Nowe wyzwania edukacji międzykulturowej w kontekście współczesnych dylematów wokół kreowania społeczeństwa wielokulturowego

Abstract

The author argues that basing upon the former diagnoses concerning multiculturalism and the results of the previous ideology and its practice, i.e. multicultural policy, it is necessary to work out a new concept of culture and knowledge about ourselves and others. This should be realized as a part of intercultural education which rapidly develops nowadays. In the context of the above, dilemmas of creating multicultural societies in Western European countries are presented. The examples of megalomania, xenophobia, fanaticism and nationalism are given from Podlaskie Voivodeship, through the Lithuanian, Byelorussian and Ukrainian borderlands, to the problems with multiculturalism in France and Great Britain. The author attempts to search for the reasons and causes of the above, while referring to the concept of the principie of reverence for life conceptualized by Albert Schweitzer. Moreover, the effects of political correctness, tolerance and cultural relativism are analyzed and evaluated. As a result, the author indicates the norms which should be present in intercultural education and while creating multicultural society. The mentioned norms are e.g.: learning to be oneself, experiencing the others and being able to act together.