FOR DEANNA

http://www.uis.unesco.org

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media

http://siteresources

http://www.unesco.org/bpi/intangible_heritage

8 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Women practising a traditional dance in Shanghai, China

WRCD_eng2.indd 8 29/09/09 12:39

The diversity of human cultures — the wealth of languages, ideas, beliefs, kinship systems, customs, tools, artistic

works, rituals and other expressions they collectively embody —admits of many explanations and interpretations.

These range from philosophical considerations, through an emphasis on cultures as emergent systems or in terms of

intercultural contacts, to approaches that highlight the complex interactions between cultures and the human habitat.

A current consensus regards cultures as systems that continually evolve through internal processes and in contact with

the environment and other cultures. What is certain is that no society has ever been frozen in its history, even if some

cultures have been viewed as ‘timeless’ from the perspective of others characterized by rapid change.

CHAPTER 1 Cultural diversity

Chapter 1 analyzes the

nature and manifestations of

cultural diversity in relation to

globalization, considers the

relationship between national,

cultural, religious and multiple

identities, and summarizes

normative and other measures adopted at regional and

international levels to preserve and promote the many

facets of cultural diversity.

CHAPTER 2 Intercultural dialogue

Chapter 2 examines the

interrelationship between cultural

diversity and intercultural dialogue,

and identifi es stereotypes and

stigmatization as major obstacles

to intercultural understanding.

It stresses the link between the

diversity existing between individuals and groups and

present within each individual and group, and indicates

new pathways for dialogue in a multicultural world.

Cultural diversity, beyond the mere fact of its existence, has aesthetic,

moral and instrumental value as the expression of human creativity, the

embodiment of human strivings and the sum of humanity’s collective

experience. In the contemporary world — characterized as it is by

space-time compression linked to the speed of new communication

and transportation technologies, and by the growing complexity

of social interactions and the increasing overlap of individual and

collective identities — cultural diversity has become a key concern,

amid accelerating globalization processes, as a resource to be preserved

and as a lever for sustainable development.

In the context of the threats to cultural diversity, the international

community has adopted a panoply of binding and non-binding

instruments covering a wide range of cultural forms, including

monuments and natural sites, tangible and intangible heritage, cultural

expressions, and intellectual and artistic heritage. These instruments

are dedicated to preserving and promoting such testimonies to human

creativity as expressions of the common heritage of humankind.

Part I of this report reviews some of these safeguarding mechanisms,

with reference to the most recent developments. However, its main

concern is with the wider phenomenon and multiple aspects of cultural

diversity and with the related issue of intercultural dialogue. Indeed,

cultural diversity and dialogue are mutually reinforcing, such that the

maintenance of cultural diversity is intimately linked to the ability to

establish dialogue and the ultimate challenge of cultural diversity is that

of intercultural dialogue.

PART I.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY: WHAT IS AT STAKE?

WRCD_eng2.indd 9 29/09/09 12:39

Two men on a bicycle near Arusha, Tanzania

WRCD_eng2.indd 10 29/09/09 12:39

Cultural diversity

Globalization is not a wholly new phenomenon. Empires throughout history have sought to

extend their dominion and infl uence beyond their immediate horizons. European colonialism

refl ected a similar imperialist impulse, inaugurating political, social, economic and cultural

imbalances that have persisted into the new millennium. Yet contemporary globalization

is of a diff erent order to such historical anticipations. Recent decades have witnessed an

unprecedented enmeshment of national economies and cultural expressions, giving rise to new

challenges and opportunities. Communication networks have shrunk or abolished distance, to

the benefi t of some and the exclusion of others. Travel has never been so rapid and convenient,

while remaining beyond the reach of many. In a world in which the possibilities of intercultural

contact have multiplied, linguistic diversity and many other forms of cultural expression are in

decline. How then is globalization to be viewed in terms of its impacts on cultural diversity?

Globalization is often conceived as potentially antithetical to cultural diversity, in the sense

of leading to the homogenization of cultural models, values, aspirations and lifestyles, to the

standardization of tastes, the impoverishment of creativity, uniformity of cultural expressions

and so forth. The reality, however, is more complex. While it is true that globalization induces

forms of homogenization and standardization, it cannot be regarded as inimical to human

creativity, which continues to engender new forms of diversity, constituting a perennial

challenge to featureless uniformity.

11 CHAPTER 1

Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian Puppet Theatre, Italy

WRCD_eng2.indd 11 29/09/09 12:39

1 1.1 Cultural diversity in a globalizing world ... 13

Figure 1.1 Urban and rural population growth 13 Box 1.1 The migration factor ........................................15 Box 1.2 Globalization and indigenous populations .............................................................................17

Box 1.3 Digital cultures and new diversity ..........18

1.2 National, religious, cultural and multiple

identities ...................................................... 19

Box 1.4 Reconstructing Central Asian identities in the post-Soviet era ...................................21

1.3 Regional and international initiatives

on cultural diversity .................................... 23

Figure 1.2 Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO, per region ........................26

Conclusion ........................................................... 28

Recommendations.............................................. 28

In focus: Standard-setting instruments adopted by UNESCO ................................... 29

References and websites .................................... 32

Cultural

Diversity

A billboard advertising a mobile telephone operator in Nigeria

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 1 3

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

signifi cantly on local cultures, which are fi nding it diffi cult

to compete in an increasingly global marketplace. In

this context, the tendency of enterprises to delocalize

to the developing world as part of the liberalization

of world trade is creating new consumer patterns

in which the juxtaposition of contrasting lifestyles

can serve to accelerate cultural change that may be

neither welcome nor desirable. When, for example,

a multinational corporation decides to transfer its

production to a country in the South because of its

lower labour costs, the products of Western consumer

society begin to circulate domestically, sometimes

to the detriment of local cultural models. In these

circumstances, local cultures that fi nd it diffi cult to

compete in the global marketplace — but whose value

is incommensurable with any market valuation — tend

to be the losers, along with the diversity of the cultural

manifestations they embody.

This said, the association of globalization with

standardization and commodifi cation is often overstated.

The assertion that ‘whatever [the] market touches turns

into a consumer commodity; including the things that

Globalization is often seen as a unidirectional and

unidimensional process, driven by a Western-dominated

global market economy and tending to standardize,

streamline and transnationalize in ways inimical to

cultural diversity. The focus is on the threat posed to local

cultural products and practices by globalized consumer

goods and services — on how television and video

productions are tending to eclipse traditional forms of

entertainment, how pop and rock music are drowning

out indigenous music, or how convenience food is

blunting the appetite for local cuisine. Some forms of

cultural diversity are clearly more vulnerable than others.

Vernacular languages are recognized as being particularly

at risk, notably from the continuing expansion of English

but also from the advance of vehicular languages such

as Arabic, Hindi, Spanish and Swahili (see chapter 3). This

process tends to be exponential — as illustrated by the

emphasis placed by many parents on schooling their

children in vehicular languages at the expense of

mastery of their mother tongue.

A multidirectional and multidimensional process Through the media, globalization conveys an often

seductive image of modernity and provides a template

for collective ambitions: salaried employment, the nuclear

family, personalized transport, pre-packaged leisure,

conspicuous consumption. Most local communities

worldwide have been exposed to some extent to the

images and consumer practices typical of this Western

paradigm, which has now impacted on almost all

countries, irrespective of culture, religion, social system

and political regime (Nyamjoh and Warnier, 2007).

The adoption of many of its facets is closely linked to

rapidly expanding urban living, which now involves

some 50 percent of the world’s population (see Figure

1.1). Cultural erosion has accordingly become an

issue of increasing concern since numerous modes

of life are being lost and many cultural forms and

expressions are disappearing. There is a widespread

sense that globalization is leading to pervasive cultural

homogenization, not to say hegemonization by stealth

(see Barber, 1996; Tardif and Farchy, 2006).

There can be no doubt that the development of

transnational markets, linked to the rise of consumerism

promoted by skilful advertising, is impacting

1.1 Cultural diversity in a globalizing world

Figure 1.1 Urban and rural population growth

Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Aff airs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision, http://esa.un.org/unup

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Po p

u la

ti o

n (b

ill io

n s)

Urban population in more developed regions* Urban population in less developed regions**

Rural population in more developed regions Rural population in less developed regions

* More developed regions comprise Europe, Northern America, Australia/New Zealand and Japan. ** Less developed regions comprise all regions of Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America and the Caribbean plus Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

WRCD_eng2.indd 13 29/09/09 12:39

http://esa.un.org/unup

1 4 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

try to escape its grip’ (Bauman, 2005) fails to take account

of the complexities inherent in the integration of cultural

borrowings. Movements between geo-cultural areas

invariably involve translation, mutation and adaptation

on the part of the receiving culture, and cultural transfer

does not usually take place unilaterally (Tomlinson,

1991; Lull, 2000). Globalized media, for instance, are

increasingly being appropriated by marginalized and

previously voiceless groups in order to advance their

social, economic and political claims (see chapter 5).

Furthermore, many areas of everyday cultural experience

prove beyond the reach of the globalized market,

such as our deeply rooted sense of national or ethnic

identities, our religious or spiritual ties, our community

interests, activities and attachments, not to mention our

environments and social relationships. Most importantly,

cultural commerce is to an ever greater extent a two-way

process that takes place in an increasingly complex and

interactive international context.

For all these reasons, globalization is best understood

as a multidirectional and multidimensional process,

evolving simultaneously within the economic,

social, political, technological and cultural spheres.

It is a complex and rapidly developing network of

connections and interdependencies that operate

within and between these spheres and exert

increasing infl uence on material, social, economic

and cultural life in today’s world. Globalization can be

described in terms of the increasing ‘fl ows’ of virtually

everything that characterizes contemporary life: capital,

commodities, knowledge, information, ideas, people,

beliefs and so on. These fl ows — transiting essentially

through the media, communication networks and

commerce — consist of an ever-increasing volume of

cultural goods, services and communications, including

language and educational content. While this cultural

traffic has tended to move along a mainly North-

South axis, the rise of powerful new economies (in

particular, the BRICs, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China)

is diversifying or reversing the direction of these flows

(see chapter 6).

One of the most far-reaching eff ects of globalization

is a weakening of the usual connection between

a cultural event and its geographical location as a

result of the dematerialization or deterritorialization

processes facilitated by information and communication

technologies ( Tomlinson, 2007). Indeed, globalization

transports distant events, infl uences and experiences

into our immediate vicinity, notably through visual

and audio media. This weakening of the traditional

ties between cultural experience and geographical

location brings new infl uences and experiences into

people’s everyday lives. Digital cultures, for example,

are having a considerable impact on cultural identities,

especially among young people. In this way, an

attitude of cosmopolitanism is developing, especially

in the world’s megalopolises (Sassen, 2001; Appiah,

2006). In some cases, this attenuation of ties to place

may be experienced as a source of opportunity; in

other cases, as a source of anxiety, loss of certainty

and marginalization, leading on occasion to identity

backlashes (see chapter 2). Still, as our identities are

inextricably bound to the environments in which we

grew up and those in which we live, the eff ect does not

generally amount to a radical break with our cultural

background or to cultural homogenization.

International migration has become a signifi cant factor

in intercultural dynamics (see Box 1.1). In countries of

emigration, the drain on human resources — tending

among other things to skew the relationship between

the sexes and generations — inevitably entails some

weakening of the socio-cultural fabric. In the receiving

countries, migrants face the challenge of reconciling a

traditional system of values, cultural norms and social

codes with the often very diff erent customs of the

host countries. Among the possible responses to this

challenge, most immigrants avoid the extremes of

complete assimilation or outright rejection in favour of

a partial adaptation to their new cultural environment

while preserving their ties with their cultures of origin,

notably through family connections or the media. The

infl ux of sizeable numbers of migrant workers and the

development of de facto multicultural communities

prompts a complex range of responses, mirroring

to some degree those of the immigrant population

itself. The outcome of the implicit negotiations

between these communities is usually some measure

of pluralism, ranging from institutional recognition

to tolerance of diff erence. In these circumstances,

conviviality may put down roots if it is not thwarted by

ideologies of exclusion. These roots may in turn nurture

new cultural expressions, since diversity is always

potentially in the making.

WRCD_eng2.indd 14 29/09/09 12:39

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 1 5

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

Migrations are as old as human history, but

took on new forms from the 1600s with the

emergence of European mercantile interests

and the conquest of the ‘New World’. Slaves

and indentured workers were shipped

between continents to work plantations, mines

and construction projects in the Americas,

Asia and Africa. Industrialization in Western

Europe and North America in the 19th century

saw new movements of settlers to build

railways, ports and cities, and work in new

factories. Between 1860 and 1920, some 30

million people sailed to the United States.

However, globalization has brought about a

dramatic increase in the volume and scope

of international migration. In 2005, the world

stock of migrants was estimated at 190 million

people (see Table 3 in Annex). This mobility is

transforming societies and cultures, creating

diasporas and developing transnational

identities — the feeling of belonging to

two or more societies at once. Community

links are forming between peoples across

the globe. Migrant social networks span

the globe, thus faciliting further migration.

The cities of North America, Europe and

Oceania have become multicultural, while

new immigration areas in Asia, Africa and

Latin America are rapidly following the same

path. Formerly homogenous populations

now experience a bewildering diversity of

languages, religions and cultural practices.

Many people do not move by choice: in

2006, the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR) counted about 14.3

million of refugees throughout the world.

The vast majority move in search of work

and a better life. However, climate change is

increasingly recognized as a factor that will

force people to migrate (see chapter 7). Most

of the world’s migrants and refugees begin

their journey as internal rural-urban migrants

in developing countries, before moving on to

other places where opportunities seem better.

A key development in recent years has been

the feminization of migration. About 1.5 million

Asian women, for example, worked abroad by

the end of the 1990s, most in jobs regarded as

‘typically female’: domestic workers, entertainers

(often a euphemism for prostitution), restaurant

and hotel staff , assembly-line workers in

clothing and electronics. Domestic service

may lead to isolation and vulnerability for

young women migrants, who often have

little protection against the demands of their

employers. In 1995, the execution of Flor

Contemplación, a Filipina maid in Singapore

who was convicted of murder, made world

headlines and highlighted the vulnerability

of Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs).

However, few migrant-sending countries

would be willing to hobble what has become

an important commodity. Estimates of

migrant workers’ remittances have been

placed at more than US$225 billion in 2004

(making labour second only to oil in global

trade), and US$318 billion in 2007, of which

US$240 billion went to developing countries.

However, ‘brain drain’ is another consequence

of migration, especially in recent years with

the adoption by some receiving countries of

The migration factor Box 1.1

North America

MexicoMMexM coxicocoooMMexM Central America and Caribbean

AmericamermerAAACentral Aal bbeanbbbnd Cariannnd Carianannd Carann

Peru and Colombia

ddandndndandPePeru aPeruPeruPeru biabmbbCoolomCo

Bolivia Paraguay

aBoliviaa aguayParagParagPPPPPParag

Argentina

Chile

PA C I F I C O C E A N

From China and Korea

Towards Asia (mainly to Japan)

From Philippines

Venezuela

Countries with a high number of economic migrants

Main areas of departure

Flow of skilled migrants

Flow of little or unskilled migrants

Important internal zone of economic migration

Western Europe

North Africa

orthNo iAfrricafr af

West Africa

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana

Gabon

South Africa

Gulf Countries

Japan

Australia and New Zealand

AT L A N T I C O C E A N I N D I A N

O C E A N

PA C I F I C O C E A N

Central and Southern Africa

Somalia

Sudan

EgyptLibya

Turkey Caucasus

Central Asia

Indian Peninsula

Russia Russian Far East

Republic of

Korea

China

Hong Kong

Southeast Asia

From South America

Toward United States

EgyptypttypEgyEgyyptttyptt

utheouth

krkeyTurkeyTTTuTuT susususuususususs

CCeCeentral AsiantntCenCCC a

dianInddianIIndI aPeninsulaeninsueninsu

ngononKoo gggggggg

thouttSoouththheasthh AsAAsia

CCentral AsiaCeCC aCentCCCCC tral Atra

AsiaAsial Al A

Major labour migration movements

Source: Simon 1995; UNESCO 1998; CNRS-Université de Poitiers, Migrinter; Agence France Presse, Reuters and Philippe Rekacewicz (Le Monde Diplomatique). Updated in December 2005.

WRCD_eng2.indd 15 29/09/09 12:39

1 6 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

substantive exchanges, will continue to grow as a result

of increased — and increasingly multidirectional —

tourist fl ows, both real and virtual.

Both positive and negative impacts Within a broader international context, the globalization

of international exchanges is leading to the integration

of a diversity of multicultural services and expressions in

many countries. An obvious example is the expanding

range of foreign restaurants found throughout the

industrialized world, catering for immigrant and

local populations alike. Reproduced in a wide variety

of contexts, notably in the worlds of fashion and

entertainment, this juxtaposition of cultural expressions

and experiences is leading to a greater interaction and

merging of cultural forms. Such examples, refl ecting

a more general intensifi cation of transnational fl ows,

are consistent with a trend towards multiple cultural

affi liations and a ‘complexifi cation’ of cultural identities.

These new and growing intercultural phenomena

refl ect the dynamic character of cultural diversity, which

cannot be assimilated into fi xed repertoires of cultural

manifestations and is constantly assuming new forms

within evolving cultural settings.

Yet such positive outcomes should not lead us to

underestimate the negative impacts of globalizing

trends on the diversity of cultural expressions and on

International tourism is another phenomenon with a

potentially signifi cant impact on cultural diversity. Its

growth in recent decades is suggested by comparing

the number of international tourists in 1950, estimated

at 25.3 million, with the 800 million recorded tourists

in 2005 (see Statistical Annex, Table 17) and the World

Tourism Organization’s forecast of a global tourist fl ow of

almost 1 billion in 2010. A signifi cant trend has been the

increase in tourism to the developing world, refl ected

in the average annual growth in tourist arrivals in the

Middle East (9 percent), East Africa and the Pacifi c (7

percent) and Africa (5 percent) (Teller and Sharpley,

2008). The qualitative — as distinct from the quantitative

— impact of this increase in the volume of intercultural

contacts is obviously diffi cult to gauge. On the one hand,

international tourism is to some extent self-contained

and can generate new sources of income for local

populations within the tourism industry and positively

contribute to greater knowledge and understanding of

diff erent cultural environments and practices. On the

other hand, the sheer volume of exchanges, even if in

large part functional and transitory, carries with it with

the risk of culturally ‘freezing’ local populations as objects

of tourism. Such cultural fi xity further marginalizes these

populations ‘since it is their marginality that they exhibit

and sell for profi t’ (Azarya, 2004). While the immediate

prospects for tourism growth remain unpredictable,

it seems clear that intercultural contacts, including

new immigration policies looking for highly

qualifi ed migrants to meet the needs of their

labour markets (see also chapter 8 and map 8.1).

While economic globalization has made labour

more mobile, it has also made the available

work more temporary. The era of permanent

settlement that characterized post-war

migrations from Europe is over. Labour markets

in many countries now look for workers, both

skilled and unskilled, to occupy specifi c jobs

with a fi xed duration rather than invite them to

participate in the economy and infrastructure

of a country. This is partly due to the diffi culties

migrant-receiving countries have in coping with

permanent settlement by workers or refugees.

The unplanned shift from temporary sojourn

to new ethnic diversity places in question

traditional ideas about culture and identity.

Thus, developed countries with democratic

traditions founded on individual freedoms

are redefi ning who can and cannot belong.

Citizenship is now a prized possession as it

means access not just to the economy but

to broader social institutions that determine

rights and freedoms. Post-colonial states, such

as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the

Republic of Korea, fi nd it diffi cult to reconcile

immigration and growing cultural diversity

with the formation of their own national

identity. Deportation campaigns, stricter

border controls and measures to prevent

permanent settlement are increasingly the

norm. However, closing borders usually only

makes a legal movement illegal. Traffi cking of

migrants has become a lucrative trade, with

private agencies providing everything from

information and travel assistance to forged

documentation and direct smuggling of people

across borders. The rapid internationalization

of economics and culture virtually guarantees

that migration will continue to grow in the

years ahead. The pressure for long-term

solutions remains. Encouraging the mobility

of labour to fi t the needs of a globalized

world is one thing. Managing immigration

to admit only those who are ‘economically

desirable’ is something else altogether.

Source: UNESCO, 1998 updated in 2009.

The migration factorBox 1.1

WRCD_eng2.indd 16 29/09/09 12:39

��The Samba de Roda of Recôncavo of Bahia, Brazil

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 1 7

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

Over the last decade, a wide range of threats to

traditional cultural expressions have been brought to

the attention of UNESCO as the United Nations agency

mainly responsible for protection of the world’s cultural

heritage in its tangible and intangible expressions

(Amescua, 2007). They include:

■ The development of sedentary lifestyles, refl ected in

increasing urbanization: this is the case, for example,

with the indigenous Záparas people in Ecuador and

Peru. In Morocco, the strong urbanizing tendencies

in the Sahara have brought about a progressive

disappearance of the nomadic lifestyle, together with

whole segments of cultural life, such as traditional

handicrafts and poetry.

■ Religious intolerance: the defenders of Maya Achi

identity in Guatemala stress the grave harm that

can be done to their culture by the infl uence of

fundamentalist Christian sects that view their

traditional customs as pagan — if not ‘diabolic’ —

activities to be eliminated.

those for whom these expressions are intrinsic to their

ways of life and very being (see Box 1.2). What is at stake

for them is existential loss, not simply the disappearance

of manifestations of human diversity. UNESCO’s

action in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage has

highlighted some of the threats to traditional cultural

expressions posed by what many see as the juggernaut

of globalization. The supporters of the Carnaval de

Oruro in Bolivia, for example, complain of the ‘ill-

conceived globalization trends that impose common

rules and behaviour, disregarding cultural particularities’

and the ‘neoliberal tendency to analyze human activities

from a cost-benefi t perspective, without considering

the magical and spiritual aspects of the Carnaval’.

For the epic storytellers of Kyrgyzstan, it is the rise

of the modern entertainment market that explains

why the younger generations in their country are

ceasing to identify with ancient cultural performances.

These clashes between ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ are

ubiquitous and problematic in terms of how they are to

be perceived and addressed.

Among the negative impacts of globalization

on indigenous populations, Victoria

Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the UN

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

(UNPFII), has highlighted the following:

■ Violation of rights to ancestral lands,

territories and resources, including forced

eviction and displacement of indigenous

peoples by governments or by the

private sector; competing claims and

increased confl icts over lands, territories

and resources; erosion and destruction

of indigenous subsistence economic

systems and other traditional livelihoods,

such as pastoralism, trapping, hunting

and gathering, in favour of cash-crop

mono-production for the global market

(fl owers, agro-fuels, paper and pulp, etc.);

massive extraction of natural resources

in indigenous territories without prior

informed consent of indigenous peoples,

leading to environmental devastation,

expropriation of indigenous peoples’

land and water, increased confl icts, over

exploitation of forests, marine and mineral

resources; militarization of indigenous

territories; increased out-migration to

urban areas and overseas, including

increased numbers of indigenous

women becoming domestic helpers,

prostitutes or victims of traffi cking.

■ Weakened enforcement by states and

multilateral institutions of laws, policies

and international instruments that

promote indigenous peoples’ rights and

autonomous development, resulting

in the displacement of populations,

commercialization of their cultural artefacts

and appropriation of traditional knowledge.

■ Reduced access to education, health

and other social services for indigenous

peoples, leading to deteriorating

health conditions, rising illiteracy rates

and degeneration of quality of life:

■ Increased use of forests and fertile

agriculture lands for cash crops and

livestock (agriculture, plantation crops

and cattle breeding) and poorer land

for food crops, thereby reducing food

production and increasing food insecurity.

■ Cultural homogenization through the

infl uence of globalized multimedia,

universalization of mainstream

development paradigms, disappearance

of indigenous languages.

■ Undermining of indigenous

governance and political systems.

■ Commercialization of culture through

the promotion of tourism.

Source: Tauli-Corpuz, 2007.

Globalization and indigenous populations Box 1.2

WRCD_eng2.indd 17 29/09/09 12:39

1 8 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

■ The ‘museifi cation’ of practices that were previously

forms of collective leisure serving to preserve and

strengthen social bonds, as in the case of the Opera

dei Puppi in Sicily (Italy).

■ The replacement of ancient forms of cultural

expression by new communication technologies:

thus portable telephones and e-mails in Jamaica have

rendered virtually obsolete the traditional means of

communication in the form of the drum and abeng

(conch shell), undermining the ancient musical traditions.

■ The impact of global distribution networks on local

cinema productions: one example among many is

French-speaking African cinema, which, following

a splendid decade in the 1980s, has experienced a

period of crisis mainly attributable to a decline in

local demand; local viewers are infl uenced by foreign

television and fi lm as a result of the proliferation of

parabolic antennae and low-cost access to recent

fi lms through DVDs.

To meet these threats to cultural diversity — to its

expressions in word, sound, image, print and artistic

works and activities — the international community

■ Lack of respect for forms of knowledge transmission in

certain traditional societies: thus, in Nigeria, the Isa see

the introduction of free primary education in the west

of the country, dating from 1955, as the reason for a

growing lack of interest among younger generations

in their culture, particularly since Christian and Islamic

doctrines are taught in school to the exclusion of

traditional African religions. In Vanuatu, the time young

children spend at school and in school activities are

said to have kept them from learning the traditional

practice of sand drawing, which is in decline.

■ The world culture relayed by the media: in India,

defenders of the art of Kutiyattam say that they are

unable to compete with the mass media, especially

radio and television programmes. This complaint is

echoed in China by the practitioners of the Guqin, a

seven-string musical instrument related to the zither.

■ Failure to respect the sacred or devotional character

of certain ceremonies: this is emphasized by the

defenders of the Mask Dance of the Drums from

Drametse, who deplore the growing lack of interest

among the young generation in the deep spirituality

of these practices.

The rise of new information and

communication technologies (ICTs) in the

context of globalization has broadened

the scope of possible interactions and

experiments with personal identity,

particularly among young people:

A July 2006 survey found that 100 million

video clips are viewed daily on YouTube

— a video-sharing website developed

in February 2005 and bought by Google

in November 2006 — with an additional

65,000 new videos uploaded every 24 hours.

The website averages nearly 20 million

visitors per month, according to Nielsen/

NetRatings, of which 44 percent are female,

56 percent male, and the 12- to 17-year-old

age group is dominant. In July 2008, 258

million users were reported, including almost

100 million in the United States alone.

Facebook was launched in February 2004, and

as of July 2009 could claim 250 million users,

of whom over 120 million log on at least once

a day. The largest user group appears to be

Euro-Americans; the fastest growing age-group

consists of those 35 years old and above.

Founded in August 2003, MySpace had

230 million accounts as of April 2008.

Second Life (SL) is an Internet-based virtual

world — developed by Linden Lab and

launched in 2003 (but not popularized by

the media until late 2006) — that off ers

a ‘virtual’ environment in which people

can interact, work, play and learn.

In these and many other ways, the Internet

off ers new possibilities to experiment with

personal identity in an entirely anonymous,

disembodied and synchronous way (chat,

blogging, etc.). By enabling virtual selves to be

superimposed on real selves, the Internet opens

up a new realm of self-expression. According

to some experts, it thereby functions as an

indicator of the hidden forces and trends at

work in the societies in which it operates.

The access or exposure to a virtually infi nite

range of content on the web (including

hoaxes, rumours and false information) may

provoke unexpected encounters and cultural

hybridization. However, some maintain

that the overload of information on the

Internet, and the massive use of fi lters and

search engines, encourages Internet users

to limit their contacts to peers with similar

tastes, leading to self-enclosure and the

rejection of diff erences (Sunstein, 2004).

Source: Caldwell, 2007; statistics updated using data from Social Media Statistics.

Digital cultures and new diversityBox 1.3

WRCD_eng2.indd 18 29/09/09 12:39

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 1 9

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

Rather than attempting to evaluate the overall eff ect of

globalization, to draw up a balance sheet of the forms

of diversity that are disappearing compared with those

coming into existence, it is more important to focus on

the dynamic character of cultural diversity and to devise

approaches to better managing the impact of cultural

change on our individual and collective identities. Such

eff orts must also be complemented by the awareness

that we cannot hope to preserve everything that is

threatened with disappearance. As Claude Lévi-Strauss

has observed, it is ‘diversity itself which must be saved,

not the outward and visible form in which each

period has clothed that diversity’. It is important, then,

to envisage new strategies for revitalizating cultural

expressions and practices while helping vulnerable

populations to acquire the tools necessary to ‘manage’

cultural change more eff ectively. A dynamic conception

of this kind leads us to question a number of inoperative

dichotomies and received categories, such as the

opposition between tradition and modernity. Every

living tradition is susceptible to continual reinvention,

which makes it relevant to the present. Tradition is no

more reducible to the past than is modernity to the

present or future. For tradition, like memory or culture, is

inscribed within a process of becoming. Cultural diversity,

like cultural identity, is about innovation, creativity and

receptiveness to new cultural forms and relationships.

adopted, in 2003, the UNESCO Convention for the

Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and, in

2005, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and

Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

It would be a mistake, however, to see the eff ects of

globalization on cultural diversity as wholly negative,

if only because there is nothing inevitable about

the general trend towards cultural homogenization.

As Claude Lévi-Strauss (2007) noted in a recent

communication to UNESCO: ‘Time does not always

move in the same direction. Periods of pervasive

uniformity can be followed by unexpected reversals.

This has happened in the past, and there are grounds

for hoping that at the heart of the globalization process

itself new forms of diversity whose nature we do not

suspect may be in gestation’. The rapid growth of digital

cultures, for example, has given rise to new forms

of cultural diversity, particularly among the young.

Computer-mediated interactions through Internet

sites, such as YouTube, Teen Second Life, FaceBook

or MySpace, are means whereby people today ‘live’

increasingly in more than one reality. The innumerable

possible combinations of the new media for cultural

expressions and cultural practices creates a whole host

of ‘do-it-yourself cultures’, which open the way to a

broad range of new forms of cultural diversity.

Cultural diversity, like

cultural identity, is

about innovation,

creativity and

receptiveness to new

cultural forms and

relationships

1.2 National, religious, cultural and multiple identities

The contemporary world is marked by strong

attachments to national, religious, ethnic, linguistic,

social, cultural and/or even ‘brand’ or consumer-based

identities. Such identities have become the refuge for

many individuals and groups who see globalization

and cultural change as a threat to their ways of life

and standards of living. In this context, we witness the

culturization of political claims, which run counter to the

essentially dynamic and multifaceted nature of identities.

A resurgence of the question of identities Culture and religion can be seen to be intimately linked

in this often confl ictual affi rmation of separate identities.

Religions have a collective dimension involving religious

authorities and sometimes embodying religious dogma

that is non-negotiable. Allied to political activism,

religious affi liations can be a powerful marker of identity

and a potential source of confl ict. While in democratic

societies religious views can play an active role in shaping

public policy on health, education and social services,

religions run the risk of being instrumentalized for other

purposes, for example, as vehicles for the promotion of

ideological, political and/or economic agendas (Dallmayr,

2007). In such cases, religious diff erences, while not

inherently incompatible, can potentially lead to violent

clashes between religious groups (as recently played out,

for example, between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria,

Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, or Hindus and

Muslims in India) or between secularism and religious

belief and practice (such as in Malaysia and Australia,

but also in Europe), between those who wish to confi ne

religious identifi cation to the ‘private sphere’, apart

from the public and civic spheres, and those who see

secularism as another committed value-standpoint

with its own (declared or undeclared) presuppositions,

biases and prejudices.

WRCD_eng2.indd 19 29/09/09 12:39

2 0 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

are often conveyed through a cultural perspective that

emphasizes traditions and cultures as a set of fi xed

and repetitive practices, as a means of forging identity

and combating the indeterminacy of changing events

(Hobsbawm and Ranger, 1984). Like any work of memory,

the concept of nation is selective and, in the case of

offi cial national identity, often refl ects the interests of

dominant elites. National identity can also be constructed

around the myth of ethnic superiority, as the history of

human confl ict all too often and tragically attests.

Yet while national symbols and traditions tend to persist,

the realities they represent do not stand still. For cultures

are ever-changing and self-transforming in a process

that is not linear. Culture is like a river, fl owing ‘through

vast areas giving life to people. It changes all the time,

although we go on referring to it as if it were the same

river’ (Fasheh, 2007). It has been suggested that we need

to understand culture not as a substantive but as a verb:

‘The most important issue is to avoid reifi cation, to move

along the grammatical continuum from substantives

towards verbs. The “problem” with reifi cation is that it

tends to consolidate what is, to mask what is becoming’

(Alexander, 2007). Some have even claimed that cultural

identity is an ‘illusion’ (Bayart, 1997). Others have said

that culture should be conceived less in terms of a past

inheritance than in terms of a future project (Appadurai,

2004). In short, cultural identity — like culture — should

be regarded as a process and envisaged in terms of

creative growth.

In a world made more complex by the unprecedented

reach, intensity and immediacy of human interchanges,

national identities no longer represent the sole

dimension of cultural identity. Refl ecting a reality

defi ned and constructed in response to projects of a

political nature, the foundation of national identity is

typically overlaid with a multiplicity of other affi liations.

We increasingly defi ne ourselves, as individuals and

societies, in terms of multiple identities. The point is well

made by Amartya Sen (2006a) when he says:

The very odd presumption that people of the

world can be uniquely categorized by single and

overarching systems of partitioning does not work

anymore. [. . .] In everyday life, human beings do

not belong only to one group. [. . .] In our normal

lives, we see ourselves as members of a variety of

Generally speaking, this resurgence of religion has

brought the issue of identities back into the civic and

public arenas, as countries across the globe vigorously

debate the question of abortion (especially in countries

with a strong Catholic tradition), of the Islamic scarf (in

France and the United States), or the legality of conversion

from Islam to another religion (in Malaysia). Religion,

however, is but one factor among others constitutive of

individual and collective identities, to which we may add

race, gender, and language, as noted by Bahjat Rizk (2009),

who makes a parallel with the UNESCO Constitution that

emphasizes that no distinction shall be made along the

lines of race, sex, language and religion.

Until quite recently cultural diversity has been equated

with the diversity of national cultures. Even within

UNESCO’s Constitution (1945), reference to cultural

diversity appears in a domestic jurisdiction clause

intended to guarantee respect for national sovereignty,

with a view to ‘preserving the independence, integrity

and fruitful diversity of cultures and educational systems

of [Member States]’ (Art. 1, para. 3). Throughout the period

of decolonization and the rise to independence of new

nations, culturalism referred to a conception of cultural

identities that served to legitimate the emergence of

new national pathways. It may be that the resurgence of

the religious factor is directly linked to the retreat of the

nation as the source of cultural identity.

From monolithic to multiple identities National identities are not monoliths: they are

constructions, refl ecting a multitude of collective

experiences, memories and references, and

encompassing diff erences of gender, class, race

and religion. They evolve constantly, along a path

prescribed by a sometimes mythical past towards a

future dependent on adaptive change (see Box 1.4).

In a globalizing world, which tends to blur national

boundaries and re-energize cultural identities, it makes

less and less sense to equate cultural identities with

national identities.

This said, national identity plays a central role in providing

a focus for our sense of commonality. The nation is a key

principle of identifi cation, operating through a shared

set of collective memories, as narrated through popular

culture, school curricula, the media and so forth (Benedict,

1948; Geertz, 1973). Ideas about the continuity of nations

Religion is but

one factor among

others constitutive

of individual and

collective identities,

to which we may

add race, gender, and

language

��Woman smoking, Lao People's Democratic Republic, 2006

WRCD_eng2.indd 20 29/09/09 12:39

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 2 1

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

groups—we belong to all of them. The same person

can be, without any contradiction, an American

citizen, of Caribbean origin, with African ancestry,

a Christian, a liberal, a woman, a vegetarian, a

long-distance runner, a historian, a schoolteacher, a

novelist, a feminist, a heterosexual, a believer in gay

and lesbian rights, a theater lover, an environmental

activist, a tennis fan, a jazz musician [. . .]. None of

them can be taken to be the person’s only identity or

singular membership category.

This plasticity of cultural identities mirrors the growing

complexity of the globalized fl ows of people, goods

and information and the increasing interdependence of

economic systems and frames of governance.

Each individual exposed to this multiplicity of potential

identities lives or manages it diff erently. Some affi rm

their right to dispense with old identities and choose

new ones as a distinct phase in a process of identity

construction. Others — and this is particularly true

The Central Asian Republics (Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and

Uzbekistan), which gained independence

from the Soviet Union in 1991, all face the

same dilemma: how to legitimize the borders

of a geo-political entity inherited from the

recent Soviet past while the only available

and functioning identity reference points

are those dating from the medieval period?

The shifts in identity that have emerged

from the redefi nition of the national

identities of these young republics continue

to be an uncommon phenomenon

with serious political consequences.

According to many specialists, the fi ve new

republics of Central Asia were the least prepared

for political independence when the Soviet

Union was suddenly dissolved in 1991. This

imposed freedom forced the peoples of Central

Asia to refl ect on their origins, who they are and

what they wish to become. Owing to its history,

Central Asia is a region of sharp contrasts,

its nomadic northern areas (Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan) diff ering from those of the more

sedentary south (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan).

