As we know, 2008 has been declared the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. This issue of DialogWeb examines intercultural dialogue in a broad sense. We venture beyond Europe in our scrutiny and take a look at differences in work and organizational cultures.
An interview with Brita Lønstrup offers an interesting insight into how an experienced pedagogue works towards enabling conversations about cultural differences and similarities (as she prefers calling it instead of “intercultural dialogue“). According to Brita Lønstrup, such conversations must be linked to specific situations in order to be meaningful. She gives some practical advice, too: for instance, the situations which serve as a basis for these conversations must be planned in such a way that they are very concrete.
Norwegians have made a bold decision to look as far afield as Malaysia for inspiration in intercultural matters. Indeed, Malaysian experiences of dealing with everyday racism provide some very useful examples that make this article well worth reading! Malaysians use films as a basis for dialogue, and film and theatre are at the heart of the Swedish project “Home not Home”, too. The project is touring the country with a stage adaptation of the film Head-on, which will be performed in 24 locations. As well as the project, this article introduces us to the concept of “inbetween-ness“ (mellanförskap) and points out the enormous potential of volunteer organisations in the integration of recently arrived immigrants.
This year’s winner of the Grundtvig Award, too, works with similar issues. The Turkish project ”Professionals Experience Integration in Turkey” is an exciting experiment with role reversal. Read more at www.eaea.org.
Our Finnish contribution is an interview with Anna Kirstinä, who works as education producer at the KSL Civic Association for Adult Learning. Anna offers some good advice to everyone who is starting a Nordic cooperation project. For instance, she cautions us against believing that we always share the same view of what central concepts, like the folk high school and folkbildning, actually mean.
From the Åland islands we have an interesting portrait of Heresh Hassani, an Iranian kurd who arrived in the islands as a refugee in 2005 with his wife. He stresses the importance of social participation as an aid to integration and points out that daily social contacts through work or studies make participation easier. This issue’s Icelandic articles offer an introduction to WOMEN (Women Of Multicultural Ethnicity Network) and an interview with a Russian immigrant teacher.
The Danish article Må jeg få dit netværk? (May I have your network?) conveys observations and conclusions that partly challenge popular beliefs related to how older and younger workers tackle challenges at the workplace. Here we are dealing with another kind of cultural diffences. We may return to this subject next year, as 2009 has been declared the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.
The Estonian article Looking for Sharing and Support gives DialogWeb’s readers valuable information about minorities living in Estonia and about the dialogue between Estonia’s different cultures.
In short – this issue of DialogWeb has lots to offer. I hope it brings you joy in the November darkness!