Interculturalism is a political movement that supports cross-cultural dialogue and challenging self-segregation tendencies within cultures.John Nagle, Multiculturalism's Double-Bind: Creating Inclusivity Cosmopolitanism and Difference. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009. P. 169. Interculturalism involves moving beyond mere passive acceptance of multiple cultures existing in a society and instead promotes dialogue and interaction between cultures. Interculturalism is often used to describe the set of relations between indigenous and

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

ideals, grounded in values of mutual respect.

Origin

Interculturalism has arisen in response to criticisms of existing policies of

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

, such as criticisms that such policies had failed to create inclusion of different cultures within society, but instead have divided society by legitimizing segregated separate communities that have isolated themselves and accentuated their specificity. It is based on the recognition of both differences and similarities between cultures.Hans van Ewijk. ''European Social Policy and Social Work: Citizenship-Based Social Work''. Oxon, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2010. P. 136. It has addressed the risk of the creation of absolute

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...

within

postmodernity Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in th ...

and in multiculturalism. Interculturalism has been used as a tool of Native American and indigenous rights activists to achieve rights and recognition.

Definition

Philosopher

Martha Nussbaum Martha Nussbaum (; Craven; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philos ...

in her work ''Cultivating Humanity'', describes interculturalism as involving "the recognition of common human needs across cultures and of dissonance and critical dialogue within cultures" and that interculturalists "reject the claim of

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

that only members of a particular group have the ability to understand the perspective of that group".Femi James Kolapo. ''Immigrant Academics and Cultural Challenges in a Global Environment''. Amherst, New York, USA: Cambria Press, 2008. P. 134. Anthropologist Joanne Rappaport describes interculturalism as consisting of three main threads: a method of connection, a political philosophy aimed at creating utopian indigenous citizenship, and a challenge to traditional ethnography. Rappaport discusses the importance of interculturalism in the Colombian Indigenous movement for human rights and recognition.

Usage

Interculturalism has been included in different national constitutions across Latin America, including Bolivia, Ecuador (2008), Brazil, and across Europe. Colombia includes the concept of multiculturalism and pluriethnic citizenship in its 1991 constitution. The Ecuadorian constitution has been described as in between both multiculturalism and interculturalism. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' agency

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

adopted the

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is an international treaty adopted in October 2005 in Paris during the 33rd session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific a ...

in 2005, which declares support for interculturalism. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, all universities are required to have a section on

intercultural competence Cultural competence, also known as intercultural competence, is a range of cognitive, affective, behavioral, and linguistic skills that lead to effective and appropriate communication with people of other cultures. Intercultural or cross-cultura ...

in their

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

programs, that involves students being able to be open to listen and communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds, have knowledge of the backgrounds of cultural groups, knowledge of existing stereotypes and prejudices involving cultural groups, and other criteria. Salman Cheema, the Head of Marketing and Communications of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, in an article titled "From Multiculturalism to Interculturalism – A British perspective", spoke of an event co-hosted by the British Council and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

on April 11, 2013, interculturalist advocate Phil Wood declared that multiculturalism has faced serious problems that need to be resolved through interculturalism, and rejected those opponents of multiculturalism who seek to restore a pre-multiculturalist monoculturalist society. Several days later in Montreal, the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) declared support for interculturalism in the preamble of its constitution adopted its federal convention held in Montreal on April 14, 2013.

Intercultural Health

Intercultural health applies the concepts of interculturalism to health settings. It involves conceptualizing health itself as part of a broader cultural framework. Intercultural health defines what counts as "health" as outside purely biomedicine. In many cases, intercultural health is an approach that seeks to reduce gaps between indigenous health and

biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

health systems. Indigenous health systems, sometimes grouped in with

alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...

, often involve different kinds of healers, plant medicine techniques, holistic medicine, and indigenous knowledge that has been passed down through generations. Intercultural health systems often state the goal of creating better health outcomes in indigenous communities and generating mutual respect between biomedical practitioners and indigenous healers. The implementation of intercultural health practices is associated with the project of decentralizing health systems, especially in Latin America. Ecuadorian epidemiologist and physician Jaime Breilh is a proponent of intercultural health for its benefits on population health.

Structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who intr ...

, a term developed by American medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer, describes a lack of available health care as a form of

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

. Supporters of intercultural health care models cite addressing structural violence as a goal. The goal of many intercultural health models is to treat indigenous knowledge with the same respect as biomedicine. Intercultural health models have been associated with improved health outcomes in indigenous communities. Effective intercultural health projects involve buy-in from all cultures represented. Anthropologist Catherine Walsh describes the concept of "critical interculturality." She defines this as using indigenous concepts to question the existing structure and advance epistemic change. This type of change requires what anthropologist Linda Tuhiwai Smith calls decolonizing methodologies, which call for a reconsideration of what counts as knowledge. There are examples of intercultural health projects that do not fully incorporate indigenous methodologies and instead continue to perpetuate the western

hegemonic Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' ...

order. Intercultural health projects often involve connecting

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

, or ancestral medicine, or indigenous medicine, with western,

biomedicine Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

. A series of case studies highlight intercultural health projects that integrate biomedicine with traditional medicine, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Intercultural health education is a priority at the medical school in the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Quito, Ecuador. Intercultural education models have been built into schools in many indigenous communities across the Americas with the goal of passing down aspects of the particular indigenous practices and culture. These are often focused on language acquisition. Peru and Ecuador have both implemented intercultural indigenous language acquisition programs. Intercultural health concepts applied in United States biomedical settings are often called cultural competency. The explanatory model, the original framework of cultural competency, was developed by Arthur Kleinman. It is a technique grounded in a set of questions that providers can use to understand how a patient understands their own illness. This model has been applied in many US medical schools. Intercultural health projects are seen as distinct from culturally competent ones because of their goal in achieving indigenous political rights and reframing knowledge bases to include indigenous concepts. One of the criticisms of the cultural competency model is that it can create biases among health providers, who might begin to treat patients differently because of their cultural background, without allowing for heterogeneity within a cultural group. It can also lead to worse health outcomes in minority groups when health care providers make assumptions about patients' health behaviors and histories based on their race, ethnicity, or culture. The concept of "witnessing" was developed by Ellen Davenport as a way to overcome cultural competency stereotyping.

Reception

Interculturalism has both supporters and opponents amongst people who endorse multiculturalism. Gerald Delanty views interculturalism as capable of incorporating multiculturalism within it. Ali Rattansi, in his book ''Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction'' (2011) argues that Interculturalism offers a more fruitful way than conventional multiculturalism for different ethnic groups to co-exist in an atmosphere that encourages both better inter-ethnic understanding and civility; he provides useful examples of how interculturalist projects in the UK have shown in practice a constructive way forward for promoting multi-ethnic civility. Based on a considerable body of research, he also sets out the outlines of a new interpretation of global history which shows that concepts of tolerance are not restricted to the West, and that what is usually regarded as a unique Western cultural achievement should more appropriately be regarded as a

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

n achievement. He thus offers a more interculturalist view of global history which undermines notions of 'a clash of civilisations'. In contrast, Nussbaum views interculturalism as distinct from multiculturalism and notes that several humanities professors have preferred interculturalism over multiculturalism because they view multiculturalism as being "associated with relativism and identity politics". The extent to which the principles of intercultural health are protected in practice under the Ecuadorian constitution are questioned by academics. Some argue that interculturalism creates a binary, whereas pluriculturalism is more inclusive alternative.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cultural concepts Social philosophy Cultural exchange