The Idea of Culture Is Worn Out

Abstract

The concept of culture appears to be a first logical term to consider when dealing with interculturality. Although it has been discussed umpteen times in the literature (especially from ‘Western’ perspectives), there still remain a lot of mysteries around what it is and how it fits into the idea of interculturality. The authors thus propose to examine how the concept is used in the Chinese context by observing its omnipresence in a bookstore, to see if we can get new inspiration from it. They note that the word is as unstable as it is in the ‘West’—with potential misunderstandings when translating it from Chinese to English—but the way it is framed can help those working on interculturality to reconsider certain (critical) aspects of discourses of culture. The chapter ends with advice as to what could be done with it—the original meaning of the Chinese word for culture being put forward as an element to consider.