This north-south opposition strongly infl uenced

the way Islam spread and mingled with regional

identities over the centuries of Islamization.

While Uzbekistan was profoundly Islamized

between the eighth and tenth centuries

(the fi rst mosque was built in Bukhara in

712), the nomadic peoples of Kazakhstan

and Kyrgyzstan did not embrace Islam until

about the 10th century. Moreover, this process

occurred in a sporadic and uneven manner.

The rapid Islamization of the sedentary southern

regions of Central Asia was propitious to the

emergence of identities fi rmly rooted in the

religion. By contrast, the gradual encounter

of Islam and pagan and shamanistic beliefs

in the northern nomadic regions paved the

way for the emergence of the present-day

Sufi communities whose identities continue

to be nourished by pre-Islamic traditions. The

Russian conquest and the settlement of many

groups of Christian origin in northern Central

Asia have contributed to further blurring

the map of identities in the region, where,

comparatively speaking, identity reference

points remain considerably less religious.

The region’s religious identities were profoundly

infl uenced by the atheistic policies of the

Soviet Union as well as by the creation of

national identities to the detriment of religious

identities. All ‘citizens’ found themselves

endowed with a ‘nationality’ associated with an

assumed ethnic belonging and superimposed

on the borders of the State to which they

were supposed to belong. Yet, even though

the religious practice and cultural presence of

Islam have suff ered, Islam often remained the

principal identifi cation reference point. The

de-Stalinization process and the 1960s and

1970s enabled the Central Asian Republics to

‘relive’, to a certain extent, their identities and to

reclaim their historic Islamic heritage, which was

used to refl ect a shared and unifying heritage.

After independence, Islam became the

requisite identity reference point on which

the elites based their new legitimacy. At

the same time, Islam was strictly controlled

and secularism explicitly affi rmed in the

constitutions of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

In an attempt to reconstruct national

identities without calling into question the

borders inherited from the Soviet Union, the

region’s medieval and Islamic past were re-

evaluated and exploited as a new component

of identity, thereby making it possible to

overcome ethnic and group divisions.

In Uzbekistan, for example, Tamerlane was

rehabilitated and then elevated to the status

of hero symbolizing the new-found Uzbek

conscience and identity. In Tajikistan, national

history now relies on the idealization of the

resistance of Persian culture to the unrelenting

spread of Turkish infl uence in Central Asia.

The politicization of cultural reference has

gone hand-and-hand with the elimination of

numerous Russian words from the vocabularies

of national languages. They have been replaced

by words of Arabic — or in the case of Tajikistan

— Persian origin. In the 1990s, there was a

noteworthy renewed interest in Islam with

an overall increase in religious practices even

though the latter remain largely a personal

matter limited to the private or family sphere.

Nonetheless, the traditional ethnic, group and

regional divisions have been perpetuated,

and they sometime surface as a threat to

regional stability. The sense of ethnic identity

is strengthened along with tribal and regional

identity, particularly in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Source: UNESCO.

Reconstructing Central Asian identities in the post-Soviet eraBox 1.4

Each individual

exposed to this

multiplicity of

potential identities

lives or manages it

diff erently

WRCD_eng2.indd 21 29/09/09 12:39

2 2 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

in the case of migrants confronted by a new cultural

environment — can exist in contradictory or ambivalent

modes (Bhabha, 1994). Still others, confronted by a

context of cultural mixity, decide to live in it as if this

state were a genuine choice involving the exercise of

their cultural freedom, creating for themselves an original

cultural profi le by combining elements borrowed from a

diversity of diff erent cultural contexts (UNDP, 2004). It is ��Aboriginal elder uses mobile phone, central Australia

signifi cant in this connection that a number of prominent

contemporary novelists, including Salman Rushdie,

Gabriel García Márquez, Milan Kundera and J. M. Coetzee,

have been drawn to this topic of migrants confronted

with new cultural environments and obliged to construct

new cultural identities.

The notion of hybridity is widely used to designate this

latter form of cultural mixing. The term ‘draws attention

towards individuals or cultural forms that are refl exively

— self-consciously — mixed, [comprising] syntheses

of cultural forms or fragments of diverse origin’ (Eriksen,

2007). A more general, and less self-conscious, form

of hybridity with deeper historical roots is the kind of

continuous cultural intermingling that took place, for

example, between migrants, colonizers and fi rst nations,

giving rise to new hybrid identities regarded as typical of

Latin American cultures (Canclini, 1992). A distinction is

often made between the concept of hybridity and that

of creolization. The latter term has somewhat diff erent

connotations depending on language and locale, but

generally refers to ‘the intermingling and mixing of two or

several formerly discrete traditions and cultures’ (Eriksen,

2007). While the reference here is mainly to the distinctive

mix of linguistic and cultural elements in the French Afro-

Caribbean territories, ‘creolization’ has tended to be used

more generally to describe various processes of cultural

mixing involving the aggregation rather than the fusion

of disparate elements. Many other examples of syncretic

cultural forms show the phenomenon of mixing to be a

constant feature of cultural diversifi cation.

One of the eff ects of globalization has been a

paradoxical loosening of the grip of modernity

through a reconstitution of the relationship between

individuals and their communities of allegiance, thereby

inaugurating new conceptions of identity (Appadurai,

1996). In this context, individuals are called upon to

act, respond and create in the process of negotiating

a new sense of identity. While often reduced to a

possession or an inheritance, identity is revealed through

such examples as fl uid, permeable and evolving. It is

essentially an experience in the making. Individual and

collective identities, while deriving from the past, are to

some extent the creation of time and place, developing

out of a complex articulation of social determinants

and individual agency (Giddens, 1984; Long and Long,

1992). In this way, the blurring of frontiers and the

WRCD_eng2.indd 22 29/09/09 12:39

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 2 3

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

��A fantasia, during the Moussem of Tan Tan, a festival of nomad tribes, Morocco

partial disenmeshment of the individual in the context

of globalization have favoured the emergence of a

nomadic spirit, which some regard as the new horizon of

contemporary cultural experimentation (Cliff ord, 1997).

As information and communication technologies (ICTs)

reach into the remotest corners of the planet, paving the

way for a world of multiple cultural affi liations in which

hybrid and multicultural identities become ever more

widespread, the challenge posed to the international

community is to manage these far-reaching changes so

as to safeguard the manifestations of cultural diversity

while at the same time recognizing the opportunities

off ered by cultural diversity to further the ability to

adapt to diff erent social and political contexts and

circumstances and to favour innovation and a cross-

fertilization of cultural expressions and practices.

1.3 Regional and international initiatives on cultural diversity

In a world marked increasingly by the intermingling

of cultures, eff orts to safeguard the manifestations of

cultural diversity assume particular importance for

national governments, as well as for the international

community as a whole. Political and economic

interests, as well as concerns linked to heritage, inform

a wide variety of initiatives — governmental and

non-governmental — which converge at national,

regional and international levels. From the standpoint of

sustainable development, the tangible and intangible

expressions of cultural heritage — as markers of cultural

identity and tokens of cultural diversity — are the

cornerstone in the construction of a more harmonious,

polyphonic and pluralistic world.

While impossible to review here, myriad country-specifi c

initiatives support cultural diversity, many of which are

referred to throughout this report. It is equally diffi cult to

do justice to the many programmes undertaken in a non-

governmental context. Suffi ce it to say that all the projects,

actions and activities pursued at the inter-governmental

level rely considerably on the activities of a vast number

of non-governmental bodies operating at all levels

throughout the membership of the United Nations. A few

of these organizations may be singled out here, however,

for their close cooperation and signifi cant contributions to

the promotion of cultural diversity within the framework

of the United Nations system: the International Council

on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International

Music Council (IMC), the International Network for Cultural

Diversity (INCD) and MEDIACULT.

The following sections sketch in broad outline fi rst the

regional and then the international initiatives taken

to protect and promote cultural diversity, including

the various strategies adopted in support of regional

integration in the cultural fi eld. In keeping with its

mandate, UNESCO has played a leading role in the

formulation, promotion and implementation of these

international instruments — in fi elds as varied as cultural,

physical and intangible heritage, cultural expressions,

cultural exchanges and the illicit traffi c in cultural goods

and intellectual property — in an eff ort to safeguard

and promote various facets of the complex reality

encapsulated in the term ‘cultural diversity’. These diff erent

initiatives and agreements represent a collective response

by the international community to the challenges

inherent in the preservation of our creative diversity.

Regional initiatives National projects and international standard-setting

activities and related programmes are often refl ected

in regional action plans for the promotion of cultural

diversity, contingent upon a broad convergence of views.

Such plans correspond to the wish of many states for

a greater pooling of resources and exchange of best

practices and experiences at the regional level, or are

framed in response to specifi cally regional problems,

which can be properly addressed only at that level.

In Africa the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance,

adopted in Khartoum in January 2006 by the Member

States of the African Union, affi rms that ‘African cultural

diversity and unity are a factor of equilibrium, strength in

African economic development, confl ict resolution and

reducing inequality and injustice to promote national

integration’. It underlines in particular the urgent need

‘to edify educational systems which embody the African

and universal values’, ‘to resolutely ensure the promotion

of African languages’, and ‘to carry out a systematic

inventory with a view to preserving and promoting

tangible and intangible cultural heritage, in particular in

The challenge posed

to the international

community is to

safeguard the

manifestations of

cultural diversity

while at the same

time recognizing

the opportunities

off ered by cultural

diversity to further

the ability to adapt to

diff erent social and

political contexts and

circumstances

WRCD_eng2.indd 23 29/09/09 12:39

2 4 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

Declaration (UNESCO, 1994), in particular, prepared the

ground for the drafting of an Iberoamerican Cultural

Charter (OEI, 2006), ‘placing priority [. . .] on cultural rights,

the cultural and natural, tangible and intangible cultural

heritage, cultural industries and links between culture

and development, education and training, innovation,

the economy, employment, the environment, tourism,

science, technology and communications media’. The

growing awareness of the continent’s cultural diversity

has led not only to a rediscovery of the indigenous

cultures threatened by large-scale deforestation and

growing impoverishment, but also to refl ection on the

specifi city of cultural identities born of the encounter

between the Old and the New Worlds and on the

need to ensure that cultural mixing and multiple

identities, as part of the colonial legacy, do not lead to

splits that are diffi cult to reconcile. Moreover, political

recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in

countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru have led

some younger members of traditional societies to

reclaim an indigenous status bestowing rights — the

reforms underway having in some cases made land

redistribution and other social advantages dependent on

mastery of an indigenous language.

In Southeast Asia the 2003 Bali Concord II (Declaration

of ASEAN Concord II) reaffi rmed that ASEAN ‘is a

concert of Southeast Asian nations, bonded together

in partnership in dynamic development and in

a community of caring societies, committed to

upholding cultural diversity and social harmony’. The

2005 ASEAN Ministerial Meeting endorsed the aim

‘to increase the capabilities and competitiveness of

Asian countries by maximizing on cultural diversity and

abundant resources’. Mention should also be made

of the Jodhpur Initiatives, a specifi c regional initiative

for the development of creative industries, launched

in February 2005. In Southeast Asia, the harmonious

coexistence of extremely modern and highly traditional

societies is not always easily achieved. A large gap

separates the rural world, which is relatively shielded

from the eff ects of globalization, from the large

urban centres, which have undergone considerable

modernization in recent decades (an example being

the construction of the Petronas Towers in Kuala

Lumpur). The scale of the rural exodus is creating

potentially confl ictual situations, exacerbated by mutual

misunderstanding, mistrust and indiff erence.

the spheres of History, Traditions, Arts and Handicrafts,

Knowledge and Know-how’. A growing awareness of

Africa’s exceptionally rich heritage — represented by the

diversity of cultures, languages and historical trajectories

of its diff erent societies — is refl ected in the resolve to

preserve and manage that heritage. Thus, to prevent the

resurgence of inter-ethnic confl icts linked to adverse

economic conditions (such as the xenophobic riots

in South Africa at the start of 2008) or to processes of

political transition (as in Kenya at the end of 2007), the

issue of reconciliation in post-confl ict situations (as in

Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda) has become a focus

of attention. A similar concern with the challenges posed

by cultural diversity for social governance is refl ected

in the activities of the African Academy of Languages

(ACALAN), which, in addition to seeking to preserve the

continent’s linguistic diversity, proposes to transform

that diversity into a principle of harmonious coexistence

through the promotion of multilingualism.

In Latin America various declarations have been adopted

in recent years at Ibero-American conferences of

high-level cultural offi cials (Santo Domingo, Dominican

Republic, May 2006), Ministers of Culture (Córdova,

Spain, June 2005) and Heads of State and Government

(Salamanca, Spain, October 2005). The Salamanca

��Children with the sacred balafon instrument known as the

Sosso-Bala, Guinea

WRCD_eng2.indd 24 29/09/09 12:39

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 2 5

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

of a number of initiatives in the sphere of educational

exchanges (Erasmus programme) and in the cinema and

audiovisual sector (MEDIA programme), and reaffi rms the

objective of a ‘European Agenda for Culture’.

The Council of Europe has also played an important

role in recognizing the importance of cultural

diversity between and within the European States.

The December 2000 Declaration on Cultural Diversity

recognizes that ‘respect for cultural diversity is an

essential condition of human society’ and that ‘cultural

diversity has always been a dominant European

characteristic and a fundamental political objective

in the process of European construction’. It stresses

that cultural diversity, ‘expressed in the co-existence

and exchange of culturally diff erent practices and in

the provision and consumption of culturally diff erent

services and products [. . .] cannot be expressed

without the conditions for free creative expression, and

freedom of information existing in all forms of cultural

exchange, notably with respect to audiovisual services’.

It reaffi rms the links between cultural diversity and

sustainable development and invites the members of

the Council of Europe to support and promote cultural

and linguistic diversity, particularly through cultural,

linguistic and audiovisual policies. Finally, a White Paper

on Intercultural Dialogue, entitled Living Together as

Equals in Dignity, was adopted in May 2008 within the

framework of the Council of Europe.

A broad convergence of views on the safeguarding

of cultural diversity is thus apparent at the regional

level. A similar convergence is observable between the

diff erent regional approaches, despite the diversity of

historical and political contexts and the variable impacts

of globalization. These varied approaches testify to

the common concern to identify ways of adequately

addressing the wide-ranging challenges inherent in the

protection and promotion of a common cultural heritage.

International initiatives International initiatives in the fi eld of cultural diversity

correspond to a number of evolving concerns relating to

the protection and promotion of cultural heritage and,

later on, creativity. UNESCO has played a leading role in

this respect, as the only organization within the United

Nations system possessing a mandate in the fi eld of

culture, including a standard-setting function.

In the case of the Arab States, the Riyadh Declaration

of the League of Arab States (2007) expresses the

determination to

act diligently to protect the Arab identity, boost its

components and bases, and strengthen belonging

to it in the hearts and minds of children, adolescents

and young men and women, since Arabism is not a

racist or ethnic concept but rather a unifi ed cultural

identity, with the Arabic language as its means of

expression and preservation of its heritage, and a

common cultural framework based on spiritual,

moral and humanistic values, enriched by diversity

and plurality, by openness to other human cultures,

and by corresponding to accelerating scientifi c and

technological advances.

Refl ection on Arab identity and on ways to combat

cultural isolationism (one of the essential dimensions

of fundamentalism) is linked to questions concerning

the relationship between the ‘Arab world’ and the

‘West’, particularly around the Mediterranean Basin.

As underlined by recent events, the failure to resolve

the Israeli-Arab confl ict in Palestine and the West Bank

continues to fuel deep resentment, which contributes

to problems involving issues of identity in the region.

Another prominent issue is the so-called ‘colonization

of minds’, which is prompting large numbers of young

people to chance their luck in Europe or North America.

In Europe the European Commission’s 2007

Communication on a European Agenda for Culture in a

Globalizing World states,

The originality and success of the European Union

is in its ability to respect Member States’ varied and

intertwined history, languages and cultures, while

forging common understanding and rules which

have guaranteed peace, stability, prosperity and

solidarity — and with them, a huge richness of

cultural heritage and creativity to which successive

enlargements have added more and more.

It specifi es the role of the European Union’s internal

policies and programmes, with particular reference to

‘facilitating mutual understanding, stimulating creativity,

and contributing to the mutual enrichment of our

cultures’. It notes in that connection the contribution

This progressive

development ...

refl ects a dual

recognition of a

'common heritage' ...

and of the specifi cities

of cultures, which,

although fl uctuating

and transitory in

nature, must be

valued in their

own right

WRCD_eng2.indd 25 29/09/09 12:40

2 6 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

property’ was consecrated internationally with the

adoption of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict. This

Convention laid the basis for the concepts of ‘common

heritage’ and ‘global’ commons, which later found

resonance in the UNESCO-led campaign to safeguard

the Nubian Monuments threatened by the rising waters

behind the newly constructed Aswan Dam. This major

project served to highlight the universal signifi cance

of manifestations of cultural heritage, which the

international community had a duty to safeguard as

expressions of a common human inheritance.

In 1966 the UNESCO General Conference outlined this

philosophy in the Declaration on Principles of International

Cultural Co-operation. This Declaration states that each

‘culture has a dignity and value which must be protected

and preserved’ and that every ‘people has the right and

the duty to develop its culture’ before going on to affi rm

that ‘all cultures form part of the common heritage

belonging to all mankind’. While this Declaration may in

some instances have served to justify certain culturalist

or localist tendencies, UNESCO always sought to correct

such imbalances by underlining that the Declaration is

designed to facilitate the relations between cultures by

emphasizing their unity in diversity and fostering the capacity

for shared enjoyment of a universal culture constituted by the

In order to contribute to the ‘intellectual and moral

solidarity of mankind’ and to combat ignorance and

prejudice, UNESCO is called upon, under its Constitution

(1945), to ‘give fresh impulse to the spread of culture’ and

to promote ‘the fruitful diversity’ of the world’s cultures,

implying both their interaction and the preservation of

their independence and integrity. Cultural diversity is

thus understood in terms of both heritage (tangible and

intangible) and creativity. It is on this basis, infl uenced by

changing perspectives on culture, that the institutional

content of the notion of cultural diversity has been

forged and furthered at UNESCO since its creation in

1945, and has led to the adoption of a range of standard-

setting instruments in the spheres of artistic creation, the

movable and immovable heritage, intangible cultural

heritage and, most recently, the diversity of cultural

expressions (see Figure 1.2).

Following the adoption of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights in 1948, UNESCO responded to its task

of increasing the circulation of educational, scientifi c

and cultural materials and protecting scientifi c, literary

and artistic property through the successive adoption

of the Beirut Agreement for Facilitating the International

Circulation of Visual and Auditory Materials of an

Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Character (1948), the

Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational,

Scientifi c and Cultural Materials (1950) and the Universal

Figure 1.2 Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO, per region*

Source: Data from UNESCO, Standard-Setting Instruments, 2009.

* Calculated by summing the number of UNESCO Member States per region (non member are excluded from calculation).

25%

50%

75%

100%

WORLD

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and South Asia

East AsiaEurope

North America

Latin America and the Caribbean

Pacific

Universal Copyright Convention (1971)

Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954)

Prevention of the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970)

Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)

Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001)

Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)

Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)

A new era has begun

with the exploration of

the concept of cultural

diversity, representing

a growing concern

of the international

community, affi rming

the simultaneous need

for the recognition of

cultural diff erences

and the promotion of

intercultural dialogue

WRCD_eng2.indd 26 29/09/09 12:40

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 2 7

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

A new era has begun with the exploration of the concept

of cultural diversity, representing a growing concern of

the international community. A long process of refl ection

during the 1980s and 1990s was to lead eventually to

the adoption in 2001 of the Universal Declaration on

Cultural Diversity. Key moments in this process included:

the Declaration of World Conference on Cultural

Policies (MONDIACULT, Mexico City, 1982), which in

defi ning culture as ‘the whole complex of distinctive

spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features

that characterize a society or social group [including]

not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the

fundamental rights of the human being, value systems,

traditions and beliefs’ reconciled the universal dimension

of culture with its particular constituents; the 1996 report

of the World Commission on Culture and Development,

entitled Our Creative Diversity; and the conclusions of

the 1998 Stockholm Intergovernmental Conference

on Cultural Policies for Development, which affi rmed

the simultaneous need for the recognition of cultural

diff erences and the promotion of intercultural dialogue

The 2001 Universal Declaration, developing the earlier

Mexico City Declaration, identifi es culture as ‘the set of

distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional

features of society or a social group, [that] encompasses,

in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living

together, value systems, traditions and beliefs’ (Preamble)

and reminds us that ‘culture takes diverse forms across

time and space’, that ‘[t]his diversity is embodied in the

uniqueness and plurality of the identities of the groups

and societies making up humankind’ and that ‘cultural

diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is

for nature’ (Art. 1).

While the 2003 Convention focuses primarily on

the processes of transmission of knowledge within

the communities and groups that are the bearers of

this heritage, the goal of the 2005 Convention on the

Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural

Expressions is to create the conditions in which the

diversity of cultural expressions can fl ourish and freely

interact in a mutually benefi cial manner. It recognizes

the distinctive character of cultural activities, goods

and services, aims to stimulate cultural diversity, and is

committed to sustainable development and international

creations representing the common heritage of humanity.

Subsequently, at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on

the Human Environment, the international community

recognized that the planet as a whole constitutes an

inheritance held in trust for future generations. The

concepts of cultural and natural heritage were formally

united in 1972 with UNESCO’s adoption of an instrument

that would become a landmark in the heritage fi eld,

namely the Convention Concerning the Protection of the

World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

At each successive stage in the debate on globalization

and its positive and negative eff ects, it became increasingly

obvious that cultures identify themselves not only with

their material expressions in stone, wood, metal, cloth,

paper, etc., and with their permanence in defi ance of time,

but also with a vision of the world embodied in beliefs,

representations, celebrations, customs and social relations

that are by nature intangible, fl uctuating and transitory.

These cultural manifestations — including oral traditions,

performing arts and traditional know-how with respect to

crafts or nature — are the ferment of cultures. Conscious

that cultural heritage as defi ned in the 1972 Convention

covered only one aspect of cultural creation, UNESCO

adopted in 2003 the Convention for the Safeguarding of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage. The concept of ‘outstanding

universal value’ is not employed in this Convention, which

considers all those expressions and traditions recognized

as important by a given community to be equally

valuable, without hierarchical distinction. What matters

for the international recognition of this living heritage is

its importance for the sense of identity and continuity

of the communities in which it is created, transmitted

and re-created rather than any implicit valuation of the

practices concerned.

This progressive development in the concept of cultural

heritage, and the shift of emphasis with respect to its

connection with identity and continuity, refl ect a dual

movement: one leads to the recognition of a ‘common

heritage’ that the international community has a duty

to safeguard as the expression of a shared human

inheritance; the other leads to the recognition of the

specifi cities of cultures, which, although fl uctuating and

transitory in nature, must be valued in their own right.

��Traditional Japanese puppet theatre, Ningyo Johruri Bunraku

WRCD_eng2.indd 27 29/09/09 12:40

2 8 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

technologies. The challenge is thus to limit the

negative consequences of globalization for cultural

diversity, which calls in the fi rst instance for a more

informed and nuanced understanding of its impacts.

The establishment of a World Observatory on Cultural

Diversity, as proposed in this report, could play a

signifi cant role in this regard.

It is also important to recognize that national — as

distinct from cultural — identity is always to some extent

an historical construction. Like any work of memory,

the concept of nation is selective. No culture is ever

wholly fi xed or isolated, and national identity is always

the product of processes of evolution and interaction.

In a globalizing world, such changes are pervasive and

make for the increased complexity of individual and

group identities. Indeed, the recognition — and even

affi rmation — of multiple identities is a characteristic

feature of our time. One of the paradoxical eff ects of

globalization is thus to provoke forms of diversifi cation

conducive to innovation of all kinds and at all levels.

Yet cultures are not equal in the face of globalization

processes, and every eff ort must be made to safeguard

cultural expressions struggling to survive. However,

safeguarding measures by themselves will not be

enough: we must also fi nd ways to help the communities

in question to better manage cultural change within a

context of intercultural dialogue. For cultural diversity

and intercultural dialogue are essentially linked, diversity

being both the product and precondition of dialogue.

cooperation. In addressing the exchanges between the

cultures that constitute our universal heritage, the 2005

Convention marks the dawn of a new era in standard-

setting instruments in which those instruments are

aimed at preserving the specifi cities of cultures while

promoting their development on a global scale through

exchange and commercialization. Indeed, culture has two

meanings, which are diff erent yet wholly complementary.

Firstly, culture is the creative diversity embodied in

particular ‘cultures’, each with its own traditions and

tangible and intangible expressions. Secondly, culture (in

the singular) refers to the creative impulse at the source

of that realized diversity. These two meanings of culture

— one self-referential, the other self-transcending — are

indissociable and the key to the fruitful interaction of all

peoples in the context of globalization.

Through its normative apparatuses, UNESCO promotes

these two approaches simultaneously: encouraging

the world’s cultures to affi rm themselves in their infi nite

diversity, while furthering recognition of the universality of

their expressions. By awakening a shared sense of wonder

at the myriad manifestations of cultural creativity, it seeks

to highlight the common sources of our humanity.

Conclusion Often seen as a threat to cultural diversity, globalization

is in practice far more diverse in its eff ects, for while

it may in some respects deplete cultural diversity it

also serves to reconfi gure certain of its forms, not

least in association with the development of digital

Cultural diversity and

intercultural dialogue

are essentially linked,

diversity being

both the product

and precondition

of dialogue

Consideration should be given to establishing a World Observatory on Cultural Diversity to monitor

the impacts of globalization on cultural diversity and to serve as a source of information and data for

comparative research with a forward-looking function.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Collect, compile and widely disseminate data and statistics on cultural diversity, building inter alia on the revised 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS).

b. Develop methodologies and tools for assessing, measuring and monitoring cultural diversity that are adaptable to national or local conditions by governments and public and private institutions.

c. Establish national observatories to monitor policies and advise on appropriate measures for the promotion of cultural diversity.

C h

ap ter 1 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

WRCD_eng2.indd 28 29/09/09 12:40

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 2 9

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

In 1972 the General Conference adopted the Convention

Concerning the Protection of the Cultural and Natural

Heritage of the World. Like the 1954 Hague Convention,

this landmark instrument focuses on immovable cultural

property (in this case ‘of outstanding universal value’) but

introduces the key notion of ‘heritage of mankind’. With

its programmatic approach, based on a listing system and

the use of operational guidelines for its implementation,

the 1972 Convention strengthened heritage conservation

policies and became the standard reference for including

conservation policies as a means of development, with

particular emphasis on tourism. At the present time, 890

cultural, natural or mixed sites have been inscribed on

the World Heritage List. These sites are located across the

globe, enabling developed and developing countries

alike to benefit from the opportunities associated with

this Convention. The World Heritage label carries with it

great prestige and is much coveted by the signatories

to the Convention to gain recognition for their heritage,

protect sensitive sites, landscapes and species, and attract

tourism. More generally, World Heritage sites serve to

sensitize and educate people to the need to protect the

heritage for future generations, and to foster intercultural

respect and understanding through appreciation of

the diversity and wealth of expressions forming part of

humanity’s common patrimony.

The purpose of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting

and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of

Ownership of Cultural Property, adopted in 1970, is quite

diff erent. It does not aim to protect cultural property in

the name of its universal value but rather to recognize

the national ownership of that property. The issue of the

looting of cultural objects (or property) and the illicit

traffi cking of such property were also addressed in 1995

by the complementary UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or

Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and by the Convention on

the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, adopted by

the General Conference of UNESCO in 2001. This Convention

established a standard for the protection of archaeological

sites underwater comparable to that granted by other

UNESCO Conventions to land-based cultural heritage. Its

regulations are linked to the 1970 UNESCO Convention and

the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention insofar as it contains detailed

provisions concerning the prevention of the illicit traffi cking

of cultural property recovered from the sea. However, it is

not intended to arbitrate quarrels or claims to ownership and

does not contain a restitution clause.

The Universal Copyright Convention, which was adopted

in 1952 and entered into force in 1955, introduced the idea

that culture (literary, scientifi c and artistic works) embodies

universal values requiring common protection and

accordingltty a shared responsibility of the international

community. Among its essential features are the

preferential provisions for developing countries (introduced

by the Paris Act of the Convention in 1971) to take account

of the role of works of the mind in the general context of

development and the economic, social and cultural needs

of developing countries. After establishing international

Convention began to lose ground in the 1980s, with many

countries preferring to adhere to the stronger standards

of the Berne Convention for the rotection of Literary and

Artistic Works (1886, completed in 1896, revised in 1908,

completed in 1914, revised in 1928, 1948, 1967, 1971 and

amended in 1979).

At the same time, refl ecting dramatically heightened

awareness of the need to protect heritage in times of war,

the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Properties in

the Event of Armed Confl ict was adopted in The Hague,

Netherlands, in 1954. This international treaty, together

with its First Protocol adopted the same year, introduced

the expression ‘cultural property’ as a comprehensive

and homogenous category of movable and immovable

property deemed worthy of protection due to their

unique cultural value — such as architectural, artistic or

historical monuments and centres, archaeological sites,

museums, large libraries and archive depositories, works

of art, manuscripts, books, and other objects of artistic,

historical or archaeological interest. The 1954 Convention,

now complemented by the Second Protocol of 1999, laid the

foundation for the concepts of common heritage and the

common good of humanity.

In 1966 the UNESCO General Conference adopted the

Declaration on the Principles of International Cultural

Co-operation. The Declaration established the essential

features of UNESCO’s cooperation policies in the fi eld of

culture by stating that ‘each culture has a dignity and value

which must be respected and preserved’, and that ‘every

people has the right and duty to develop its culture and that

all cultures form part of the common heritage belonging to

all mankind’, thereby positing the notion that humanity as a

whole constitutes a foundation shared by all individuals and

that it possesses rights superseding those of nations.

In focus:

Standard-setting

instruments

adopted by

UNESCO

WRCD_eng2.indd 29 29/09/09 12:40

3 0 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the

Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in 2005, deals more

specifi cally with cultural expressions produced, circulated

and shared by contemporary means. Cultural diversity is

innovatively defi ned as ‘the manifold ways in which the

cultures of groups and societies fi nd expression. These

expressions are passed on within and among groups

and societies. Cultural diversity is made manifest not only

through the varied ways in which the cultural heritage of

humanity is expressed, augmented and transmitted through

the variety of cultural expressions, but also through diverse

modes of artistic creation, production, dissemination,

distribution and enjoyment, whatever the means and

technologies used’ (Art. 4).

The 2005 Convention also includes the important statement

that ‘cultural diversity is strengthened by the free fl ow of

ideas, and [. . .] is nurtured by constant exchanges and

interaction between cultures’, that ‘linguistic diversity is

a fundamental element of cultural diversity’, that ‘while

the processes of globalization [. . .] aff ord unprecedented

conditions for enhanced interaction between cultures, they

also represent a challenge for cultural diversity, namely in

view of risks of imbalances between rich and poor countries’

(Preamble), as well as that ‘equitable access to a rich and

diversifi ed range of cultural expressions from all over the

world and access of cultures to the means of expressions

and dissemination constitute important elements for

enhancing cultural diversity and encouraging mutual

understanding’ (Art. 2.7).

The 2005 Convention recognizes the distinctive role of

cultural activities, goods and services as vehicles of identity

and values, aims at stimulating creative diversity and is

committed to sustainable development and international

cooperation. It establishes rights for contracting parties:

each state party may adopt measures aimed at protecting

and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions within

its territory. In turn, State Parties have a number of duties,

notably to ensure, within their territory, an environment

that encourages individuals and groups to create, produce,

disseminate and distribute their cultural expressions

and have access to them. They also are required to pay

particular attention to the special situation of minority and/

or marginalized individuals and groups and to commit

themselves to international cooperation. Parties are likewise

requested to raise awareness and foster public understanding

of the importance of the diversity of cultural expressions and

The 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity,

unanimously adopted at the 31st session of UNESCO’s

General Conference, broke new ground in its specifi c

reference to cultural diversity as ‘the common heritage

of humanity’, which is to be ‘recognized and affi rmed for

the benefi t of present and future generations’ and whose

defence is deemed to be ‘an ethical imperative, inseparable

from respect for human dignity’. Such recognition is also

seen to embody the practical imperative that ‘care should

be exercised that all cultures can express themselves and

make themselves known’, with implications for freedom

of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, and equal

access to art and scientifi c and technical knowledge.

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity states that

‘respect for the diversity of cultures, tolerance, dialogue and

cooperation, in a climate of mutual trust and understanding’

is one of ‘the best guarantees of international peace and

security’ and affi rms the need for ‘international cooperation

and solidarity’ based on partnerships between the public

sector, the private sector and civil society.

The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage grew out of UNESCO’s programme on the

Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage

of Humanity, launched in 1997, with proclamations in 2001,

2003 and 2005. Intangible cultural heritage, which this

Convention calls a ‘mainspring of cultural diversity’, is widely

recognized as a key element in the protection of cultural

identity, the promotion of creativity and the preservation of

traditional cultural expressions. The defi nition of intangible

heritage contained in the 2003 Convention — comprising

a non-exhaustive list of domains, such as oral traditions

and expressions (including language), performing arts,

social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and

practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional

craftsmanship — constitutes an important contribution

towards the recognition of the multifaceted nature of

cultural diversity. It aims to safeguard a heritage that is living,

constantly evolving and embodied in human practices. In

the 2003 Convention, the role assigned to communities

and groups of tradition-bearers is therefore considerable.

International recognition — for example, through inclusion of

intangible heritage elements in the List of Intangible Cultural

Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (UNESCO, 2003,

Art. 17) and the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural

Heritage of Humanity — is based on inventories drawn up

by State Parties and on criteria adopted in June 2008 by the

Assembly of State Parties to the Convention.

WRCD_eng2.indd 30 29/09/09 12:40

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y . 3 1

Chapter 1 Cultural diversity

c. In the fi eld of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the:

■ 2003 Charter on the Preservation of Digital

Heritage, which — building on the Memory of

the World programme launched by UNESCO in

1992 and dedicated to increasing worldwide

awareness of the existence and signifi cance

of documentary heritage by drawing up

international inventories — advocates the

development of strategies and policies for the

protection and promotion of digital heritage;

■ 2003 Recommendation on the Promotion and

Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to

Cyberspace, which notes that ‘linguistic diversity

in the global information networks and universal

access to information in cyberspace are at the

core of contemporary debates’.

d. In the fi eld of education, the: ■ 1960 Convention against Discrimination in

Education, which refers in its Preamble to the

objective of ‘respecting the diversity of national

educational systems’;

■ 1974 Recommendation concerning Education

for International Understanding, Cooperation

and Peace and Education relating to Human

Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the 1993

Recommendation on the Recognition of Studies

and Qualifi cations in Higher Education, which

are aimed at promoting better understanding

between cultures and peoples, including mutual

respect for their diversity.

to encourage the active participation of civil society in eff orts

by parties to achieve the Convention’s objectives.

In the fi eld of cultural policies, UNESCO’s work

pertaining to cultural diversity also includes a series of

Recommendations, notably the Recommendation concerning

the Most Eff ective Means of Rendering Museums Accessible

to Everyone (1960), the Recommendation concerning the

Preservation of Cultural Property Endangered by Public or

Private Works (1968), the Recommendation concerning

the Safeguarding and Contemporary Role of Historic Areas

(1976), the Recommendation concerning the International

Exchange of Cultural Property (1976), the Recommendation

for the Protection of Movable Cultural Property (1978), the

Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of

Moving Images (1980), the Recommendation concerning the

Status of the Artist (1980) and the Recommendation on the

Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore (1989).

Outside the fi eld of cultural policies, other signifi cant UNESCO

instruments related to cultural diversity include the following:

a. In the fi eld of the fi ght against racism, the: ■ 1978 Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice,

which reaffi rms the ‘right to be diff erent’,

signifi cantly making reference to the complexity of

cultural identities as irreducible to identity of origin;

■ 1995 Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, which

re-situates the issue of living together with

our diff erences, in view of the new challenges

arising from globalization and the emergence of

worldwide networks.

b. In the fi eld of freedoms and rights, the: ■ 1976 Recommendation on Participation by

the People at Large in Cultural Life and Their

Contribution to It, which includes provisions

related to diversity in the media, bearing in mind

the ‘extreme diversity of audiences, in order to

‘enhance the cultural quality of programmes

intended for the public at large’;

■ 1997 Declaration on the Responsibilities of the

Present Generations towards Future Generations,

which states that ‘it is important to make every

eff ort to ensure [. . .] that future as well as

present generations enjoy full freedom of choice

[. . .] and are able to preserve their cultural and

religious diversity’.

��UNESCO Headquarters, Paris

WRCD_eng2.indd 31 29/09/09 12:40

3 2 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

—. 2001c. Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of

Humanity. 18 May. http://www.unesco.org/bpi/intangible_heritage/

index.htm

—. 1998. Making the Most of Globalization. Sources, No. 97, pp. 7-8.

