Interculturality: Practice Meets Research

Interculturality has always been a part of the human condition, but in an era of accelerating globalization, questions of interculturality have become crucial. The literature on interculturality tends to focus on aspects of interculturality, rather than consider the problem as a whole. We promote a holistic view of interculturality and bring together diverse context-specific strategies to get a more comprehensive meta-perspective on interculturality, such that the knowledge and experience gained at one intercultural border may be applied at another. By attempting to bridge the gap between practice and research in different areas of interculturality, we aim to create a platform for the intercultural exchange of both practices and knowledge, and to promote dialogue between practitioners and researchers of all kinds. The book is based on contributions to the first Conference on Applied Interculturality Research (cAIR), which was held at the University of Graz, Austria, from 7 to 10 April 2010. cAIR aims to promote constructive intercultural communication and understanding and to combat racism and xenophobia. This book aims to makes the concept and content of cAIR accessible to a wider public and to provide NGOs, politicians and researchers in all areas of interculturality, as well as the general public, with an accessible overview of possible research/practice exchanges and models for mixed communities of practice in academia and politics.