We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.
Multiculturalism is a concept subjected to diverse interpretations. In fact, the subject Multiculturalism and Intercultural Dialogue that students from second year of Modern Languages, Modern Languages and Management, Basque Filology and Humanities from the University of Deusto are attending, has clearly highlighted its ambiguity, taking as its main goal to make the students think of social and cultural diversity as integral components of human condition.
This course contributes to the consolidation of students´ profile by showing them that nowadays reality in most Western countries is highly diverse and multicultural and that this ethnic diversity has produced all kinds of new socio-cultural phenomena.
In order to attend this subject (in English at least) some requirements are essential, as it is pointed out in the programme of the subject itself, such as: very good command of English language or ethnical sense. In order to carry out this aim, Aitor Ibarrola, the lecturer of the subject, has provided students with a wide range of articles, reports and books.
Among the reports read, those of authors such as Max Weber (“What´s an ethnic group?”), Stuart Hall, Francis Fukuyama (“Identity and Migration”) or John Rex (“Nationalism, multiculturalism and migration”) can be found.
Equally, some works from Aitor Ibarrola himself have been seen. For instance: “Identity, Representation, Interethnic Relations and Discrimination”. Not only that, Aitor Ibarrola has also provided the lecture of his book “Entre dos Mundos“, which, in this own words, ” tries to give place to a series of dialogues among its readers” (page 12) , “to offer a breag historic panorama of the inmigration phenomena” (page 14) and “to deepen on the knowledge of a series of models and concepts that are sometimes wrongly used by the citizens” (page 15).
Moreover, other literary books have been read: “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston or “In the Skin of a Lion” by Michael Ondaatje.
REFERENCES:
- Wikipedia. Retrieved December 15th, 2010 from www.wikipedia.org
- Alyssa Ciekutis (2010, December). “The positive and negatives aspects of diversity”. Retrieved December 20th, 2010 from http://helium.com/items/584063-the-positive-and-negative-aspects-of-diversity
- Aitor Ibarrola-Armendariz. “Entre dos Mundos”, Ediciones Mensajero 2005.
- Aitor Ibarrola-Armendariz. Multiculturalism and Interethnic Studies, 2010. University of Deusto.
- Romina Mascetti (2010, February 2nd). “Educación Multicultural”. Retrieved December 15th, 2010 from http://www.eliceo.com/general/educacion-multicultural.html
- Pictures: Google images.
Filed under: Humanities, Multiculturality, Web Communication 