—. 1997. Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations towards

Future Generations. 12 November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-

URL_ID=13178&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1995. Declaration of Principles on Tolerance. 16 November.

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/peace_library/UNESCO/

HRIGHTS/124-129.HTM

—. 1994. Salamanca Declaration and Framework of Action. World Conference

on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, Salamanca, Spain, 7–10

June. Paris, UNESCO. http://www.ecdgroup.com/download/gn1ssfai.pdf

—. 1993. Recommendation on the Recognition of Studies and Qualifi cations in

Higher Education. 16 November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-

URL_ID=13142&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1989. Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and

Folklore. 16 November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_

ID=13141&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1982. Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies. World Conference on

Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT), Mexico City, 26 July — 6 August. http://

portal.unesco.org/culture/en/fi les/12762/11295421661mexico_en.pdf/

mexico_en.pdf

—. 1980a. Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist. 27 October.

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13138&URL_DO=DO_

TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1980b. Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of

Moving Images. 27 October. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_

ID=13139&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1978a. Recommendation for the Protection of Movable Cultural Property. 28

November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13137&URL_

DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1978b. Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice. 27 November.

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/peace_library/UNESCO/

HRIGHTS/107-116.HTM

—. 1976a. Recommendation concerning the International Exchange of Cultural

Property. 30 November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_

ID=13132&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1976b. Recommendation concerning the Safeguarding and Contemporary

Role of Historic Areas. 26 November. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-

URL_ID=13133&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

—. 1976c. Recommendation on Participation by the People at Large in

Cultural Life and Their Contribution to It. 26 November. http://portal.

unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13097&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_

SECTION=201.html

Background documents and UNESCO sources

Alexander, N. 2007. Rethinking culture, linking tradition and modernity.

Paper presented at the second meeting of the Advisory Committee of

Experts, Venice, 2–3 April.

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https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=389843

3 4 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

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The Mostar Bridge was rebuilt after the war in Bosnia

WRCD_eng2.indd 36 29/09/09 12:40

Intercultural dialogue

Human beings relate to one another through society, and express that relationship through culture.

All of our actions, thoughts, behaviour, attitudes and material or intellectual creations imply a

cultural relationship. Even the natural world that we name, describe and analyze may be said to be

informed by human culture, to be invested with ‘inward meaning’. In this fundamental sense, our

similarities are more profound than our cultural diff erences. These diff erences, moreover, embody

a positive potential, for it is through them that we complement one another in devising novel

solutions for living together in our social and natural settings. Cultural diversity represents the sum

of these solutions, and dialogue is the bridge between them.

If we are to respond to the challenges inherent in a culturally diverse world, we must develop new

approaches to intercultural dialogue, approaches that go beyond the limitations of the ‘dialogue

among civilizations’ paradigm. The prerequisites for such a dialogue include consideration of the

ways in which cultures relate to one another, awareness of cultural commonalities and shared goals,

and identifi cation of the challenges to be met in reconciling cultural diff erences and identities.

22 CHAPTER 2

A caravan of camels at Mingsha

Shan in Dunhuang, China

WRCD_eng2.indd 37 29/09/09 12:40

22 2.1 Cultural interactions ................................... 39

Box 2.1 UNESCO Slave Route Project: Celebrating the cultural expressions

generated through enforced dialogue ...................40

2.2. Cultural stereotypes and intolerance ........ 41

Figure 2.1 World Values Survey on geographical belonging ...................................................43

Box 2.2 ‘What went wrong with the dialogue between cultures?’ ...............................................................44

2.3 The challenges of dialogue

in a multicultural world .............................. 45

Box 2.3 Intercultural competencies: The basics...................................................................................45

Box 2.4 Reconciliation through common narrative: Revised history textbook initiatives .....49

2.4 Empowerment ............................................. 51

Box 2.5 Through the eyes of hunters-gatherers: Participatory 3D modelling among the Ogiek

indigenous peoples in Kenya ........................................52

Conclusion ........................................................... 54

Recommendations.............................................. 55

In focus: The history of dialogue at UNESCO

and institutional initiatives

on intercultural dialogue ........................... 56

References and websites .................................... 61

Intercultural

Dialogue

A young boy in Kihnu Island, Estonia

WRCD_eng2.indd 38 29/09/09 12:40

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 3 9

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

This intermingling of cultures through the ages has

found expression in a multitude of cultural forms and

human practices. Some of these are refl ected in the

Representative List of the intangible cultural heritage

of Humanity, created under the 2003 Convention — a

repository of oral traditions, social practices, performing

arts and traditional knowledge and crafts, transmitted

from generation to generation, constantly recreated

and providing communities with a sense of identity

and continuity (see Table 1 in the Statistical Annex).

Underlying this multifarious heritage, it is possible to

distinguish three main modes of cultural interaction:

cultural borrowings, cultural exchanges and cultural

impositions. While ethically distinctive, all these forms of

interaction have impacted very signifi cantly, and in many

cases very fruitfully, on forms of cultural expression.

Cultural borrowing occurs when the cultural practice

of one population is assimilated by another in

recognition of its perceived advantages over the

one it has previously employed. Populations may

be prepared to abandon even very ancient customs

when enabling mechanisms are found to facilitate

the integration of new practices. An example is the

use of snow scooters by the Sami people in Finland,

who, while remaining attached to their traditions

and beliefs, have adapted to a harsh environment by

embracing modern technology. The ‘borrowing’ of

practices or customs can become the basis for entirely

new forms or modalities through adaptation to their

new setting or divorce from their original meaning. In

the rainbow cultures characteristic of many modern

societies, borrowing has sometimes become so

pervasive as to challenge the distinction between

endogenous and exogenous cultural elements.

Cultural exchanges can become generalized between

neighbouring and mutually dependent cultures. The

Silk Roads represented a common trading framework

that ensured relatively peaceful relations between

neighbouring peoples and fostered a genuine

receptiveness to diff erence, which benefi ted the

cultural development of the populations concerned

and enabled signifi cant cultural transfers to take place

across large geographical areas. Generally speaking,

trade between diff erent cultural regions has contributed

Cultures are not self-enclosed or static entities. They

overlap and interact, if only to distinguish themselves

from one another. ‘Cultures are like clouds, their confi nes

ever changing, coming together or moving apart [. . .]

and sometimes merging to produce new forms arising

from those that preceded them yet diff ering from them

entirely’ (Droit in UNESCO, 2007). Even cultures long

regarded as isolated or hermetic can be shown to have

had contacts with other cultures in the form of economic

or proto-political exchanges. One of the fundamental

obstacles to intercultural dialogue is our propensity

to hypostasize other cultures, to conceive of them as

fi xed entities, as if fault lines separated them. Where

such fault lines are seen as absolute, often as a result of

totalitarian ideologies or beliefs, we pass into the realm

of confrontation or confl ict. One of the main objections

to Huntington’s thesis of a ‘clash of civilizations’, apart

from the risk that it could become a self-fulfi lling

prophecy, is that it presupposes singular rather than

multiple affi liations between human communities and

fails to take account of cultural interdependency and

interaction (Huntington, 1996). To describe as fault

lines the diff erences between cultures — even those

characterized by divergent or opposing beliefs — is to

overlook the porosity of cultural boundaries and the

creative potential of the individuals they encompass.

Civilizations, societies and cultures, like individuals, exist

in relation to one another. As one historian has noted,

‘consciously or otherwise [. . .] civilizations observe

one another, seek each other out, infl uence one

another, mutually defi ne one another. Their founding

texts may endure, but they themselves do not remain

static’ (Baubérot, 2003). Culture, it has been said, is

contagious. Down through the centuries, exchanges

and interactions of all kinds — through travel, trade

and trespass — have acted as translations between

cultures. ‘ Translation cannot be reduced to a technique

practised spontaneously by travellers, traders,

ambassadors, smugglers and traitors, and elevated to a

professional discipline by translators and interpreters.

It constitutes a paradigm for all exchanges, not only

between languages but also between cultures’ (Ricoeur,

2004). These translations merge with endogenous

features to give rise to new traditions as part of the

complex tectonics of cultures and civilizations.

2.1 Cultural interactions

��The Samba de Roda of Recôncavo of Bahia, Brazil

WRCD_eng2.indd 39 29/09/09 12:40

4 0 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

The slave trade and slavery constitute one

of the darkest chapters in human history.

This dehumanizing enterprise, which

challenged the very basis of universal values

and has been roundly condemned by the

international community, has nonetheless

contributed to the development of some

of the most valuable forms of cultural

human resistance to domination.

Beyond its economic impact, the slave trade

has also given rise to signifi cant interactions

among the peoples of Africa, Europe, the

Americas, the Indian Ocean, the Arab-Muslim

world and Asia, which have profoundly and

lastingly transformed their cultures, knowledge,

beliefs and behaviour. The intercultural process

that began with the slave trade is still going

on and continues to transform humanity.

Hence, the concept of ‘route’ was chosen

to illustrate this fl ow of exchanges among

peoples, cultures and civilizations, which

transformed the geographical areas aff ected

by slavery — a unique interaction generating

forms of intercultural dialogue of considerable

importance to the building of modern societies.

By retracing these cultural interactions brought

about by the slave trade, which transported

so many African men and women far from

their birthlands, the Slave Route Project

is contributing to a better understanding

of cultural traditions, forms of ingenuity,

technical and scientifi c knowledge, skills

and spirituality which were transferred from

Africa to the Americas, the Caribbean, Asia,

the Indian Ocean and the Arab-Muslim

world. It draws attention to the major imprint

of African cultures on the formation of the

world’s identities, cultures and civilizations,

the African contribution to the world’s rich

diversity as expressed through Creole cultures,

languages, religions, music and dance.

The infl uence of African art and particularly

music is widely acknowledged today. Jazz

and other styles of Afro-American music, such

as the blues, appeared in the 1890s, over a

quarter century after the abolition of slavery

in the United States. The syncopated rhythms

of this music fused traits of African folk music

with European popular music, but also Native

American music, and refl ected the mores

and social situations of the fi rst generation of

African Americans born outside of slavery.

African heritage is also a primary basis

of Brazilian samba, Cuban rumba and

Trinidadian calypso. Combining the skills of

African storytelling, singing and instrument

making, calypso usually involves some social

commentary, typically in the form of satire,

with an infectious beat. It has since been

infl uenced by European, North American and

other Caribbean cultures to produce reggae

and the latest creation of black music today: rap.

Rooted in Bantu traditions of Angola, Capoeira

was used by Africans enslaved in Brazil to

practice their fi ghting skills, unbeknownst

to their enslavers. When colonial authorities

discovered its real purpose, it was banned

on penalty of death. Capoeira continued

to be practiced by fugitive slaves who set

up independent settlements, known as

Quilombos, although it remained illegal

in Brazil until the 1930s, when it fi nally

received national recognition as a martial

art. In recent years, Capoeira has spread

beyond Brazil and continues to grow in

popularity. According to the International

Capoeira Angola Foundation, it is now

practiced in 74 countries, and over 1,000

Capoeira schools are listed on the Internet.

Enslaved Africans also carried spiritual traditions

to the New World, where they were modifi ed

to meet the conditions of slavery. While many

believe that Voodoo hails from Haiti, it in fact

originated in West Africa (voodoo means ‘spirit’)

and took on new forms in Haiti, including

elements of Roman Catholicism, as a means

of survival and resistance to slavery. A Voodoo

temple in Cotonou, run by a Haitian-born priest,

features candles, bells and a cross, and the gods

are identifi ed with Roman Catholic saints.

Africans enslaved in America blended African

musical forms with European Christian hymns

to create spirituals, which developed into

gospel music. Gospel and blues merged in

America to produce yet another popular

genre known as soul, which also gives its

name to a cuisine commonly associated

with African Americans in the southern

United States. Soul food refl ects gastronomic

responses to racial discrimination and

economic oppression and makes creative

use of African products, such as yams,

peanuts, okra, black-eyed peas and rice.

While the diversity of cultural expressions

generated through the slave trade and

slavery continues to infl uence our societies

beyond the regions in which slavery was

practiced, the added values of such cultural

enrichment still need to be properly

acknowledged as part of Africa’s contribution

to the world’s cultural heritage. This is a

one of the major objectives of the Slave

Route Project launched by UNESCO in 1994

and the new strategy for highlighting the

African presence throughout the world.

Source: UNESCO.

UNESCO Slave Route Project: Celebrating the cultural expressions generated through enforced dialogueBox 2.1

Zoungbodji Memorial commemorating the slave route in Ouidah, Benin

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I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 4 1

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

Today globalization, international trade and the rise of

information and communication technologies (ICTs) and

the media are making for more systematic encounters,

borrowings, juxtapositions and cultural exchanges. Yet this

new degree of mutual receptiveness among cultures will

not place them on an equal footing if we do not begin to

rethink our shared cultural categories. The transcultural ties

that manifest themselves across the complex interplay of

multiple identities are potentially powerful facilitators of

intercultural dialogue. Irrespective of the stances adopted by

the various parties, or their identifi cation with the particular

culture of which they believe themselves to be the

‘representatives’, the acceptance of multiple identities shifts

the focus away from ‘diff erences’ and towards our shared

capacity to interact and to accept encounters, coexistence

and even cohabitation between diff erent cultures.

Knowledge of the forms of cultural interaction in a

country, subregion or region is an asset for identifying

ways and means of facilitating intercultural dialogue.

Even where such interaction has been marked by

imposition or oppression, recognition and discussion of

past grievances can help, paradoxically, to ensure that

the focus of such dialogue does not remain negative.

All this implies historical awareness and the capacity to

engage in the critical examination of diff erent cultural

frames of reference. Knowledge of cultural interactions

should also include the resources employed by societies

and individuals to build dialogue, even in situations of

tension. Observing these as conventions is an important

step towards overcoming cultural stereotypes on the

path to intercultural dialogue.

to the mutual enrichment of humanity and to the

interconnectedness between cultures for the benefi t of

all. What would the scientifi c revolution of Renaissance

Europe have been without the contribution of the Arab

sciences, which themselves drew on the intellectual

heritage of the ancient world? Cultural exchanges

refer to the many collective developments and are at

the origin of most human achievements and tend to

invalidate claims to exclusivity for any one civilization.

Cultural imposition through war and conquest has

constituted a major form of cultural interaction

down through the ages. More recently, processes

of colonization imposed Western culture with little

regard for the value and meaning of the cultures of

the populations ‘discovered’ or conquered. Yet even in

the extreme condition of slavery, discreet processes of

reverse enculturation take place and the cultural practices

of the dominated populations come to be assimilated

by the dominating culture (Bhabha, 1994). The resulting

cultural interactions are today exemplifi ed in all those

parts of the world touched by the African diaspora

(see Box 2.1). Of course, past legacies continue to weigh

heavily on many cultures, and globalization processes

have in many cases compounded inequalities in the

cultural fi eld. Yet the achievement of independence

by subjugated populations, the progress of the human

sciences (in particular, ethnography), and the recognition

of the cultural dimension of human rights have made

it increasingly possible to arrive at fairer valuations of

previously misunderstood cultures and to think in terms

of genuine exchanges between all cultures.

2.2. Cultural stereotypes and intolerance

Cultural stereotypes are ubiquitous. In the workplace,

the classroom, the press and the media, they are

perpetuated through jokes, anecdotes, songs and

images. While the degree to which they intend or not

to give off ence varies, these reductive simplifi cations of

the ‘outsider’ contain the seeds of prejudice. Stereotyping

is a way of demarcating one group from an alien ‘other’

and implicitly asserting its superiority. Stereotypes carry

with them the danger that dialogue may stop short at

diff erence and that diff erence may engender intolerance.

In many ways, the emergence of information and

communication networks is facilitating contacts between

diff erent cultures and multiplying the possibilities

for mutual knowledge. Yet it would be a mistake to

underestimate the tenacity of prejudice, the depth

of the refl ex that prompts us to defi ne our identity

in opposition to others. Intercultural dialogue is necessary

as a permanent corrective to the diversity of our cultural

allegiances. Cultures belonging to diff erent traditions

are particularly prone to mutual stereotyping. With

reference to Western attitudes towards the non-Western

world, Edward Said (1978) has argued, for example,

that ‘Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine

willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker

than the West, which elided the Orient’s diff erence with

Stereotyping is a

way of demarcating

one group from an

alien ‘other’ and

implicitly asserting

its superiority.

Stereotypes carry with

them the danger that

dialogue may stop

short at diff erence and

that diff erence may

engender intolerance

��A Central Asian performer at UNESCO Headquarters

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4 2 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

it to someone else, who is in turn asked to describe it

to a third person, and so on. The serial reproduction

amplifi es the stereotype so as to make it more apparent.

On another level, national census classifi cations can also

be interesting with regard to the diff erent ways in which

diff erence is categorized.

Intercultural encounters between individuals, communities

and peoples invariably involve a certain cultural tension,

whose terms depend on the context in which they

occur and the value systems brought into play. Within

a multicultural society, the two main axes involved are

those of memory and values (Diène, 2007). The particular

memories of diff erent groups, communities or peoples

make up the collective memory of a multicultural society.

Competing memories may stem from or provoke open or

latent confl ict — such as between the constitution of a

national memory by a dominant group and the demands

by other groups that their own memories be taken into

account. This applies a fortiori to the competing memories

of the colonizer and the colonized. National memory,

formalized and legitimized by its place in national history

texts and transmitted by national and civic educational

systems, often leads to the denial, omission or

its weakness. [. . .] As a cultural apparatus, Orientalism

is all aggression, activity, judgment, will-to-truth, and

knowledge’. If this is the case, then it can equally well

be asserted that ‘Occidentalism’ is no less reductive of

Western cultural identity. Human beings are all too ready

to defi ne themselves in opposition to one another, to

have recourse to refl ex stereotyping.

Several methods exist for measuring the stereotypes

prevalent in a given society. Public opinion surveys

conducted in diff erent countries involve interviewing

people and asking them to categorize others according

to various criteria — from nationality to standardized

attributes (such as ‘hardworking’, ‘brave’, ‘intelligent’,

‘cruel’). Yet here too a danger of stereotyping

lurks: the underlying biases of such approaches

(through choice of categorization, terms used, etc.) must

themselves be questioned, since the same traits may refer

to diff erent realities in diff erent languages, and the very

choice of a given list of attributes is already a way of

infl uencing the answer. Other methods for measuring

stereotypes and prejudices include, for example, the ‘serial

reproduction investigation technique’, according to

which a person is shown a picture and asked to describe

20%

40%

60%

80%

100% Percent

Question: To which of these geographical groups would you say you belong first of all? (Locality, country, the world)?

Source: World Values Survey database, 2008.

Figure 2.1 World Values Survey on geographical belonging

Intercultural

encounters between

individuals,

communities and

peoples invariably

involve a certain

cultural tension...

Within a multicultural

society, the two main

axes involved are

those of memory and

values

WRCD_eng2.indd 42 29/09/09 12:40

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 4 3

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

of ideological-cum-political hegemony that is inimical

to cultural diversity.

If diversity is not to be experienced as a restriction

of identity or unbridgeable diff erence, and if it is to

favour dynamic interactions between ethnic, cultural

and religious communities, it is essential to promote

intercultural dialogue within each society, as well as at

the international level, as the only enduring response to

identity-based and racial tensions. The cultural challenge

that faces each multicultural society is to reconcile the

recognition and protection of, and respect for, cultural

particularities with the affi rmation and promotion of

universally shared values emerging from the interplay

of these cultural specifi cities. Indeed, as illustrated by

opinion surveys such as the World Values Survey (see

Table 6 in the Statistical Annex), when individuals are

asked to which geographical groups they feel they

belong, in many countries in the world they declare

multiple identities (see Figure 2.1). But the tension

between diff erent identities can become the driving

force for a renewal of national unity based on an

understanding of social cohesion which integrates the

diversity of its cultural components.

perversion of the specifi c memories of certain minority

groups or communities.

It is often in the realm of cultural, spiritual or religious

values that the identity of each group, community or

people has its deepest roots. The search for one’s identity

can be open and dynamic, oriented towards a defi nition of

the self always in the making. It can be backward-looking

or fi xed according to ethnic or even genetic diff erences,

as illustrated by the new market of genetic ancestry.1 In

the multicultural process, identity strain occurs, according

to historical circumstance and political context, when a

group or a community intentionally or otherwise imposes

its cultural and spiritual values on other minority groups,

or when a group or community tries to ignore or deny

the values of other groups or communities. Such identity

strain can insidiously play itself out generations later, as

sometimes happens in the suburbs of megacities in former

colonial countries in which forms of discrimination going

back to the colonial era are perpetuated with regard to

certain population groups (Diène, 2007). The civilizing

and proselytizing discourse of colonialism — which is

still echoed in some conceptions of cultural and scientifi c

progress — is a particularly egregious example of the kind

The world

Country

Locality

1. Genetic ancestry involves the analysis of an individual’s DNA in order to

determine its historical pattern based on comparison with participants from

around the world and thereby to ascertain the individual’s genetic roots. See

the Genographic Project’s website.

The tension between

diff erent identities can

become the driving

force for a renewal of

national unity based

on an understanding

of social cohesion

which integrates the

diversity of its cultural

components

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4 4 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

The last two decades, with their increasing

numbers of events for a Dialogue between

Cultures and Civilizations, are lost decades.

Most eff orts were invested in a much too

limited concept of dialogue, which remained

within the logic of Huntington‘s ‘clash’ scenario

even while contradicting his conclusions. This

scenario was never a cause of problems; it is

just one example of an almost omnipresent

limited understanding of culture as heritage

alone rather than also as a space for human

creativity and liberty. To be sure, cultural

forces shape attitudes and behaviour; but this

is only one side of the coin. Such a passive

view of culture has its roots in 19th century

traditions of nation-building. The related

concept of ‘national cultures’ reduces the

creative dimension of culture to a collective

instrument for national cohesion and identity.

This defi nition is at the expense of the right to

cultural self-determination, which is among

the core values enshrined in all international

human rights conventions and agreements.

To contain and resolve the present crisis

in cultural relations, a number of key

arguments need to be communicated

among actors already involved or interested

in organizing the dialogue between

cultures. The following six arguments are

considered particularly important:

1. Traditional modalities of dialogue between

cultures, developed over the past decade,

have largely failed because of their almost

exclusive focus on what cultures and

religions have in common. The present crisis

calls for dialogue on diff erences and diversity.

2. The lack of mutual knowledge about

sensitive issues linked to religions and any

other belief is obvious. This gap needs to be

fi lled as a matter of urgency. Information on

religious pluralism needs to be provided at

all levels of formal and non-formal education,

in a terminology that is not faith-loaded

but accessible to people maintaining

diversifi ed beliefs and opinions. This

information must include diffi cult concepts,

such as what is ‘sacred’, ‘holy’ or ‘insulting’.

3. Too often, dialogue events have stressed

collective identities (national, ethnic,

religious) rather than identities of individuals

or social groups. Dialogue fora composed of

‘representatives’ of religious or ethnic groups

are counter-productive and contribute to

the clash of civilizations scenario rather than

preventing it. Dialogue between cultures

must create space for mutual perception

and appreciation of overlapping, multiple

and dynamic cultural identities of every

individual and social or cultural group.

4. There is urgent need for strengthening the

human-rights-based dimension of dialogue.

Rather than seeking values common to all

religions and cultures, the core values of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights need

to be stressed. No discrimination based

on origin, race, colour, gender, language,

religion or any other belief or opinion has

been agreed upon by the international

community 60 years ago. In line with

recent UN terminology, all cultures must

be considered having equal dignity.

5. Active tolerance, involving mutual

respect, needs to be promoted rather

than mere acceptance of diversity.

Calls for boycotting a whole people are

an alarm signal. They are an indicator

of tendencies towards deepening

stereotypes, of desires to balance perceived

discrimination with discrimination against

others, and of perceived double standards

regarding their application to others.

What we need now is to develop a

common language for understanding and

respecting cultural diff erences, without

doing harm to our universal values. Many

elements of such common language have

been developed over the past decade. The

following fi ve elements of such a common

language are of particular importance:

1. Cultural diversity between as well

as within countries is as essential for

humankind as biodiversity is for nature.

2. The right to be diff erent is a core element

of a rights-based understanding of culture.

3. Overlap between cognitive and emotional

elements of intercultural relations is

the rule and not the exception.

4. Deconstructing self-referential systems

of belief and knowledge is essential.

5. Freedom of opinion or any other belief

is not only a basic human right; it is also

intrinsic to any human understanding

of religion. Enforcing belief would be a

contradiction in and of itself, as much as

imposing values ‘comes down in the end

to negating them’ (Jacques Delors).

Much more needs to be done to enable

citizens of the increasingly multicultural

world of the 21st century to know about,

understand and respect their diff erences

in cultural and religious expression.

Source: Schoefthaler, 2006.

‘What went wrong with the dialogue between cultures?’Box 2.2

��'Korean Fantasy', two Korean intangible heritage expressions at

UNESCO Headquarters

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I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 4 5

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

identity. Building intercultural competencies, promoting

interfaith dialogue, and reconciling confl icting memories

may be seen as the three major challenges of dialogue in

a multicultural world.

Intercultural competencies Intercultural dialogue is dependent to an important extent

on intercultural competencies. Defi ned as the ‘complex of

abilities needed to perform eff ectively and appropriately

when interacting with those who are linguistically

and culturally diff erent from oneself’ (Fantini, 2007),

these abilities are essentially communicative in nature,

but they also involve reconfi guring our perspectives

and understandings of the world (see Box 2.3). They are

the means whereby a shift can occur away from a ‘clash’

and towards an ‘alliance’ of civilizations.

Various strategies exist for acquiring intercultural

competencies and facilitating cultural encounters in

the promotion of intercultural dialogue (Bennett, 2009).

Many of these have been formalized by intercultural

management and communication teams on the

basis of the lived experiences of migrant workers and

their families, who have had to adjust to the realities

of living in and/or between two cultures (UNESCO,

1982; Hoff man, 1989). The ultimate goal would be that

intercultural competencies become an indispensable

element of school curricula within a larger framework of

cultural literacy training (see chapter 4).

Just as it can provoke a retreat into separate

identities, cultural diversity can also be experienced

as an invitation to discover the other. It is somewhat

misleading to speak of cultures in this context, however,

for, in reality, it is not so much cultures as people —

individuals and groups, with their complexities and

multiple allegiances — who are engaged in the process

of dialogue. To be eff ective, intercultural dialogue must

free itself of the concept of exclusive and fi xed identities

and embrace a worldview predicated on pluralism

and multiple affi liations. It is not enough simply to

acknowledge our diff erences: genuine dialogue

presupposes a reciprocal eff ort to identify and inhabit a

common ground on which encounter can take place.

In practice this calls for capacities of negotiation

and compromise, allied to a commitment to mutual

understanding and deployed in a wide range of cultural

contexts, including the fi elds and sectors discussed in

Part II of this report. A further requirement for meaningful

dialogue is a level playing fi eld and the strict equality of

status for all participants in intercultural initiatives. In this

respect, particular attention must be paid to the needs

and expectations of vulnerable and marginalized groups,

including indigenous peoples, the very poor and women

(see Box 2.2). It is essential that provisions be made for the

empowerment of all participants in intercultural dialogue

through capacity-building and inclusive projects that

permit interaction without loss of personal or collective

2.3 The challenges of dialogue in a multicultural world

In an intercultural encounter, basic capacities

include the ability to listen, dialogue and wonder:

■ Listening is understood here in the

sense of ‘resonating with an experience’,

similar to the ‘participant observation’

required of an anthropologist in a

fi eld study (Sperber, 1985). Robert

Vachon (1998) has put it as follows:

Interculturalism [. . .] is to experience another

culture, to accept the truth of the other

culture. It is therefore allowing the other

culture and its truth to aff ect me directly, to

penetrate me, to change me, to transform

me, not only in my answers to a question,

but in my very questions, my presuppositions,

my myths. It is therefore a meeting in

myself of two convictions. The place of that

meeting is the heart (not the head) of a

person, within a personal synthesis which

can be intellectually more or less perfect.

There is no co-existence possible without a

co-insistence, i.e. without their penetrating

into each other’s heart. It is therefore a

matter of approaching the other from inside.

It is contemplative listening to the other

where one begins to see the possibilities not

only of solutions, but of radically diff erent

fundamental questions.

■ Dialogue is born from the resonance with

others and within ourselves, in the process

of which we realize our own untapped

dimensions, potentials other than those

we have developed (making us feel either

comfortable or uncomfortable), and we

begin a process of ‘understanding from

within’. As Raimon Panikkar (1979) has said:

‘I shall never be able to meet the other as

he meets and understands himself if I do

not meet and understand him in and as

Intercultural competencies: The basicsBox 2.3

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4 6 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

The most obvious way to reduce intergroup confl ict

and prejudice is to increase contacts between

members of diff erent groups in such a way as to

break down boundaries and build bridges between

self-enclosed communities, thereby fostering more

complex and personalized views of others’ worlds

through knowledge. Such strategies are successful

when they meet certain conditions — an equivalent

social status, a positive context, an equal knowledge-

base and reasonable objectives — while not seeking to

solve all social-isolation issues at once (Allport, 1954).

While more ambitious goals for reducing social gaps

should not be abandoned, the strategy should begin

by overcoming cultural boundaries by focusing on

the concrete goals at hand. Since the aim is to foster

authentic encounter between human beings who,

beyond their diff erences, share common expectations,

the contact should involve a more intimate dimension

and not be seen as merely functional or circumstantial.

For it is not so much knowledge of others that

conditions the success of intercultural dialogue; rather,

it is cognitive fl exibility, empathy, anxiety reduction

and the capacity to shift between diff erent frames of

reference (Pettigrew, 1998). Humility and hospitality

are also crucial: ‘humility because it is impossible to

understand another culture totally; and hospitality

because one needs to treat other cultures like many

traditional societies treat strangers, i.e. with open arms,

open minds and open hearts’ (Fasheh, 2007).

Numerous initiatives aimed at fostering dialogue and

empathy between young people from diff erent cultures

are being initiated, from school projects and educational

programmes (such as the Children International

Summer Village and AMIDEAST programmes) to

exchange programmes that bring together participants

from diverse cultural backgrounds for semester-long

study trips (such as the EU’s Erasmus and the Scholar

Ship programmes). Projects and initiatives involving

participatory cultural, artistic and sports activities are

a particularly powerful means for providing intercultural

dialogue incentives, particularly to underprivileged

children in confl ict-ridden countries. Indeed, the

arts and creativity testify to the depths and plasticity

of intercultural relations and the forms of mutual

enrichment they embody. By the same token, they

help to combat closed identities and promote cultural

pluralism. Notable examples can be gleaned from the

experiences of the DREAM programme; established

in 2003, it has implemented projects in Afghanistan

(Kabul), Cambodia (Phnom Penh), East Jerusalem, Haiti

(Pétion-ville) and Liberia (Monrovia) to help street

children express themselves freely in a safe and culturally

aware environment. Art, painting, drawing, dancing,

music, theatre, photography, crafts and sports are

seen as the means for addressing the basic needs and

rights of children, building creativity and self-esteem,

helping them to work on personal issues and traumas

(UNESCO-Felissimo, 2008).

myself. To understand the other as “other”

is, at the least, not to understand him.’

■ Wonder is the capacity to be touched

by diff erence, a state of mind that has

to be continuously trained, especially

in the information society where,

paradoxically, we believe we already know

everything (because we know it exists

or we saw it on TV or in newspapers).

Wonder is a form of ‘active openness’, in

which the other is not simply positioned on

a scale of diff erences/resemblances with us.

Too often, we fail to recognize the originality

of others and simply reduce them to an

inverted image of ourselves and fall into

the trap of essentialism. When we start to

think that we have developed intercultural

competences, it is very likely that we have

in fact started to close ourselves off from

what is actually going on and that we are

‘losing’ it. Interculturality is an ongoing

discovery, a perpetual wondering, the

recognition that the other is not a void to

be fi lled but a plenitude to be discovered.

The intercultural encounter thus reveals our

own rootedness at the same time as it unveils

that of our counterpart. There cannot be

intercultural competency without a cultural

competency that allows us to realize where we

speak from, our bias, what makes our point of

view diff erent from the other’s point of view. It

is then through critical distance from oneself

that one may open oneself to encounter the

other. The intercultural encounter is very much

about overcoming one’s own resistances,

becoming aware of one’s ethnocentrism or even

racism, and starting to discover the possibility

of radically diff erent existential choices. It

is only after the fi rst cultural shock is over,

and one starts to gain some understanding

of another culture, that a more complex

picture of the other and of oneself arises.

Source: Eberhard, 2008.

Intercultural competencies: The basicsBox 2.3

It is not so much

knowledge of others

that conditions the

success of intercultural

dialogue; rather, it is

cognitive fl exibility,

empathy, anxiety

reduction and the

capacity to shift

between diff erent

frames of reference.

Humility and

hospitality are

also crucial

WRCD_eng2.indd 46 29/09/09 12:40

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 4 7

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

remains an extremely contentious issue, some cities

have provided spaces in which ethnic communities

can interact, such as Clissold Park (Northeast London)

and Cannon Hill Park (Birmingham) in the UK. On

the other hand, some cities have found it necessary

to create physical spaces for members of specifi c

cultural communities, such as in Helsinki, where a

new space, a ‘cultural living room’, called ‘The Veranda’

was built for cultural events in Swedish. Whatever the

specifi c circumstances, eff ective intercultural dialogue

entails promoting dialogue between individuals in all

the complexities of their multiple identities and ensuring

the necessary conditions of equality among them. Since

the latter involves recognition, by all parties, of the dignity

and value of all cultures involved, we need to refl ect on

the specifi c circumstances confronting vulnerable and

marginalized groups.

In all these ways, the promotion of intercultural dialogue

converges signifi cantly with the ‘multiple identities’

approach. This refers not only to the possibility of

coexisting allegiances but also to the potential of

these allegiances to evolve without loss of our sense of

rootedness. Dialogue is openness, but it is not self-loss. As

Raimon Panikkar (1979) has said:

Dialogue is fundamentally opening myself to

another so that he might speak and reveal my myth

that I cannot know myself because it is transparent

to me, self-evident. Dialogue is a way of knowing

myself and of disentangling my own point of view

from other viewpoints and from me, because it is

grounded so deeply in my own roots as to be utterly

hidden from me [. . .]. Dialogue sees the other not as

an extrinsic, accidental aid, but as the indispensable,

personal element in our search for truth, because I

am not a self-evident, autonomous individual [. . .].

Dialogue seeks truth by trusting the other, just as

dialectics pursues truth by trusting the order of

things, the value of reason and weighty arguments.

When we cease to perceive others in fi xed and

unilateral terms, the potential for authentic dialogue

increases signifi cantly: we open up the possibility

of moving from mere compromise between fi xed

positions towards mutual enrichment upon newly

discovered common ground.

In the ‘global cities’ existing in many parts of the world,

which serve as hubs or networks for multiculturalism,

cultural festivals have emerged that enable the

intermingling of diff erent cultures and transcend the

barriers between them — whether linguistic, religious

or otherwise — in order to share moments of urban

communion and entertainment. In this way, public spaces

become spheres of pluralism, conviviality and interaction.

As noted by United Cities and Local Governments

(Pigem, 2006), carnivals that had been ignored if not

scorned between 1960 and 1980 have today been

recognized as genuine cultural activities in which heritage

and contemporary creation can meet and evolve.

Through the founding and fostering of intercultural

relationships, a gradual shift has occurred among

long-established ethnic and cultural festivals; they have

become less mono-ethnic and more pluralistic

celebrations. The Vancouver Chinese New Year’s Festival

is a good illustration of this phenomenon: while it

initially celebrated specifi cally Chinese culture, it now

also showcases Brazilian, Afro-Canadian, Japanese,

and Aboriginal cultures. While the ‘ownership’ of

spaces or venues by specifi c cultural communities

��Processional Giants in Belgium

When we cease to

perceive others in

fixed and unilateral

terms, the potential

for authentic

dialogue increases

significantly: we open

up the possibility of

moving from mere

compromise between

fixed positions

towards mutual

enrichment upon

newly discovered

common ground

WRCD_eng2.indd 47 29/09/09 12:40

4 8 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

who belong to the various religions who interact and

eventually engage in dialogue (UNESCOCat, 2008).

Informal networks, at the local or community level,

can play a valuable role in reconciling diff erent

viewpoints, particularly when they involve people

who have previously been excluded in some cases

from interfaith dialogue, including women and young

people. The teaching of diff erent religions, belief systems

and spiritual traditions is essential to breaking down

the walls of ignorance, which are often buttressed

by pseudo-knowledge that encloses the diff erent

communities within hermetic universes. While the

teaching of the history of religions will inevitably take

place in a particular cultural context, the approach

adopted should be inclusive and ideally not confi ned

to the monotheistic traditions. In this sense, there is

a need to foster competences and skills in interfaith

dialogue in the wider context of furthering intercultural

understanding. In this spirit, UNESCO places emphasis

on capacity-building, which involves developing

pedagogical materials related to inter-religious dialogue

in partnership with the regional UNESCO Chairs, the Oslo

Coalition and the Central Asian Women’s Cultural

Network (training of trainers, diff usion of the proceedings

of the various conferences organized on that issue,

preparation and publication of teaching materials, etc.).

