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Cultural psychology and interculturality
Tuesday 27 November 2012 at 20,30
According to cultural psychology, every human action is the outcome of artificial factors that shape the relation between people and environment. This concept of "culture" has recently been extended by the, often complementary, idea of "customs" in the context of "shared, criticized and traded" tales. Interculturality perceives "customs" as areas of exchange, change and contamination. This perspective takes for granted the respect for "the other" and it is not compatible with the presumption of moral superiority in comparison to other cultural groups (ethnocentrism). To overcome ethnocentrism it is necessary to create a "global" history, showing respect to the motives of "others" that is now missing in our schools. The elaboration of such tales, about "global history", would enhance the development of a new citizenship awareness, of a "new us" that goes beyond current stereotypes (native-immigrants, italian-german, etc). This would require a profoundly self-judgmental attitude: "the past is fruitful, not when it nourishes resentment but when it compels our transformation because of its bitter taste" (Todorov, 1996).
Giuseppe Mantovani
He has held courses of Social Psychology, Social Psychology and Inteculturality at the Universities of Milan and Padua. He was the founder and director of the Virtual Reality laboratories, "Interaction and Culture", at the department of General Psychology of the Padua University. He has been national coordinator of various national and european research projects. His work is focused on fighting prejudice against immigrants and promoting intercultural education. He has published a number of articles on various international and national journals as well as books in both italian and english, among which "Intercultura" (2004, Il Mulino), "L'elefante invisibile" (2005 2 ed., Giunti) and "Spezzando ogni cuore. Dal Messico di Cortez alla Roma dell'Inquisizione" (2012), self-published on "Ilmiolibro" and available also in ebook version (more info on
www.spezzandoognicuore.it)
Cristina Zucchermaglio
She teaches at the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology at the University of Rome "Sapienza" where she is also the coordinator of the PhD program in Psychology of Interaction, Communication and Socialization. Her research work is taking place in the LInC (Laboratory of Interaction and Culture) at the Department of Psychology of Development Processes and Socialization. Her research interest is mainly focused on action and awareness in interaction within the cultural context of every day life (school, hospitals, organizations, athletic teams, families). Her publications include: Vygotsji in azienda, Carocci (1996), Psicologia culturale dei Gruppi, Carocci (2002), (con F. Alby) Psicologia culturale delle organizzazioni, Carocci (2006), (con F. Alby) Gruppi e tecnologie al lavoro, Laterza (2005).
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