Globalisation and Cultural Identity: The Role of Intercultural Dialogue

Globalisation has affected the nature of the debate in intercultural dialogueIntercultural dialogue. It has resulted in structural and qualitative changes in education and policy, including an increasing focus on the ‘lifelong learning for all’, and a’ cradle-to-grave’ metaphor of learning in the global culture. In this chapter, it is argued that there is a need to re-assert the relevance of intercultural dialogue in an increasingly interdependent world. Discourses surrounding other cultures, nation-building. and identity politics can often lead us to identify and question beliefs and assumptions that are taken for granted, by making the familiar strange and the strange familiar, and questioning the ‘universality’ of our beliefs and assumptions. It is not sufficient to depict cultural differences in intercultural research, and there is now a need to re-discover to what degree such cultural differences can be ‘generalised’ across cultures. In particular, the issues to be addressed in future research should include: What kinds of roles do our perceptions concerning cultures, identity, and the nation-state play in intercultural dialogue and conflict analysis, and the relationship between globalisation, social change and emerging cultural values.