Strengthening of the knowledge-base for the promotion

of interfaith dialogue is also important. For example,

an adult-education course has been developed at

the University of Geneva; while initially intended for

journalists, it has been open for the past three years

to individuals who are in contact with other cultures and

confessions. In the same vein, a manual for young people

on the cultural and ritual aspects of Christianity and Islam

which off ers an objective and detailed description of

each religion and explains their symbology and meaning

has been developed in Lebanon.

Reconciling confl icting memories Divergent memories have been the source of many

confl icts throughout history. The diff erent forms of

institutional memory preservation and transmission

(state archives, museums, media, school textbooks)

tend to embody alternative views of the past, each

with its own logic, protocols and perspectives. States

often hold an historical monopoly on such records

and testimonies, which often tend to be reductive of

Interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue — understood to encompass spiritual

and animistic traditions, as well as religions — is a crucial

dimension of international understanding, and thus of

confl ict resolution; it is indissociable from a critical debate

on the rights of all stakeholders to freedom of conviction

and conscience (see chapter 8 on religious mediation

for social cohesion). Religious and spiritual convictions

invariably inform cultural affi liations, even if they rarely

defi ne a culture in its totality. Thus, religion is now on

the agenda of the international community, which has

realized that misunderstanding and ignorance of religion

only heighten tensions and revive communitarianism.

The lack of instruction in schools about the historical and

sociological aspects of religion or the predominance of

religious instruction in only one faith may also lead to

a lack of understanding among individuals and groups

belonging to diff erent faiths or having non-religious

convictions. Such a lack of understanding may also

give rise to a lack of sensitivity with regard to religious

expressions and events and religious symbols and signs,

which may then be misused (UNESCO, 2007b).

Some view interfaith dialogue as inherently problematic.

This is however to overlook the myriad interactions

between religions and other philosophical and cultural

traditions that have taken place over four millennia. For

example, Israeli archaeologists date the Bible from the

7th century BCE and link it to specifi c historical events.

Mithraism shows intriguing similarities with Christianity,

and Parmenides’ thought may have been nurtured

by contacts with Tibetan monks (Hulin, 2001). Such

interactions are often concealed from a sectarian

standpoint, as if a religion were somehow diminished by

being set in an historical context, shown to refl ect the

state of knowledge at a particular time or shown to have

benefi ted from exchanges with other belief systems. In

fact, openness to dialogue is a mark of the resilience of a

belief, showing that it does not shrink from confronting

opposing viewpoints and even from questioning its

own basic tenets. This is why interfaith dialogue should

not be restricted to institutional exchanges between

authoritative or representative fi gures. Insofar as

interfaith dialogue is understood as dialogue between

representative authorities of the major religions,

diffi culties will arise for not all major religions necessarily

have representative authorities and it is not religions

themselves that engage in dialogue but the people

The teaching of

diff erent religions, belief

systems and spiritual

traditions is essential

to breaking down the

walls of ignorance,

which are often

buttressed by pseudo-

knowledge that

encloses the diff erent

communities within

hermetic universes

��The Ifa divination system, practiced among Yoruba

communities (and by the African

diaspora in the Americas and the

Caribbean), Nigeria

��Woman in prayer, Lao People's Democratic Republic

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I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 4 9

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

common, shared memory base, recognized and accepted

by all parties involved. Engaging in such dialogue may

require participants to admit faults, openly debate

about competing memories and make compromises in

the interests of reconciliation and social harmony.

At a time when memory confl icts in numerous

multicultural environments undermine social cohesion,

there is an urgent need to place divergent histories in

perspective. A number of attempts have been made to

transcend competing memories by framing a common

historical narrative in situations where the confl ict has

been resolved but also where the confl ict has just ended

or is ongoing (see Box 2.4).

other cultures. Traditional cultures in particular have

been subject to such appropriation of their history. The

path to reconciliation — which may involve acts of

repentance and even compensation — lies in a process

of active dialogue, which requires that the interlocutors

contemplate other points of view in order to assess the

plausibility of competing claims. Some international

initiatives, such as UNESCO’s Slave Route project, are

committed to facilitating such forms of reconciliation.

In some cases, States themselves have initiated these

procedures through recognition of the suff ering of a

particular population group, as did Australia and Canada

with respect to their indigenous communities. A key

element of intercultural dialogue is the building of a

When the passage of time has blurred the

memory of war, it becomes possible to

envisage the drafting of a shared history. In

this way, some States have launched bi- or

multilateral initiatives aimed at integrating

the viewpoint of their erstwhile enemies

into school textbooks and reducing

prejudices caused by mutual ignorance.

A novel experiment took place in East Asia

between China, the Republic of Korea and

Japan in 2002, when the three countries

established the ‘Forum for Historical

Knowledge and Peace in Central Asia’ bringing

together a number of public or para-public

research institutions, historians and secondary-

school teachers from the three countries

in order to draft a joint history textbook.

The chapters were divided up among three

authors, one from each of the three countries;

each author was free to express national

viewpoints and disagreements before the

introduction of modifi cations necessary

for the establishment of a joint text. Three

international meetings were convened in

the process: one in Nanjing in 2002, one in

Tokyo in 2003 and one in Seoul in 2004. In

the interest of East Asian integration, national

histories and the major phases of international

history (such as the ‘Korean War’ or the role of

the US or the USSR) were generally excluded

from the undertaking. Conceived as a school

textbook, the volume devotes space to the

problem of memory, citing the testimony

of many victims and instancing a number

of memorial places (museums, monuments,

commemorations). Published in 2005, the

textbook has met with great popular success:

the initial print run of 20,000 copies sold out in

two days; and a year after publication, 110,000

revised manuals had been sold in China, 50,000

in the Republic of Korea and 70,000 in Japan.

A similar initiative was launched in Europe

in 2003 between France and Germany, on

the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the

French-German Elysée Treaty, and was strongly

promoted by the educational institutions in

both countries. In September 2006, French and

German schools were given the opportunity

to use a common manual, jointly published in

the two languages and drafted, over a period

of about ten months, by a Franco-German

team of about ten history professors. Each

chapter is made up of intersecting French and

German perspectives, on which consensus

was reached through multiple discussions

and critical terminological analyses. Following

the success of the 2006 textbook, which sold

more than 75,000 copies on both sides of the

Rhine, a second volume was released in 2008.

Even where confl ict is still ongoing, progress

towards dual-history textbooks is being made

in diff erent parts of the world, as illustrated

by the work of the Peace Research Institute in

the Middle East (PRIME), established in 1998

following the Oslo Accords. Since 2002, a group

involving Israeli and Palestinian history teachers,

under the supervision of two historians from the

Universities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, has

produced three booklets for use in Palestinian

and Israeli high schools that present the

two groups’ contradictory visions of history.

Each page is divided into three parts: one

section each for the Palestinian and the Israeli

narratives and a blank third section, which is

for the pupil, Israeli or Palestinian, to fi ll in. As

explained by Sami Adwan, co-founder with

Dan Bar-On of PRIME, while ‘the dates may be

the same, the interpretation of each side is very

diff erent’ (Chen, 2007). Entitled Learning Each

Other’s Historical Narratives, the booklet has

been translated into English, French, Spanish,

German, Italian, Catalan and Basque, and has

sold over 23,000 copies in France alone.

This model has also been followed in other

confl ict-ridden societies, notably by the Centre

for Human Rights and Confl ict Resolution at

Skopje University in Macedonia, which has

published parallel Macedonian-Albanian

narratives. Such initiatives are crucial fi rst

steps in the process of reconciliation.

Source: Giacone, 2007.

Reconciliation through common narrative: Revised history textbook initiativesBox 2.4

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5 0 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

We need to think carefully about ways in which

intercultural dialogue can be integrated into confl ict

prevention strategies or employed in post-confl ict

situations. Without proper attention, painful memories

— of a ‘past that is still present’ — can lead to the

resumption or exacerbation of confl ict. As pointed out

by Paul Ricoeur (2003), the obscuring of a crime or a

confl ict (amnesia) ultimately leads to a return of memory

(anamnesis), and care must be taken to ensure this does

not result in the crystallization of memory confl icts

(hypermnesis). Confl icting memories of the same event by

people who have experienced a dispute from opposing

sides can sometimes be reconciled through the presence

of a mediator, even in cases where the diff ering positions

seems unbridgeable. This issue assumes particular

importance in cases where memory fractures occur

within the same country.

In the 1990s, South Africa invented a new model for

dealing with the traumas caused by apartheid, the Truth

and Reconciliation Commissions. They were designed

to re-establish the new South African State on the basis

of a shared memory while allowing repressed memories

to resurface. Reconciliation thus became a collective

enterprise in which no community or group was able to

represent itself as totally innocent. This model, although

it did not entail any reparation by former perpetrators of

torture, has been followed in other States emerging from

civil war, including some countries in Central America.

In the wake of the civil wars and ethnic massacres in

Rwanda, national reconciliation processes (as distinct

from international initiatives for judging those responsible

for the genocide) have included the removal of

references to the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups on identity

cards, the celebration of a national commemoration

day (7 April) and the introduction in 2002 of gacacas, or

ancestral courts, aimed at promoting reconciliation and

justice by trying the accused in the presence of family

and neighbours (Anheier and Isar, 2007).

Showcasing ‘places of memory’, as physical sites

for dialogue between communities with opposing

memories, can also contribute to post-confl ict

reconciliation. The Robben Island Prison in South Africa,

where most of the leaders of the African National

Congress, including Nelson Mandela, were held and

which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site

in 1999, demonstrates the educational potential of

Showcasing ‘places of

memory’, as physical

sites for dialogue

between communities

with opposing

memories, can also

contribute to post-

confl ict reconciliation

��A man from the 'cultural space of the Sosso Bala', Guinea

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I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 5 1

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

such sites. Too often, because it is regarded as enemy

heritage, a site or monument can become threatened

by destruction, as happened with the Mostar Bridge in

Bosnia and the Buddhas of Bamyan in Afghanistan. In

this context, the concept of the ‘common natural and

cultural heritage’ embodied in the 1972 World Heritage

Convention (UNESCO, 1972) retains all its relevance.

It demonstrates that what distinguishes us can also

become what unites us, and that a community of

experience in contemplation of the achievements of

very diff erent cultures and civilizations can strengthen

the sense of our common humanity.

2.4 Empowerment

Ensuring a level playing fi eld for cultural encounters and

guaranteeing equality of status and dignity between

all participants in initiatives to promote intercultural

dialogue involve recognizing the ethnocentric ways in

which certain cultures have hitherto proceeded. Central

to the many problems arising in this context is the

Western ideology of knowledge transparency, which

cannot do justice to systems of thought recognizing

both ‘exoteric’ and ‘esoteric’ knowledge and embodying

initiatory processes for crossing the boundaries between

them. This recently became an issue, for example, in

the fi eld of museography in connection with the public

exhibition of ritual objects from Vanuatu at the Musée du

Quai Branly in Paris. Before the exhibition opening, it was

found necessary to construct separate viewing areas for

male and female visitors in order to safeguard the ‘power’

of certain sacred objects, as traditionally required in their

place of origin (Huff man, 2007). This highlighted the

particular sensitivities associated with cultural resources

and the need for dialogue to take account of the value

systems embedded in the practices surrounding them.

Cultural or community mapping (which began with Inuit

indigenous populations in the 1970s) can signifi cantly

contribute to this dual objective of making the intangible

heritage and local/indigenous knowledge of diff erent

communities visible, and ensuring that it is appropriate

and relevant by allowing knowledge bearers to express

themselves in confi dence, without fear of being

dispossessed of the knowledge in question. Typically

used when communities need to negotiate about

territories and rights (such as access to, control over

and use of natural resources), cultural mapping allows

The 1972 World

Heritage Convention

demonstrates that

what distinguishes

us can also become

what unites us, and

that a community

of experience in

contemplation of

the achievements of

very diff erent cultures

and civilizations

can strengthen the

sense of our common

humanity

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5 2 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

non-dominant or marginalized cultural groups to be fully represented in a context of intercultural dialogue and mutual respect. Various forms of cultural mapping

and methodologies have evolved around the world

(more so in Latin America and South and Southeast

Asia than in Africa) which serve to express the myriad

levels of relationship between the natural, mental and

spiritual worlds: a wide array of techniques and activities

ranging from community-based participatory approaches

in identifying and documenting local cultural resources

and activities, to the use of innovative and sophisticated

information tools like Geographic Information Systems

(GIS) and 3D-modelling (see Box 2.5). The resulting ‘map’

can be of an anthropological, sociological, archaeological,

genealogical, linguistic, topographical, musicological

and/or botanical nature and often represents a matrix

combining a number of these elements simultaneously.2

As an exercise in dialogue across generations or among

subgroups within a community, participatory mapping

exercises also provide an opportunity to reinforce

communicative participation and collaborative processes

in spatial problem analysis and decision-making to

produce stand-alone scale relief models, which have

2. UNESCO has supported many participatory mapping initiatives, including:

the South African San Institute’s project with the Khomani San community;

PROCED’s project with the Pygmies of Gabon; the Research Institute for

Mindanao Culture’s project with Philippine indigenous cultures (the Mamanua,

the Higaunon, the Manobo, the Eastern Manobo, the Banwaon and the

Subanen); the Buff alo Trust’s project with the Kiowa people of Oklahoma; and

the project with Bolivia’s Iruitu community.

As part of a 2006–2008 project aimed at

‘Strengthening the East African Regional

Mapping and Information Systems Network’

(ERMIS-Africa), a participatory three-dimensional

modelling (P3DM) exercise took place in the

village of Nessuit (Nakuru District, Kenya)

in August 2006, following a ten-month

preparation period involving the Ogiek,

traditionally one of the larger hunter-gatherer

communities in Eastern Africa. Using a fully

participatory method and drawing on P3DM

experiences in other regions of the world,

particularly Southeast Asia and the Pacifi c,

this was the fi rst exercise of its kind in Africa.

During the 11 days of the mapping exercise,

members of the local communities (including

schoolchildren, teachers and about 120

Ogiek elders, men and women delegated by

the 21 clans), facilitators, and national and

international trainees discussed facilitation

techniques and P3DM practices, constructed

a scaled and geo-referenced 3D model,

composed the map legend and extracted

these data via digital photography. On-screen

digitizing, ground-truthing and thematic

map generation took place in the following

months. The exercise led to the construction

of a solid three-dimensional, 1:10,000-scale

model of the Eastern Mau Forest Complex

which covered a total land area of 576 km2 and

depicted the local bio-physical and cultural

environments as they had been in the 1920s,

with a highly dense forest cover, a permanent

river network fl owing from the upper water

catchments and a dense population of

beehives, among other characteristics. It was

decided to visualize the 1920s landscape

because it was during that period that Nessuit

became a site of both colonial missionary

activity and industrial forestry, compounded

thereafter by overtly or tacitly accepted

logging practices on the Mau Forest Complex,

which have led to serious ecological disasters,

forest and related biodiversity depletion,

and consequently the destruction of

the Ogiek natural and cultural landscapes.

While community mapping exercises have

many interesting components, it has been

argued that the collaborative development of

the map legend is the key process on which

the quality of such an exercise and its outputs

depend, allowing local spatial knowledge

to be expressed in an objective manner

but in contrast to the dominant intellectual

framework of ‘offi cial’ maps. The making of the

legend involved intense discussions among

elders, reaching agreements among clans on

the naming and description of ‘the way the

Ogiek traditionally discern the territory and

its eco-cultural-systems’, in order to defi ne

and code culturally acceptable land units.

This process benefi ted from skilled facilitation,

beginning with individual consultations

and followed by focused group discussions,

including storytelling, in order to redress

the shortcomings resulting from diff ering

categorizations of land units. A matrix was used

to provide elders from diff erent clans with the

opportunity to achieve consensus, or at least

common understanding, about the terminology

and categorization of areas. New legend items

were added, updated and reworded, and new

paints and pin codes were invented to capture

the full diversity of the Ogiek worldview.

The fi nal model features hundreds of

labels, which locate place names, names of

watercourses and water bodies, and clan

classifi cations. The 3D mapmaking exercise

proved to be an excellent way to enable people

of all ages to engage with their landscape

and heritage in an inspiring and motivating

collegial environment, as well as to become a

catalyst in stimulating memory and creating

visible and tangible representations of

natural landscapes for the transmission of

crucial knowledge, wisdom and values.

Source: Rambaldi et al., 2007.

Through the eyes of hunters-gatherers: Participatory 3D modelling among the Ogiek indigenous peoples in KenyaBox 2.5

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I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 5 3

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act). It is likewise being used as

a framework for the UNDP’s principles of engagement

with indigenous peoples (UNDP, 2001), the World Bank’s

Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (2006) and the

Asian Development Bank’s Policy on Indigenous Peoples

(1998). Furthermore, since the adoption of the United

Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, it

has been cited in a judgement by the Supreme Court of

Belize, in a case fi led by the Maya against the Government

of Belize, and has served in Bolivia as the basis for its

National Law 3760 on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as

proven to be particularly user-friendly. This both facilitates

a community’s refl ection on its specifi c cultural traditions,

resources and institutions, as well as their forms of

intergenerational transmission, and helps to better equip

the community to defend its rights and interests, thereby

revitalizing its identities and cultural resources.

A specifi c task of intercultural dialogue is to be sensitive

to the fact that all communities do not experience

and respond to phenomena such as globalization in

the same way. Indigenous peoples, for example, are

likely to see it as an exacerbation of certain trends —

such as the encroachment of extractive industries on

their territories — that are eroding their traditional ways

of life and livelihoods. At the same time, globalization

and global networks favour the emergence of

indigenous movements at the international level,

enabling the collective memory of domination and

struggle to serve as an ‘ideological weapon’ in support

of claims regarding ancestral land and resources and

self-determined development (see chapter 1). Thus,

indigenous activists have become strongly engaged

with the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity

and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change, and have helped to secured the adoption, on

13 September 2007, of the United Nations Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which now serves

as a primary reference in the formulation of policies

and national laws concerning the rights of indigenous

peoples (an example being the Philippines’ 1997

��Mbende Jerusarema Dance, a popular dance style practiced by

the Zezuru Shona people living in

eastern Zimbabwe

��Traditional ceremonies of the Kallawaya, Bolivia

��A performer of Kun Qu Opera ��Kutiyattam, a form of sacred theatre from Kerala, India

WRCD_eng2.indd 53 29/09/09 12:40

5 4 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

diversity. While it is possible in general terms to argue

for accommodating ‘contexts of choice’, there are cases

in which ‘there are clear disparities of power balance

between the sexes, such that the more powerful [. . .] are

those who are generally in a position to determine and

articulate the group’s beliefs, practices and interests. In

such circumstances, group rights are potentially, and in

many cases actually, anti-feminist’ (Benhabib, 2002; Song,

2005). In such cases, to accept the ‘group’ claims would

be to do injustice to the women concerned, who could

well be contesting the values and ways of life of the

group and, more specifi cally, the status, roles and rights

accorded to them. In short, group rights adduced in

the name of cultural diversity cannot claim precedence

over fundamental human rights, as sometimes occurs in

connection with the dramatic examples of female genital

mutilation (FGM) or female infanticide.

The key to successful intercultural dialogue lies in

the acknowledgement of the equal dignity of the

participants. This presupposes recognition of —

and respect for — the diverse forms of knowledge

and their modes of expression, the customs and

traditions of participants and efforts to establish, if

not a culture-neutral context for dialogue, then at

least a culturally neutralized context that enable

communities to express themselves freely. Although

intercultural dialogue cannot hope to settle on its

own all the unresolved conflicts in the political,

economic, social and historical spheres — as there are

divergences in moral premises that individuals and

groups are not prepared to discuss — no effort should

be spared in the endeavour.

Conclusion Any eff ort towards intercultural dialogue must be based

upon the premise that all cultures are — and have

always been — in continual evolution and are the

result of multiple infl uences throughout history,

both external and internal. From this perspective, the

perceived fi xed traits or identities that seem to isolate

us from one another and plant the seeds of stereotype,

discrimination or stigmatism should be seen not as

barriers to dialogue but as the very ground upon which

such dialogue can begin. New initiatives for intercultural

dialogue have been launched in recent years, including

the UN General Assembly’s proclamation of 2010 as the

International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures

announced by President Evo Morales on 7 November

2007 (Tauli-Corpuz, 2007).

In many social contexts, women can also be counted

among the ‘new voices’ that have a distinctive role to

play in the promotion of cultural diversity. Women

are identifi able agents for cultural change since

they are often the ones engaged in processes involving

the validation and reinterpretation of cultural meaning

and practices. The role of women as ‘value carriers’ in

the transmission of language, ethical codes, value systems,

religious beliefs and behavioural patterns to their children

is increasingly augmented by their role as ‘value creators’

(feminist theory having contributed to this development).

Recognition of the multiple identities of groups

and individuals enables women not only to contest

mainstream or dominant views from within but also to

belong to other groups and even voluntarily to exit their

communities of origin. Cultural diversity is to this extent

bound up with recognition of women as autonomous

agents in the construction of their identities.

A major obstacle still to be overcome is the

pervasive gender discrimination and stereotyping

that subordinate women to male-dominated

interpretations of cultural traditions and religion.

Demands by women for access to the public sphere

and to full enjoyment of civil and political rights

are increasingly widespread and insistent. Other

demands concern gender equality in the private

sphere, where women have often been subject to legal

discrimination, since family law has assumed either

implicitly or explicitly that the traditional male-headed

family is the natural household unit. Gender inequality

is multidimensional and manifests itself in all areas of

social life (the household, the labour market, property

ownership, etc.) and interacts with other forms of

inequality (racial, social, economic, age-based, etc.).

Issues relating to the promotion of women’s role in

opening up new avenues of intercultural dialogue

have been highlighted in the Dushanbe Declaration on

‘the Role of Women in Intercultural Dialogue in Central

Asia’ (UNESCO, 2003) and in the Baku Declaration

on ‘Expanding the Role of Women in Cross-cultural

Dialogue’ (UNESCO/ISESCO, 2008).

Tension can arise between the advocacy of gender

equality and claims made in the name of cultural

The key to successful

intercultural

dialogue lies in the

acknowledgement

of the equal dignity

of the participants...

based on the premise

that all cultures are in

continual evolution

and are the result of

multiple infl uences

throughout history

WRCD_eng2.indd 54 29/09/09 12:40

Support should continue to be given to networks and initiatives for intercultural and interfaith

dialogue at all levels, while ensuring the full involvement of new partners, especially women and

young people.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Develop measures to enable members of communities and groups subject to discrimination and stigmatization to participate in the framing of projects designed to counter cultural stereotyping.

b. Support initiatives aimed at developing real and virtual spaces and provide facilities for cultural interaction, especially in countries where inter-community confl ict exists.

c. Showcase ‘places of memory’ that serve to symbolize and promote reconciliation between communities within an overall process of cultural rapprochement.

C h

ap ter 2 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 5 5

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

fl exibility, empathy and the capacity to shift between

diff erent frames of reference, humility and hospitality.

Informal networks, at the local or community level, and

the arts and creativity generally speaking, must not be

underestimated as valuable means by which to combat

closed identities and promote cultural pluralism. Hence

the need for continued refl ection on ways to establish

genuine intercultural dialogue today, including the

development of appropriate skills (based on respect

for others, receptiveness, learning to listen), support

for initiatives and networks of all kinds (including those

convinced of and those sceptical about the value of

dialogue) and the involvement of many new actors

(women, young people) and so on.

and its proposed designation of 2011–2020 as the

United Nations Decade of Interreligious Dialogue and

Cooperation for Peace.

Intercultural capacities can be developed as tools to

help level the ground of encounter between people

from diff erent cultures, on the basis of a strict equality

of rights and an awareness that it is not so much

cultures but people — individuals and groups, with

their complexities and multiple allegiances — who are

engaged in the process of dialogue. What conditions

the success of intercultural dialogue is not so much

knowledge of others but rather the basic abilities to

listen, dialogue and wonder. These prompt cognitive

��Muslims praying in Jakarta, Indonesia

WRCD_eng2.indd 55 29/09/09 12:40

5 6 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

Catalogue of Reproductions and in 1961 of the UNESCO

Collection of Traditional Music. From 1948 to 1983, over

900 titles deriving from over 90 national literatures were

translated and published by UNESCO, including the works of

11 Nobel Laureates or future Laureates in Literature.

UNESCO has also launched a number of projects aimed

at providing new bases for studying interactions between

cultures and civilizations, including the establishment in 1953

of the collection entitled Cultural Unity and Diversity, the fi rst

volume of which consisted of an opinion poll on the ‘current

conception of cultures, which are native to the diff erent

countries of the world and their relationships with one

another’ (Stenou, 2003). From 1957 to 1966, the Major Project

on Mutual Appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural Values

contributed to a better knowledge of the civilizations of

Southern Asia and the Far East, under the direction of Jacques

Havet and the supervision of the Assistant Director-General for

Culture, Jean Thomas. Over 250 works were published under

the Programme for the Translation of Oriental Literatures,

including the works of Yasunari Kawabata, which led to his

being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.

UNESCO and the United Nations have long been at

the forefront of international eff orts to strengthen dialogue

among civilizations and cultures. Over the past decade,

in opposition to the diff erent currents of thought epitomized

in the notion of a ‘clash of civilizations’, they have sought

to propose alternative visions and frameworks for cultural

encounters and exchanges.

From its inception, under its programme for easing

tensions and confl icts throughout the world, UNESCO

has been concerned with institutional initiatives for

promoting ‘dialogue’ as a means to the peaceful resolution

of disputes. The second session of its Executive Board

in 1947 saw the adoption of an educational programme for

international understanding, formalized by a resolution of

the General Conference in 1949, which subsequently gave

rise to a whole series of studies on tensions and national

stereotypes as related to international understanding (e.g.

research studies by Otto Klineberg, Margaret Mead and Jean

Stoetzel). The inauguration in 1948 of the UNESCO Collection

of Representative Works likewise refl ected this concern to

help revitalize international cultural exchanges and mutual

understanding, as did the creation in 1949 of the UNESCO

In focus:

The history of

dialogue at

UNESCO and

institutional

initiatives on

intercultural

dialogue

��Maranao women, expressing their history and beliefs through the

Daragen epic, Philippines

WRCD_eng2.indd 56 29/09/09 12:40

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 5 7

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

Other major projects followed, including studies on Islamic

civilization and the major project on the Silk Roads, which

was launched in 1988 under the title ‘Integral Study of the

Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue’ and which, by its completion

in 1997, had benefi ted from the contributions of over

2,000 scholars from more than 30 countries and from

fi ve international scientifi c expeditions (the ‘Desert Route’

from Xi’an to Kashgar, the ‘Maritime Routes’ from Venice

to Osaka, the ‘Steppe Route’ in Central Asia, the ‘Nomad

Route’ in Mongolia and the ‘Buddhist Route’ in Nepal). The

aim of the Silk Roads Project was to recreate the context for

their renewal by rediscovering the extraordinary fertility of

the cultural exchanges along the Silk Roads. The passing

expeditions prompted the creation or establishment in

several countries of research institutes or international

institutes working in fi elds closely linked to the Silk Roads,

with particular reference to nomadic and Buddhist cultures.

The Silk Roads were followed by other routes, including the

Slave Route (to end the silence that had long surrounded

the question of the slave trade), the Iron Route, the Routes of

Al-Andalus and the Chocolate Route.

UNESCO’s series ‘General and Regional Histories’ and ‘History

of Humanity’, the outcome of a project going back to 1952,

were likewise aimed at mobilizing scholars worldwide around

an ambitious agenda, concerning a critical challenge of our

time. The History of Humanity series is concerned in particular

with highlighting the common inheritance, the reciprocal

infl uences and the contributions of the diff erent peoples and

cultures to the progress of Humanity. From 1968 onwards,

the fi ve other multi-volume regional histories (General History

of Africa, General History of Latin America, General History of

the Caribbean, History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, and

The Diff erent Aspects of Islamic Culture) have attempted to

‘decolonize’ the history of those regions by giving a voice

to local historians while encouraging the exchange of

viewpoints and intellectual discussion on a particular regional

historical context. Over 1,600 historians and other specialists

have participated in the drafting of these histories, which

comprise some 50 volumes. The challenge now is to improve

the spread of the historical knowledge thereby gained so

as to reach the widest possible public and to strengthen

mutual understanding among peoples. This should involve,

in particular, the inclusion of these histories in educational

curricula and the drafting of textbooks that adapt their

content for school learners. ��Girls at the nakamal dancing place after a ceremony, hills of

Tanna, Vanuatu

WRCD_eng2.indd 57 29/09/09 12:40

5 8 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

over the current decade have included the New Perspectives

in UNESCO’s Activities Pertaining to the Dialogue among

Civilizations and Cultures adopted by the General Conference

in 2003, the Rabat Commitment adopted in June 2005 (which

identifi ed a series of concrete and practical actions in UNESCO

programme-related areas) and the 2006 intersectoral Plan of

Action for the Promotion of the Dialogue among Peoples and

UNESCO’s Contribution to International Action against Terrorism.

International, regional and national conferences were also

held in order to raise awareness among decision-makers and

civil societies about the value and potential of intercultural

dialogue, as well as to debunk myths arising from prejudice

and contributing to the ignorance of other people’s histories,

languages, heritage and religions.

Along with other system agencies and programmes,

UNESCO is also contributing to the United Nations

Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) initiative, which was

launched following the release in November 2006 of the

latter’s Report of the High-Level Group. The AoC focuses

on the challenges of the ‘relations between Western and

Muslim societies’.

UNESCO’s Interreligious Dialogue programme aims

to highlight the dynamics of interaction between spiritual

traditions and their specifi c cultures by emphasizing

the borrowings that have taken place between them.

This programme’s landmark achievements include the:

■ Tashkent and Bishkek Declarations (of 1998 and

1999, respectively), which prepared the way for

the development of consultative mechanisms and

processes between religious communities and

governments as a means of resolving disputes and

drawing on religious capacities; and

■ Philippine Initiative, based on the outcome of

the fi rst Informal Summit of Leaders and Interfaith

Leaders on Cooperation for Peace in 2005.

Discussions concerning the establishment of a Religious

Advisory Council under the United Nations or UNESCO

are ongoing. Other UNESCO initiatives in the fi eld of

interreligious dialogue include combating defamation of

religions, investigating the role of religions as mediators for

social cohesion and hosting interreligious meetings, such

as the third World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace

in December 2008.

The term ‘dialogue of civilizations’ fi rst appeared on

the international scene in 1961 during a symposium

organized by the European Centre of Culture. According

to Denis de Rougemont, he coined the term in response

to the fi rst wave of globalization induced by Western

‘technologies of production, transportation and

information’ and the ‘coming into contact of all regions of

the earth ineluctably, irreversibly and literally superfi cially’

(cited in de Libera, 2003). The theme of dialogue —

previously a largely intellectual exercise — took on a

new political dimension as of the end of 1993, when

Samuel Huntington published his thesis of the confl ict of

civilizations in the review Foreign Aff airs.

Following the proposal of President Khatami of the Islamic

Republic of Iran, the year 2001 was proclaimed the ‘United

Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations’, and

in November of that year the General Assembly adopted

the ‘Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations’. UNESCO

was assigned the lead role within the United Nations system for

the ‘Dialogue among Civilizations’, adopting for the purpose a

multi-stakeholder approach with a special focus on youth and

women and involving the mobilization of its existing networks,

such as the UNESCO Associated Schools Network, UNESCO

Chairs, UNESCO Institutes, Centres and Clubs.

Key dates and documents in framing the Organization’s

contribution to refl ection on the dialogue among civilizations

��Women in burkas, Kandahar, Afghanistan

WRCD_eng2.indd 58 29/09/09 12:40

I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E . 5 9

Chapter 2 Intercultural dialogue

In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly

recognized that ‘mutual understanding and interreligious

dialogue constitute important dimensions of the

dialogue among civilizations and of the culture of peace’

and expressed its appreciation of UNESCO’s work in

this area and ‘its focus on concrete action at the global,

regional and subregional levels and its fl agship project

on the promotion of interfaith dialogue’ (UN, 2005).

Discussions are ongoing about the possible celebration

of a United Nations Decade of Interreligious Dialogue and

Cooperation for Peace in 2011–2020.

Other regional institutions pursuing initiatives for the

strengthening of dialogue among civilizations include:

■ The Council of Europe, whose White Paper on

Intercultural Dialogue (2008), representing the

outcome of a process launched in 2005 at the Summit

of Heads of State and Government (Faro Declaration),

is aimed at identifying ‘how to promote intensifi ed

intercultural dialogue within and between societies

in Europe and dialogue between Europe and its

neighbours’. This initiative pursues a longstanding

commitment on the part of the Council of Europe to

support intercultural dialogue. Its key dates include:

the First Summit of Heads of State and Government

of Member States in 1993, which affi rmed that ‘the

diversity of traditions and cultures has for centuries

been one of Europe’s riches and that the principle

of tolerance is the guarantee of the maintenance in

Europe of an open society’ (Vienna Declaration); the

Framework Convention for the Protection of National

Minorities (1995); and the European Youth Campaign

against racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and

intolerance (‘All Diff erent — All Equal’).

■ ALECSO, ISESCO and other regional institutions

and NGOs active in the fi eld of international

cooperation, such as the Anna Lindh Euro-

Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue

between Cultures, regularly participate in expert

meetings on intercultural dialogue, in particular

those organized by UNESCO.

��Gelede ceremony, performed by the Yoruba-Nago community

spread over Benin, Nigeria and Togo

WRCD_eng2.indd 59 29/09/09 12:40

6 0 P A R T I . C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : W H A T I S A T S T A K E ?

—. 2006a. Cultural Diversity and Transversal Values: East-

West Dialogue on Spiritual and Secular Dynamics. Paris,

UNESCO.

—. 2006b. New Stakes for Intercultural Dialogue. Acts

of the international seminar, Paris, 6–7 June.

Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0015/001583/158389e.pdf

—. 2006c. Plan of Action for the Promotion of the

Dialogue among Peoples and UNESCO’s Contribution

to International Action against Terrorism. 174

EX/5 Add.2. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0014/001441/144164e.pdf#page=11

—. 2005a. Fostering Dialogue among Cultures and

Civilizations through Concrete and Sustainable Initiatives.

Proceedings of the international conference, Rabat,

Morocco, 14–16 June. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0015/001541/154100E.pdf

—. 2005b. The Rabat Commitment. Conclusions and

recommendations of the Rabat Conference on Dialogue

among Cultures and Civilizations through Concrete

and Sustained Initiatives, Rabat, Morocco, 14–16 June

2005. http://www.unesco.org/dialogue/rabat/Rabat_

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—. 2004. Cultural Diversity and Globalization: The Arab-

Japanese Experience. Proceedings of the international

symposium, ‘Cultural Diversity and Globalization:

The Arab-Japanese Experience — A Cross-Regional

Dialogue’, Paris, 6–7 May. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0013/001393/139318e.pdf

—. 2003a. Dushanbe Declaration. Adopted by the

international conference ‘The Role of Women in

Intercultural Dialogue in Central Asia’, Dushanbe,

Tajikistan, 11–13 June. CLT/CPD/DIA/2008/RP/50. http://

unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001587/158762E.pdf

—. 2003b. New Perspectives in UNESCO’s Activities Pertaining

to the Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures. 32 C/

INF.15. Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0013/001320/132074e.pdf

—. 2003c. The Political Aspects of the Dialogue of Civilizations.

Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0013/001316/131631eo.pdf

—. 2001. Dialogue among Civilizations: The Round Table on

the Eve of the United Nations Millennium Summit. Paris,

UNESCO.

Background documents and UNESCO sources

Benbessa, E. 2007. Diversité et culture nationale.

Background paper.

Bennett, J. 2009. Cultivating intercultural competences.

Training for UNESCO staff , Intercultural

Communication Institute.

Diène, D. 2007. Nouvelles formes de racismes et de

stigmatisation culturelle à notre époque : de

l’intolérance à la propagation de stéréotype.

Background paper.

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Paris, UNESCO/New York, Berghann Books.

Eberhard, C. 2008. Rediscovering education through

intercultural dialogue. Background paper. http://www.

dhdi.free.fr/recherches/horizonsinterculturels/articles/

eberhardeducation.pdf

Elmandjra, M. 2007. Diversité culturelle: clé de la survie de

l’humanité. Background paper.

Fasheh, M. 2007. Cultural diversity in formal and non-formal

educational systems. Background paper.

Giacone, A. 2007. Note on ‘Confl icts and Memory’.

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Maranda, P. 2007. Paramètres cognitifs de l’ouverture à la

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Pigem, J. 2006. Local policies for cultural diversity.

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Severi, C. 2008 Formes et contenus de la communication

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Shayegan, D. 2007. La diversité culturelle et la civilisation

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cultures: Actes des Rencontres inaugurales du musée du

Quai Branly (21 juin 2006). Paris, Actes Sud, pp. 380-381.

