Diversity And Otherness

This book critically examines multiple ways in which cultural diversity is represented and handled in a variety of contexts, from the artistic to the scientific, from the political to the theatrical, in media, fashion and everyday life, today as well as in the past. By drawing from the observation that specific socio-cultural features are made relevant to create asymmetries and hierarchies between individuals, groups and cultural resources, the volume questions, on the one hand, contingent processes of regulation, standardization, and homogenization of diversity. It points at contradictory processes of in- and exclusion related to the construction of differences between the Self and the Other in processes of doing culture. On the other hand, it recognizes and emphasizes the fluidity of cultural entanglements by adopting a transcultural perspective, which unifies the variety of the topics and of the contexts covered by the chapters, as well as their inter- and transdisciplinarity. While processes such as globalization, decolonization, migration, and mediatization have contributed to place diversity at the centre-stage of both scholarly and non-scholarly debates, this book invites to re-think norms, practices and negotiations of diversity and otherness through a variety of narrations, standardizations, imaginations, and negotiations. By emphasizing the contrast between emancipatory vs. standardizing approaches to diversity and otherness it also invites to "transculturalize" the study and the politics of culture.

This book critically examines multiple ways in which cultural diversity is, and has been represented and handled. It questions the construction of differences in doing culture while emphasizing the fluidity of cultural entanglements. It is an invitation to re-think norms, practices and negotiations of diversity and otherness, to distinguish emancipatory from standardizing approaches and to “transculturalize” the study and the politics of culture.

This peer-reviewed academic yearbook stems from the inaugural meeting of the newly formed UNESCO UNITWIN network on Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, held at the National Institute of Education, Singapore in April 2017. It presents international scholarly perspectives on issues related to arts education and cultural diversity in terms of: i) national and international policies; ii) terms, concepts and vocabularies; iii) current and ongoing research; and iv) best practices. The UNESCO UNITWIN is an arts education research think tank that gathers and leverages original research and critical commentaries on the arts and sustainable development from UNITWIN member states and beyond (Australia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the United States of America).

Based on papers originally presented at the conference Diversity, Otherness, and Pluralism in Italian Literature, Cinema, Language, and Pedagogy, held in Toronto, April 26-28, 2007.

Languaging Diversity: Identities, Genres, Discourses is a suggestive title for ‘another’ book in the field of linguistics, but what does it actually mean? By choosing to speak of Languaging Diversity and not just of difference, otherness, varieties, multiplicity, hybridity or alterity, the editors cover the whole range of meanings in the entire field of diversity. They do not wish to limit themselves by using such specific words with increasingly specialised connotations as Alterity or Other, but rather to allow an eclectic range of perspectives and issues to come to the fore. This volume brings together some of the manifold discourses emerging as bearers of the values of alterity, by exploring the thorny relationship between Language and Diversity. Drawing on the crucial assumption that speakers’ identities are dynamically negotiated as discourse unfolds, Languaging Diversity explores the wide theme of identity in discourse, an area of investigation which has become increasingly popular in recent years. A key theme in assembling this volume was that the relationship between diversity and identity cannot be alienated from the factual distribution of material resources in society. All contributions in the volume – carefully selected and peer reviewed – at least partially react to such critical scenery in order to explore the topics surrounding the modes in which diversity is linguistically articulated by and in discourse. The various studies deal with how individuals draw on linguistic resources to achieve, maintain or challenge representations pertaining to their cultural, social, ethnic, sexual, gender, professional, or institutional identities. The volume comprises six sections: In the News; In Politics; Constructing Identities; Across Generations and Genders; Ethnicities; and Popularising Ideas. Each section reflects the choice of the various topics through the employment of a variety of methodologies and a variety of theoretical frameworks. As such, this volume is an innovative attempt to challenge the present-day underpinnings of diversity studies.

Gender, Religion and Diversity provides an introduction to some of the most challenging perspectives in the contemporary study of gender and religion. In recent years, women's and gender studies have transformed the international study of religion through the use of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural methodologies, which have opened up new and highly controversial issues, challenging previous paradigms and creating fresh fields of study. As this book shows, gender studies in religion raises new and difficult questions about the gendered nature of religious phenomena, the relationship between power and knowledge, the authority of religious texts and institutions, and the involvement and responsibility of the researcher undertaking such studies as a gendered subject. This book is the outcome of an international collaboration between a wide range of researchers from different countries and fields of religious studies. The range and diversity of their contributions is the very strength of this book, for it shows how gendering works in studying different religious materials, whether foundational texts from the Bible or Koran, philosophical ideas about truth, essentialism, history or symbolism, the impact of French feminist thinkers such as Irigaray or Kristeva, or again critical perspectives dealing with the impact of race, gender, and class on religion, or by deconstructing religious data from a postcolonial critical standpoint or examining the impact of imperialism and orientalism on religion and gender.

‘Who am I?’ The answer to this question is one of the most important issues a human being has to address in life. This is a question about possessing the continuous self, about the internal concept of oneself as an individual. The self-defining process, the discovery of the self takes place in the context of culture and society. The impact of social experience is felt across the whole life-span. Socialization exerted by parents, family and friends, acculturation to stereotypes and limited and limiting roles, inheritance of local identity and cultural myths, acknowledgement of the legacy of history contribute to the formation of poly-identity comprised of personal, racial, national, group or gender identities. Unity in Diversity. Cultural Paradigm and Personal Identity is a collection of essays by scholars of multicultural experience who, by employing different interpretative strategies indicative of their different backgrounds and interests, explore the issues of difference and otherness, inclusion/exclusion and of multiple ethnic, cultural, gender, and national identities. Offering literary, cultural, social, and historical perspectives the collection will be of interest to readers studying contemporary literature, (popular) culture, gender studies, sociology, and history.