GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
«Today’s societies are searching for models and practices that will permit them to live together in
harmony. Despite the difficulty of the task, efforts continue to be made in this direction throughout
the world. It is the combination of these efforts and a better knowledge of one another that will
make this type of harmonious cohabitation increasingly feasible.
This book takes stock of such efforts by examining the resources shared by a diversity of
organizations from all spheres of society working to develop rapprochement, dialogue and social
justice within a context of affirmed pluralism. Central to our reflection is intercultural dialogue, as it is
shaped by the societies and cultures that implement it and disseminate its various manifestations
through myriad-shared resources. Internet-based dissemination is part and parcel of contemporary
cultures, and constitutes an extension thereof. Mapping shared resources also means looking at
how cultures understand rapprochement and dialogue based on their own identities and actions.
Contemporary cultural theories acknowledge the role of the internet in forming and renewing
cultures. A few years ago, Ulf Hannerz2
ably showed how, now more than ever, we form a sort of
interconnected network, a new ecumene, of which the internet is a key part. Studying the efforts
made toward rapprochement and dialogue in various regions of the world via a tool such as the
internet has everything to do with this ecumene to which we now belong. Although the priorities
and concrete means implemented in different regions of the world are always subject to debate –
as they involve ways of coming to an understanding together in order to ‘make society’ – beyond
the debate there are experiments being made. It is to these experiments that we wish to draw
attention in the following pages.
The research presented in this book is based on a project initiated by UNESCO and by an
international committee that examined the best resources created to foster cultural rapprochement
and intercultural dialogue. The committee had two goals. The first was to collaboratively research
the resources that best represent efforts undertaken by various regions of the world in these
two domains. The committee was composed of Lupwishi Mbuyamba, Professor and Executive
Director at the Observatory for Cultural Policies in Africa, in charge of Africa; Sélim El Sayegh,
Professor at the University of Paris-Saclay and Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Disputes
and their Modes of Settlement (CADMOS), in charge of the Arab states; Qiao Wang, Consultant,
in charge of Asia and the Pacific; Francine Saillant, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Laval
University and Director of the Centre de recherches en cultures-arts-sociétés (Center for Research
in Cultures-Arts-Societies) (CELAT), in charge of Europe and North America; and Lázaro Israel
Rodríguez Oliva, Consultant, Transformatorio cultural para el desarrollo, in charge of Latin America
and the Caribbean. This book is a reflection of their work. The second goal of the committee was to
compile some of the best electronic resources available today, and to feature them on a dynamic
and informative website platform3
that would make them easy to consult and maximize their
potential for sharing knowledge on the most inspiring practices. (...). Continue a ler na pg. 10.
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