Hulin, M. 2001. Sankara et la non-dualité. Paris, Bayard.

Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the

Remaking of World Order. New York, Simon & Schuster.

—. 1993. The clash of civilizations? Foreign Aff airs, Vol. 72,

No. 3, pp. 22–49.

Klineberg, O. 1951. The scientifi c study of national

stereotypes. International Social Science Bulletin, Vol. 3,

pp. 505–15.

Okin, S. M. 1999. Is multiculturalism bad for women?

J. Cohen, M. Howard and M. C. Nussbaum (eds.),

Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton, N.J.,

Princeton University Press, pp. 7–26.

Panikkar, R. 1979. Myth, Faith and Hermeneutics: Cross-Cultural

Studies. New York, Paulist Press.

Pettigrew, T. F. 2008. Future directions for intergroup contact

research. International Journal of Intercultural Relations,

Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 187–99.

—. 1998. Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of

Psychology, Vol. 49, pp. 65–85.

Philippines. 1997. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.

Republic Act 8371. Offi cial Gazette, Vol. 94, No. 13 (1998).

http://www.glin.gov/download.action?fulltextId=54141&d

ocumentId=61555&glinID=61555

Rambaldi, G., Muchemi, J., Crawhall N. and Monaci, L. 2007.

Through the eyes of hunter-gatherers: participatory 3D

modelling among Ogiek indigenous peoples in Kenya.

Information Development, Vol. 23, No. 2–3, pp. 113–28.

Ricoeur, P. 2006. Memory, History, Forgetting. Translated by

K. Blamey and D. Pellauer. Chicago, Ill., University of

Chicago Press.

—. 2004. Universal project, multiple heritages. J. Bindé (ed.),

The Future of Values: 21st Century Talks. Paris, UNESCO/

New York, Berghann Books.

Said, E. 1978. Orientalism. London, Routledge.

Schoefthaler, T. 2006. Challenges in assuring dialogue

between cultures. Edited version of keynote address to

the forum ‘Europe in Dialogue and Interaction between

Cultures’, Helsinki, Finland, 5 April. http://portal.unesco.

org/education/en/fi les/53755/11840807615Schoefthal

er.pdf/Schoefthaler.pdf. Also published in Adventures in

Diversity: New Avenues for the dialogue between cultures.

Bonn, German Commission to UNESCO, 2007.

Song, S. 2005. Majority norms, multiculturalism, and gender

equality. American Political Science Review, Vol. 99, No. 4,

pp. 473–89.

��Old believers from the cultural space of the Semeiskie, Russia

WRCD_eng2.indd 63 29/09/09 12:40

http://www.aocistanbul.org/data

http://www.undp.org/partners/cso/indigenous/docs

http://www.un-documents.net/a60r10.htm

http://www.glin.gov/download.action?fulltextId=54141&d

6 4 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E6 4 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

A man in Niamey, Niger

WRCD_eng2.indd 64 29/09/09 12:40

PART II.

KEY VECTORS OF

CULTURAL DIVERSITY Faced with the challenges of rethinking intercultural dialogue,

countering stereotypes as well as tendencies towards withdrawal

into closed identities, a deeper examination of the implications

of cultural diversity in areas outside of culture in its restricted

sense is equally important to public policy-making today. While

virtually all human activities are shaped by and in turn help to

shape cultural diversity, the prospects for the continued vitality

of diversity are crucially bound up with the future of languages,

education, the communication of cultural content, and the

complex interface between creativity and the marketplace.

From the most immediate manifestation of cultural diversity —

languages — to its pervasiveness across the entire social and

economic fabric — the marketplace — including its role in

education, media and communication policies, Part II explores

these often overlapping fi elds — all central to UNESCO’s

mandate — with a view to identifying trends and factors that

impact on the state of cultural diversity and refi ning our political

agendas for its preservation and promotion in keeping with the

complex realities of today’s world.

CHAPTER 3 – Languages

Chapter 3 addresses the

need to safeguard linguistic

diversity in the wider context of

managing cultural change, while

facilitating dialogue and mutual

understanding through the

promotion of multilingualism and

translation capacities.

CHAPTER 4 – Education

Chapter 4 argues the case for

broadening the compass of

educational systems to take

account of informal learning

environments and learning needs

in culturally diverse settings, with

a view to enhancing the quality

of education and preparing us to live together with our

diff erences through the development of intercultural

competencies.

CHAPTER 5 – Communication and cultural contents

Chapter 5 analyzes recent trends

in the communication of cultural

contents, highlighting the

challenge of ensuring that the

expansion of media diversity and

outreach is matched by eff orts to

redress the imbalances inherent

in the digital divide so as to further processes of cultural

exchange and mutual understanding.

CHAPTER 6 – Creativity and the marketplace

Chapter 6 explores the continuum

across artistic creativity, social

innovation and economic growth,

highlighting the added-value of

cultural diversity in key sectors

ranging from contemporary art

practices, crafts and tourism to

corporate activities ranging from management and

human resources to marketing and ‘cultural intelligence’.

WRCD_eng2.indd 65 29/09/09 12:40

A translation and typing service in Hyderabad, India

WRCD_eng2.indd 66 29/09/09 12:40

Languages

Languages mediate our experiences, our intellectual and cultural environments, our modes of

encounter with others, our value systems, social codes and sense of belonging, both collectively

and individually. From the perspective of cultural diversity, linguistic diversity refl ects the creative

adaptation of groups to their changing physical and social environments. In this sense, languages

are not just a means of communication but represent the very fabric of cultural expressions;

they are the carriers of identity, values and worldviews.

While languages have always been susceptible to the political, socio-economic and cultural

pressures of more infl uential language communities (as in the case of the marginalization or eclipse

of vernacular languages in the context of European colonialism), today’s pressures are impacting

with increasing force on all communities as a consequence of globalization and the far-reaching

communication developments accompanying it. In opening up previously self-enclosed societies

and subjecting some minority languages to increasing competition, globalization and urbanization

are major factors in contemporary patterns of linguistic erosion — the bulk of today’s languages

being far from equal in the face of these developments and the most vulnerable among them

being threatened with rapid extinction. Yet, the eff ects of globalization on languages are complex

and multidirectional (see chapter 1), and new linguistic practices are appearing among diff erent

social groups, especially young people. These practices are opening up a broad range of new forms

of cultural diversity.

The importance of languages as identity markers becomes evident when dealing with issues

relating to language loss and the emergence of new linguistic practices. From the perspective

of intercultural relations, safeguarding linguistic diversity goes hand-in-hand with promoting

multilingualism and must be matched by eff orts to ensure that languages serve as a bridge

between cultures, as a means to promoting the ‘fruitful diversity’ of the world’s cultures.

33 CHAPTER 3

A sign outside a school in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

WRCD_eng2.indd 67 29/09/09 12:40

33 3.1 Language dynamics today ......................... 69

Map 3.1 Living languages in the World according to Ethnologue .................................................69

Box 3.1 Languages in cyberspace ..............................71

3.2 Languages and identities ........................... 73

Box 3.2 Monitoring linguistic diversity for biodiversity .......................................................................74

3.3 The challenges of language assessment

and revitalization ........................................ 76

Box 3.3 Assessing language vitality .........................77

3.4 Multilingualism, translation and

intercultural dialogue ................................. 80

Map 3.2 Linguistic Diversity Index .............................81 Figure 3. 1 Percentage of target-language translations ..............................................................................82

Box 3.4 Minority indigenous languages in translation in South America .........................................83

Conclusion ........................................................... 85

Recommendations.............................................. 86

In focus: The key facets of language

planning and policy-making ...................... 87

References and websites .................................... 90

Languages

A calligrapher in Hangzhou, China

WRCD_eng2.indd 68 29/09/09 12:40

L A N G U A G E S . 6 9

Chapter 3 Languages

A language under pressure is often a language whose

speakers shift to a diff erent, dominant language in

response to political, social, economic and cultural

pressures. The failure of the intergenerational

transmission of a language can be likened to the

reproductive failure of a species (Krauss, 1992). If such

pressures persist across generations, such languages

will be endangered (UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group

on Endangered Languages, 2003a), a language being

considered moribund when its speaking community

no longer passes it on to younger generations. The

point at which a language can be said to be critically

endangered varies from language to language — for

example, a language with 500 speakers may be in

trouble in parts of Africa but not in the Pacifi c because

of diff ering social and political conditions (Grimes,

1995). Likewise, many other conditions related to

linguistic extinction cannot be inferred from the

number of speakers alone (see section 3.3). Such

conditions include the community’s own attitudes

towards its language and other sociolinguistic factors,

as well as governmental attitudes and policies towards

minority languages, and the presence or absence of

programmes to preserve or perpetuate languages

(Maffi and Skutnabb-Kangas, 1999).

Linguists believe that a large percentage of the world’s

languages are likely to disappear in the course of the

21st century. While the precise number of languages

spoken in the world today is disputed, inventories

such as the Ethnologue and Linguasphere put the

total at somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000. Half

of the existing languages are spoken by fewer than

10,000 people, and one such language is said to be

disappearing every two weeks (Crystal, 2000). The

prospects for language communities that are small in

number or economically weak are particularly bleak.

One study has calculated — on the assumption that

languages with less than 150 speakers are in grave

danger — that 600 (or 11.5 percent) of the world’s

languages are on the brink of extinction. If the threshold

of viability is set at 10,000 speakers, language loss in the

medium term will amount to some 60 percent. If the

threshold is set at 100,000 speakers, over 80 percent of

the world’s languages will be lost, including most of the

indigenous tongues in Australia and the Pacifi c. If one

assumes a medium-term threshold of 1 million speakers,

then ‘95.2 percent of all languages will be lost, including

every single language indigenous to North America,

Central America, Australia, New Guinea and the Pacifi c,

plus almost all of those in South America’ (Nettle, 1999).

3.1 Language dynamics today

Map 3.1 Living languages in the World according to Ethnologue

The countries and territories are re-sized according to the number of indigenous living languages identifi ed by Ethnologue.

Source: Ethnologue, 2005; worldmapper.org

WRCD_eng2.indd 69 29/09/09 15:43

7 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

English as source language and comparatively little of

the work published around the world in other languages

being translated into English — somewhere between

2 and 4 percent of total books published in the US

and the UK (see Venuti, 1995, and section 3.4 below).

One need look no further than cyberspace to note the

preponderance of a handful of the most widespread

written languages, which is having detrimental impacts

on the representation of other languages and on the

viability of non-written languages (see Box 3.1).

While it has fore-grounded the expanding role of

English, the eff ects of globalization on languages

are nonetheless multidirectional, making it hard it

to predict the impact of the expansion of English

on multilingualism. While English appears to

occupy a unique position as a convenient vehicular

code across the world in tandem with the rise of

information and communication technologies (ICTs),

further technological innovation promises to make

electronically mediated communication better able

to support character-based languages (without

romanization or alphabetization)3 and oral-based

communication (through voice recognition, for

example) in the future (Lo Bianco, 2007). It may also be

that the widespread use of English will be limited to

specifi c purposes, such as transactions and functional

communication. Globalization has also encouraged

more plural and hybrid approaches to English,

notably in India and Nigeria (Kachru and Smith, 2008;

Kachru, Kachru and Nelson, 2006; Kachru, 1992, 2005;

Kirkpatrick, 2007), which reveal the immensely complex

modes in which language, identity and relationships

interact and in which speakers adapt inherited forms

of language to new cultural contexts and for new

purposes.4 Furthermore, in many instances of language

loss, transfer away from minority languages is not

towards English but towards other rival languages

and regional dialects, such as Bangla (Bengali) in

Bangladesh and India, and Kiswahili in Eastern Africa.

Indeed, across Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and

the Pacifi c, a range of widely spoken regional languages

serve as vehicular languages or lingua francas (Giddens,

1999; Miller, 2003).

Linguistic homogenization typically accompanied the

creation of nation-states in the wake of decolonization

and, more recently, the collapse of the Soviet Union and

its affi liated satellites. Nation-states can constitutionally

defi ne the status of languages spoken in their territory

and decide on the spheres in which they are to be

used. A language that is given offi cial status is generally

that used in the educational system, public media,

courts and public administration. In addition to offi cial

languages, some countries explicitly nominate a

number of national languages in their constitution (in

Senegal, for example, the offi cial language is French

and the national languages include Diola, Malinke,

Pular, Serer, Soninke, Wolof ‘and all codifi ed languages’),

yet this rarely infl uences their use in public domains.

In most countries, offi cial languages are associated

with modernization and economic progress, the rest

(usually local languages) tend to be restricted to the

private domain, compounding the social and political

marginalization of their speakers.

While its full impact is diffi cult to estimate, globalization

seems to be aff ecting the linguistic make-up of

countries throughout the world in varied and often

contradictory ways. With more than 1 billion (fi rst- and

second-language) speakers, English is undeniably the

most widespread language of communication. It is the

offi cial or main language in almost 60 countries (nearly

one-third of the Member States of the United Nations),

is present in another 75 countries, and is also the matrix

language of more than 40 creole and pidgin languages.

English has been described as ‘the only shared medium

across the vast Asian region’ (Kachru, 2005), home to the

world’s largest population, and remains the dominant

language across cultural industries, the Internet and

media, as well as in diplomacy (Crystal, 2000; Camdenton,

2001). Two billion people — one-third of the world’s

population — could be learning English by 2010–2015,

with as many as 3 billion people, or half the world’s

population, speaking the language in the near future

(Graddol, 2006), leading to the oft-stated conclusion that

the world has already adopted a de facto international

auxiliary language. This trend is further confi rmed by

translation statistics, with most translations being from

3. On internationalized domain names (IDNs), see ICANN (2001) and the

corresponding Wikipedia entry.

4. For more information on the diversity of World Englishes, see also the

following scientifi c journals: English World-Wide: A Journal of Varieties of English,

World Englishes: Journal of English as an International and Intranational Language,

and English Today: The International Review of the English Language.

Globalization seems

to be aff ecting the

linguistic make-

up of countries

throughout the world

in varied and often

contradictory ways

WRCD_eng2.indd 70 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 7 1

Chapter 3 Languages

Few studies have undertaken large-scale

quantitative analyses of the languages used

on the Internet, and those that haven done so

have tended to focus on the World Wide Web to

the exclusion of other communication modes,

such as email and chat, because the Web is

more directly observable and easier to survey

than other forms of Internet communication.

Studies from the Online Computer Library

Center (OCLC) (Lavoie and O’Neill 2000 and

2003), for example, have used a random

sample of available websites on the Internet

as the basis of an initial survey conducted at

two diff erent times, one year apart, in order to

assess trends in the use of diff erent languages.

The 1998–1999 survey suggested that some

international expansion of the Web was taking

place (some 29 identifi able languages in the

1999 sample of some 2,229 random websites),

and that the use of diff erent languages was

closely correlated with the domain in which

each website originated. As expected, English

was clearly dominant, representing 72 percent

of the total websites surveyed. The 2002

follow-up survey showed the proportion of

English on the web to be fairly constant in

relation to the previous study, although small

diff erences appeared for other languages.

Overall, the conclusion was that linguistic

diversity of the web, while approaching that

of many multilingual countries, is a poor

refl ection of linguistic diversity worldwide.

The 1999 OCLC survey also determined the

proportions of Web pages that are multilingual

from each domain of origin, and noted

which language pairs are used. If a website

used more than one language, English was

always one of these. In total, 100% of the

156 multilingual sites surveyed used English

(and 30% of these also used French, German,

Italian and Spanish), even though 87% of

the multilingual websites originated in domains

outside major English-speaking countries

(Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom

and the United States). This fi nding directly

contradicts the popular notion that the web

somehow promotes linguistic diversity.

The most direct eff ort to estimate the linguistic

diversity of Internet users comes from the

translation services company Global Reach,

which produced yearly estimates between

1996 and 2004 based on International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates

of user populations in each country. They

defi ne a ‘user’ as someone who has used

the Internet in the past three months, and

have divided ‘user populations’ into language

populations calculated from Ethnologue

estimates and adjusted with UN population

data. Another set of estimates, from Internet

World Stats, was used for the period from

March 2004 through March 2009.

The fi ndings resulting for the compilation of

estimates are consistent with those of the

OCLC studies: English, with an estimated

464 million users in March of 2009, is the most

used language on the Internet, followed

by Chinese, with approximately 321 million

users. A remarkable trend is the dynamism of

Spanish, which since 2006 is the third most

frequently used language on the web, followed

by Japanese, French and Portuguese. Thus,

while English-speaking users represented

Languages in cyberspace1Box 3.1

1. For a regional overview, see the website ‘Recent Experiences on Measuring

Languages in Cyberspace’.

Languages on the Web, 2003

Source: O’Neill, Lavoie and Bennett, 2003.

English 72%German 7%

French 3%

Japanese 3%

Spanish 3% Chinese 2%

Italian 2% Portuguese 2%

Dutch 1% Finish 1% Russian 1%

Swedish 1% Other 2%

Estimated language populations of Internet users (millions)

Source: Global Reach, 2004.

100

1000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*

* 2005 data is the combination of different sources.

English Chinese Japanese Spanish German Korean French Italian Portuguese Scandinavian Dutch Other (combined)

WRCD_eng2.indd 71 29/09/09 12:41

7 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

approximately 53 percent of total Internet

users in 2000, by 2009 they represented

only 29 percent of total Internet users.

Linguistic-diversity indices for the global

population of Internet users can be calculated

using Global Reach estimates. Minimum

and maximum values for the index have

been calculated based on the assumption of

single-language representations (the minimum

diversity) and a uniform distribution across

6,000 languages (the maximum diversity).

Yet linguistic diversity on the Internet is

nowhere near as large as the index of any

other region of the world as a whole (perhaps

because Internet hosts remain concentrated

in North America and Europe), the Internet

cannot be said to embrace linguistic diversity.

The prevalence of English in cyberspace,

while diffi cult to quantify, can largely be

explained by computer-systems development

and the eff ects of the digital divide. In the

mid-1990s, for example, Microsoft chose

not to develop non-roman versions of its

products, despite the availability of commercial

technological solutions (such as Apple

Computer’s WorldScript), seemingly because

non-roman markets were too small to justify

creating a new version of their product.

When correlated with the existing imbalances

in global access to the Internet per region,

the link between lower linguistic-diversity

areas (such as in North America, Latin America

and the Caribbean, Europe and East Asia)

and higher Internet usage is striking.

According to some, low linguistic diversity

facilitates the provision of Internet access

based on the small number of standardized

technological solutions needed to target each

of the major language populations. Regions

and countries with greater linguistic diversity

typically require more complex arrangements

for Internet access, and resource customization

for each of a large number of minority

languages. This situation appears in the extreme

in India, where even large languages like Hindi

have a plethora of duplicate solutions, such

that almost every Hindi website has its own

Hindi font set, which is incompatible with

other Hindi font sets. People who wish to

read Hindi material on these websites must

separately install the fonts required by each

site; this renders searching across diff erent

sites extremely diffi cult, since words do not

match up in the diff erent representations

(Information Sciences Institute, 2003).

Furthermore, regions such as Africa remain

serious challenges, as even some of the larger

languages in some countries are not yet in use

on the Internet. Signifi cant technological work

remains to be done before the goal of reaching

these language groups can be realized.2

Source: Based on Paolillo and Das, 2006.

Languages in cyberspaceBox 3.1

2. UNESCO is highly committed to improving linguistic diversity in cyberspace,

as expressed in the Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism

and Universal Access to Cyberspace (2003) and the outcomes of the 2005 World

Summit on the Information Society. See the UNESCO webpage ‘Multilingualism

in Cyberspace’.

Estimated linguistic diversity of Internet users

Source: Global Reach, 2004.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005* * 2005 data is the combination of different sources.

minimum ma ximum

Internet users by region (in millions)

Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2008.

100

1000

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

USA

North Ameri ca

Latin America and the Caribbean

Europe

East As i a

South and East As i a

Central and South Asia West As i a

Oceni a

Afri ca

WRCD_eng2.indd 72 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 7 3

Chapter 3 Languages

People tend to hold strong beliefs when it comes to

their language, which has the important function of

marking boundaries between groups; these beliefs

play a key role in the construction and maintenance of

distinctive human identities, both between diff erent

and within same-language communities. For even

within linguistic communities, distinctive features will

distinguish speakers’ origins: the English spoken in

England is diff erent from that spoken in the United

States, New Zealand and South Africa; and even within

a country locally distinct varieties tied to specifi c areas

or social status will arise, so that the English spoken

in New York City is diff erent from that spoken in New

Orleans or Boston, and Cockney English is distinct

from that spoken by the British upper middle class.

Like human cultures and species, languages adapt to

specifi c ecological niches, and like cultural artefacts,

they have historicity, and express the worldviews,

values and belief systems inherent in a given culture.

Even today, despite the complexity of the modern

world in which languages have come to reflect many

identities, histories, cultures, sources and places, the

majority of the world’s languages are ‘narrow-niched’,

that is to say, they are confined to a single group,

village or territory.

A language’s vocabulary is an organized catalogue of a

given culture’s essential concepts and elements. Taking

the case of indigenous cultures, the requirements of

Pacifi c Island cultures diff er from those of Siberian

reindeer-herding cultures. The language traditionally

associated with a culture is in general the language

that relates to that culture’s environment and local

ecosystem, the plants and animals it uses for food,

medicine and other purposes, and expresses local value

systems and worldviews (Fishman, 1991). The naming

of geographic features of the landscape ensures a sense

of connection to place and the histories linked to it. The

Apache language in the southwestern United States, for

example, includes descriptively specifi c place names,

which often consist of complete sentences (‘water fl ows

down on a succession of fl at rocks’) and are essential

to the genealogies of Apache clans since place names

are also associated with kin groups. Thus, native claims

about symbolic links to land and personal relationships

tied to environment may not be so readily interpretable.

From this perspective, the displacement of indigenous

peoples from their traditional lands and the loss of key

cultural sites is likely to involve far more than physical

dislocation: it can represent a break in the historical

private domains and social, cultural and educational

contexts (Ito et al., 2008). A special case of this

phenomenon are ‘third culture kids’ ( TCK), transcultural

youth who live with their parents but grow up in a

culture diff erent from their parents’ originating culture

and are thus faced with creating new ethnic and/

or national identities (some of which may be at odds

with one another) and innovative cultural systems (Fail,

Thompson and Walker, 2004).

While the impacts of digital communication on

languages and forms of social identity and organization

have yet to be fully understood, it is nonetheless clear

that the assumption that ‘language equals culture equals

identity’ is too simple to account for the intricate linkages

between languages and cultural identities. Consequently,

today’s policy-makers must take very many factors into

account when devising language policies, including

advances in linguistics, the human, social and political

sciences, and market economics.

3.2 Languages and identities

Through migration, colonial expansion, refugee

displacement or professional mobility, many language

communities are now dispersed across the world.

As connections between language and place are

becoming increasingly multiple, communication

patterns also become highly variegated, characterized

by code-switching, multilingualism, diff erent receptive

and productive competencies in diff erent languages

or dialects, and are marked by mixtures of full, partial

and specialized profi ciencies. Just as globalization

contributes to cultural hybridization (see chapter 1),

it also favours the emergence of new linguistic forms

and practices, especially among young people. In

this way, continuously expanding networks based

on mobile phones, broad-band Internet and other

ICTs are creating new forms of human association of

unprecedented scale and fl exibility, spanning cities,

nations and cultures. These are in turn forging new

cultural identities that are broadening and redefi ning

existing boundaries, extending them across public/

Languages are not

just a means of

communication but

represent the very

fabric of cultural

expressions, the

carriers of identity,

values and worldviews

WRCD_eng2.indd 73 29/09/09 12:41

7 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Research on the relationship between cultural

and biological diversity is becoming increasingly

pertinent. Findings point to the remarkable

correlations between the world’s areas with

high biological richness and those with

high diversity of languages (the single best

indicator of a distinct culture). Based on the

comparative analysis of eight main biological

groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians,

freshwater fi shes, butterfl ies, tiger-beetles and

fl owering plants), 12 ‘mega-diversity’ countries

(hosting the largest numbers of species and

endemic species) can be identifi ed, nine

of which represent the countries with the

highest number of languages: Australia, Brazil,

China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia,

Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Philippines and

Venezuela. Thus, nine of the countries with the

highest species richness and endemism are

also in the list of the 25 nations with the highest

number of endemic languages (Toledo, 2001).

To exhibit such a correlation between

the richness of some groups of organisms

and the number of languages worldwide,

an Index of Biocultural Diversity (IBCD) was

created. It represents the fi rst attempt to

quantify global biocultural diversity by means

of a country-level index. The IBCD uses

fi ve indicators: the number of languages,

religions and ethnic groups (for cultural

diversity), and the number of bird/mammal

and plant species (for biological diversity).

The application of this index revealed three ‘core

regions’ of exceptional biocultural diversity.

UNESCO recently addressed the biocultural

diversity paradigm at an operational level,

through its Main Line of Action on ‘Enhancing

linkages between cultural and biological

diversity as a key basis for sustainable

development,’ including activities focused

on traditional knowledge and indigenous

languages. Of note are the eff orts to develop

an indicator of the status of and trends in

linguistic diversity and the numbers of speakers

of indigenous languages. The indicator is

being developed within the framework of

the 2010 Biodiversity Target, adopted in 2004

by the Conference of States Parties to the

1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),

which aims ‘to achieve by 2010 a signifi cant

reduction of the current rate of biodiversity

loss at the global, regional and national level

as a contribution to poverty alleviation and

to the benefi t of all life on Earth’ (CBD, 2005).

This indicator will serve as a proxy for

measuring the status and trends in ‘traditional

knowledge, innovations and practices’, one

of the seven focal areas identifi ed for

70 the 2010 Target (CBD, 2005; see UNESCO

webpage on ‘Linguistic diversity in relation to

biodiversity’). Two parallel approaches have

been used in developing this indicator:

■ An informant-based survey of language

vitality and endangerment was conducted

through a Standardized Tool for primary data

collection operationalized as a questionnaire

entitled Linguistic Vitality and Diversity. The

questionnaire was based on the framework

developed by the UNESCO Ad Hoc

Expert Group on Endangered Languages

(2003b) to assess the degree of language

vitality/endangerment (see Box 3.3).

■ A desk study was conducted on the numbers

of speakers of indigenous languages using

national censuses and secondary sources.

However, the low quality of available data

on numbers of speakers and the lack of

comparability among diff erent sources

made it diffi cult to develop an indicator

at the global level. UNESCO is currently

conducting a comprehensive study on the

variables and phrasing of the questions

used in national censuses to collect

data on languages. The aim thereby is

to develop a set of guidelines that will

increase the reliability and international

comparability of census data on languages.

This newly developed methodology aims

to establish a baseline for identifying and

tracking trends on the numbers of speakers

of indigenous languages in the coming years.

Data from the third edition of UNESCO’s

Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger

(2009) are also complementary to the data

collected through the Linguistic Vitality and

Diversity questionnaire and the information

provided by national censuses.

Increasingly, alliances are being established

along these lines by non-governmental

organizations (NGOs), foundations, academic

institutions and scholars to support language

policies for indigenous languages, thereby

linking language preservation to ecological

conservation (see also chapter 7).

Source: UNESCO.

Monitoring linguistic diversity for biodiversity Box 3.2

��A local fl ower market in Antananarivo, Madagascar

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L A N G U A G E S . 7 5

Chapter 3 Languages

diversity and the serious implications of its loss plead

strongly for the identifi cation and the adoption of best

practices in this area.

Of course, no systematic or necessary correlation

exists between language and culture: languages are in

constant fl ux, and socio-economic, political or other

factors have continuously played a role in language

shifts. Where there is ethnic or cultural stigmatization,

a language may be abandoned as an act of survival or

self-defence; some parents, for example, do not speak

their native language at home so as to prepare their

children for school in the dominant language. In some

places where traditional languages have disappeared,

people may vest their identity in a new language —

in some cases in a distinctive form of the dominant

language; in other cases, a creole language.5 In large

parts of Australia, many Aboriginal people speak

Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, or Kriol as their

fi rst language. In other parts of the world, many speak

English or another language as a second or additional

language. Although European colonial encounters have

produced the best known and most studied indigenous

pidgins and creoles, there are examples predating

European contact, such as Sango in the Central African

Republic and Hiri Motu in Papua New Guinea. Such

languages may spring up wherever speakers of diff erent

languages have to work out a common means of

communication (Romaine, 2006). Most creoles coexist

with the original language with which they share most

of their vocabulary; often, negative attitudes have

prevented pidgins and creoles from receiving offi cial

recognition or being used in education, even where

the majority of a population speaks them. Even in the

few countries where pidgins and creoles have received

some token recognition as an offi cial or national

language, they have not been widely integrated in

schools. In the few instances in which they have been,

results have generally been positive (e.g. Tok Pisin and

Hiri Motu in Papua New Guinea, Sango in the Central

African Republic, Seselwa in the Seychelles, Papiamentu

continuity of a community’s consciousness of its distinct

identity and culture. When people are forced to move

or resettle on land that diff ers from that on which they

traditionally lived (e.g. Gaelic speakers displaced from

the Scottish Highlands), the links between language,

culture and the environment are weakened. Languages

are thus in large part culture-specifi c: they carry with them

extensive indexical and symbolic content, which comes

to represent the particular ethnic, cultural and/or national

groups that speak them. When a language is lost, it is far

more diffi cult to recover it than other identity markers.

Furthermore it is increasingly obvious that the

anticipated loss of the majority of languages will have

a detrimental impact on all kinds of diversity — not

only on cultural diversity in terms of the richness of

worldviews and philosophical systems but also on

diversity in environmental and ecological terms, for

research is making increasingly clear the link between

the erosion of linguistic diversity and that of the

knowledge of biological diversity (Harmon and Loh,

2008; see Box 3.2). It is precisely the awareness of

this link between biological diversity and cultural

diversity — most distinctively represented by the loss

of languages (Skutnabb-Kangas, Maffi and Harmon,

2003) and the related loss of knowledge of nature,

history, memory, cultural knowledge, practices, norms

and values (Mühlhäusler, 1996; Grenoble and Whaley,

1998; Diamond, 2001) — that led to the International

Society of Ethnobiologists’ 1988 Declaration of Belem on

cultural diversity and biological diversity. The conclusions

of a study on a number of small languages that had

remained stable over time and their relations with the

biological richness of these areas highlight the extent

to which knowledge is encoded in a given language,

such that cultural systems can be said to co-evolve in

small-scale groups with local ecosystems (Nettle and

Romaine, 2000). Stated diff erently, ‘Life in a particular

human environment is [. . .] dependent on people’s

ability to talk about it’ (Mühlhäusler, 1996). In this sense,

the magnitude of the threat to the world’s linguistic

5. A pidgin is a contact language restricted in form and function and native

to no one, formed by members of at least two (and usually more) groups

of diff erent linguistic backgrounds. Tok Pisin [‘talk pidgin’], for example, is

spoken by millions of people in Papua New Guinea. A creole is a nativized

pidgin, expanded in form and function to meet the communicative needs

of a community of native speakers (e.g. Creole French in Haiti). While some

creole speakers will use the term ‘creole’ to refer to their languages (e.g. Kriol

in Australia, Krio in Sierra Leone, Kreyòl in Haiti), in other places it is unknown

as such to its speakers. The term patois is used throughout much of the

Anglophone Caribbean. Other names are also used, in some cases pejoratively,

e.g. Broken (i.e. broken English) for Torres Strait Creole English, spoken by about

5,000 people in the Torres Strait Islands of Australia, and Papiamento (from

Spanish papear, ‘to jabber/chat’) spoken by around 250,000 in the Netherlands

Antilles (Brown, 2005).

��The Moussem of Tan Tan, a festival of nomad tribes, Morocco

WRCD_eng2.indd 75 29/09/09 12:41

7 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

(Le Page and Tabouret-Keller, 1985) and throughout

our lives we develop allegiances to a variety of groups,

based on the values and attitudes in our surrounding

community and then extended to broader society,

defi ned in the diff erent ways (cultural, ethnic, religious,

national) that shape and infl uence who we are and how

we perceive ourselves (see chapter 2).

Thus the idea of fi xed identities, cultures and languages

must yield to a view of them as constructed and dynamic,

subject to change in endless processes of symbolic

reconstruction and negotiation. At the same time,

even as we increasingly engage with both local and

global cultural systems (through mass communication,

technology, tourism, migration), the link between

racial, ethnic and religious affi liations and cultural

and linguistic identity remains very strong. Local and

national languages therefore remain crucial, even if

global languages are a necessary tool of communication

for expressing our identities as citizens of the world.

A guiding principle of cultural diversity is therefore to

continue to strengthen and maintain the diversity of

languages (including those of nomadic or scattered

populations), all the while supporting international

languages that off er access to global communication and

exchange of information.

in the Netherlands Antilles) and have led to increased

motivation and academic performance (Eckkramer,

2003; see chapter 4 below).

People who speak two or more languages will often

index more than one identity, and even avoid aligning

themselves with only one identity. In 1997, a heated

debate took place in Hong Kong over a speech to be

delivered by the fi rst new chief executive, Tung Chee Wah,

in the handover ceremony to China: Should it be delivered

in Putonghua or Cantonese, each being symbolic of

diff erent alignments and identities? Tung fi nally delivered

it in Putonghua, the offi cial language of mainland China,

but he delivered his fi rst policy address in Cantonese,

which has always been the lingua franca for Chinese

ethnic groups in Hong Kong and is the spoken medium

of instruction in primary schools and Chinese-medium

secondary schools there (Tsui, 2007). Obviously, choice

of language use suggests that languages and forms of

speech may not enjoy equal status or be regarded as

equally appropriate or adequate in all circumstances. The

emotional strength of words spoken in a local language

as opposed to those spoken in the language of a former

colonizer will not be the same for the bilingual speaker

and are not interchangeable. Through such selection

processes, we display what may be called ‘acts of identity’

3.3 The challenges of language assessment and revitalization

For many, language vitality is a benchmark for cultural

diversity because virtually every major aspect of

human culture, from kinship classifi cation to religion, is

dependent on language for its transmission (Haarmann,

2004). Yet, as we have seen, language is not equivalent

to culture. There are numerous instances in which the

same language is spoken by groups with otherwise

radically diff erent cultural practices and worldviews.

When ethnic identifi cation is in question, the complex

relationship between an individual and a group may

occur along with language affi liation, but this is not

always the case.

Traditional approaches to documenting and assessing

language shifts have focused mainly on linguistics and

have tended to neglect socio-economic realities and

political contexts. Yet language loss is a late onset form

of cultural attrition, indicating an already advanced

process of cultural decline (Fishman, 2001). The variety

of circumstances surrounding language health and its

prospects for revitalization when threatened by erosion

depend upon the specifi c socio-cultural, economic,

political and historical confi gurations that apply

uniquely to each language, and thus language health

tends to defy generalization and broad analysis (see

Box 3.3). While many of today’s approaches to minority

language revitalization and preservation recognize and

integrate these factors,6 the process remains profoundly

political ( Walsh, 2005). Indeed, active preservation of an

eroded language can be perceived as competing with

the instrumental value of the dominant language (e.g.

as it aff ects economic opportunity and social status),

6. The ecological approach focuses on the communication context to which

languages belong, their role in the economy and processes of communication

(see Mühlhäusler, 1996); the socio-linguistic approach addresses the issue of

specialization of languages (see Fishman, 2001).

A guiding principle

of cultural diversity is

therefore to continue

to strengthen and

maintain the diversity

of languages, all the

while supporting

international

languages that off er

access to global

communication

and exchange of

information

WRCD_eng2.indd 76 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 7 7

Chapter 3 Languages

Documentation is an essential component for

counteracting the seemingly inexorable loss of

the world’s linguistic resources, and UNESCO

has long sought to alert the international

community to the chain reaction resulting

from language loss. Since the publication of

the 1994 Red Book of Languages in Danger

of Disappearing, which already at that time

claimed that 90 percent of all languages

were in danger of disappearing within two

generations, UNESCO has supported many

studies on language endangerment. At the

invitation of Tokyo University, an International

Clearing House for Endangered Languages

was established in 1995, and in 1996 the fi rst

edition of its Atlas of the World’s Languages in

Danger was published. The second updated

edition was produced in 2001, listing by

region some 900 endangered languages

and their degrees of endangerment. The

third, fully revised and updated edition,

prepared within the framework of the United

Nations International Year of Languages

(2008) and recently released in both print

and online interactive versions (2,500

endangered languages listed on a revisable

basis), uses more subtle and sensitive

indicators of language endangerment,

based on a multi-factorial schema adopted

by the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group

on Endangered Languages (2003a). It

identifi es fi ve degrees of endangerment: i)

vulnerable (607 languages), ii) endangered

(652 languages), iii) severely endangered

(530 languages), iv) critically endangered

(573), and v) extinct (242 languages).

According to the Expert group, nine factors

can be identifi ed for assessing the vitality

of a language. Since a language that has

a favourable situation in terms of one or

more factors may have a very unfavourable

situation with regard to others, a combination

of these nine factors is the best guide to a

language’s overall sociolinguistic situation.

