Pogranicze, tożsamość, edukacja międzykulturowa

Abstract

In the outline that follows, which I have divided into three parts, (Borderlands - Identity - Multicultural education), I have attempted to highlight the problems for multicultural and intercultural education. The theory of multicultural communication, which formulates questions such as: „who are we, how do we live together, how do we cooperate with each other?", forms the theoretical basis for considering these problems. This theory has emerged from the cooperation of cultural and social anthropology with humanistic trends in psychology and pedagogy. The current situation of economic tensions and threats, instability of social and political life, seems to narrow the perception of others and the values that they represent. As a result, fundamental questions about cultural existence and interpersonal relations, tolerance and the humanisation of relationships should be asked more often. If is impossible to understand the cultural achievements of societies, uniess their customs and habits, their language, their Uterary and artistic creations, their historical traditions and their religious beliefs are understood. If we accept that future societies will be multicultural, I think it is essential to consider the following question on a regular basis: do we form our attitudes towards others on the basis of notions of strangeness and mistrust, and do we create closed and xenophobic attitudes in the process of what may be understood as education in the widest sense? In this connection, the fundamental task of education should be reaching out for mutual processes of acquaintance and understanding of differences, shaping mutually positive relationships, seeking out common, cultural roots and helping, at the same time, to put down roots in one's „private and personal homeland" . In the first part of this study, I have attempted to define and differentiate the borderland in geographical, cultural, interactional and personal terms. I have particularly stressed, that borderland areas release a kind of tolerance linked to freedom and responsibility, they create the conditions for dialogue and provide a challenge for modern education. However, we are only able to understand differences and to survive them, when we understand and value our own culture, as a resuIt of which we are able to make comparisons and relate it to others, not in categories of better - worse, but in terms of how strange, difficult to understand, interesting, curious, and stimulating etc. we may find them. Intercultural communication, which is the main aim of education, is the act of crossing the borders of one's own culture, and entering borderland areas and cultural crossroads in order to become a richer person within. Difficult global and lo cal problems show us that we should consciously direct our culture in this direction, so as to facilitate meeting others and holding a dialogue with them, and gaining a fuller understanding of other cultures, their symbols, institutions and behavior. In the second part of the study, which concerns identity and links personal elements with the central values of the group to which the individual belongs, I have paid particular attention to the process of identity formation in a region which has wide variations in religious beliefs and ethnic origins, and which may have a role in shaping the „person from the cultural borderlands". Feelings of identity enable the individual to function in a group, but a t the same time, to maintain a subjective awareness of his/her own distinctiveness and uniqueness. In the process of gaining a sense of identity, the individual identifies with the reference group through its value s (language, religion, customs and habits, historical traditions), which enables him/her to understand the place and role of the group, as well as embarking upon new social interactions. The complexity and multidimensional nature of identification and internalization influences the formation of a diffuse identity, which accepts to a greater or lesser degree and extent, the values of at least two cultural groups. In the third part, I have attempted to point to the principles and ideas of multicultural education, whose elements have been referred to above. I put forward new tasks for education in a pluralist society, educational strategies and directions for educational policy in selected countries, as well as considering schooling opportunities for minorities and the legal basis for their existence. My starting point was that the most appropriate approach to multicultural education would be to use multidimensional educational solutions, which should be influence d primarily by local communities, and depending on the needs and aspirations of minority groups, they would determine and promote solutions which would best satisfy them. In many instances a permanent place for ethnocentricism can be found in the process of education, with the aim of ensuring a feeling of security and adopting an identity that is rooted and anchored in one's "private homeland". Limitation and rejection of the cultural heritage of minority groups, unification and creation of a common culture, often releases feelings of aggression, destroys identity and leads to nationalism. Multicultural education as the process of a dialogue between cultures, would protect against globalization and homogeneity on the one hand, and against local nationalism on the other. Education would thus be „between" that which is found on the borders and would belong to two cultures, which interlock. It would shape openness and tolerance, rejecting feelings of cultural superiority in order to foster a process for the mutual exchange of values and cherishing a common cultural heritage. In its pluralist nature, culture is a treasure chest from which everyone may gain, enriching themselves individually in the sphere of perception, behavior and creativity. Isolationism and prejudice lead to oversimplification and easy criticism, they do not motivate anyone to attempt to extend their range of perceptions or to enter in to dialogue and cooperation with others. In aiming for the mutual enrichment of cultures, rejecting external steering and control, multicultural education permeates the very essence of cultures, and is a preparation for interactions in the form of a dialogue through the process of making mutual comparisons and references. It provides a training in „differentness" and „otherness", allows appropriate creation and modelling of one's own culture and at the same time, provides the opportunity for tolerance and respect for other cultures to be gained. The study outlined above is wide open in character and among others, its aims are to provide a preliminary description of the material to be considered by a seminar in the area of humanities. It also indicates the starting point for systematic research to determine the needs and areas of interest for multicultural education. I believe that this is likely to be of interest to all teachers and persons dealing with the care of young people, as well as a wide range scholars in the humanities, who see the need for, and believe in the possibility of change, innovation and modification in education in the widest sense. [Translation by Barbara Polityńska]