Education concerned with the intercultural “borderland effect” (a panorama of humanistic tropes and profiles in a retrospect)

The text comprises a normative concern for the educational “borderland effect”. Within the hermeneutical circle, there are: (1) M. Bakhtin’s semiotics of culture and the idea of “borderland effect” as a developmental mechanism increasing the polyphonic dynamics and value of the Other; (2) an analogy to the “decentration” mechanism according to J. Piaget and J. Habermas and the idea of dialogue inspired by H.–G. Gadamer; (3) M. Buber’s idea of two types of faith and difficulties of ecumenism; (4) H. Hesse’s idea of spiritual awakening and inner transformation; (5) the types of adaptation to the complexity of interactions and the vision of identity as “the third value”, following D. Mostwin’s analysis of the Polish emigration in the USA; (6) difficulties with the borderland effect in creating Polish schools in Latvia in D. Urlińska’s experiment; (7) F. Znaniecki’s concern to eliminate intercultural antagonisms; (8) normative strategies towards tradition, freedom and change, as diversified attitudes towards differences and the “borderland effect”; (9) the coupling of interests of the disabled in integrated schools as a borderland problem; (10) the concept of the “borderland order” as a mechanism of sustainability and oscillation in dual integration with shifting the local dominants; (11) B. Skarga’s cultural attitude open to irony, withdrawing cultural persuasiveness. The “borderland effect” brings change of the cultural “meta-pattern” for education. The analyses conducted by M. Mead and F. Znaniecki imply the intercultural education open to differences between the young, against the pressure of antagonisms of the world of adult people.

Tadeusz Lewowicki’s pedagogical project of multiculturalism in the context of questions about Conditio Humana

The presented article is the continuation of my research on Tadeusz Lewowicki’s pedagogical thought. Earlier, I focused on recognizing the concept of a human being and how it exists in T. Lewowicki’s scientific work as a pedagogical reflection. In this text, I make an attempt to embed pedagogical thoughts on a human being in the context of Tadeusz Lewowicki’s reflections on multiculturalism. My aim is to retry to recognize a human being (in the political project of multiculturalism) through questions about Conditio Humana. The context is provided by Hanna Arendt’s selected reflections on human condition as something closely (un)related to a human being and politics. The text is composed of three parts: the first introduces the issue of multiculturalism which is always a creation of a human being and politics; the second part concerns the influence of politics on “human life” (I have already used some motifs earlier, but without recalling them it is impossible to write about “human life” which in Lewowicki’s pedagogy is the condition for the emergence of a human being); the third, and the final part of the article is devoted to the need to ask questions about Conditio Humana as a pedagogical imperative of Professor Lewowicki’s project of multiculturalism.

New citizenship and patriotism at the cultural frontier: a cross-cultural context

The cultural diversification of states deconstructs the model of a homogenous national community, yet it requires the maintenance of the stability of democratic institutions in a situation where culturally different citizens are increasingly resistant to forced assimilation and subjugation. A multicultural state must actively protect the cultural identities of its citizens. Some dilemmas arise in the understanding of citizenship and patriotism, for which state multiculturalism and interculturalism at the level of an individual citizen become contextual references. Therefore, the subject of this article is the different types of new citizenship and patriotism, with model approaches to them. The author exposes multiculturalism, revealing the new citizenship and intercultural connotations of patriotism. She looks at these categories from a cultural borderland perspective. With reference to the pillars of coexistence identified on the basis of empirical research in this borderland, the author conceptualizes intercultural citizenship and patriotism. She also points to their multidimensional nature with an intercultural connotation. The author sees them as integrating factors of a culturally diverse society. Their national-cultural, identity, and community provenance gives an intercultural character to the integration process. Integration conceived in this way fosters the evolution of the nation-state into a heterogeneous national community operating within its borders.

Migrations as a challenge for pedagogy and intercultural education

The aim of the article is to show the issue of migration, its specificity and scale, and to indicate the challenges that this 21st century phenomenon poses to pedagogy and intercultural education. The multi-million crowd of migrants coming from a different cultural circle poses new challenges for the communities. Their essence is the need to overcome a reducing vision of the world. The research problem here is the understanding of the complexity of the international migration movement, and the introduction of the notion of taming strangeness and the category of the Other as a response of intercultural pedagogy to the challenges posed by migrations in the socio-educational space. The study used the method of desk research and critical analysis of sources, meta-analysis of concepts and categories constituting the research problem comprised in the title. As a way to understand the specificity of migration, there is a suggestion to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of interdisciplinary sources and selected international documents. Theoretical analyses of the indicated categories lead to pedagogical and educational implications in the context of shaping the meeting space, an attitude of openness, developing a dialogical attitude, creative understanding of differences and acceptance of the Other in intercultural education.

