Interculturality as Paradigm to Promote Social and Environmental Sustainability
Anthony Le Duc
Leducsvd.arc@gmail.com103/37 Soi Ngamwongwan 30, Yaek 2, Thungsonghong, Laksi, Bangkok (Thailand)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5547-7127
Abstract
In today’s rapidly changing multicultural world characterized by numerous challenges ranging from geopolitical tensions and interreligious conflicts to environmental degradation, it is imperative to have a paradigm of cultural interaction that promotes social and environmental sustainability. Interculturality has emerged as a relevant framework for addressing these challenges. This paper explores the potential of interculturality to contribute to a more sustainable future by integrating social and ecological dimensions embedded in the paradigm. Therefore, this paper sets out to address the following: (1) Present the concept of interculturality and its relevance to the contemporary milieu; (2) Discuss the contribution of interculturality to promoting social sustainability; (3) Discuss the relationship between culture and nature; and (4) Discuss the potential of interculturality to contribute to environmental sustainability.
This paper contributes to ongoing discourse on interculturality by demonstrating not only its relevance to social sustainability but also its implications for environmental sustainability, including raising awareness about the impact of development on culturally significant natural areas, protecting indigenous communities’ rights, and valuing diverse cultural practices for biodiversity management, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive society that values all cultures.
Keywords:
interculturality, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, intercultural dialogue, intercultural competencyReferences
BARNHILL D., 2001, Relational Holism: Huayan Buddhism and Deep Ecology, Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Ground, eds. Barnhill D. and Gottlieb R., State University of New York Press, Albany: 77-106.
Google Scholar
BEKOFF M., 2000, Redecorating Nature: Reflections on Science, Holism, Community, Humility, Reconciliation, Spirit, Compassion, and Love, Human Ecology Review, 7(1): 59-67.
Google Scholar
BILAT Z., 2002, The Characteristics of Violent Religious Nationalism: A Case Study of Mabatha against Rohingya Mus-lim in Myanmar, Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies, 8(1): 89-110.
Google Scholar
BOFF L., 1997, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, Orbis Books, Maryknoll.
Google Scholar
CADINGPAL, B.B., 2022, ‘Tengaw’ Observance: Implications of the Kankanaeys’ COVID-19 Response for the New Normal, Church Communication in the New Normal: Perspectives from Asia and Beyond, ed. Le Duc A., ARC, Bangkok: 217-239.
Google Scholar
CAIN B., 2022, How Technology Embodies our Alienation from Nature, Medium, https://medium.com/illumination-curated/how-technology-embodies-our-alienation-from-nature-bf3525a35bb (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
CALLICOTT J.B., 1992, La Nature Est Morte, Vive la Nature!, Hastings Center Report, 22(5): 16-23.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3562137
Google Scholar
CASTRO R.G., 2021, Interculturality and Ecology, Becoming Intercultural: Perspectives on Mission, eds. Stanislaus L.T. and Tauchner C., Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New Delhi: 266-280.
Google Scholar
CHENG Y., GROYSBERG, B., 2021, Research: What Inclusive Companies Have in Common, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2021/06/research-what-inclusive-companies-have-in-common (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
CSIS, Deforestation Hits Home: Indigenous Communities Fight for the Future of Their Amazon, https://journalism.csis.org/deforestation-hits-home-indigenous-communities-fight-for-the-future-of-their-amazon/ (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
DEARDORFF D.K., 2006, Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Interna-tionalization at Institutions of Higher Education in the United States, Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3): 241-266.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306287002
Google Scholar
DEARDORFF D.K, RASARATNAM-SMITH A. (eds), 2017, Intercultural Competence in Higher Education: Interna-tional Approaches, Assessment and Application, Routledge, New York.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315529257-42
Google Scholar
DIETZ G., 2009, Multiculturalism, Interculturality and Diversity in Education: An Anthropological Approach, Waxamann, Münster.
Google Scholar
DIETZ G., 2018, Interculturality, The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, ed. Callan H., John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1629
Google Scholar
FEARON P.A., GÖTZ F.M., SERAPIO-GARCÍA G., GOOD D., 2021, Zero-Sum Mindset & Its Discontents, The Global Policy Forum, https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/zero-sum-mindset-and-its-discontents (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
FULLER P., 2018, The Narratives of Ethnocentric Buddhist Identity, Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, 20: 19-44.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18792/jbasr.v20i0.25
Google Scholar
GANELLI G., MIAKE N., 2016 (January/February), Foreign Help Wanted: Easing Japan’s Labor Shortage, Japan Spotlight: 24-27.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2659538
Google Scholar
GITTINS A.J., 2015, Living Mission Interculturality: Faith, Culture, and the Renewal of Praxis, Liturgical Press, Col-legeville, MN.