Other methodologies exist for assessing a

language’s vitality. In a quantitative study,

Statistics Canada used 1996 census responses

to calculate an ‘index of continuity’ and an

‘index of ability’ for the country’s indigenous

languages (Norris, 1998). The index of continuity

measures a language’s vitality by comparing

the number of people who speak it at home

with the number who learned it as their

original mother tongue. In this index, a 1:1

ratio is scored at 100 and represents a perfect

maintenance situation in which every mother-

tongue speaker keeps the language as a home

language. Any score lower than 100 indicates

a decline in the language’s strength. The index

of ability compares the number of those who

report being able to speak the language (at

a conversational level) with the number of

mother-tongue speakers. Here, a score of over

100 indicates that an increment of people

have learned it as a second language and may

suggest some degree of language revival.

The report found that only three of the

country’s 50 native languages have speaking

populations large enough to keep them

secure over the long term, and the index of

continuity for all native languages declined

almost 15 percent between 1981 and 1996

(Norris, 1998). The vast majority of indigenous

languages in North America is in trouble and

up to 80 percent are moribund in Canada and

in the United States jointly (Krauss, 1992). If

current trends continue, the general outlook

for the continued survival of these languages

is very poor (Robins and Uhlenbeck, 1991).

A review of the native languages of California

paints a similar picture: of the 50 contemporary

languages in the State (some 50 having already

been lost following European contact), more

than 15 have recently become extinct and

many others have fewer than 10 speakers

(all elders), and only 2 or 3 have as many as

150 or 200 speakers (Hinton, 1994). Along the

temperate rainforest coast, stretching from

northern California to Alaska, 26 languages

of the 68 native language groups present

at European contact are now extinct, 18 are

spoken by fewer than 10 people, and only

8 are spoken by more than 100 individuals

(Wolf, Mitchell and Schoonmaker, 1995). In

Mexico, the danger of extinction exists in

every area where indigenous languages are

found (Garza Cuarón and Lastra, 1991). Most

endangerment information comes from

anecdotal reports that young people no longer

speak the language in certain social situations,

or that they have given it up altogether.

Still, current indicators and indices, including the

linguistic diversity index (see Map 7.1 and Table 7

in the Statistical Annex), cannot for the moment

fully account for the vitality of languages, since

it varies widely depending on the diff erent

Assessing language vitality Box 3.3

Governmental and institutional languages attitudes and policies, including official status

and use

Language Vitality

Shifts in domains of language use

Community members’ attitudes towards their

own language

Language ViVV tatt lill tyt

S o

Commun attitudes

own l

Intergenerational language transmission

Absolute number of speakers

Proportion of speakers within the

total population

Availability of materials for language education

and literacy

Response to new domains and media

Type and quality of documentation

WRCD_eng2.indd 77 29/09/09 12:41

7 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

The reasons behind endangerment may be either

external (e.g. eff ects of globalization, political or other

pressures) or internal (e.g. a negative community

attitude to the language). The dominant languages of

nation-states, and colonial languages, which prevail in

all areas of public and offi cial life (government, school

and media), often hamper the ability of speakers of

other languages to preserve them as the domains of

usage become increasingly restricted. The prestige of

the dominant language and its predominance in public

institutions lead communities to undermine the value of

their own language in a process of symbolic domination.

This has been the case in almost all countries of

Francophone Africa, where the newly independent

States chose French as their offi cial language (to be used

in schools, public media, courts and administration),

leaving the many African languages spoken as mother

tongues restricted to private usage. In Latin America,

Quechua speakers, numbering some 7–10 million in the

Andean regions of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador

and Peru have largely succumbed to the assimilative

pressures of Spanish over the last century.

Language revitalization, which is often the key to

recovering cultural identity, depends fi rst and foremost

on a community’s reassertion of the value of its own

cultural identity. Even where a language has not been

transmitted over a long period of time (the case of

so-called ‘sleeping languages’), it is possible for them to

be reclaimed through the mobilization of identities. Two

examples come from Australia and the United States. First,

Kaurna, once used by Aboriginal people around Adelaide

in South Australia but not spoken for over a century, is

today being reclaimed through greetings, songs and

activities relying on earlier documents and records of the

language (Amery, 2001). Another example of a language

giving rise to a situation in which advocates of language

preservation may be regarded as backward-looking

and parochial or, even worse, as biased against national

unity and cohesion.

The survival of many indigenous peoples is often

dependent on modern means of production. Many

appreciate that there are benefi ts to be derived from

increased interaction with the dominant society, but

wish to preserve a certain cultural autonomy and have

a say in determining their own future, with particular

reference to the right to educate their children in their

own way and to safeguard their language and culture

(see the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples). However, to preserve their distinctive identities,

what is needed is access to economic resources

available in the marketplace. Today, the preservation

of Inuktitut in the Eastern Canadian Arctic is partly a

product of its integration into the dominant linguistic

market and political economy, where it has been

standardized and promoted in education, government

publications, and other written forms. This process has

been further strengthened by the development of an

Inuktitut version of the Windows operating system.

Despite modern paradoxes and lifestyle transformations,

indigenous peoples seek to maintain their language

and culture. Driving snowmobiles, wearing jeans and

listening to pop music are not inherently incompatible

with cultural and linguistic continuity and indigenous

identity any more than speaking English need be at

odds with speaking Inuktitut or Navajo. According to the

2001 Canadian Census, however, overall only 15 percent

of the country’s Aboriginal children learn an indigenous

mother tongue, and fewer still are spoken to in such a

language at home.

situations of speech communities and since

societies are endowed with a complex array of

language competencies among their members

(Beacco, 2007). And while it may be possible to

aggregate language statistics on a global basis,

we are a long way from having highly accurate

fi gures on global language use: indeed, our

capacities for language census cannot capture

the nuances of language use, let alone those

of cultural affi liation (on the limitations of

Ethnologue data, see Harmon, 1995; Paolillo and

Das, 2006). Experts even disagree about what

constitutes a language or a mother tongue.

While the 14th edition of Ethnologue (2000)

cites some 41,000 distinct languages based

on native speakers throughout the world,

linguists and anthropologists tend to regroup

languages into families and count approximately

7,000 languages. Such divergences indicate

the degree of subjectivity inherent in

assessment of the state of linguistic diversity.

Source: UNESCO.

Assessing language vitality Box 3.3

The prestige of the

dominant language

and its predominance

in public institutions

lead communities to

undermine the value

of their own language

in a process of

symbolic domination

WRCD_eng2.indd 78 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 7 9

Chapter 3 Languages

In general there is a great need for communication

across minority and majority communities. Preservation

of all languages, especially those small and endangered,

is in everybody’s interest, members of ‘majority’ and

‘minority’ communities alike. While positive measures to

protect the variety and diversity of languages are implicit

in many existing international instruments, the question

of language rights remains contentious, as illustrated

by the debates over the 1996 Barcelona Draft of the

Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights. The adoption

in September 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, though a non-binding

instrument, may yield the most immediate eff ects on

the preservation, revitalization and perpetuation of

linguistic diversity among indigenous and minority

peoples. UNESCO’s Executive Board is currently debating

the feasibility of a new standard-setting instrument

on languages, including the issue of whether it should

be focused on the safeguarding of linguistic diversity

generally or on the protection of the linguistic rights

of certain vulnerable groups (see chapter 8). What is

clear is that eff ective language policies for marginalized

populations must integrate knowledge of community

practices and relationships, taking into account the

specifi city of each setting, and stress the need to

conduct the functional activities of everyday life in ways

that are culturally appropriate (Fettes, 1997).

linguists thought to be extinct since the 1960s is that of

an Algonquian Miami tribe in Oklahoma; it is currently

being reclaimed by families that have incorporated the

language into their daily household activities, and young

children are now acquiring conversational profi ciency

in it (Baldwin, 2003). Although such reappropriated

languages are likely to be substantially diff erent from

the languages historically spoken — and some have

dismissed these less-than-fl uent uses — they clearly have

the potential to serve important community and cultural

functions for many native groups throughout Australia,

North and South America and other parts of the world.

Such eff orts will become increasingly important wherever

people claim a link to a linguistic heritage that is no

longer actively transmitted.

New ICTs may have a positive impact on revitalization,

especially when digital technologies are utilized to collect

documentation on languages or when computers are

used to transcribe and translate endangered languages

into languages of wider communication. In some cases,

revitalization would imply the development of writing

systems (Austin, 2008). Such initiatives are particularly

fruitful in the case of unwritten languages, whose

native speakers are usually unable to benefi t from

all the advantages that would be off ered by written

communication. But opting for a system of transcription

should be made only in close consultation with the

concerned communities, since it is not without its political

dimensions. Thanks to Unicode, an initiative involving

several companies in the information technology

sector (programmers, research institutions and users

associations) and facilitating the encoding of more than

65,000 diff erent characters, some minority languages

are now in a position to reach a much larger public on

the Internet. But such ICT-based initiatives of language

revitalization are most successful in combination with

wider media eff orts. In the Canadian Province of Nunavut,

eff orts for the revitalization of Inuktitut (made compulsory

at school and for the recruitment of civil servants) have

been supported by the development of an Inuktitut

version of the Windows operating system. In New South

Wales (Australia), the Gamilaraay language, which was

almost extinct at the end of the 1970s, has been revived

thanks to a clear commitment by the State and concrete

initiatives involving the release of a paper and online

dictionary, the teaching of the language at school, and the

production of textbooks, books and CDs.

��Playing the duduk, an Armenian oboe

WRCD_eng2.indd 79 29/09/09 12:41

8 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

assessment system; others are simply acknowledged

formally within mainstream education proper, thereby

validating community language preservation eff orts.

Australia’s adoption in 1987 of a comprehensive National

Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco, 1987) — the fi rst explicitly

multilingual national policy in an English-speaking

nation — links sub-national multilingualism with national

economic interests and social cohesion (rather than

seeing these as being in competition with one another)

and highlights the potentially powerful eff ects of

collaboration across diverse language interests. Signifi cant

progress towards a comprehensive language policy was

made possible when the policy voices of immigrant

and indigenous groups were combined with those of

professional academic and teacher communities and

business and political elites (Clyne, 2005; Lo Bianco, 1987).

Similar creative solutions in favour of multilingualism

exist in many countries where national educational

objectives have made unity, citizenship and

intra-national communication (including the support

of language minorities and multilingualism) the fi rst

priority of public investment in education (García,

Skutnabb-Kagas and Torres Guzmán, 2006). Papua New

Guinea, a small, developing society with a high degree

of multilingualism, is a case in point. With the world’s

highest Linguistic Diversity Index (LDI), representing

about 820 living indigenous languages, the country has

set up an integrated educational system based on local

languages (in the earliest years of schooling) linked to

regional creole languages of wider communication, and

the national language, English, which has global reach.

While critics and opponents of multilingualism often

stress the administrative and economic ineffi ciency of

multilingual provision, the case of Papua New Guinea

highlights the importance of locally based language

planning and policy, its administrative feasibility and

educational eff ectiveness, notably increased attendance

and participation rates, including among girls (for

additional case studies, see Lo Bianco, 2007; and

UNESCO, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007a–b).

Because languages are highly complex and fl exible sets

of practices that interact with all aspects of people’s

social and personal lives, they are problematic objects

of policy-making. Yet language policies that support

Multilingualism and translation have necessary and

complementary roles in the promotion of intercultural

dialogue. Multilingualism fulfi ls the dual function of

facilitating communication between individuals of

diff erent cultures and contributing to the survival of

endangered languages. Translation for its part serves

as a necessary bridge over the many linguistic divides

that multilingualism is not able or available to fi ll.

Both multilingualism and translation are essential

components of a pluralistic society.

Multilingualism as a resource In a world in which we all have overlapping and

intersecting identities, it is no longer possible to

classify people on the basis of a single language,

religion or culture. While distinctive food, dress,

song, etc. are often accepted and integrated into

mainstream culture, this is much less true of language

diversity. Despite claims that multilingualism is socially

disruptive, there is no necessary connection between

linguistic variety in a given society and diffi culties of

cross-group communication. In fact, social cohesion and

citizenship require shared forms of communication and

comprehension, not monolingualism.

A common criticism levelled at language policies

promoting multilingualism in schools is that they

usually involve invidious choices, since it is not possible

for all minority languages to be supported. From this

standpoint, it is preferable to choose a single foreign or

international language of prestige or a trade language,

or even to refrain from off ering other languages

altogether. Many examples around the world prove the

fallacy of this argument.

Multilingualism in schools is now practised in many

countries, though the world is still far from the objective

of trilingual education (see Table 7 in the Statistical

Annex and chapter 4 below). In Australia for example,

following years of ambivalent or hostile attitudes

towards the inclusion and transmission of indigenous

and immigrant languages, some school systems today

off er as many as 47 languages, though not necessarily

all during normal school hours. Some are supported by

radio broadcasts, digital media or after-hours community

providers integrated into the schools’ examination and

3.4 Multilingualism, translation and intercultural dialogueThere is a need to both preserve global

linguistic diversity

as a prerequisite

for cultural diversity

and to promote

multilingualism and

translation in order

to foster intercultural

dialogue

WRCD_eng2.indd 80 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 8 1

Chapter 3 Languages

languages. At the international level, this translates into a

two-pronged approach: 1) to preserve and enrich global

linguistic diversity as a prerequisite for cultural diversity

and 2) to promote multilingualism and translation

(including in administration, education, the media and

cyberspace) in order to foster intercultural dialogue.

Translation as a tool for dialogue The study of contemporary translation fl ows highlights

a number of issues concerning the status of languages

in the world. These fl ows refl ect a global asymmetry in

the representation of cultures, peoples, ethnic groups

and languages, and the unequal circulation of cultural

goods. At the institutional and symbolic levels, translation

can potentially help to redress such asymmetry and is

slowly regaining importance in the new communication

networks of contemporary society.

A census based on data compiled between 1979 and

2007, undertaken by the Index Translationum, confi rms

the dominant position of English as a reference

language: 55 percent of book translations are from

English as the source language as compared to only

6.5 percent into English. In addition, 96 percent of all

translations are limited to about 20 source languages,

of which 16 are European (constituting 93 percent of

the total), the four other languages most translated

multilingualism, language learning and endangered

languages are indispensable to the long-term

sustainability of cultural diversity. Such policies moreover

have the potential to bring to the learner’s attention the

culturally specifi c ways in which knowledge is organized

and appreciated in distinct traditions, in terms of

thought, belief, values and as unique histories of human

experience. This in turn promotes understanding, insight,

perspective and appreciation, enabling cultural gaps to

be bridged through processes of translation, encounter,

imagination, narration, art, faith and dialogue.

Yet the growth and patterns of multilingualism still do not

receive the attention they should, nor has multilingualism

been duly recognized as an intellectual and a cultural

asset, as well as a resource for participatory citizenship and

the eff ective exercise of human rights (see Ruiz, 1984).

To ensure the continued viability of the world’s languages,

we must fi nd ways both to safeguard linguistic diversity

by protecting and revitalizing languages and to promote

multilingualism by developing policies at the national

level that foster the functional use of all languages within

a given society. These two objectives are intertwined,

since the promotion of a multilingualism that includes

mother-tongue-based education also constitutes a

means of safeguarding indigenous and endangered

The Linguistic Diversity Index

(LDI) represents the probability

that in a given country any two

people selected at random would

have diff erent mother tongues.

The LDI ranges from 0 (least

diversity) to 1 (greatest diversity).

The computation of the index is

based on the population of each

language as a proportion of the

total population (Ethnologue,

2005). Countries with the highest

LDI include Papua New Guinea,

India, Nigeria and Indonesia (see

Table 7 in the Statistical Annex).

Map 3.2 Linguistic Diversity Index

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, based on Ethnologue data (SIL International), 2005.

Below or equal to 0.3 (77 countries)

Between 0.31 and 0.6 (59 countries)

Between 0.61 and 0.8 (35 countries)

Above 0.8 (31 countries)

Data not available

WRCD_eng2.indd 81 29/09/09 12:41

8 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

(petrol, natural gas, hydroelectricity, nuclear power and

renewable energies), transport and ICTs. The banking

and fi nance sector and the commercial services sector

(marketing, advertising and Internet sites) are also large

consumers of translation. Since 80 percent of localization

activities concern software produced in the United

States, English is the predominant language source of

multimedia translations. The target languages are mainly

Asian, with 40 percent of US software being sold in the

Asia-Pacifi c region, where Japanese is the main target

translation language together with Chinese and Korean

(Gamas and Knowlden, 1999).

The global expansion of the audiovisual industry, with

increasingly diversifi ed products and marketing strategies,

has entailed the application of new translation parameters.

Screen translation methods diff er widely from country

to country: subtitling reigns in Scandinavian and

Dutch-speaking countries, as well as in most Western

European speech communities with less than 25 million

speakers. This is not the case, however, in Spain, Italy

and German-speaking regions, where subtitling tends

to be less used. Given that many subtitling tracks are

commercialized together on the same DVD and can be

accessed by anyone anywhere, the tendency is to use

the same conventions in all languages, even though

in some cases they might be at odds with domestic

being Japanese (0.67 percent), Arabic (0.54 percent),

Hebrew (0.46 percent) and Chinese (0.4 percent).

Seventy-fi ve percent of all published books are translated

from only three languages: English, French and German.

As for target-language translations, some 20 languages

account for 90 percent of all registered translations.

The breakdown is as follows: German (15.27 percent),

Spanish (11.41 percent) and French (10.86 percent) lead

the way, followed by English (6.45 percent), Japanese

(6.14 percent), Dutch (5.83 percent), Portuguese

(4.10 percent), Russian (3.63 percent), Polish (3.52 percent)

and Italian (3.41 percent), with the next 10 languages

somewhere between 1 and 3 percent:

Again, most are European languages. The hierarchy

between majority and minority languages determines

translation fl ows; translations into or from indigenous

populations hardly exist.

Economic integration worldwide has spurred the

development of technical and audiovisual translations

linked to product development and services for

multilingual markets, especially in the fi elds of software

development, multimedia, the Internet, fi lm and video

games. While there is a decline in the less profi table

enterprise of literary translation, technical translation

in the most industrialized countries is estimated to be

increasing at a rate of 25–30 percent per annum. The

fi elds in greatest demand include aerospace science,

biotechnology and pharmaceutical products, energy

Given that translation

plays an important

role in the promotion

of cultural diversity,

there is a case for the

development of a

translation policy on

a global scale, with

an emphasis where

possible on reciprocity

Figure 3.1 Percentage of target-language translations

Source: Brisset, 2007.

15,27

11,41

10,86

6,45 6,145,83

4,13,63

3,52

3,41

29,38

German

Spanish

French

English

Japanese

Dutch

Portuguese

Russian

Polish

Italian

Other

��J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in Italian, German, Spanish,

Catalan and Czech translations

WRCD_eng2.indd 82 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 8 3

Chapter 3 Languages

translation, introduced in 1970, enables documents

to be translated into 28 language pairs, to which will

eventually be added 11 other languages corresponding

to the new Member Countries. In 2005, the volume

of translations produced automatically in EU bodies

amounted to over 860,000 pages.

However, languages for which automatic translation

systems have been developed remain very few in

number. They typically correspond to the languages that

are most translated or those into which most translation

takes place (English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian

and Spanish). Japanese and Korean also boast powerful

systems for translation from or into English, but this is

not yet the case for Chinese. Other systems also exist for

the combinations Laotian-French, Thai-English/German

and French/English-Vietnamese. In India, research on

automatic translation is very active. Systems exist for

translating between the country’s main languages

and from these languages into English and vice versa.

One of these systems is used to translate offi cial

documents automatically from Hindi into English. Apart

from one or two systems, African languages remain

relatively ignored. Automatic translation systems for

some Amerindian languages (Aymara, Huao, Inpiaq,

Mapudungun, Quetchua, Siona) have been developed

under Carnegie Mellon University’s AVENUE project

or fi nanced by the Organization of American States

(OAS). The dearth of automatic translation systems for

minority languages refl ects the diffi culty of devising

practice. This relatively new development raises questions

about the balance among languages and cultures in the

audiovisual world, since not only are the vast majority

of programmes and fi lms produced in English, but their

translations are also being done and decided in the

country of origin (see chapter 5). Generally speaking,

anglophone media products carry about the same weight

as national products in nearly all countries, in terms of

both penetration and prestige, and English continues to

be regarded as the lingua franca of the media world.

With the progress in computer technology, automatic

translation systems (involving little or no human

intervention) and computer-assisted translation

(employing various forms of integrated or non-integrated

software for diff erent operations, such as terminological

management, documentary research or pre-translation)

are becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread.

Wholly or partially automated procedures make it

possible to increase the volume of texts translated and,

above all, to translate a larger number of languages at

lower cost. Automatic translations have an identifying

function, and enable administrators to grasp content

immediately, particularly useful in the case of internal

documents with a very limited eff ective lifespan.7

Mostly developed for use by large public or private

corporations, these systems enable hundreds of

thousands of pages to be translated into several dozen

languages simultaneously. This is the case in particular

with the European Commission where automatic

A case study conducted from 1979 to 2001 on

international translations between Spanish/

Portuguese and the indigenous languages of

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala and Peru

showed that these were — in most cases —

almost non-existent: Argentina registered 4

internal translations, Chile registered 3, and

Brazil 11. Judging from the available data,

neither the creation of MERCOSUR in 1991

nor that of the Community of Andean

Nations (CAN) in 1989 seem to have had

an impact on translation fl ows from or to

indigenous languages in these countries.

Things were quite diff erent in the cases of

Peru and Guatemala, however. Peru registered

a total of 77 internal translations from

and into aboriginal languages, almost all

published after 1993 when the Peruvian

Constitution offi cially recognized indigenous

languages — primarily Quechua and

Aymara, the most widely spoken.

In Guatemala, even with Spanish as the only

offi cial language and despite a total number

of 28 intranslations in the Index, 22 internal

translations were conducted for indigenous

languages. In proportion with the number

of intranslations, the number of internal

translations is quite signifi cant, and most

probably related to the fact that 43 percent

of Guatemala’s population is Mayan.

Source: Brisset, 2007.

Minority indigenous languages in translation in South AmericaBox 3.4

7. Directorate General for Translation (DGC): ‹http://www.ec.europa.eu/

dgs/translation/index_en.htm›; Commission européenne (EC): http://www.

ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm. See the study undertaken by Drugan (2008) on the

use of automatic translation tools in the framework of an expanded European

Union in 2004. For their application in private enterprise, see Austermühl (2001).

WRCD_eng2.indd 83 29/09/09 12:41

http://www.ec.europa.eu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

8 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

created to develop hardware and software able to

process South Africa’s 11 offi cial languages.

Alongside automatic translation where human

intervention is non-existent or limited, computer

tools have been developed to enable translators

to translate more quickly and reliably. They include

pre-translation systems, such as the MultiTrans system

employed at UNESCO, which exploit language pairings

among large corpora of translated texts, and a wide

variety of terminology data banks, such as UNTERM

and UNESCOTERM within the United Nations system,

IATE in the European Union, and Canadian Translation

Bureau’s Termium. The development of linguistically

inclusive automatic translation services — as is pursued,

for example, by UNESCO’s Initiative B@bel programme

— has become particularly important for the purpose

of reducing the disparities between languages and

narrowing the information and knowledge divides (and

not simply the digital divide) between human groups.

As migration fl ows have intensifi ed with globalization,

they have signifi cantly modifi ed the ethno-linguistic

makeup of a number of countries and have created

new linguistic and translation needs, especially in

administrative, legal and medical circuits worldwide. In

the United States, for example, the translation profession

has skyrocketed with the demographic evolution of the

country, where, at the end of the 1990s, one citizen in

ten was of foreign origin and 14 percent of residents

spoke a language other than English. In 2000, the US

Congress passed An Act Requiring Competent Interpreter

Services in the Delivery of Certain Acute Health Care

Services to ensure that American clinics and hospitals act

in a legally responsible manner towards non-English-

speaking patients, an act based on the 1964 civil-rights

law that prohibits any discrimination based on race

or country of origin (of which language is a defi ning

trait according to recent jurisprudence). Thus, public

medical or hospital services are required to ensure

competent interpretation services, 24 hours per day,

7 days per week, in any given language (by phone or

teleconference if needed), including sign languages,

under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The importance of translation, including its

socio-economic repercussions, is often neglected.

systems that are eff ective for pairs of languages with

very diff erent structures. Automatic translation between

two languages requires, fi rst of all, that they be codifi ed

and that a suffi cient volume of texts exists in the two

languages. Among the innovative organizations that are

making strides towards reducing the divide in assisted

translation, noteworthy is Translation.org.za, an NGO ��Advertisement in the streets of Hangzhou, China

WRCD_eng2.indd 84 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 8 5

Chapter 3 Languages

Where translation policies are integrated in linguistic

policies, they usually relate to specifi c historical

circumstances in a particular country. Thus Paraguay’s

return to democracy was accompanied by a new

constitution, which guaranteed linguistic equality

between Spanish and Guarani; while post-Apartheid

South Africa promotes its nine most spoken languages,

in addition to English and Afrikaans. In most other

cases, translation and interpretation provision, including

training, is often left to private initiatives or associations,

without suffi cient regard, for example, to socio-cultural

makeup, communications development, globalization

of trade, or migration fl ows.

Given that translation plays an important role in the

promotion of cultural diversity, there is a case for

the development of a translation policy on a global

scale, with an emphasis where possible on reciprocity.

Translating and disseminating works from unfamiliar

or endangered cultures is precisely the aim of the

Words Without Borders movement and of the literary

translators, authors and publishers signatory to the

Manifesto on Behalf of Cultural Diversity from Literary

Translators, Publishers and Writers sponsored by the

International Federation of Translators (2002). In the

fi eld of international cooperation, several projects

have been initiated to enhance the promotion of

indigenous languages in translation, including the 1998

cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Culture

of the Basque Government (Spain) and Chile’s National

Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI),

which seeks to promote aboriginal languages and

design language policies.

Given that eff ective language policy and planning

must respond to local situations, there is a need to

foster discussion forums and encourage alliances

across language-interest communities in support of

multilingualism and cultural diversity. Eff ective language

policy and planning require processes of deliberation,

negotiation, problem-defi nition and the participation

of all stakeholders, backed by specialist expertise (see

‘In focus’ below). Data to inform policy-making in

deliberative processes is crucial for the identifi cation of

alternative approaches, the establishment of reliable

evaluation and monitoring procedures, and the

assessment of likely costs and consequences.

Conclusion Languages are a critical marker of the vitality of cultural

diversity, for they are — above and beyond tools of

communication — the prism through which individuals

and communities apprehend and give meaning to their

relationships and environment. From this perspective,

any form of linguistic decline has to be taken as a sign

of cultural impoverishment, and the disappearance of

any language as an irreplaceable loss for the common

cultural heritage of humankind.

While globalization, characterized by the dominance of

a few so-called international languages over the rest,

may indeed be negatively impacting on the vitality

of smaller languages of more restricted currency,

paradoxically the extension of digital networks has

sometimes helped to revive dying or dead languages.

In reality, language decline is the consequence of a

language’s political, social, administrative and cultural

status. Thus, while Icelandic, which is the mother tongue

of 350,000 people, is threatened neither by English nor

by a lack of inter-generational transmission, Pulaar (also

called Fulfulde) spoken by four times as many people

throughout Africa, is threatened in these ways.

The demand that all languages be treated equally is

a call for recognition of the dignity of all individuals,

irrespective of their language. In many parts of the

world, people are speaking up on behalf of endangered

mother tongues or the reconstitution of languages (e.g.

Amerindian languages) that died out over half a century

ago. This is a signifi cant trend, which is linked to the

phenomenon of multiple identities, since individuals

now fi nd fulfi lment in their diversity and not only in

their singularity.

Multilingualism (understood as the ability to master

several languages) has today become necessary

for knowing where one comes from (one’s mother

tongue) and for knowing others (national or

vernacular languages and international languages);

it is a fundamental means of receptiveness to others

and a constituent of intercultural skills. Translation, for

its part, permits access to other systems of thought

and the discoveries born of them. Equally important

as a tool of dialogue, it serves as a bridge between

different languages.

The demand that all

languages be treated

equally is a call for

the recognition

of the dignity of

all individuals...

Multilingualism

has today become

necessary for

knowing where one

comes from and for

knowing others

WRCD_eng2.indd 85 29/09/09 12:41

National language policies should be implemented with a view to safeguarding linguistic diversity

and promoting multilingual competencies.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Facilitate language use through appropriate measures, be they educational, editorial, administrative or other.

b. Make provision — as appropriate — for the learning, alongside mother tongues, of a national and an international language.

c. Encourage the translation, by all possible means, of written and audiovisual materials in order to promote the international circulation of ideas and artistic works, including through the use of new technologies.

d. Develop reliable and internationally comparable indicators for assessing the impact of language policies on linguistic diversity, and promote good practices in this regard.

C h

ap ter 3 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

8 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

��Boy selling newspapers in Costa Rica

WRCD_eng2.indd 86 29/09/09 12:41

In focus:

The key facets

of language

planning and

policy-making

L A N G U A G E S . 8 7

Chapter 3 Languages

Through public texts (e.g. laws, regulations), public discourse

(e.g. statements, debate and public attitudes accompanying

the latter), actions (by prominent individuals or institutions)

and facilitated deliberations (combining experts, concerned

populations and interested authorities), debate takes

place around language policy-making. They refl ect the

dynamic character of policy formulation, its enactment

and implications, with respect to a number of key facets,

including the status of languages, aspects of their corpus,

aspects of learning and acquisition, the usage of languages,

the esteem or prestige attached to languages, and the

discourse and attitudes that surround given languages.

The status of languages The formal status of a language is its legal standing

and public functions as envisaged by the constitutional

arrangements in particular countries. That status is

typically ascribed via public texts, such as constitutional

provisions, and is upheld within the realm of sovereignty

of State authorities. However, sub-national groupings,

such as regions or provinces operating under autonomy

statutes, can modify, elaborate or even contradict public

texts and laws issued by authorities with overlapping

sovereignty. Supranational groupings, such as the

European Union and the Council of Europe, can also

attribute and formalize status to languages. This occurred

in 1992 with the European Charter of Regional and

Minority Languages (ECRML; Council of Europe, 1992).

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has

designated English as its sole operating language, but this

is a jurisdictional rather than a sovereign sphere of activity

and applies only to the ASEAN’s operating arrangements.

The African Union, when it was still known as the

Organization of African States, issued a Language Plan, but

the Organization's lack of both sovereignty and jurisdiction

made it impossible to implement the Plan.

Many countries have both exclusive sovereignty and

jurisdiction and include statements in their national

constitutions about national or offi cial language(s), thereby

also determining the status of other languages. This

legal recognition can be very simple, such as the formal

nomination of the designated offi cial language, or more

elaborate, specifying roles of languages or prescribing

functions and jurisdictional domains within which they can

Attempts to direct and infl uence the forms and uses

of languages are probably as old as language itself.

Whether overt or implicit within educational systems,

social organization, cultural norms, economic relations,

etc., language planning has historically aimed at changes

both within and across languages in relation to the

communication patterns of a community. The social

transformations of the last decades of the 20th century

began altering language policy and planning beyond the

formation and strengthening of States. Economics, social

and human sciences and digital communication increasingly

began to impact on language policies and planning.

But diff erent States face diff erent linguistic challenges. In

East Asia, multiple script literacies and bi- or trilingualism

have long been an issue (Gottleib and Chen, 2001), as

is illustrated by China, whose linguistic diversity today

involves some 55 formally recognized sub-national

communities, representing 80–120 languages and more

than 106 million people, among whom there is even

greater diversity. Since 1954, mainland China’s national

offi cial institution for language, renamed the State

Language and Script Commission (Guojia Yuyan Wenzi

Gongzuo Weiyuanhui) in 1986, has been actively dealing

with script and writing reform (Rohsenow, 2004). In

the Republic of Korea, standardization was the central

issue, for reasons related to economic development

(Gottleib and Chen, 2001; Song, 2001). In Latin America,

the coexistence of European languages with indigenous

languages posed a considerable challenge. Paraguay, with

close to 90 percent of the non-indigenous population

speaking the indigenous language Guaraní, off ers the

unprecedented example of an indigenous language that

participates in national public life in the sense that it is

being widely learned. In the Arab States, translation has

become an important issue.

Language policy is linked to governance, the distribution

of resources and therefore vested interests, but it

proceeds most efficiently when it is decided and

implemented on the basis of informed public debate.

Thus, language policies in support of multilingualism and

plurilingualism8 are not protocols or formulae, but matters

of governance to be deliberated, and accompanied by

legislative and regulatory texts.

8. The Council of Europe distinguishes between multilingualism as a

characteristic of societies, and plurilingualism as a characteristic of individuals.

WRCD_eng2.indd 87 29/09/09 12:41

8 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

and prestige literature also impact on the corpus of a

language, as do social movements. Major changes in English

expression since the 1970s have resulted, for example, from

the success of feminists who have argued for the removal

of masculine orientations in English, in both written and

spoken expression. A major objective of corpus planning

for small indigenous languages has been to enhance the

prospects of intergenerational language maintenance or to

reverse language shift (Fishman, 2001) in order to ensure that

public education, or secondary socialization, can support

intra-family language transfers.

Language learning and the acquisition of literacy This occurs within the remit of public education institutions

and is consequently dependent on jurisdictional authority.

Often action occurs at the level of local curriculum

implementation rather than in overarching policies issued to

promote language acquisition or the expansion of literacy.

A variety of agents undertakes actions to facilitate learning

of new, additional or extended language skills or literacy,

actions that involve interaction among experts, researchers,

curriculum writers, assessment agencies, credentializing

authorities and learners and their families. As far as literacy is

concerned, NGOs have been extremely active in developing

countries, as have the aid and assistance programmes

of international organizations. Since the early 1990s and

the emergence of human capital theories of education,

developed countries have focused on increasing standards

and levels of literacy in the belief that the more competitive

economies are those that invest in strengthening their

workforce’s human capital skills. Human rights thinking, as

well as improvements in health, rural development and

social progress (particularly for marginalized populations, the

poor and rural women), has animated the majority of literacy

campaigns in developing countries.

Foreign language teaching — typically within the exclusive

jurisdiction of education ministries but sometimes given

prominence in national language policies — also belongs in

this category of actions. Historically, there have been several

strands or types of foreign language teaching policy, which

have refl ected social hierarchies, positions and interests.

Social elites have favoured the acquisition of prestige

languages, especially the languages of admired cultural

or intellectual traditions. Human capital and economics

planning authorities, as well as national security agencies,

have favoured the acquisition of languages of strategic

importance for trade, diplomatic, security or foreign relations.

operate. For instance, South Africa’s Constitution recognizes

11 languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho,

Southern Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and

Zulu. Australia’s Constitution, on the other hand, makes no

mention of an offi cial language. Ethiopia’s constitutional

provisions are closely tied to a transfer of administrative

authority, and therefore jurisdiction, to a range of

numbered kilil, which are in turn mostly language-based

and have considerable language autonomy.

Each country makes use of the legal provisions available

to it to organize the national linguistic resources under

the sovereignty and the administrative scope provided or

limited by its constitution. Canada, for example, recognizes

two offi cial languages and declares their equality across

the country; thus, although English is economically

and socially dominant, English and French enjoy equal

legal status. However, a series of laws in the Province of

Quebec has modifi ed the application of this legal equality

in some of the Province’s domains of jurisdiction, such

as immigrant selection, public signage and education.

India’s Constitution recognizes Hindi and English as

offi cial national languages, but takes account of 13 more

languages in somes states and additionally recognizes

a large number of minority languages for sub-national,

regional or other jurisdictionally defi ned functions.

In Europe, where language planning has classically

been a state enterprise aimed at national unity through

communication in a single, standardized, written language

(Lo Bianco, 2005), the emergence of international

organizations, such as the Council of Europe and the

European Union, has recently enabled support to be given

to minority languages that had previously been neglected in

the process of nationalistic language planning.

The corpus of a language The activity of corpus planning involves modifi cations in

a language’s internal meaning-making resources. This can

include devising an orthographic system for a language that

lacks a writing system, or modifying an existing orthography.

Extensions to the terminological range of languages,

including standardizing translation, codifying expression,

and disseminating the use and adoption of new norms, are

part of the corpus planning activity. The work of linguists

to develop writing systems for indigenous languages or to

develop terminology and expressions for both indigenous

and national languages is ongoing. Dictionary writing

WRCD_eng2.indd 88 29/09/09 12:41

L A N G U A G E S . 8 9

Chapter 3 Languages

Discourses and attitudes These depend mostly on spheres of infl uence and action and

have little to do with jurisdiction or sovereignty. Discourse

planning has a range of meanings, which include training

people to develop persuasive ways to express themselves

so that they can participate in society and accomplish their

goals by eff ective use of written or oral communication.