Intersectional perspective in intercultural pedagogy

A meeting with the Other is related to the attitude of interest, dialogue, cooperation and understanding. However, negative reactions to otherness may give rise to different attitudes as well. These include discrimination and exclusion. In this article, the problem of multiple discrimination is addressed and intersectionality is presented as both an important method in intercultural research and an idea worth raising and developing in the practice of intercultural education. Multiple discrimination pertains to people who experience two or more forms of oppression at the same time (due to gender and disability; due to disability and residence place; due to ethnic origin, gender and place of residence, etc.). Intersectionality introduces a new quality to intercultural studies. As a research paradigm, it enables a critical analysis of these areas of exclusion and discrimination which have so far been shown mainly from the perspective of the needs and views of majority groups. Intersectional analysis can also become useful in educational practice: in preparing individualized assistance programs for people affected by discrimination, as well as in creating preventive projects to keep stigmatization and discrimination away.

Translations of religious source texts and intercultural education

The article presents the main concepts of biblical translation studies and their importance in intercultural education. On the example of the New Testament term παρακαλέω, the need to update religious translations of source texts is shown due to the changing culture and the loss of some traditional terms of their original meaning. In the theoretical layer, the importance is discussed of language in the formation of human identity and social structures, and the possibility is indicated of including these processes in the strategy of intercultural education.

Spirit of hikesia and education. A contribution to the pedagogical concept of asylum

In our cultural circle, the right to asylum derives its traditions from both legislation and religion, leads one’s attention to ancient times and the institutions of the Egyptians, Hebrews and Greeks. Moreover, it combines the issues of otherness, inclusion, persecution, suffering, fragility, duty, responsibility for the Other, as well as justice, hospitality, shelter and holiness. The importance of asylum, the growth of which in the 20th century was related to the European crimes of colonialism, the terror of totalitarianisms, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing, the fate of refugees and stateless people, does not diminish in the face of the wars and disasters of the 21st century. In this context, the question of how one can link the issue of asylum to education seems legitimate. In relation to this question, the essay focuses attention on the concepts of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida and Patrick Declerck, drawing on various traditions of asylum and thinking about hospitality that have contributed to shaping the foundations of European educational and aid institutions. Using the achievements of these important traditions for the Western humanities and the concepts of the above-mentioned philosophers, I would like to point out the need to think about educational spaces in the perspective of asylum pedagogy.

Adaptation strategies of borderland youth – a report from generational studies

The conducted discussion is embedded in pedagogy of youth, Robert Merton’s theory of social adaptation, the concept of intercultural education and the concept of “intercultural identity” by Jerzy Nikitorowicz. In the article, the strategies are presented of the adaptation of young inhabitants of the Polish-Czech borderland to school conditions and the requirements of social life. The results of some diagonal studies among secondary school learners, conducted 13 years apart, indicated two dominant strategies of conformism and innovation, revealed a slight decrease in the average value of conformism (3%) and a significant increase in the average value of innovation (22% change). In that context, the features of permanent socialization taking place in the conditions of the Polish-Czech borderland were indicated: dynamism, bidirectionality, functioning/being “in-between”, cultural pattern, the principle of continuum. Empirically determined adaptation strategies of youth show how young people handle a complex reality and how they can join the mainstream of social life.

“We are trying to be a multicultural family...” – dualistic transmission of cultural heritage (a research report)

In this article, intercultural education in a mixed family (in Catholic-Jewish marriages) is explored. In particular, my focus is on the construction of various secular and religious patterns of bicultural family life and the possible forms and content of intergenerational family transmission in the adult generation of Jews. The research conducted in 2018–2022 was based on the biographical method – a total of 15 in-depth interviews were carried out. In the article, only a part of a broader project is presented. The biographies of four women of Jewish origin are explored – three of them are representatives of the third post-war generation. All of them try to combine ethnic and dualistic education, due to the type of bicultural marriage or the attitude to the dominant culture. The analytical part is a short reconstruction of the type of family origin, self-identification, cultural definition of one’s own family and opinions regarding the transmission of the Jewish heritage of each woman. Statements of the participants of the research about the ways of celebrating double holidays are collected in a table. The narrators create a culturally open type of their own family and in one case a culturally declared type (according to Alicja Szerląg’s classification).

Development support of immigrants’ social competences in the process of integration with the host society (the case of research carried out as part of the project Integration and Educational Support for Migrants (WIEM) under POWER 2014–2020)

The aim of the article is to describe the model of development support of immigrants’ social competences in the process of integration with the host society. Referring to the aim of the article, the authors formulated the following research problems: What level of the analyzed social competences do the surveyed immigrants have? What educational and consulting activities should be offered to project participants, i.e. people with low basic skills, corresponding to a level not higher than PRK level 3? What validation actions should be taken towards project participants after the implementation of educational and consulting activities? The theoretical part of the article addresses the concept of social competence and describes its elements. The empirical part presents the methodology and results of the conducted research as well as the conclusions and recommendations. 170 immigrants from Ukraine participated in the study. Most of the respondents had basic social competences. In terms of self-motivation (motivation), it was 94% of the respondents, assertiveness – 81%, self-presentation – 71%, communication – building interpersonal relationships – 95%, stress management / conflict management– 96%, and in terms of functioning in a team (including multicultural one) – 10%.

