Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/interculturalidad
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, understanding and navigating intercultural interactions is not just beneficial, it’s essential. The Coursera course, ‘Comprender las dimensiones interculturales en la cotidianidad’ (Understanding Intercultural Dimensions in Everyday Life), offers a robust framework for developing these crucial skills. This MOOC, a collaborative effort between professors from Universidad Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris 3 and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), is designed to equip learners with practical tools for fostering intercultural understanding in their daily lives.
The course is structured to be accessible to a wide audience, extending beyond language education to include professionals and students in humanities, social sciences, education, intercultural clinical practice, art studies, and management. Its comprehensive syllabus delves into key aspects of interculturality:
**Introduction to the Course:** Setting the stage for the journey ahead.
**Interculturality through Diversity and Language:** This module encourages profound reflection on diversity and ‘otherness.’ It emphasizes how language, both verbal and non-verbal, acts as the primary vehicle for transmitting our perceptions of what is similar or different. Through engaging resources and activities, you’ll explore personal experiences and confront questions like “What do I perceive as similar to me?” “What is different?” and “How do I manifest this?” The goal is to foster a heightened awareness of interculturality’s importance in building more equitable societies.
**Situations of Otherness and Cultural Dimensions:** Here, the course invites an exploration of diverse contexts in interpersonal and group interactions. It examines linguistic experiences (bilingual, multilingual, plurilingual) and cultural/intercultural encounters. The module draws on thinkers like Lahire to discuss the ‘plural individual’ – someone in constant physical and mental mobility, balancing personal aspirations with societal opportunities. It aims to transform diverse individual and collective histories into educational vectors and tools for social cohesion, encouraging participants to deconstruct social injustices.
**Language, Hybridity, and Third Spaces:** This section focuses on the concepts of ‘third spaces’ and hybridity in relation to interculturality. It guides learners to examine their own reactions and beliefs about ‘the Other,’ particularly within language teaching and learning. The module explores how hybrid language use can foster acceptance of difference through experiences of contradiction and ambivalence, leading to an understanding of hybrid identities and meanings.
**Intercultural Mobilities and Self-Performativity:** The final module centers on how multilingual autobiographies narrate the world. It dissects autobiographical, theoretical, and artistic knowledge related to intercultural experiences, aligning these with multimodal autobiographical practices.
**Recommendation:**
‘Comprender las dimensiones interculturales en la cotidianidad’ is an exceptionally well-crafted course that provides a solid theoretical foundation coupled with practical applications. The collaborative nature of its creation lends it a rich, multi-perspective approach. Whether you are a student preparing for international studies, a professional working in a diverse team, or simply someone seeking to deepen their understanding of the world and its people, this course is highly recommended. It equips you not just with knowledge, but with the critical awareness and tools needed to thrive in our diverse global landscape.
Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/interculturalidad