Action to support multilingualism in language policy

and planning will require making use of arguments that

are able to persuade diverse audiences. To promote

multilingualism in the interest of traditional languages,

and at the sub-national, intra-national and extra-national

levels, language planners will have to persuade public

administrators, education offi cials, government agents

and other stakeholders that it is in their national interest

to develop a comprehensive national policy. This is best

achieved by focusing on the practical communication

problems that societies face and providing evidence that

comprehensive language planning can aid in solving

communication problems. In this connection, a recent,

innovative project by the European Centre for Modern

Languages called Valuing All Languages in Europe (or

VALEUR) is instructive. This project sought to support

plurilingualism. In response to the proliferation of

community languages, it mapped the provision and needs

of young European users of these languages between

2004 and 2007). While provision was found to vary greatly,

examples of good practices were identifi ed, and, overall,

bilingual and trilingual provision is on the rise.

Religious-oriented curricula, or movements, have favoured

the acquisition of literacy, less often of spoken skills, in

languages of sacred texts and associated with the canon of

belief at the heart of the particular religious tradition.

The domains and usage of a language More recently, actions taken to extend the settings and

domains in which a language is spoken have proved

to make that language stronger and longer lasting. An

example is the work of the Welsh Language Board in

Wales, which has had considerable success in revitalizing

a language that had been seriously endangered. Through

child-rearing practices and early socialization (i.e. primary

schooling) in Welsh, more young children are being raised

speaking the language. Usage planning depends on

signifi cant individuals behaving linguistically in supportive

ways. Sustaining the desirability and encouraging

positive identifi cation with the marked language through

appropriate actions are crucial to the success of this kind

of language policy and planning. Usage planning requires

integrated action to modify communication practices

— across businesses, broadcast and publicity industries,

employment practices and sporting and recreational

activities — to create naturalized spaces for the use of the

target language. Usage planning in the Spanish region of

Catalonia has also been successful; one instance involved

shopkeepers who cooperated in a campaign to encourage

consumers (particularly young people) to prefer interaction

in Catalan in daily life and thereby extend the perceived

utility of the language. As a result, today Catalan is a more

vibrant language than it was a few decades ago.

The prestige and esteem of a language This refers to how social prestige aff ects the reputation of

a language. Historically speaking, the esteem associated

with important works of literature has been conferred

onto the languages in which they have been produced.

Language dialects have in the same way gained status

over time through the work of authoritative poets,

novelists or scientists. Offi cial academies support

literature in the national language, especially if it is a

language that has been suppressed in the past. However,

increasingly today other forms of expression, beyond

literature — alternative modes of speech, music and

performance genres of all kinds and multi-modal digital

communications — are fi nding their way towards esteem

and recognition through their importance in community

and identity creation.

��The cultural space of the Sosso-Bala, Guinea

WRCD_eng2.indd 89 29/09/09 12:41

9 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

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de/lingua/tools-at-lingboard/pdf/Unesco_Vitality_Diversity_%20

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A young indigenous girl in a classroom in High Orenoque, Venezuela

WRCD_eng2.indd 94 29/09/09 12:41

Education

Following decades of emphasis on educational standard-setting throughout the world, there

is growing awareness of the linkages between cultural diversity and education, as well as of

the importance of integrating the diversity of learners’ needs and a diversity of methods and

contents into educational practices. A major advance in international thinking on education

was the recognition of its multiple layers, which consist of not only knowledge transmission

but also values transmission, including social and cultural factors as they are bound up with

experiences and memory, creativity and imagination (Faure et al., 1972; Delors et al., 1996).

‘Lifelong learning’, ‘learning societies’ and ‘knowledge societies’ are all notions that attempt to

capture the cultural dimension of learning processes as they play themselves out within and

between generations and across cultures.

Education is a fundamental human right to which all children and adults should have access,

contributing as it does to individual freedom and empowerment, and to human development.

For the past two decades, the international community has been committed to ensuring

basic education and the advancement of the right to education for all, as stated in the 1990

Jomtien Declaration and reiterated in the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action, according to which

Education for All (EFA) should be achieved by the year 2015. Cultural diversity can play a vital

role in attaining this objective, especially in improving enrolment, retention and achievement

and enhancing the nexus between formal, non-formal and informal educational frameworks.

With the advent of increasingly multicultural societies, educational systems are faced with new

challenges that require the development of more fl exible, appropriate and inclusive forms of

education. Living together with our diff erences will involve the strengthening of multicultural

education — for majority groups as well as for ethnic-linguistic minorities and indigenous

and other vulnerable groups — so as to inculcate critical intercultural competencies and skills.

This will be possible only to the extent that policies in the fi eld of education seek to educate

through and for diversity.

44 CHAPTER 4

Class of a secondary school in Hanoi, Viet Nam

WRCD_eng2.indd 95 29/09/09 12:41

44 4.1 The relevance of educational methods

and contents ................................................ 97

Box 4.1 Data on educational curricula from UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education ......99

Figure 4.1 Type of language taught for selected countries, 2000

(In grades 1-6, In grades 7-8)....................................... 104

Box 4.2 The evolution of indigenous bilingual education in Latin America .................... 105

4.2 Learning societies and the right

to education .............................................. 108

Box 4.3 Education in Auroville, India ..................... 109

4.3 Participatory learning and intercultural

competencies ............................................ 114

Box 4.4 Museums as a space for intercultural learning ....................................................... 117

Conclusion ........................................................ 118

Recommendations............................................ 118

In focus: UNESCO’s Guidelines on Intercultural

Education ................................................... 119

References and websites .................................. 123

Education

A pupil at Ferdeusi school in Kabul, Afghanistan

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E D U C A T I O N . 9 7

Chapter 4 Education

In 1990 the World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) —

also known as the Jomtien Declaration (UNESCO, 1990)

— adopted at the World Conference on Education for

All in Jomtien, Thailand, emphasized the need to make

education both universally available and more relevant,

identifying ‘quality’ as a prerequisite for achieving the

fundamental goal of equity. The discussion about quality

was linked to the two primary objectives of education:

to ensure the cognitive development of learners and

to nurture their creative and emotional growth so that

they are able to acquire the values and attitudes for

responsible citizenship.

A decade later, the Dakar Framework for Action (UNESCO,

2000a) re-emphasized that quality lies ‘at the heart of

education’ as a fundamental determinant of enrolment,

retention and achievement, declaring access to quality

education to be the right of every child. In 2005, the EFA

Global Monitoring Report highlighted the role of quality

education as a new approach to inclusive education

and the achievement of EFA by 2015, expanding the

defi nition of quality education to include ‘the desirable

characteristics of learners (healthy, motivated students),

processes (competent teachers using active pedagogies),

content (relevant curricula) and systems (good

governance and equitable resource allocation).’ Thus, it

identifi ed the need for more relevant education as one of

the three key components of quality education, together

with greater equity of access and outcome and proper

observance of individual rights.

This new emphasis was prompted by the recognition

that imported or inherited curricula were often

considered, especially by developing countries, to

be insuffi ciently sensitive to the local context and to

learners’ socio-cultural circumstances.1 The emergent

issue of indigenous education also contributed to this

shift in educational strategies: the lack of relevance

of mainstream approaches imported from Europe

leant support to the local design of curriculum

content, pedagogies and assessment, with increased

participation of learners in defi ning their own

educational strategies. Cultural diversity can be a

powerful lever for ensuring the contextual relevance

of educational methods and content, and it reminds

us that education is never a culturally neutral process:

teaching and classroom learning do not take place in

a vacuum, in isolation from their social and cultural

contexts, nor are facilitators (teachers) and learners free

of specifi c cultural orientations. The goal must therefore

be to become aware of and embrace cultural diversity

and thereby to help learners to develop their capacities,

which are themselves culturally rooted.

Thus, a curriculum based on the standardization of learning

processes and contents — a ‘one size fi ts all’ approach — is

not desirable, since it does not serve learners’ needs in the

context of their lives. Indeed, national models of school

education, and the very notion of standardized learning

processes, have sometimes created immense gaps

between what pupils learn and what they live. Although

inspired to some extent by the principle of universality,

which prescribes equal educational opportunities for all,

in practice such an approach results in unacceptably high

4.1 The relevance of educational methods and contents

1. See Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art. 29.1a, which stresses the

importance of a child-centred approach to teaching and learning, which takes

due account of the child’s social, cultural, environmental and economic context.

��Children in class in Adwa, Ethiopia

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9 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Since its creation, UNESCO has given major importance

to the issue of textbooks, based on its ‘Model Plan

for the Analysis and Improvement of Textbooks

and Teaching Materials as Aids to International

Understanding’ (1949). Indeed, both the content and

the design of textbooks are key factors in supporting

learning processes that are relevant, engaging and

responsive to multiple intelligences and learning styles.

Among the most recent achievements in this area, the

production of the Comprehensive Strategy for Textbooks

and Other Learning Materials (2005) aims at responding

to the needs of a changing world by adopting a rights-

based approach to guide programmatic work in the

areas of policy development, quality enhancement and

availability. However, little information is available about

the kinds of education people are actually receiving

across the globe and how education diff ers across

(and sometimes within) countries. Apart from certain

data on literacy and on enrolment and recruitment

within educational systems (see Table 9 in the Statistical

Annex), available data on curricula is incomplete and

restricted to tabulation of the number of hours devoted

to the main school disciplines, by age-group, within the

diff erent national systems (see Box 4.1 and Table 10 in

the Statistical Annex). Broader inquiries into learning

content and methods, informed by local, regional and

global perspectives, are needed.

While the fi eld of curriculum studies is still ‘strongly

rooted in the notion that educational contents refl ect

national policies and dominant cultural priorities, and are

almost exclusively informed by shifting national interests

and stakeholder pressure’ (Benavot and Braslavsky, 2007),

national models of school education are facing a number

of challenges, including the need to:

1. adjust learning processes, curriculum content

and school management to both the learner’s

circumstances (local culture, ways of life and

local languages) and the opportunities related

to instrumental knowledge and professional

qualifi cations at local scales, in cities or abroad;

2. stress democratic citizenship and respect for

human rights (including cultural rights) as

the overarching values of education, taking

measures within school and other learning

environments to address issues related to

discrimination and exclusion;

levels of educational failure, particularly among pupils from

deprived or disadvantaged backgrounds, for whom school

education is seen as being disconnected from their own

experiences and concerns.

In this sense, the core objectives of Education for All

— ensuring quality basic education for all, especially

in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills — cannot

be realized without contextually adapted pedagogies,

appropriate teacher training and diversifi ed support

mechanisms, nor can they be realized without the

contributions of diverse stakeholders, including civil

society and the private sector, to lifelong learning. This

is becoming increasingly obvious to a growing number

of countries which are seeking alternative pathways

within formal educational systems and ‘planning for

cultural diversity’ (Inglis, 2008). The adoption in January

2006 of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance by

the member states of the African Union expresses

this point in its proclamation that ‘it is imperative to

edify educational systems which embody the African

and universal values, so as to ensure the rooting of

youth in African culture, their exposure to the values

of other civilizations, and mobilize the social forces in

the context of a sustainable, endogenous participatory

development (Preamble).

Curriculum development and inclusive education Schooling plays an instrumental role in helping individuals

to achieve their own economic, social and cultural

objectives and in helping to ensure social cohesion

and strong governance. These intrinsic social benefi ts

are highly dependent on the quality of the teaching-

learning process. How well students are taught and

what they learn have a crucial impact on the value and

the duration of their schooling. As explained in the EFA

Global Monitoring Report 2005, while there is no general

theory as to how to improve learning outcomes, ‘many

approaches in the economic tradition have assumed there

is a workable analogy between schools and industrial

production, in the sense that a set of inputs to schooling is

transformed by teachers and pupils into a set of products,

or outputs, in a fairly uniform way.’ Regardless of the

approach used, it has to take due account of the cultural

dimensions of the learning process.

Sensitivity to cultural diversity encourages us to refl ect

on the content and methods of educational systems.

Cultural diversity

can be a powerful

lever for ensuring the

contextual relevance

of educational

methods and content

... it reminds us that

education is never

a culturally neutral

process

WRCD_eng2.indd 98 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 9 9

Chapter 4 Education

One of the major challenges for assessing the

diversity of educational systems is the lack

of comparable data that could be used as a

proxy to capture the qualitative diff erences

of in-school education programmes among

countries. Household surveys — such as

those conducted by the Education Policy

and Data Center — are expensive and

not free from bias (e.g. with respect to the

terminology or the categories used to identify

the cultural specifi cities of a given context).

National assessments prepared within the

framework of the EFA global strategy could

provide clues of a more qualitative nature

regarding educational systems, but such

elements are not necessarily comparable.

Global curricula surveys based on the

timetables collected by UNESCO’s

International Bureau of Education (IBE)

are an interesting proxy of the diversity of

educational content, since they provide

information about the relative emphasis

placed on certain subject matters — even

though they do not say much about the

content taught in classes (e.g. in history or

moral education classes). Moreover, while

offi cial curricula tell us something about

policy-makers’ intentions, those intentions

are not necessarily refl ected in actual practice

within schools. For a description of what

happens on the ground, the assessments

of learning outcomes conducted in some

60 countries are more relevant. In this

connection, see the OECD Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA), the

two surveys of the International Association for

the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IAE),

TIMSS ( Trends in International Mathematics

and Science Study), and PIRLS (Progress in

International Reading Literacy Study).

A per-country analysis of IBE data on the

time devoted to curriculum categories (e.g.

‘languages’, ‘mathematics’, ‘science, computer

and technology’, ‘social sciences’, ‘religion’,

‘moral education’, ‘arts’, ‘sports’) as a percentage

of average yearly instructional hours provides

interesting results regarding the respective

emphasis on diff erent subject matters across

diff erent contexts between 1980 and 2000.

Grades 1–6 (primary education)

There has been a general increase in the

number of hours devoted to language

education and mathematics since the 1980s,

at the expense of moral education, religious

education, the social sciences, the arts, and

skills and competencies (i.e. the human

capital that individuals need in order to lead

successful and responsible lives in society).

Regionally, however, there are large disparities:

in South and West Asia, as well as in Central

and Eastern Europe, the teaching of arts is on

the rise. In South and West Asia, the teaching

of social sciences is decreasing, contrary

to trends in East Asia and the Pacifi c.

Data on educational curricula from UNESCO’s International Bureau of EducationBox 4.1

Percentage of total instructional time allocated to subject area

in primary education (grades 1-6), circa 1985 by EFA region

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

South and West Asia

Central Asia

Central and Eastern Europe

North America and Western Europe

La�n America and the Caribbean

East Asia and the Paci�c Language educa�on Mathema�cs Science, Computer and Technology Social Sciences: History, Geography, Civics, Social Studies Religion Moral educa�on Arts Sports Skills and competencies Op�onal and others

Data not available

Percentage of annual instructional time allocated to each subject area in primary

education (grades 1-6), world average, circa 1985 and 2000

Language education

Mathematics Arts Social sciences

Science, computer

and technology

Sports Skills and competencies

Religion Optional and others

Moral education

World average (1980) World average (2000)

Percentage of total instructional time allocated to subject area

in primary education (grades 1-6), circa 2000 by EFA region

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Language educa�on Mathema�cs Science, Computer and Technology Social Sciences: History, Geography, Civics, Social Studies Religion Moral educa�on Arts Sports Skills and competencies Op�onal and others

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

South and West Asia

Central Asia

Central and Eastern Europe

North America and Western Europe

La�n America and the Caribbean

East Asia and the Paci�c

WRCD_eng2.indd 99 29/09/09 12:41

1 0 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Indeed, more relevant education means fi nding more

fl exible and socially responsive solutions (i.e. adapted

to changing societies and responding to the needs of

students within their diverse social and cultural settings)

and ensuring the appropriateness of education (i.e.

culturally acceptable).

Quality education is thus essentially about learning

rooted in local environments and focused on broader

knowledge and competencies applicable to learners’

lives. It also opens up new horizons and enables learners

to bring local knowledge into creative contact with

knowledge from other cultures. In terms of curriculum

3. emphasize sustainable development as the desired

social outcome of education, and to link this to

curriculum development and teacher training;

4. take special measures to reach vulnerable and

marginalized groups, which may include school

food programmes, itinerant teachers, health

support, including education on HIV and STI,

materials and instruction in minority languages,

and measures for the disabled;

5. improve school and educational environments,

paying special attention to the needs of girls

regarding safety, sanitation and teacher attitudes.

Grades 7–8 (lower secondary education)

A similar global trend can be observed for

grades 7–8, though the teaching of the

social sciences is slightly on the rise. Regional

disparities, however, are even greater.

Generally speaking, language education is the

subject matter allocated the largest amount of

time per given school year worldwide, but all

other subject matters vary considerably across

regions: for instance, the percentage of time

allocated to religious education is relatively

high in North America and Western Europe, the

Arab States and South and West Asia, whereas

skills and competencies are given more time in

South and West Asia in primary education.

Data on educational curricula from UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education

Percentage of total instructional time allocated to subject area in

lower secondary education (grades 7-8), circa 2000 by EFA region

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

South and West Asia

Central Asia

Central and Eastern Europe

North America and Western Europe

La�n America and the Caribbean

Percentage of annual instructional time allocated to each subject area in lower

secondary education (grades 7-8), world average, circa 1985 and 2000

Mathematics Arts Sports Religion

World average (1980) World average (2000)

Language education

Social sciences

Science, computer

and technology

Skills and competencies

Optional and others

Moral education

Percentage of total instructional time allocated to subject area in

lower secondary education (grades 7-8), circa 1985 by EFA region

Data not available

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

South and West Asia

Central Asia

Central and Eastern Europe

North America and Western Europe

La�n America and the Caribbean

Box 4.1

Source: IBE, Benavot, 2008.

WRCD_eng2.indd 100 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 0 1

Chapter 4 Education

sensitive to cultural diff erences (see ‘In Focus’ section).

This indicates that the teaching-learning relationship

is the crucial variable for improving learning outcomes

and increasing the relevance of education (UNESCO,

2004). In an infl uential study, James S. Coleman (1966,

quoted in Gauthier and Dembélé, 2004) identifi ed

teacher characteristics as having a pronounced eff ect

on school achievement among pupils from modest

socio-economic backgrounds and ethnic minorities.

More recent meta-analyses designed to assess the

factors that are most likely to help children learn has

confi rmed the signifi cance of the teacher eff ect. In

a rigorous study of 28 such factors, for example, the

two most prominent (‘classroom management’ and

‘metacognitive processes’) were found to be directly

related to the teacher ( Wang, Haertel and Walberg,

1993). A synthesis of 134 meta-analyses (Hattie, 1992)

reached similar conclusions, indicating that even when

there are signifi cant diff erences in learners’ backgrounds,

teachers can exert a powerful infl uence in raising levels

of achievement (Crahay, 2000).

Eff orts must be made to address the entire range of

teaching and learning activities, from memorization and

repetition to problem-solving and creative thinking, as

well as analytic and synthetic activities and diversifi ed

teaching methods. The Toolkit developed by UNESCO’s

Bangkok offi ce (2004) suggests several activities in this

connection, including: using blocks, models and other

object which tap into children’s visual understanding;

asking children to draw pictures for the stories read to

them; and linking their experience of movement in space

to visual and mathematical concepts. When children

survey their community, identify problems within it and

use their skills cooperatively to suggest solutions to these

problems, they are learning how to apply what they

learn in school to the world beyond. Apart from being

good education, this process helps the community to

understand the school’s work.

Teachers are currently ill-equipped to take on the

increasingly complex task of confronting racist and

discriminatory attitudes and behaviour — not to mention

religious divides — among students and peer-group

cultures, for which a high level of cultural skills and

professionalism, in addition to policies and institutional

support, are necessary within schools. The teaching of

cultural skills should include expertise in interpersonal

development, ‘bringing the real world into schools’ applies

to both content and form, which entails the development

of multicultural and multilingual curricula, based on

multiple perspectives and voices and on the histories

and cultures of all groups in a given society, including

minorities. Placing educational objectives within local

development dynamics favours a non-centric approach

to knowledge and values, which spans multiple frames of

reference. Such a non-centric approach is indispensible

for enabling teachers to develop the inclusive and shared

values necessary in order to respond to the multiplicity of

learner’s needs in multicultural contexts. This is illustrated

— in keeping also with the goals of the United Nations

Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD,

2005-2014) — by many projects initiated by the UNESCO

Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet), according

to which ‘each school is diff erent, each place is unique

and each culture has its own specifi c characteristics’ and

there is a need to ‘strengthen the link between school and

society’ (ASPnet, 2009).

The challenges of inequality in education can best be

met through inclusive education, which is understood as

‘a process of addressing and responding to the diversity

of needs of all learners through increasing participation

in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing

exclusion within and from education’ (UNESCO, 2005a).

For children with diverse backgrounds and abilities,

attending schools increases their opportunities to learn

because they are able to interact with other children.

They learn respect and to value each other’s abilities,

no matter what they are, as well as patience, tolerance,

and understanding. They come to realize that each

person is ‘special’ and to embrace diversity and cherish

it (UNESCO Bangkok, 2004; see Dutcher, 2004).

It is particularly important that such environments ensure

that prejudice and discrimination are not refl ected, even

unintentionally, in curriculum and learning materials,

especially with regard to girls, children aff ected by HIV

and AIDS, children with disabilities and children from

diverse cultural backgrounds. Equity in curriculum design

and adapted teaching methods are thus the keys to

inclusiveness in the classroom.

Diversifi ed teaching methods Developing fl exible and culturally sensitive education

calls for teachers who are knowledgeable about and

Teachers are currently

ill-equipped to take

on the increasingly

complex task of

confronting racist

and discriminatory

attitudes and

behaviour — not to

mention religious

divides — among

students and peer-

group cultures

WRCD_eng2.indd 101 29/09/09 12:41

1 0 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

explicitly recommends mother-tongue instruction), the

1993 Delhi Declaration and Framework for Action (which

supports ‘initial instruction in the mother tongue, even

if it may in some cases be necessary for the students

to subsequently master a national language or other

language of wider usage if they are to participate

eff ectively in the broader society of which they are part’),

as well as the 1996 Amman Affi rmation and the 1997

Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning (Art. 15). The 1998

World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-

fi rst Century: Vision and Action outlines the importance

of multilingualism in higher education to furthering

international understanding, as does the Article 6 of the

Action Plan accompanying the 2001 Universal Declaration

on Cultural Diversity.

Despite UNESCO’s eff orts in this regard, many countries

still provide essentially monolingual education,

prescribing the use of only one language in their schools.

This amounts to exclusion for many children and has

been shown to contribute to high levels of repetition

and/or dropout rates. Indeed, when a multilingual

country uses only one primary language in public

schools, as well as in the administration of government

services and activities, only those who use the chosen

language as a primary language benefi t, while those

who have either lower or no profi ciency in that language

are penalized, exacerbated by the fact that they are

denied the benefi t of using and identifying with their

primary language (Romaine, 2007). This is true even in

the case of offi cially bilingual societies, as illustrated by

the paradoxical case of Paraguay, where 80 percent of

the population speaks both Guarani and Spanish. The

paradox lies in the fact that, while Paraguayans need not

be indigenous to speak Guarani, Paraguayan society’s

appropriation of Guarani as a national identity symbol

has given rise to a linguistic divide between the variety

of Guarani (Jopará) spoken nationally and the other

indigenous varieties, a divide that has limited access

to education for people speaking one of the other 19

indigenous varieties of Guarani — despite the fact that

Paraguay offi cially recognizes Guarani-Spanish bilingual

education (López, 2009).

relations, particularly in how to conduct conversations,

moderate diffi cult debates, deal with confl icts and

work with parents. Moreover, as education is not

limited to teachers but encompasses school personnel

(headmasters, administrators, etc.) as well as the children’s

learning environment, the entire teaching community

should be involved in this eff ort, including parents and

the larger community. All too often, the organizational

weaknesses of schools are cited as a major cause of low

learning achievement.

Opening the classroom to the real world is thus a promising

pathway towards greater recognition of the cultural

diversity of learners. New categories of teachers and

contributors, such as local storytellers, foreign language

assistants and foreign pupils from associated schools, may

contribute to the diversifi cation of the teaching staff and to

the achievement of high standards of professionalism and

competence. The concern to promote relevant teaching

methods for the whole range of educational publics also

requires the diversifi cation of educational media and

methods, especially with the assistance of the private

sector and in partnership with NGOs. ICTs have facilitated

the emergence of new educational tools (the Internet,

videogames, multimedia programmes), which can open

up the classroom to the real world by exploring tangible

instances of cultural diversity — an example being Dora

the Explorer, which, like other role playing games, can help

to actively raise children’s awareness of cultural issues

(Maranda, 2006; King, 2002).

Bilingual and multilingual education Mother-tongue-based multilingual approaches2 in

formal and non-formal education greatly enhance the

relevance of education and help to expand educational

opportunities for marginalized and underserved groups,

including immigrant populations. This is one of UNESCO’s

long-standing concerns, as expressed in a number of its

normative instruments on education, including: the 1960

Convention against Discrimination in Education (especially

Art. 5, on the respective roles of mother-tongue and

majority languages), the 1976 Recommendation on the

Development of Adult Education (especially Art. 22, which

2. Bilingual and multilingual education refers to the use of two or more

languages as mediums of instruction. In much of the specialized literature,

these two types are subsumed under the term bilingual education. However,

UNESCO adopted the term ‘multilingual education’ in 1999 (General Conference,

Resolution 12; UNESCO, 2000b) to refer to the use of at least three languages,

in education: the mother tongue, a regional or national language and an

international language Resolution 12; UNESCO, 2000b).

...many countries still

provide essentially

monolingual

education, prescribing

the use of only one

language in their

schools. This amounts

to exclusion for many

children...

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E D U C A T I O N . 1 0 3

Chapter 4 Education

the other hand, if the overall quality of an education

programme remains poor, a change in the language

of instruction is not likely to yield signifi cant results.

Without adequate teacher training and the availability of

appropriate learning materials, and without the support

of educational professionals for the implementation

of reform programmes, learning outcomes can remain

poor. Furthermore, with sound fi nancial planning,

bilingual education is more cost eff ective than

educational systems that use learners’ second language

as the medium of instruction since student learning

improves signifi cantly when a mother tongue is used in

tandem with the offi cial language.

Bilingual education programmes may also be directed

at immigrant populations whose languages diff er

from the language of public education or at regional

minorities who are trying to preserve their fi rst

language. These children speak a minority language

at home — often a mother tongue that is rarely

supported in the wider community and is often a

language that the children’s parents are struggling

to preserve — and learn the mainstream language

in school. The path to bilingualism for these children

in school would ideally involve the preservation

of their fi rst language (through which their basic

communication and thinking skills would have been

developed) combined with the learning of the second

(mainstreamed national) language. However, eff orts,

The drafting of education laws and policies frequently

involves intense debate on the issue of a primary

language of education, which has important

consequences for linguistic diversity. Education as a

cultural right often seems to be overshadowed by

the political dimensions of decisions regarding offi cial

languages and languages of instruction, their fi nancial

implications, and the varied experiences in responding

to the learners’ needs (Tomasevski, 2001). Schools,

together with the family circle, are often the primary sites

in which the fate of endangered languages is decided,

and a long history of socio-linguistic research shows that

schools can be unreliable allies of language preservation

(Fishman, 1967), even though school is but one factor in

the broader socio-political and cultural landscape (see

chapter 3). Offi cial language policies in education can

facilitate or inhibit multi-linguistic vitality.

While many countries have still a long way to go

in promoting mother-tongue-based multilingual

approaches, progress is nevertheless being made. For

example, among other good practices, Cambodia has

introduced several minority languages as media of

instruction in pilot projects. Zambia’s Primary Reading

Programme uses mother tongues for the fi rst three

years of schooling as the main medium of instruction.

India strongly upholds the principle of mother-tongue

teaching. In some instance, the access to mother

languages can be facilitated through switches between

diff erent scripts, as illustrated by research in Hong Kong

and Singapore on the diff erent kinds of literacy demands

arising from diff erent writing systems. In these countries,

bilingual and multilingual education has been shown to

signifi cantly improve learning. A necessary prerequisite

for such improvement is that teachers be profi cient in the

mother tongue and that teaching resources in various

languages be made widely available (UNESCO, 2007).

The benefi ts of mother-tongue multilingual education

are illustrated by a number of UNESCO case studies (on

Mali, Papua New Guinea, Peru and the US) collected in

2007 (Bühmann and Trudell, 2008) which suggest that

the implementation of mother-tongue-based bilingual

education programmes can enhance learners’ outcomes

and raise academic achievements when compared to

monolingual second-language systems. Developing

community support is also crucial for implementing

sustainable bilingual education programmes. On

��Early childhood reading education in Dublin, Ireland

WRCD_eng2.indd 103 29/09/09 12:41

1 0 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

or more years do not make the most of the potential

advantages they off er to minority children. Of course,

one-to-three-year programmes can still be culturally

valuable, especially in instances of early language

transition: they help children to meet the challenge of

initial literacy and make initial concepts in education

clearer so that children can grasp them more easily.

Academically speaking, however, it is best that a

bilingual programme last longer in order to maximize

the intellectual benefi ts for learners.

Countries around the world are still far from attaining

the objective of teaching national, local/regional and

international languages in their offi cial curricula (see

UNESCO, 2000b). As highlighted by an analysis of

timetables collected by IBE on language education

(see Table 7 in the Statistical Annex and Figure 4.1),

lower primary grades continue to focus largely on the

teaching of one national language or in some cases on

several offi cial languages (in South Africa for example,

where Afrikaans, English, IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu,

Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda and

Xitsonga are all offi cial languages). Most countries

introduce an international language in the upper

primary grades, but few countries allocate time to

local languages. These policies not only undermine

the preservation of linguistic diversity, but also reduce

the impact of multilingualism, which can improve

intellectual functioning and intercultural dialogue

(see chapter 3 above and section 4.3 below).

Strategies for marginalized groups Negative attitudes towards children with diverse

backgrounds and abilities — especially girls and

children from indigenous groups — are a major barrier

to including these children in school. Negative attitudes

can stem both from the school and the community and

from marginalized children themselves. Fears, taboos,

shame, ignorance and misinformation all contribute

to negative attitudes towards such children and their

situations (King and Schielmann, 2004). Discrimination

plays itself out in complex and sometimes insidious

ways and creates vulnerabilities for marginalized

children that often lead to their exclusion from school.

If educational opportunities are to be made available to

all groups and thereby contribute to the enhancement

of both democratic citizenship and respect for human

rights, then obstacles to access must be identifi ed and

time and resources to preserve minority languages are

often challenging to pin down, especially since most

bilingual children in standard educational systems are

‘immersed’ in the second majority language and, as a

result, ultimately lose their initial minority language or

mother tongue.

Decades of research across the globe (especially

from North America, Canada in particular, and Nordic

countries) have shed light on how language teaching

and learning can most eff ectively support cultural

diversity, noting the signifi cant diff erences between

academic and conversational language. Children can

appear to be conversationally fl uent in a language quite

quickly, sometimes in six to eight months. However, it

takes fi ve to seven years on average for a minority child

coming into a new system to reach academic levels

in the main language of instruction. In this respect,

bilingual programmes that are not maintained for fi ve

Figure 4.1 Type of language taught for selected countries, 2000

In grades 1-6

In grades 7-8

Source: International Bureau of Education and Aaron Benavot, 2009.

100

Su da

n Se

ne ga

l So

ut h

Af ric

a In

di a

In do

ne sia

pa n

Th ai

la nd

na da

ex ico

ne zu

el a

Ar ge

nt in

a Ira

n Cu

Br az

il Eg

yp t

Af gh

an ist

Ira q

Au st

ra lia

rk ey

Tu rk

m en

ist an

in a

Ke ny

a Fr

an ce

ra gu

Be la

ru s

Rw an

Ru ss

ia n

Fe d.

st ria

ni sia

ba no

n Ph

ilip pi

ne s

Et hi

op ia

Percent

International language Local or Regional language Official or National language

100

Su da

n Ke

ny a

So ut

h Af

ric a

In di

a Th

ai la

Ca na

Ve ne

zu el

Pa pu

a N ew

G ui

ne a

Tu rk

m en

ist an

Af gh

an ist

Ira n

Ita ly

az il

Au st

ra lia

Ru ss

ia n

Fe d.

ex ico

ge nt

in a

Eg yp

t In

do ne

sia

Ch in

a Rw

an da

st ria

rk ey

No rw

Ja pa

n Ira

q Fr

an ce

Isr

ae l

Se ne

ga l

Le ba

no n

Tu ni

sia

Ph ilip

pi ne

s Pa

kis ta

n Et

hi op

Percent

International language Local or Regional language Official or National language

WRCD_eng2.indd 104 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 0 5

Chapter 4 Education

also plays a key role: bilingual education programmes

in Guatemala and Mexico have been able to improve

the schooling outcomes of children from indigenous

communities (see Box 4.2). Children belonging to

pastoralist or nomadic communities face immense

challenges, to which governments in several countries,

such as Mongolia and Ethiopia, have attempted to

respond by providing schools with boarding and

hostel facilities — though important concerns about

the quality of education still remain. In the EU, Roma

children, among other groups exposed to discrimination

at school, are no longer subjected to systematic

segregation but face other forms of exclusion due to

the lack of appropriate structures. As a result, UNESCO

programmes must be organized to cater for vulnerable

and marginalized groups (ICAE, 2003).

All too often, education neither enhances social mobility

nor contributes to the elimination of discrimination. As

a result, children from indigenous groups and ethnic

minorities tend to be less likely to enrol in primary

school and more likely to repeat grades or drop out

of school. They also tend to be the last to benefi t

from school creation and expansion. Data from Latin

American countries show that disparities in educational

attainment between indigenous and non-indigenous

populations are more marked than disparities based on

gender or area of residence. Language of instruction

In Latin America the historical denial of

the right to one’s language and culture in

schools has impacted negatively on the

educational situation of indigenous children

and adolescents; though initially completely

excluded from education systems, indigenous

children and adolescents were eventually

made to assimilate within ‘modern’, industry-

based Christian systems (see Hamel, 2007;

López and Sichra, 2008; López and Küper,

2000). In a recent comparative survey of

youth and adult indigenous literacy (López

and Hanemann, 2009) in six Latin American

countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala,

Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru), indigenous

illiteracy among people aged 15 years and

over ranged from 12.9 percent (Nicaragua)

to 47.7 percent (Guatemala), while national

averages ranged between 7.2 percent (Peru)

and 23.97 percent (Guatemala). Educational

inequalities are also systematic, even in primary

education: over 20 percent of indigenous

children aged 6–11 years do not enjoy their

right to education. Paraguay off ers the most

severe example of exclusion, since 38 percent

of indigenous children are out of school, and

only 21 percent complete primary schooling.

As a response to these challenges, indigenous

bilingual education began developing in the

1940s, when rural teachers and indigenous

leaders took it upon themselves to introduce

local indigenous languages in youth and

adult literacy programmes. This was the case

in Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. The history of

indigenous bilingual education in Latin America

is heavily marked by the application of linguistics

to education, and particularly of phonetics

and phonology to the design of alphabets

and to second-language teaching. Mexico

was among the fi rst to undertake this process,

when, for political reasons, the State and the

Protestant Summer Institute of Linguistics

(SIL) became allies in the development of

indigenous bilingual education (Schmelkes

et al, 2009). The methodologies developed

during this early period were then transferred

to other countries on the continent through

the meetings of the Inter-American Indigenist

Congress promoted by Mexico (Marzal, 1993).

Special emphasis was placed on the language

issue, as it was clear that education had to

eff ect a profound cultural change among the

indigenous population (Townsend, 1949).

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a shift in the

aims and objectives of bilingual education took

place as a result of the increasing demands

and active participation of indigenous leaders,

intellectuals and teachers, particularly in

South America (see López and Sichra, 2008).

‘State indigenism’ — which aimed at cultural

assimilation — was partially abandoned and

replaced by ‘critical indigenism’ (Marzal, 1993),

with the rise of cultural pluralism in theory and

practice. Indigenous leaders, some of whom

were former transitional bilingual education

students, demanded greater and improved

attention to their cultures and languages,

and strategically regarded indigenous

culture as a political resource by which to

gain more visibility for and to increase the

participation of indigenous people in the

countries in which they lived. The adoption

of strategic development orientations and

of intercultural demands resulted from this

ideological shift. Thus, indigenous bilingual

education became a unifying cause for

interventions in indigenous areas. Informed

by this new perspective, governments, NGOs

and indigenous organizations committed

themselves to education programmes and

projects in indigenous territories. As a result,

people in the region began to modify their

views on indigenous languages and cultures,

and new laws and regulations were enacted

that recognized the right of indigenous

peoples to education in their own languages.

As of the mid-1990s, the embrace of

interculturalism for all has led to another

change in emphasis: from a focus on problems

to one on rights and the recognition of

indigenous languages and cultures as a

resource (see Ruiz, 1984). Against this backdrop,

indigenous bilingual education has been

implemented in some countries as a national

policy, while in others it remains the target of

compensatory programmes and projects.

Source: López, 2009.

The evolution of indigenous bilingual education in Latin AmericaBox 4.2

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1 0 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

while not excluding them from broader access to

national education systems. Examples of good practices

in this regard can be found in Botswana, Brazil,

Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New

Zealand, Peru, the Russian Federation and the United

States (King and Schielmann, 2004).

