The ambiguity of "Community" and the Chilean Cueca

Abstract

THIS paper focuses on the Chilean dance, the cueca, in order to suggest a framework for investigating cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. This latter theme was a recent topic of discussion at an Australian university-based Latin American colloquium in 2011 at the same time that events organised by the Latin American community in Australia were raising awareness of student unrest within Chile itself. With increasing research collaborations between Australia and Chile, along with a growing focus on internationalising the curriculum in the tertiary education sector, understanding the contemporary globalised environment brings with it ongoing challenges that require an understanding of cultural difference that goes beyond “cultural relativism”. [Introduction extract