At the end of this fascinating semester, there are a lot of things that come to my mind: some of them are the output of learning and reflecting upon meeting, dialogue, interaction and research but the majority of them have been acquired through direct experience. As you know, the focus of our course was culture and above all the meeting between different cultures, which is summarized in the adjective “intercultural”.
To sum up, I would like to give you a list of short sentences representing my idea of culture and intercultural competence developed through the whole semester.
- culture is a complex and multi-layered concept;
- the idea of culture is quite flexible and subjective;
- there’s no objectivity in culture;
- culture is continuously changing broadening and narrowing its scope;
- culture belongs to us and lives through us;
- knowing a culture is a never-ending process;
- culture is something that you don’t know, but you experience;
- culture speaks through us;
- we’re made up of culture, or maybe different cultures... Why not?;
- being intercultural competent is a great challenge;
- There’s no right or wrong in culture;
- There’s no positive or negative in culture;
- To know my culture is the starting point to know other cultures;
- To know other cultures doesn't mean to reject you personal identity;
- Beign intercultural means to accept the challenge carried out by the contemporary world;
These are just some points but the list can be daily updated because culture and cultural clash are not only subjects we discuss at university but also realities we have to come to terms with every day of our life. As I said before, direct experience is the best teacher in this field.
I hope this post will give you some suggestion for further reflections but be careful or you'll run the risk of getting crazy dealing with such a complex and multifarious topic! ;-)
