Abstract
Interculturality is a complex notion that can mean different things to different people. What is more it can be tackled and discussed in many different ways. This chapter confronts what the authors consider to be imaginaries and misconceptions of intercultural competence today. These elements are opposed by summarizing points made in the previous chapters: There is a need to (1) place multiplicity at the centre of interculturality, (2) go beyond ‘Western’ discourses of culture (e.g. ‘Western orders’ of democracy), (3) consider differilitudes (the inconsistent but omnipresent enmeshment of difference and similitude), (4) take the ‘Collective ego’ into account (the hyphen between us and them), (5) (Re-)consider imaginaries and (6) Work from the continuum of failure–success. The authors also take notes of the main problems faced by those using the most ‘popular’ models of intercultural competence, available on the academic market and suggest ways of circumventing them. The chapter ends on a suggestion: maybe everybody is interculturally competent but we just don’t know it…
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. The University of Chicago Press.
Bauman, Z., & Raud, R. (2016). Practices of selfhood. Polity.
Bergson, H. (2002). Key writings. Continuum.
Eriksen, T. H. (2001). Between universalism and relativism: ‘A critique of the UNESCO concept of culture’. In J. K. Cowan, M.-B. Dembour, & R. A. Wilson (Eds.), Culture and rights. Anthropological perspectives (pp. 127–148). Cambridge University Press.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1952). Race and history. UNESCO.
Maffesoli, M. (1997). The time of the tribes. Sage.
Nynäs, P. (2001). Bakom Guds rug. En hermeneutisk ansats till interkulturell kommunikation och förståelse I industriella project. Åbo Akademi University Press.
Sagan, C. (2006). The varieties of scientific experience: A personal view of the search for god. Penguin Books.
Sen, A. (2007). Identity and violence: The illusion of destiny. Penguin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dervin, F., Sude, Yuan, M., Chen, N. (2022). Debunking Intercultural Competence. In: Interculturality Between East and West. Encounters between East and West. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8492-0_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8492-0_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-8491-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-8492-0
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)