Book review of "Education and Intercultural Identity. A Dialogue between Zygmunt Bauman and Agostino Portera" by Z. Bauman and A. Porter

Marta Milani

English

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Bauman Z., & Portera A.,  Education and Intercultural Identity.  A Dialogue between Zygmunt Bauman  and Agostino Portera,  London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 73Marta Milani*The book, edited and introduced by Riccardo Mazzeo, is a result of a joint reflection between two eminent scholars – Zygmunt Bauman, the father of ‘Liquid Modernity’, and Agostino Portera, Full Professor of Inter-cultural Education at the Centre for Intercultural Studies of the University of Verona (Italy), on some of the greatest challenges of the present time such as the risks and opportunities of globalization and global interdepen-dence.The book has four chapters, each of which follows a significant dialectic process that reflects the authors’ differing critical perspectives: Bauman’s tendency is to affirm the more critical and sober aspects, whereas Portera displays optimism: he offers an analysis of some serious current issues, but also urges readers to focus on the positive side of contemporary events – such as global ecological issues, and especially pollution and biodiversity loss – and reminds us not to lose sight of the opportunities emerging from our complex present times, especially since they are being hopefully revi-ved in a pedagogical and intercultural setting.Bauman and Portera specifically underline the main changes of the third millennium. First among these is the greatly accelerated mobility – both in the real and the virtual sense – of goods, capital and people. These chan-ges have led to the shrinking of distances, greater mobility, the expansion and diversification of migratory flows and, consequently, encounters – and sometimes clashes – with diversity, the most tangible example of which is perhaps linguistic and cultural diversity. The close daily proximity of dif-ferent languages, religions, ethnicities and ways of life may indeed create an ambiance of anxiety and mutual suspicion, where the psychological side effect is mixophobia – the “horror of mixing and the urge for territo-rial separation” (p. 25). In this regard, the authors point out how cultural relativism – what Bauman defines as ‘boutique multiculturalism’, i.e. mul-ticulturalism characterized by “its superficial or cosmetic relationship to the object of its affection [where] multiculturalists admire or appreciate, or enjoy or sympathize with, or [...] recognize the legitimacy of the traditions of cultures other than their own” (p. 26) – risks ending up in unlimited 1 * Università degli Studi di Verona (Italia).Civitas educationis, a. XI, n. 1, giugno 2022 • Mimesis Edizioni, Milano-Udine Web: universitypress.unisob.na.it/ojs/index.php/civitaseducationis • ISSN (online): 2281-9568 • ISBN: 9788857597386 • DOI: 10.7413/2281-9568035© 2022 – MIM EDIZIONI SRL. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-4.0).Civitas educationis – Education, Politics and Culture340permissiveness or incommunicability. Cultural pluralism thus develops a theory of differences which is limited to the theoretical-descriptive level and does not consider other possibilities of dialogue, interaction and chan-ge – a distinctive feature of the intercultural approach. Furthermore: Bauman and Portera emphasise that a properly intercul-tural reading should take into account “the injustices of the status quo” (p. 31), i.e. the inequalities thought of as by-products of certain econo-mic systems, histories, beliefs, distortions and competition. In this regard, questions of power and agency must be addressed if meaningful change is to take place, given that systems of oppression need to be transformed on multiple levels, including the institutional, societal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels. The authors believe that it is essential to feel outrage at the dynamics of oppression and the invisible power of alienating do-mestication, in a process which, pedagogically speaking and devoid of the temptation towards hatred or the practice of violence, hinges on dialogue-based, democratic and humanizing education. While multiculturalism calls on people from different cultural backgrounds to coexist more or less pe-acefully, interculturalism instead assumes the existence of relationships; it rejects the hierarchisation and staticity of positions, histories and personal backgrounds (especially in the social and economic sense) and, ultimately, of individual cultures and identities. And Bauman and Portera devote an entire chapter to the very theme of ‘identity’, since “one’s perception of one’s own identity has now been completely changed as a result of the crisis in the systems of belonging and inclusion caused by the [...] weakening (and sometimes disintegration) of the structures of local communities” (p. 54). What is missing, however, is a space for constructive dialogue, discussion and sharing of values; proces-ses that are all necessary in order to create a community and keep it alive. According to Bauman, local populations are far from being incubators of community spirit – that ‘warm circle’ referred to by Rosemberg, or the ‘mu-tual understanding’ of Tönnies members; they are, rather, a hotch-potch of entities often devoid of significant mutual ties. The points of reference or orientation that characterise a stable social environment are lacking, and this accentuates a tendency not to put down roots anywhere. This is an issue which, among other things, increases in complexity as it interweaves with another particularly pressing theme in this era of time-space compres-sion: virtual mobility. The Internet and its perpetual flux has complicated all notions of belonging, identity and uniqueness. It has standardised the infinite potential of individuals, sparking a craze for temporary and ma-nufactured identities. In fact, what we are seeing in virtual spaces is a loss of the ability to deal with the other – a process that is perceived and con-sidered as a fungible element in the achievement of any goal. What results is a sphere of action that is created not democratically, but through the de-individualisation and disintegration of social solidarity networks. Such processes can reduce the effectiveness of people’s inner rules of behaviour since, unlike in the offline environment, the person feels they are totally in Bauman Z., & Portera A., Education and Intercultural Identity – M. Milani 341control and in command: “[...] the network belongs to me: I have selected its members, I have the power to establish (and modify at will) the degree of their importance, and I assign to each of them their role” (p. 62). Com-pared with the inescapable discomforts and inconveniences of reality, the apparent safety of a network seems to offer what Bauman calls a ‘seducti-ve, comfortable shelter’ accompanied by the tempting promise of immuni-ty from harsh demands and excruciating quandaries and dilemmas. What ensures this immunity are the core features of the web itself, i.e. speed of exchange, anonymity and authorship.Portera’s solution is rooted in the assumptions of intercultural educa-tion and is based on an open, dynamic construct of identity that is willing and able “to adapt to constant change; a strong and stable identity that displays ‘humility’ when confronted with diversity and otherness” (p. 57). Bauman echoes this, suggesting that the term ‘identity’ should be replaced by a process of ‘identification’ and ‘re-identification’, a convoluted, con-torted and in no way straightforward process of social interaction where identities are not assigned but are, rather, seen as tasks to be performed, rarely ever being completed and wound up. It is an exhortation that is also manifested in the final pages of the book, in the authors’ invitation to invest more in education, in all forms and in all places, “starting with the family, continuing in school and extending to the workplace, politics, the public sphere and mass media” (p. 70). Intercultural education could be considered the ideal model, since it sits between universalism (education of the human being, regardless of skin colour, language, culture or religion) and relativism (which is the right to equality beyond any differences). It contemplates both opportunities and limitations, but transcends them and creates a new synthesis, with improved chances of dialogue and exchange. Alongside education, Portera handles diversity by stressing the importan-ce of acquiring intercultural competences “in order to face the inevitable conflicts related to increasing mobility, interdependence, and cultural com-plexity” (p. 70).It is an excellent and useful book that can raise awareness of this new approach for recognising the opportunities and risks of the present time and, above all, for formulating pedagogically-oriented solutions, not only in education, but also in the fields of social work, business, health care, and mass media.

Bauman Z., & Portera A., Education and Intercultural Identity. A Dialogue between Zygmunt Bauman and Agostino Portera

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Bauman Z., & Portera A., Education and Intercultural Identity. A Dialogue between Zygmunt Bauman and Agostino Portera

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