When differences coexist. Teaching diversity as a challenge for Polish philology courses

Abstract

The aim of the article is to examine the conditions of educational processes which need to be opened for external integration which greatly modifies the sense of community identity. These processes concern the social behaviour in certain symbolic spaces of multicultural world, and they include one’s respect towards social and political values, acceptance of laws and duties of single people towards a nation and international organisations, as well as the rules of responsible social coexistence. The need to learn how to live in the world of diversity causes that intercultural education needs to be seen as an important educational aim of any type of school. The author’s arguments include the discourse on the essence of inclusive identity, the current research on regionalism; the arguments highlight the notion of tolerance, the acceptance of the Other, and the intercultural dialogue. The author establishes the conditions of introducing cultural difference into “one’s own thinking”. She also demonstrates practical opportunities of making use of literature of cultural encounters in primary and high schools. Comparative approach – comparing literary texts and phenomena taken from various cultural spheres – includes examples from painting, sculpture, architecture and music. Such method guides the students and takes them through various areas or spheres “in between”; as a result, the method may facilitate creative thinking about one’s culture and that of the others. Intercultural ideas are an integral element of cultural education of contemporary students of all levels of education; so far there has been no alternative to them.