Google Scholar
HARRIS M., 2016, Animism and the Mixing of Religions, Radical, https://radical.net/article/animism-and-the-mixing-of-religions/ (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
HASRAT M.H., 2019, Over a Century of Persecution: Massive Human Rights Violation Against Hazaras in Afghanistan, Kabul Press, https://www.kabulpress.org/article240586.html (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
HUNT D., DIXON-FYLE S., PRINCE S., DOLAN K., 2020, Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters, McKinsey and Company, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/diversity%20and%20inclusion/diversity%20wins%20how%20inclusion%20matters/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters-vf.pdf (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
HURN B.J., TOMALIN, B, 2013, Key Thinkers in Cross-Cultural Communication, Cross-Cultural Communication, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230391147
Google Scholar
KISALA R., 2009, Formation for Intercultural Life and Mission, Verbum SVD, 50(39): 331-345.
Google Scholar
JAKES L., 2022 (March 21), Myanmar’s Military Committed Genocide Against Rohingya, U.S. Says, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/us/politics/myanmar-genocide-biden.html (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
KUMAR A., MALLA M.A., DUBEY A., 2020 (September), With Corona Outbreak: Nature Started Hitting the Reset Button Globally, Front Public Health, 8: 1-10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.569353
Google Scholar
LUZBETAK L., 1988, Church and Cultures, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY.
Google Scholar
MATTHEWS F., 1991, The Ecological Self, Barnes and Noble Books, Savage, MD.
Google Scholar
PEARCE M., 2011, Accommodating the Discarnate: Thai Spirit Houses and the Phenomenology of Place, Material Reli-gion, 7 (3): 344-372.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2752/175183411X13172844495939
Google Scholar
PETERSON K., 2020, A World Not Made for Us: Topics in Critical Environmental Philosophy, SUNY Press, New York.
Google Scholar
PIETRZAK D., 2016. Interculturality and Internationality: A Utopia or a Constructive Tension for a Franciscan Missi-ology, Paper given at the International Missionary Congress OFM Conv, Cochin, India.
Google Scholar
PLUMWOOD V., 1998, Wilderness Skepticism and Wilderness Dualism, The Great New Wilderness Debate, ed. Cal-licott J.B. and Nelson M.P., University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA: 652-690.
Google Scholar
POPE FRANCIS, 2015, Laudato Si’, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
PRETTY J., PILGRIM S., 2008 (September/October), Nature and Culture, Resurgence and Ecologist, https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2629-nature-and-culture.html#:~:text=NATURE%20AND%20CULTURE %20converge%20in,a%20change%20in%20the%20other (6.10.2023).
Google Scholar
TREISMAN R., 2022, The Last Member of a Tribe in Brazil Has Died, Pulling Indigenous Rights into Focus, NPR, https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1119939392/last-member-uncontacted-tribe-dies-brazil#:~:text=Press-,’Man%20of%20 the%20Hole%2C’%20the%20last%20member%20of%20his,rights%20are%20on%20the%20ballot (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
ROLSTON III, H., 1999, Nature and Culture in Environmental Ethics, Ethics: The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, ed. Brinkmann K., Philosophy Documentation Center, Bowling Green, OH: 151-158.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/wcp20199919
Google Scholar
SCHAEFFER J.M., 2010, La Fin de L’exception Humaine, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, Moscow.
Google Scholar
SHIN G., and MOON R., 2019, Korea’s Migrants: From Homogeneity to Diversity, Asian Survey, 59(4): 595–606.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2019.59.4.595
Google Scholar
SPRADLEY J., 2012, Ethnography and Culture, Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology, eds. Spra-dley J. and McCurdy D.W., Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey: 6-12.
Google Scholar
STANISALAUS L.T., TAUCHNER C. (eds.). 2021, Becoming Intercultural: Perspectives in Mission, ISPCK, New Delhi.
Google Scholar
SUMNER W.G., 1906, Folkways, Ginn, New York.
Google Scholar
SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, ND., How Will We Survive?, https://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/ 1683/how-will-we-survive.pdf (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
THE WORLD COUNTS, 2023, Consumption. Transport and tourism. Negative environmental impacts of tourism, https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/transport-and-tourism/negative-environmental-impacts-of-tourism (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
THICH NHAT HANH, 1988, The Path of Compassion: Writing on Socially Engaged Buddhism Parallax, Berkeley, CA.
Google Scholar
UNESCO, 2005, The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, https://en.unesco.org/creativity/sites/creativity/files/passeport-convention2005-web2.pdf (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
UNESCO, 2022, We Need to Talk: Measuring Intercultural Dialogue for Peace and Inclusion, UNESCO, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000382874 (10.06.2023).
Google Scholar
Authors
Anthony Le DucLeducsvd.arc@gmail.com
103/37 Soi Ngamwongwan 30, Yaek 2, Thungsonghong, Laksi, Bangkok Thailand
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5547-7127
Statistics
Abstract views: 221PDF downloads: 902