School education in danger? The Polish and Lithuanian perspective of changes and the situation of school in Lithuania. A study of one event

Representatives of every minority want their rights to be respected in the state in which they live and of which they are citizens. The problems related to education for national minorities are among the most complicated and arguable. Political controversies and disputes in magazine columns do not always translate into good relations in the culturally diverse environment. The text is aimed to present the situation related to the conflict in one of the schools in Lithuania, which began (as a kind of prelude) at the end of 2021 and developed in 2022. Our assumption was to analyze the described situation from three perspectives presented in: the Polish press in the context of some actions taken by the government and their effects, as well as the way of describing them; an analogical presentation of the Lithuanian perspective and the stakeholders themselves (including the headmaster of the school where the described situation took place). For a better understanding of the context of the described analyses, the text begins with a brief description of the current legal status, the educational network and its scope.

Around social problems – or in search of pedagogy in the discourses of youth organizations operating in Poland

In the article, the results are presented of the research on discursive constructions of social problems and their solutions, which are undertaken by selected youth organizations operating in Poland. Six of them were analyzed: AIESEC Poland [in Polish: AIESEC Polska], ATD Fourth World Poland [ATD Czwarty Świat Polska], UNESCO Initiatives Centre [Centrum Inicjatyw UNESCO], Center for Intercultural Initiatives Horizons [Centrum Inicjatyw Międzykulturowych Horyzonty], All-Polish Youth [Młodzież Wszechpolska] and National Radical Camp [Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny]. The article provides answers to the following research questions: 1) What do selected youth organizations consider to be a problem? 2) By what discursive strategies do they formulate problems? 3) What actions are they taking to solve the problems? The analysis of the content and applied discursive strategies covered a total of 696 texts of various genres and volumes (including programs, statutes, newsletters, entries in social media). The results of the analyses allowed for a description and comparison of the researched organizations using the categories of pedagogy and its different types (pedagogy of the current time, ethno-pedagogy, pedagogy of fear, pan-pedagogy and folkpedagogy), revealing similarities and differences in the scope of issues considered by organizations as problematic, including those related to (multi)cultural issues.

Scouting and the Polish scouting movement and the idea of interculturalism and education in the conditions of cultural diversity

The Scout and Polish Scouting movement is characterized by the possibility of meeting and cooperation of people from different backgrounds and cultures. A natural thing for this social movement is daily confrontation with Otherness/ Alienness in conditions of cultural diversity and undertaking various forms of educational activity based on the idea of interculturalism. The study presents some partial results of a research project devoted to the content referring to the idea of interculturalism and education in the conditions of cultural diversity, present in the program studies of the scouting movement. These studies contribute to the historical trend of intercultural pedagogy and the history of education in the context of ideological assumptions and activities of children and youth organizations. The article contains a description of the applied conceptual categories and the characteristics of the precursors and the contemporary scouting movement. In a chronological order, it presents a selection of examples of the content of scouting program studies that are related to the idea of interculturalism and intercultural education.

Attitudes of five-six year old children in preschool education towards cultural diversity in the cognitive component, stimulated by creative intersemiotic translation of a literary text

The article presents an original study based on the perspectives on diversity, not solely cultural but also diversity of the disabled and beyond the canon of corporeality. The conducted studies provided an answer to the question: Did the method of intersemiotic translation in transcoding the content of literary works on intercultural and inclusive topics into the language of theatre and visual arts impact the change of attitude towards cultural diversity? In the course of this pedagogical experiment, supplemented with survey and observation techniques, the attitudes of five – and six-year-old children (the experimental group, first and second control group) towards differences in the cognitive, emotional and behavioral components were distinguished. The method of intersemiotic translation implemented in an experimental group, leading to the division of children’s attitudes towards people who are different, as well as the acquired knowledge about otherness and discovering literary texts, developed methods for formulating accurate results in children. The results obtained are of great importance for intercultural education and carry great value, because the conducted experiment and the intercultural texts used aroused children’s interest in otherness, allowed them to understand it and understand that there is no alien thing that could not become their own.

Game as a tool for developing intercultural competence on the example of the Culture Crossover Project

In today’s world of rapid socio-cultural changes, which also include increased migration movements and the formation of culturally diverse societies, there is a need to implement methods and tools of educational work for the formation of attitudes of tolerance in multicultural communities. One of the effective educational tools used in intercultural education can be game. One of the most valuable types of games in this area are those that allow learning about cultures and the cultural differences resulting from them, referring not only to observable behaviour, but also to the hierarchy of values that form the core of the identity of a given social group – national, ethnic or religious one. The article is devoted to the presentation of an educational game created as part of the international Culture Crossover project. The theoretical and methodological assumptions of the game refer to Milton Benett’s DMIS and Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The educational goal is to increase cultural awareness and develop empathy towards culturally different people by taking into account various elements of intercultural learning – from information about a particular culture, through knowledge of cultural norms and the ability to adopt local perspectives to critical understanding of the worldviews of other cultures.

National minorities and their participation in the construction of the contemporary state model. A review of the book by Zbigniew Kurcz: From nationalities to national minorities in Poland