social contexts and cultural-aesthetical practices compared with drama-educational practices required the methodological project of cultural studies. Furthermore, the critical interpretation of cultural texts is divided into three levels of analyses which are called description, structural analysis and theoretical interpretation. Dialogic validity (truthfulness, self-reflexivity and polyvocality) is combined with contextual validity (sensitivity to social context and awareness of historicity) and with deconstructive validity (awareness of the social discourses). My research suggests that itis possible, by means of physical theatre, to construct symbolic worlds where questions about intercultural identity and multilingual community are examined and where provisional answers are constructed in social interaction.

In pursuit of an intercultural dimension in EFL-teaching : exploring cognitions among Finland-Swedish comprehensive school teachers

This thesis is about the educational purpose of foreign language teaching (FLT) in an increasingly internationalised world.The past 20-30 years have witnessed a fundamental rethinking of the aims of FLT, entailing a shift in emphasis from linguistic competence over communicative competence to intercultural competence. The growing emphasis on cultural issues, called for by research and international curricular documents, places new demandson language teachers. The overall aim of this study is to deepen the knowledge about the attitudes of teachers at the upper level of the Finland-Swedish comprehensive school towards the treatment of culture in English foreign language (EFL) teaching. The questions in focus are: 1) How do teachers interpret the concept"culture" in EFL-teaching?, 2) How do they specify the cultural objectives of their teaching? and 3) What do they do to attain these objectives? The thesis strives to reveal whether or not language teaching today can be describedas intercultural, in the sense that culture is taught with the aim of promotingintercultural understanding, tolerance and empathy. This abductive and largely exploratory study is placed within a constructivist and sociocultural framework,and is inspired by both phenomenography and hermeneutics. It takes its starting-point in language didactics, and can also be regarded as a contribution to teacher cognition research. The empirical data consists of verbatim transcribed interviews with 13 Finland-Swedish teachers of English at grades 7-9. The findings are presented according to three orientations and reviewed with reference to the 2004 Finnish National Framework Curriculum. Within the cognitive orientation, "culture" is perceived as factual knowledge, and the teaching of cultureis defined in terms of the transmission of knowledge, especially about Britain and the USA (Pedagogy of Information). Within the action-related orientation, "culture" is seen as skills of a social and socio-linguistic nature, andthe teaching aims at preparing the students for contacts with people from the target language areas (Pedagogy of Preparation). Within the affective orientation, which takes a more holistic approach, "culture" is seen as a bi-directional perspective. Students are encouraged to look at their own familiar culture from another perspective, and learn to empathise with and show respect for otherness in general, not just concerning representatives of English-speaking countries (Pedagogy of Encounter). Very few of the interviewed teachers represent the third approach, which is the one that can be characterised as truly intercultural. The study indicates that many teachers feel unsure about how to teach culture in an appropriate and up-to-date manner. This is attributed to, among other things, lack of teacher insights as well as lack of time and adequate material. The thesis ends with a set of recommendations as to how EFL could be developed ina more intercultural direction.

Aspectos didácticos en bioética intercultural

Los dilemas éticos suscitados por etnias practicantes del infanticidio cultural ejemplifican situaciones interculturales conflictivas que la enseñanza de una bioética pragmática basada en casuística no capacita para enfrentar. Para entablar una comunicación interétnica, se propone que el profesional sanitario debiera habilitarse en cinco ejes de deliberación, tres de ellos sustantivos y dos formales: a) Rechazar prácticas globalmente inaceptables o, alternativamente, reconocerlas como válidas en una cultura local; b) Reconocer valores universales o aceptar el relativismo ético cultural; c) Defender una moral común vinculante dentro de un territorio nacional o aceptar la coexistencia de pluralismos discrepantes; d) Deliberar el infanticidio como una práctica comparable al aborto procurado o entender que se basa en visiones de mundo no interpretables como análogas a argumentos de la bioética tradicional; e) Esclarecer acaso las disidencias culturales son problemas a solucionar o prácticas foráneas a tolerar. Cada vez más los dilemas interculturales requieren una enseñanza de bioética ampliada para habilitar al educando a desarrollar competencias de reflexión, de acuerdo a estos ejes de deliberación, en fomento de la comunicación intercultural respetuosa y un pluralismo efectivo.

Proceedings from the conference Visibility and Collaboration of Researchers in Intercultural Communication in Finland - Visibilité et collaboration de la recherche en interculturel en Finlande

This document contains papers that were presented at the conference “Enhancing the Visibility and Collaboration of Researchers in Intercultural Communication in Finland” which took place at the University of Turku (Finland), on October 1st & 2nd 2004. A paper version of some of the following papers as well as articles by specialists in intercultural communication will be published by Peter Lang.

¿Que moral para un derecho intercultural?: la autonomía y el concepto "simpliciter" de tolerancia

El objetivo del presente trabajo es doble. En primer lugar, pretendo defender un concepto simpliciter de tolerancia según el cual la autonomía personal o la necesidad de fortalecer una cultura son las únicas razones que debe ponderar el agente-Estado para tolerar. En segundo lugar, pretendo responder afirmativamente a la pregunta de si puede el liberalismo perfeccionista y multicultural de Joseph Raz sostener desde la teoría moral y política un derecho intercultural. Para cumplir estos objetivos, me concentraré en los usos morales del término tolerar para luego siguiendo a Michael Sandel, analizar los casos de tolerancia crítica y no crítica. Posteriormente, desarrollaré el liberalismo de Raz con el fin de mostrar los problemas teóricos que genera el fundamento de los derechos colectivos. Concluiré afirmando la existencia de derechos colectivos como recurso institucional para permitir el desarrollo de grupos culturales minoritarios dentro del actual desarrollo del Estado- nación.