|
Article Excerpt
Abstract
In this global and culturally pluralistic context we are in, what is being proposed here is that our theological focal point should be on humanity as a relation of beings in dialogue, who are attempting to be open toward the future and to overcome the limits of each other. In this sphere, what is important is the necessity of how to think and act truthfully and faithfully in the continuation and the development of dialogical relations. The partners in dialogue, or interlocutors in dialogue, should accept each other as those who have an inalienable right and an unconditional obligation, and learn from each other in developing "togetherness". In a way, togetherness is the beginning and end of dialogical relation, even in ever changing situations, which means that the temporal togetherness is also to be open and dialogized in the future dialogue. This is a dialogical event in which the meaning of truth defines and confirms itself because the truth of being is actualized in the figure of dialogical relation.
**********
Today, in Western society, multiculturalism is a popularly used word, and this stems from a desire to respect other cultures and to deny racial hierarchy. It depends on the idea that every culture is equally valuable, and that the protection and promotion of cultural diversity is an essential aspect of a democratic society. This idea of multiculturalism rejects an apartheid policy like that which existed in South Africa, and promotes the maintenance of cultural diversity. In the modern West, this idea is applied to and permeates every aspect of societal life, including academic disciplines and religious practices. However, the most worrying aspect is that this idea, while promoting and encouraging the maintenance of cultures and their uniqueness, also implies an underlying idea of cultural separation. Therefore, this study is an attempt to create a "space" in which a rediscovering and encountering of the Other, that is normally beyond the boundary of our identity, becomes possible, so that we may be able to begin the studies of world Christianity in its differences and in terms of the relationship with the other.
Multiculturalism and theological boundaries
The most significant area affected by this prevailing idea is educational policy in terms of multicultural education in western society, especially that of the North Atlantic states. Although multicultural education has been described as a means to accept cultural diversity, it seems, in fact, to present these differences as a static, unchangeable and predetermined natural phenomenon. It is like a human museum or zoo, where differences are displayed, thus emphasising the vertical orientation of culture. As the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss stated, "The ultimate goal is not to know what the societies under study 'are' ... but to discover how they differ from one another." (1) Levi-Strauss likened societies to trains each moving on its own track, at its own speed, and in its own direction. (2) This emphasises the differences that make us separated from others, even to the point where cultural difference is deemed to be the same as biological difference. He says:
In order to develop differences, so that the boundaries enabling us to distinguish one culture from its neighbours may become sufficiently clear-cut, the conditions are roughly the same as those promoting biological differentiation between human groups.... Cultural barriers are almost of the same nature as biological barriers; the cultural barriers prefigure the biological barriers all the more as all cultures leave their mark on the human body. (3)
This suggests a denial of the possibility of interaction between different cultures. In other words, while emphasising differences and certain ways of life, multiculturalism can be used to place others in a realm of indifference. Levi-Strauss encourages the creation of barriers between different groups to minimise interaction because such contact between different cultures weakens their differences. He argues that the ideal situation is where, "communication had become adequate for mutual stimulation by remote partners, yet (is) not so frequent or so rapid as to endanger the indispensable obstacles between individuals and groups, or to reduce them to the point where overly facile exchanges might equalise and nullify their diversity." (4) For Levi-Strauss, communication is proper so long as there is no danger of contaminating each other. What is implied is that cultures should remain where they belong as distinctive cultural identities. Furthermore, it seems that the principle of multiculturalism applied to education, politics, religious practices, etc., especially in Levi-Strauss' terms, sounds reasonable enough in creating a society, where individuals and groups are recognised in their differences so that others do not manipulate them. However, in this post-colonial and global society, as we desire to talk of world Christianity, this understanding of multiculturalism and its political implications still operates with hegemonic power.
This polities of difference, however, should not be viewed as simply the reflection of pre-given ethnic and cultural traits set in the fixed tablet of tradition, as in multiculturalism. It is more a "social articulation of difference" from a minority perspective. It "is a complex, ongoing negotiation that seeks to authorise cultural hybridities, (and) that emerges in moments of historical transformation," (5) as we live on the borderlines of the present. Renee Green, the Afro-American artist, said:
Multiculturalism doesn't reflect the complexity of the situation as I face it daily.... It requires one to step outside of him/herself to actually see what he/she is doing. I don't want to condemn well-meaning people and say (like those T-shirts you can buy on the street) "It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand". To me that's essentializing blackness. (6)
Going beyond the border of self-identity means to encounter something new that is not part of the continuum of the past and the present. The borderline is...
|