To fulfi l the goals of EFA with regard to indigenous

education, it will be necessary to address a number

of issues in curriculum development. In addition to

prioritizing students’ learning about indigenous culture

and values, the curriculum will also have to provide them

with the practical skills they will need to participate fully in

national society. To achieve both, the curriculum should:

■ reinforce community-based practices of early

childhood care;

■ use local languages for initial literacy;

■ create culturally responsive programmes of bilingual or

multilingual education for children and adults;

■ increase the number of teachers from indigenous

groups and ethnic minorities who could act as role

models;

■ provide skills specifi c to indigenous cultures, such

as hunting, trapping and weaving, as well as more

general skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and beliefs;

■ provide equal opportunities for further learning;

and the Council of Europe are preparing guidelines

on Early Childhood Education for Roma and Traveller

Children, based on the Curriculum Framework for Romani

developed by the Language Policy Division of the

Council of Europe (see Council of Europe, 2007; UNESCO

and Council of Europe, 2007).

While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN,

1948: Art. 26) and the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966: Art. 13

and 14) underline the right to education for all, this has

largely come to be understood in terms of the right

to receive education and not the right to choose one’s

education — the latter of which the promotion of

cultural diversity is highly committed. Frameworks exist

for the extension of quality education to minorities and

vulnerable groups, a notable example being Article 13.1

of the Council of Europe’s 1995 Framework Convention

for the Protection of National Minorities, which

recognizes the right of persons belonging to a national

minority to set up and manage their own private

educational and training establishments. In accordance

with this provision, government strategies in Central

and Eastern Europe have included fi nancial incentives

for schools and learners, as well as the appointment

of classroom mediators to support children and their

families (UNESCO, 2007). Indigenous peoples across

the world are also demanding that education be both

linguistically and culturally appropriate to their needs

��Pupils of Bombali school, Sierra Leone

Children from

indigenous groups

and ethnic minorities

tend to be less likely

to enrol in primary

school and more likely

to repeat grades or

drop out of school

WRCD_eng2.indd 106 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 0 7

Chapter 4 Education

More recently, the UN Declaration on the Rights of

Indigenous Peoples (2007) recognized the right of

indigenous families and communities to retain shared

responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and

well-being of their children, consistent with the rights of

the child. Article 14 establishes the right of indigenous

people to establish and control their educational

systems and institutions, providing education in their

own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural

methods of teaching and learning. And Article 15.1 states

that indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and

diversity of their cultures, traditions and histories, all of

which are to be appropriately refl ected in education and

public information.

Among the policies devised for eliminating

discrimination in education towards indigenous,

immigrant, disadvantaged, minority or disabled children,

some have privileged mechanisms that favour one or

another group within the mainstream system using an

affi rmative action approach. While this can yield some

concrete results, others contend that such policies may

also induce counterproductive side eff ects, since they

sometimes help to solidify the uniqueness of identities

and thereby exacerbate diff erences and obscure points

of commonality among diff erent groups (Gundara, 2008).

Looking at experiences of grassroot communities may

inspire policy-makers to develop a deeper understanding

of people’s educational needs so as to respond to them

appropriately, for such an understanding is essential to

ensuring pluralistic education (Delors et al., 1996).

The promotion and protection of cultural diversity

contributes to the eff ective advancement of the right

to education along these lines. It is therefore important

that the diversity of knowledge and learning contexts

be integrated both in formal education systems and

schooling and in informal educational settings. Indeed,

neither inclusive formal education nor multilingualism

will be suffi cient in and of themselves for realizing EFA;

they will be successful in this regard only if they are

coupled with an exploration of non-mainstream and

non-formal education, and even informal education3.

■ develop self esteem and esteem for one’s culture;

■ develop appropriate learning materials;

■ use methods such as distance education, radio-

broadcasting and e-learning, as well as the development

of in-situ programmes and training and employing local

teachers to meet the needs of remote communities;

■ link education to other aspects of a learner’s life,

such as health, nutrition, safe water and the natural

environment;

■ use and integrate formal and non-formal learning

styles and teaching methods as a means of

recognizing indigenous ways of generating and

transmitting knowledge and of giving value to the

oral wisdom of indigenous peoples and non-verbal

communication in education.

In formal education systems, the study of traditional life

and culture must be placed on equal footing with the

study of standard subjects, such as math, science and

natural history (see section 4.2 below).

New normative frameworks are being developed

expressly for the purpose of facilitating the progress of

indigenous education. As early as 1989, Articles 26 and

27.1 of the International Labour Organization’s Convention

Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent

Countries stipulated that members of indigenous

communities should have the opportunity to acquire

education at all levels on at least an equal footing with

the rest of the national community:

Education programmes and services for the peoples

concerned shall be developed and implemented in

co-operation with them and address their special

needs, and shall incorporate their histories, their

knowledge and technologies, their value systems

and their further social, economic and cultural

aspirations (…) such measures also include the

provision of fi nancial resources as an important

factor for the success and sustainability of quality

education (Art. 27.1, ILO, 1989).

3. ‘Informal learning’ refers to learning events as they may arise in the contexts

of the family, the workplace and the daily life of every person, in self-directed,

family-directed or socially-directed ways (UNESCO, 1996).

The right to

education for all has

largely come to be

understood in terms

of the right to receive

education and not

the right to choose

one’s education...

WRCD_eng2.indd 107 29/09/09 12:41

1 0 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

education, which emphasizes the role that learners can

play in defi ning their own educational needs, including

through non-formal and lifelong learning activities, calls

on us to expand our ideas about educational delivery

systems, in accordance with UNESCO’s position that

‘issues involving values education in multilingual and

multicultural societies’ should be included in EFA action

plans (UNESCO, 2002).

This requires broadening the means and scope of

education to focus on the cultural environment of

learning and knowledge acquisition, and a shift in

emphasis that does not restrict education to a question

of enrolment, attendance in organized programmes

and certifi cation requirements in formal schooling

systems. Following this line of thought, education

and addressing learning needs should be seen not as

confi ned to formal schooling but as taking place through

a variety of learning systems, including non-formal

education, informal education and the transmission

of local and indigenous knowledge and values. The

notion of a learning environment would thus require

further development to enable linkages and synergies

between various learning systems. The aim of education,

as a lifelong pursuit, is to increase our autonomy and

our capacity to adapt to both the constraints of the

job market and our cultural environment. Accordingly,

a new relationship with learning should be cultivated,

one that harnesses each learner’s cultural background,

in a participatory manner, so as to favour the ‘full

development of human personality’, that is, a creative,

artistic, ethical, spiritual and social development, to which

the promotion of cultural diversity strongly contributes:

for empowerment lies at the crossroads of life experience,

work experience and schooling (Ardoino, 2000).

Learning communities The increasing instability of today’s world raises the

question of the ability of any pre-determined programme

of learning in childhood to prepare children fully for

their adult lives (Miller, 2001). The concept of learning

communities or learning societies has arisen of late to

emphasize the value of self-learning and innovative

learning in the context of adapting to needs and

shaping one’s desired future. Every society is a learning

society with specifi c cultural patterns and embedded

Education is typically assumed to be a process that takes

place only in schools and within the public education

system, and thus enrolment ratios are often used as a

means to monitor progress in achieving EFA goals. Yet

increased funding for new schools worldwide has not

been suffi cient to increase enrolment or attendance.

Indeed, despite the international community’s sustained

eff orts, in 2006 some 75 million children (55 percent

of whom were girls) did not attend school (most

of them from cultural minorities and indigenous or

nomadic populations) and 776 million adults worldwide

(16 percent of the world’s adult population) lacked basic

literacy skills — almost two-thirds of whom were women,

a share that has remained virtually unchanged since the

early 1990s (UNESCO, 2008a). These results would seem to

imply that other learning methods and content should be

recognized as providing important learning opportunities

both for in-school children and for out-of-school children,

youth and adults, whom the formal system, at present,

hardly ever reaches (Pimparé, 2002).

There are serious and multiple reasons why children

are not in school, ranging from family chores to poor

economic conditions and lack of schooling facilities,

poor teaching standards, hostile school environments

or distance from school, not to mention inappropriate

educational methods and content coupled with a lack

of awareness among parents about the necessity for

education (especially for girls). The lack of recognition

of the importance of other, out-of-school learning

environments is not helping the situation.

The paradigm of ‘learning societies’ put forward in the

Delors report advocates the combination of conventional

teaching and out-of-school approaches which ‘enable

children to experience the three dimensions of

education: the ethical and cultural, the scientifi c and

technological, and the economic and social’ (Delors

et al., 1996). Such a strategy stems from the Jomtien

Declaration, which emphasizes that serving ‘the basic

learning needs of all requires more than a recommitment

to basic education as it now exists. What is needed is an

expanded vision that surpasses present resource levels,

institutional structures, curricula, and conventional

delivery systems while building on the best in current

practices’ (UNESCO, 1990). This expanded vision of basic

4.2 Learning societies and the right to education

Education should be

seen not as confi ned

to formal schooling

but as taking place

through a variety

of learning systems,

including non-formal

education, informal

education and the

transmission of local

and indigenous

knowledge and values

WRCD_eng2.indd 108 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 0 9

Chapter 4 Education

or petty commerce — participate in equally crucial

learning environments, which cannot be systematically

reduced to issues relating to ‘child labour’ when these

are not forced activities and constitute genuine learning

spaces linked to the functional framework of their

communities. In those spaces, there is much to be

learned about which schools do not teach, for example

about local medicine, forest skills or traditional harvesting.

In the same spirit, eff orts should be made to preserve

other learning spaces that also have a positive role to play

in children’s development (see Box 4.3).

Case studies from India indicate that decisions relating

to educational and learning options are usually taken

within families, who evaluate the relative importance

of literacy in their lives and whether to send one child

or all of them to school (Pimparé, 2002, 2005). The

benefi t of this approach is that it underlines the extent

to which schooling is to be reintegrated in its cultural

environment and does not develop in isolation from it.

It also reintegrates schooling into a holistic perspective

that highlights schooling as one learning space among

others that should also have their place in educational

learning mechanisms through which the inter- or intra-

generational exchange of knowledge, know-how, values,

beliefs or worldviews takes place and within which

individuals should be free to choose their learning path,

without prejudice to the paths others have chosen.

When schooling runs counter to these culturally

embedded learning environments, it will not necessarily

yield positive outcomes for learners. Research undertaken

at the end of the 1990s showed that educational systems

do not always have an empowering eff ect on learners.

Indeed, as an organizational structure, it creates fi ltration

mechanisms according to which children have to

‘compete for the limited goodies waiting at the top of the

pyramid’ (PROBE, 1999). This can act as a disincentive for

children, especially if the way in which school knowledge

is structured and articulated leads to the stigmatization of

rural or indigenous children (as opposed to the ‘privileged’

urban ones) through representations in textbooks or

ambiguous and problematic depictions that cause a

sense of alienation among these children or lower their

self-esteem. Children who are also engaged in labour

activities — agriculture, animal husbandry, small industry

The Auroville Charter sets forth an educational

philosophy within the very functioning of

its society, which it views as a place ‘of an

unending education, of constant progress

and a youth that never ages’, dedicated to

‘a living embodiment of an actual human

unity’. In today’s world many children grow up

without a true sense of belonging, herded into

conventional merit-oriented school systems

that do not allow for exploration of who they

really are and growth into fully realized beings

where mind, body, and spirit fl ow as one. They

have lost that deep sense of community that

was once so important in traditional societies.

And as a result more and more children

are alienated from the learning process.

In Auroville the aim is promote the integral

development of the multifaceted personality

of each individual. Education is not a matter of

skills acquisition so much as one of awakening

to a process of self-discovery, self-becoming

and self-perfection. This is the only way to

foster creative individuals who can work

in a dedicated manner without ‘burning

themselves out’: whatever excellence they may

have comes from the development of their

inner personality and not from the pressure

of a competitive environment that exhausts

their faculties without enriching them.

Nearly 50 different nations and about 80

linguistic groups co-create in Auroville, which

may make Auroville, which counts more

than two thousand residents, one of the

most diverse intercultural communities on

Earth. This in itself is an immense challenge.

About a dozen schools are experimenting

with the philosophy of integral education,

the ideas of Maria Montessori and the

Rishi School, as well as more conventional

methods. Children and youth from all races,

ethnic groups, and classes study together

in English, French, Tamil and Sanskrit,

as well. Because there is a large cultural

diversity from the outset, children are much

more tolerant of each other from an early

age. The emphasis is on learning to be in

community together. Service to others is

an important part of the code of life.

Integral education focuses on the global

development of the child. Singing and sports

are as important as math and physics. Martial

art techniques and breathing exercises

develop psychic and physical equilibrium.

Awareness of one’s surroundings and the

fl ow of conscious energy are emphasized to

balance the body-mind relationship. Children

are given an opportunity to manifest their

talents in an environment that recognizes that

each child has a capacity to develop multiple

aspects of being. The emphasis is not career

development but rather on learning to engage

with life; sharing is stressed; competition is

discouraged as concepts of success and failure

are relative. What is important is that a child

develops according to their true potential.

Leadership is seen more in terms of helping

others than in terms of personal gain.

Source: Verdiani, based on De Pezeral, 2007; SAIIER, 2008; Verdiani, 2008.

Education in Auroville, IndiaBox 4.3

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1 1 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

formal schooling, where children and communities are

often viewed as ‘blank slates’ or ‘empty vessels’ (Freire,

2000). Learning related to agricultural activities takes

place in the fi elds or at home: all children, whether

attending school or not, learn about soil conditions,

seed quality, fi eld preparation or sowing time through

practical activities and observation. For children

involved in animal husbandry, all the required learning

(grazing, grass identifi cation, hygiene of cattle, animal

disease and cures) takes place outside school. As for

labour (paid ploughing, house construction, fi rewood

chopping, artisan craftwork), the place of work is also an

important learning space, where survival depends on

what one learns (Pimparé, 2002). Learning likewise takes

place through the intergenerational transmission of

knowledge, but it also relies on a ‘collection of discrete

items of information, extracted from both the local

context and people who know them’ and has to do

with a knowledge directly tied to personal experience

(Bates, 2009). Within Inuit communities, for example,

knowledge and learning are grounded in a context

of practices that enable community members to gain

survival skills and to adapt rapidly to the environment

in which they live. Far from being incompatible with

contemporary knowledge, the specifi city and utility of

contextualized learning drives home the message that

what is learned is not necessarily determined by the

way in which it is learned.

Governments, ministries or other bodies usually

respond to the learning needs of youth and adults by

expanding formal secondary and tertiary education

and the certifi cation of knowledge through exams.

Yet in doing so, they do not necessarily consider that

skills acquisition often takes place through informal

means and in non-formal settings. Improved monitoring

of supply and demand for non-formal education is

urgently needed at national levels. While we are still

far from a systematic survey of learning communities

and traditional modes of transmission, methodologies

have been developed in order to collect them

without cultural bias. Action research in particular

emphasizes the need to further participatory methods

and conceptualization approaches (Carr et al., 1986;

Barbier, 1996). It seeks to respect local peoples’ ability to

conceptualize their lives and take responsibility for their

own empowerment and development through self-

organizing dialogue initiatives. Participatory approaches

strategies. It thus allows for the recognition of the value

of other learning spaces that may arise in the family, the

community, the workplace, the place of worship, the

market place, as well as other learning forms that may

be embedded in traditions, festivals, art, song, music,

prayers, radio, television and newspapers, or simply

in human exchanges that facilitate its transmission.

The motivation of individuals is a decisive factor in

their involvement in any learning space at any given

moment of their lives.

Alternative ways of learning are embedded in the social

fabric of people’s lives; they place value on knowledge

transmission and skills acquisition based on the cultural

context of learners — a very diff erent perspective from ��An open-air school in the South Omo, Ethiopia

WRCD_eng2.indd 110 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 1 1

Chapter 4 Education

■ Visual or spatial, where some children learn through art,

such as drawing, painting or sculpture. They can easily

read maps, charts and diagrams.

■ Bodily or kinaesthetic, where some children learn

through body movement, games and drama.

■ Musical or rhythmic, where some children learn best

through sounds, rhyme, rhythm and repetition.

■ Interpersonal, where some children learn easily in

groups through cooperative work. They enjoy group

activities, easily understand social situations and can

easily develop relationships with others.

■ Intra-personal, where some children learn best through

personal concentration and self-refl ection. They can

work alone, are aware of their own feelings and know

their own strengths and weaknesses.

Not all of these pathways are recognized in mainstream

education, but their rediscovery is one of the benefi ts

that may result from a stronger dialogue between

mainstream education and alternative learning spaces.

Greater attention is now being given to the ‘educational

culture’ of communities — which, in many cases,

refers to the diversity of modes of intergenerational

knowledge transmission (Ishizawa and Rengifo, 2009).

While the specifi c aspects of knowledge transmission

are to be respected and safeguarded (e.g. oral modes of

transmission), other aspects of traditional education —

images and sounds, analogies and metaphors — and

local methods and strategies of knowledge acquisition

can easily be supported by ‘modern’ tools. Similarly,

formal education can use elements of the local culture

in educational strategies.

Combining local practices and knowledge with

curricular subjects in a contextual way (e.g. by

incorporating methods in school that parents use at

home to teach their children about food preparation

or housekeeping, or by making excursions to

learn about the cultural signifi cance of places and

associated stories, rituals or usages) strengthens the

link between the community and the school and

provides a foundation for the community’s further

integral development. Decontextualized approaches to

provide a powerful lever for learners to take ownership

and regenerate their learning spaces from a pluralistic

perspective. As illustrated by cases in Mexico and Peru,

such approaches help local communities to engage in

a constructive, critical examination of ‘cultural imports’

(UNESCO, 2006a).

Harnessing diverse ways of learning for revitalizing EFA The report of the International Commission on

Education for the Twenty-fi rst Century (Delors et al.,

1996) notes that the misalignment between local

learning spaces and mainstream forms of education

results from an outgrowth of historical trajectories:

All too often, the inherited colonial systems of

education have been preserved more or less

intact, generally with the rationale of ‘preserving

standards’, although these so-called standards

were more illusory than real, with a very small

élite enjoying exactly the same education as in the

metropolitan country and the vast majority being

deprived of any form of modern education at all.

Increasingly, however, the international community

is recognizing that traditional and pragmatic ways of

learning can be as effi cient as Western didactic ways

of learning and that complementarities may exist

between all forms of education, especially when a

recognition of alternative learning environments can

help mitigate a shortage of fi nancial resources for

realizing EFA. While, for example, literacy strategies may

create an undesired devaluation of oral cultures, the

introduction into schools of storytellers, as previously

noted, may contribute to the revitalization of oral

cultures. A rapprochement emerging between diff erent

educational cultures from both mainstream education

and non-formal communities is beginning to yield a

new emphasis on the diversity of ways of learning.

UNESCO’s Bangkok offi ce (2004) has identifi ed seven

such pathways by which children learn:

■ Verbal or linguistic, where some children think and learn

through written and spoken words, memory and recall.

■ Logical or mathematical, where some children think

and learn though reasoning and calculation. They can

easily use numbers, recognize abstract patterns and

take precise measurements.

The failure to take

account of non-

mainstream forms of

learning risks further

marginalizing those

populations that

education should seek

to empower

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1 1 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Knowledge diversity The 1999 World Conference on Science in Budapest, co-

organized by UNESCO and the International Council for

Science (ICSU), brought the relationship between science

and other systems of knowledge to the fore, as noted in the

Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientifi c Knowledge

(UNESCO, 1999a: para. 26) which emphasizes the valuable

contribution to science and technology made by traditional

and local knowledge systems. This is further highlighted in

its Framework for Action (UNESCO, 1999b: para. 36):

Traditional societies (…) have nurtured and refi ned

systems of knowledge of their own, relating to

such diverse domains as astronomy, meteorology,

geology, ecology, botany, agriculture, physiology,

psychology and health. Such knowledge systems

represent an enormous wealth. Not only do they

harbour information as yet unknown to modern

science, but they are also expressions of other ways

of living in the world, other relationships between

society and nature, and other approaches to the

acquisition and construction of knowledge.

learning have everything to gain from contextualized

approaches, since, through relating instructional

contents to the specifi c contexts of learners, which

increases motivation to learn, a greater ownership of

education can be developed (Dirkx and Prenger, 1997).

As Luis Enrique López (2009) has underlined, a deeper

understanding of the diff erences and similarities

between indigenous community ‘informal’ education

and formal education may give rise to the development

of richer curricular content in indigenous schools,

varied learning styles and pedagogical strategies,

contextualized language learning and transmission.

New trends are emerging in the development of

indigenous educational strategies (López, 2009), which

emphasize the involvement of community elders and

leaders, the observance of socialization processes, the

revitalization of indigenous languages, cooperative

learning and the revival of indigenous ancestral orality.

Education has much to gain from a consideration of

multiple perspectives and pluralistic approaches to ways

of learning, understanding and explaining the world.

��Ancestral medical techniques practiced by the Kallawaya, Bolivia

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E D U C A T I O N . 1 1 3

Chapter 4 Education

However, despite such statements, there remains a

widespread belief about neutral and value-free theories

and conceptualizations, which are unrelated to the social

settings in which they arose. In many ways, the call for the

building of ‘knowledge societies’ — based on universal

access and knowledge-sharing — may have unwittingly

contributed to the assimilation of all knowledge to

scientifi c knowledge.

There is no shortage of literature maintaining that the

sciences are also socially and culturally constructed,

meaning that the learning of science is itself a form

of socialization and enculturation (see, e.g., Kuhn,

1996; Woolgar and Latour, 1979; Bourdieu, 2001).

Insofar as mainstream educational discourse considers

science to be universal, this leads to the reductive

compartmentalization of ‘traditional’ knowledge. Yet such

knowledge, when recognized and valued, can actually

enrich scientifi c research: as stated on the occasion of

the launch of the International Year of Astronomy (2009),

the use of astronomical data or mythological beliefs can

contribute to the historical record of celestial events; and

knowledge of the medicinal qualities of plants can lead to

the discovery of curative molecules (Ödman, 2007).

The history and philosophy of science today recognize

that societies have constructed diff erent logical systems

and visions of the world to explain the relationship of

human beings to nature, the universe and the world of

thought and emotion. These logical systems serve to

organize the knowledge stemming from this relationship,

in particular on the basis of observations and experience.

Knowledge is meaningful only within the logical system

within which it is embedded. A wide range of logical

systems exists throughout the world, which Philippe

Descola has attempted to classify in four categories —

naturalism, animism, totemism, and analogy — according

to the type of relationship between nature and culture

they involve (Descola, 2006).

The scientifi c system developed in the West from the

16th century CE onwards has tended to eclipse other

systems of knowledge and other visions of the world. It

should be remembered, however, that this system drew

substantially on a wide range of sources. These included

Arab, Jewish and Persian medical traditions (and later that

of Timbuktu), dating from the 6th to the 12th centuries CE,

which were based largely on fairly advanced knowledge

of human anatomy and the practice of dissection of the

human body taught in the universities. Christian medicine

came much later as a result of the religious prohibition

on dissection. Western science and technology in general

also has roots in the traditions of China and India, as

well as in the navigation, transport and other technical

achievements of the Arabic Golden Age. The diversity

of these sources is a reminder that other visions of the

world and logical systems should not be dismissed, since

doing so would not only impoverish cultural diversity but

exclude the possibility that Western science might derive

enrichment from non-Western sources.

Recognition of the diversity of knowledge must be

placed on equal footing with recognition of the dignity

of each knowledge system as a whole (see UNESCO’s

LINKS Programme) — which is not the case when

the value of indigenous knowledge as a resource for

development and environmental conservation leads, for

example, to the creation of databases in which ‘useful’

knowledge is separated from the other knowledge,

practices, milieus, contexts and cultural beliefs with

which it exists (Agrawal, 2002). Mutual respect among

diverse knowledge systems fosters intercultural dialogue

and mutual understanding, which in turn contribute to

empowerment and self-development and a renewal

of strategies for the enhancement of our ability to live

together with our diff erences. Intercultural education

has become all the more relevant today with the

development of multicultural societies in which up to

190 million people live outside their countries of origin

(a fi gure that would be even higher if undocumented

migrants were included). Thus, multicultural education

must be complemented by intercultural education,4 and

education through cultural diversity must go hand-in-

hand with education for cultural diversity.

4. ‘Interculturalism in education’ refers to learning that is rooted in one’s own

culture, language, values, worldview and system of knowledge but that is, at the

same time, receptive, open to and appreciative of other forms of knowledge,

values, cultures and languages. The ultimate aim of intercultural education is

learning to live together, since systems of knowledge, civilizational patterns,

cultures and languages are seen in complementary distribution rather than

from the perspective of segregation or opposition (López, 2009).

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1 1 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

this endeavour was recently reaffi rmed at the

Copenhagen Conference on ‘Education for Intercultural

Understanding and Dialogue’ (see UNESCO, 2008b).

Arts and humanities education, multimedia activities,

museums, travel and discovery activities all help to

develop the critical capacities — curiosity, humility

and hospitality — that are indispensable to combating

unilateral points of view and building confi dence, both

in oneself and in others. These are basic competencies

that allow people to adapt to a culturally diverse social

environment, even when it is not always possible to fully

understand the other.

Sensitizing people to cultural diversity is more a matter

of approaches and methods than of the assimilation

of content. Tolerance must be practised before it can

become a habitual response. Intercultural skills and

cultural diversity cannot really be meaningfully taught in

a mechanical way, as add-ons to standard curricula: they

are developed through other subject matters, methods

or activities that are already part of educational

curricula. Pluralistic education and participatory

approaches to learning can be of great importance

to the development of intercultural competencies,

becoming aware of the relative nature of one’s own

culture, and learning to distinguish what unites rather

than what separates us. Such competencies go beyond

the mere capacity to ‘live together’, since they involve,

besides the tolerance that makes us capable of living in

peace alongside one another, a true capacity to open

up to diff erences, to transcend what makes us who we

are so as to meet others as they are.

Intercultural competencies and pedagogies The founding principles of UNESCO enshrined in its

Constitution (1945) are based on the conviction that

education is fundamental to addressing the ignorance

and the mistrust that are the source of human confl ict.

Since prejudice is based, among other things, on

what we do not know or on false preconceptions,

facilitating cultural openness through the development

of intercultural competencies in schools and out of

school is the key to fostering intercultural dialogue and

winning the fi ght against a 'clash of ignorances' (see

section 2.3 in chapter 2).

One of the major challenges facing lifelong education

involves our capacities to learn to live together by

'developing an understanding of others and their

history, traditions and spiritual values and, on this basis,

creating a new spirit which, guided by recognition of

our growing interdependences and a common analysis

of the risks and challenges of the future, would induce

people to implement common projects or to manage

the inevitable confl icts in an intelligent and peaceful

way’ (Delors et al., 1996).

Education today must come to grips with the realities of

multicultural populations and ensure both the inclusion

of minorities through social integration (see section 4.1

above) and the social cohesion of multicultural societies

through mutual understanding and dialogue. If not,

as demonstrated in confl ict or post-confl ict contexts,

education can be a basis for cultural misunderstanding,

animosity, ethnic confl ict or violence (see Davies and

Talbot, 2008). Adapting educational content within

textbooks and curricula and the teaching of foreign

languages contribute to the improvement of our

knowledge of ourselves and others and therefore help

to prevent clashes born of ignorance. But overcoming

the obstacles to intercultural dialogue (including distrust,

stereotypes and misunderstanding) is equally important.

Educating through diversity must be complemented with

educating for cultural diversity.

A number of strategies, formal and non-formal alike,

have been elaborated for developing intercultural

competencies and raising awareness of the

challenges involved in interacting with ‘cultural’

others. Within the existing frameworks, UNESCO’s

1974 Recommendation Concerning Education for

International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace

and the 2005 Rabat Commitment are particularly

noteworthy. The Rabat Commitment (adopted as the

outcome document of the expert-level conference on

‘Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations through

Concrete and Sustained Initiatives’) emphasizes the

need for intercultural education to become an integral

part of quality education, from preschool education

up through ongoing adult education, as well as in

non-formal educational contexts, literacy campaigns

and extracurricular activities. The importance of

4.3 Participatory learning and intercultural competenciesIn increasingly complex multicultural

societies, education

must enable us

to acquire the

intercultural

competencies that

will permit us to live

together with  and

not despite  our

cultural diff erences

WRCD_eng2.indd 114 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 1 5

Chapter 4 Education

classroom, the more they can possibly learn that diversity

is a gift, not a liability (UNESCO Bangkok, 2004).

Building intercultural awareness through the humanities and social sciences The importance of the humanities and social sciences for

the development of intercultural competencies relates to

their contribution to the discovery of multiple knowledge

systems that do not necessarily conform to the learners’

cultural backgrounds. History, geography, social studies,

philosophy, languages and the like are therefore crucial

for the teaching of cultural diversity and the discovery of

cultural diff erences. In some countries, moral education

also plays an important role. In this respect, as underlined

by the High-Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations,

formal schooling can be ‘a major avenue’ for the

development of intercultural competencies, ‘because

existing infrastructure and policies make attendance

compulsory in most countries, and because there is

already a place for studying human history and other

relevant subjects in public-sector and private schools’

(Alliance of Civilizations, 2006).

The study of history and geography brings learners into

contact with diff erent times and diff erent places,

encouraging them to become aware of their own biases

and to re-examine their assumptions. The same occurs

in the study of diff erent artistic traditions, religious beliefs

and performance genres. Ideally, this increases intercultural

The issue of intercultural competencies (or skills) is

riddled with diffi culties and has spurred many debates

(see for example Benavot and Braslavsky, 2007). It has

been extensively argued that such competencies

relate to each society’s context and situation, and thus

vary widely depending on one’s particular lifestyle

or value system. Some anthropologists even claim

that certain societies are more open than others

(Maranda, 2007). The challenge here is to identify

a strategy that the international community could

implement for promoting the development of

intercultural competencies, without falling prey to a

‘one size fi ts all’ approach to education and furthering

the homogenization of educational systems. In each

society, specifi c procedures, as well as competencies,

exist through which its members apprehend and

manage intercultural situations. In some societies,

cultural diff erences are managed through healing rites

and songs (Severi, 2008). We would make a major step

towards identifying intercultural competencies if we

were to discover what is common to diff erent societal

approaches in dealing with what is alien to them. Some

of these practices are not necessarily recognized at fi rst

sight as explicitly relating to intercultural situations,

but a thorough inventory of some of them, using

mechanisms such as those provided in UNESCO’s

2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible

Cultural Heritage, could benefi t a pluralistic approach to

intercultural dialogue.

It is generally admitted that the teaching of intercultural

competencies should start as early as possible and last

throughout life as an adaptive strategy. As illustrated

by social distance indicators available in World Values

Surveys 1999–2000 (see Inglehart et al., 2004), research

into the extent to which people are willing to embrace

the existence of individuals or groups perceived as

diff erent in everyday life, namely within neighbourhoods,

shows that youth tend to be more tolerant than adults

(Vala and Costa-Lopes, 2008). Educational strategies for

the development of intercultural competencies can

benefi t from this fi nding: young people’s basic curiosity,

their capacity to listen and their willingness to engage

in role-play tend to override any sense of threat in the

face of diff erence. From this perspective, the benefi ts

of diverse classrooms for the fl ourishing of intercultural

competencies are obvious. The more children encounter

diff erences, especially in the facilitated environment of a

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1 1 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Indeed, arts education, in the broadest sense possible,

is a critical means for teaching about the diversity of

approaches and cultivating an awareness of cultural

diversity. The 2006 Lisbon World Conference on Arts

Education highlighted in particular the diversity of

practices that contribute to the development of individual

capacities through art, and how the encounter with

cultural diff erences in a given context helps individuals to

develop sensitivity to the diversity of the world’s cultures.

From the perspective of the cognitive sciences, the

teaching of the arts, like the teaching of humanities, helps

to reconnect scientifi c and emotional processes with

intuition, a key factor of intercultural openness (Damasio

and Dornsife, 2007; Lehrer, 2008). Practising the arts is

also a powerful way of socializing with others. In formal

education, arts education generally includes dance, music,

painting (and other forms of visual arts), theatre and crafts.

Thus arts education is not a mere luxury in school

curricula, where the ultimate objective is to instil

openness and encourage innovation. In arts education,

the opportunities for wonder are multiplied through

aesthetic experience; it is particularly eff ective with young

children, as arts education taps into children’s natural

curiosity and desire for discovery, while also teaching

them to accept and appreciate culturally diff erent forms

of expression (see chapter 2, DREAM Centres). This in

turn helps to enhance self-esteem and identify strengths,

weaknesses, values, aspirations and goals. Arts education

therefore off ers a powerful approach to addressing

such issues as ethnocentrism, relativity of tastes, bias,

stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and racism

(Witte, 2006). All these skills, which have a long-term

impact on youth, can be carried over into many culturally

diverse circumstances and situations, thereby enhancing

communication and cooperation, problem-solving and

resolution skills.

A cultural-diversity approach to arts education is not

about aesthetic enculturation but about respecting

cultures. One way is to begin with similarities. For instance,

if a North American teacher wants to introduce a koto

(Japanese musical instrument) to a class, he or she could

start by describing the commonly shared appreciation

of music among all cultures, and then draw comparisons

with other instruments that may be more familiar to the

class; the idea being that diff erent music is still equally

valuable and carries value in another culture. There is a

awareness and produces a disposition to world-mindedness,

a way of thinking and an attitude that extends knowledge

of diff erence and acceptance of its naturalness to groups

and traditions beyond those the individual has directly

studied and known. To this end, subjects like history and

social sciences need to be contextualized in accordance

with the contemporary needs of societies. To demonstrate

how cultures have always been enriched by each other

and have evolved through contact, exchange and dialogue

with each other, it is necessary to develop fair, accurate and

balanced educational materials that fuel learners’ curiosity.

Learning about world or regional history, geography

and contemporary societies in today’s interconnected

world is especially important and should be allocated

suffi cient place in national school systems, alongside local

and national (or sub-national) histories. With its General

and Regional Histories (General History of Africa, General

History of Latin America, General History of the Caribbean,

History of Civilizations of Central Asia, The Diff erent Aspects of

Islamic Culture, and History of Humanity), one of UNESCO’s

ambitions has been to contribute to such contextualization

and increase the relevance of the teaching of history.

Since our understanding of cultural diversity relies as

much on our knowledge of others as on our knowledge

of the group to which we belong, civic education —

which specifi cally aims at facilitating our learning to

live together — is vital. Moreover, at a time when many

misunderstandings about world religions are arising

which become grounds for cultural sensitivities and

clashes, it may be time to examine the possibility of

including world religions and faiths (their origins, beliefs,

practices and traditions) in curricula in order to nurture

respect for our deepest diff erences while approaching

them through the diversity of cultural experiences and

expressions that accompany them (arts, rituals, customs).

Intercultural education through the arts The arts can help foster attitudes favouring intercultural

openness. Arts education can also help to address

issues such as ethnocentrism, relativity of tastes, bias,

stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and racism.

In keeping with the recommendations of the International

Commission on Education for the Twenty-fi rst Century

about learning in all areas of cultural life (Delors et al.,

1996), the arts can be a strong and universal tool for

developing mutual understanding and competencies.

The humanities and

the arts provide

powerful incentives

to explore the

rootedness and

interrelatedness of

all things, situations,

concepts and values.

In this way, they make

a major contribution

to critical thinking

WRCD_eng2.indd 116 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 1 7

Chapter 4 Education

issues. Museums in this vein have been emerging as

places for encountering cultural diversity through the

social interaction of multiple voices and viewpoints

of represented communities. In going beyond a

purely folklore-based approach, these new means of

representation have the potential to arouse the public’s

interest in the signifi cance of the object or form of

cultural expression set before them, giving equal value

to all the cultural expressions presented. What is more,

museums, cultural centres and other places of memory

can also play a special role in reconciliation and in post-

confl ict situations. Reference to a common artistic or

cultural heritage often helps to restore the cohesion of

the national community after years of confl ict (see Box

4.4 and chapter 2).

The humanities and the arts, generally speaking,

provide the means for seeing cultural diff erences

as equal and equally respectable, and provide

powerful incentives to explore the rootedness and

interrelatedness of all things, situations, concepts and

values. In this way, they make a major contribution

to critical thinking, since, without becoming aware of

the multiplicity of ways of living, ways of learning and

the ‘thickness’ and complexity of life, assumptions that

hinder intercultural awareness and dialogue cannot

be swept aside. As stated in the Rabat Commitment,

awareness of the positive value of cultural diversity

goes hand in hand with intercultural education

and awareness-building (see UNESCO Guidelines

pathway in cultural attitudes that leads from awareness to

curiosity to discovery and then to tolerance and eventually

appreciation. Arts education allows for a channel of

creative and emotional expression that might otherwise

be suppressed, or expressed in the form of negative

emotions and attitudes directed against others. A practical

application of such an approach is the Peace through

Art programme of the International Child Art Foundation

(ICAF), which organized a three-week programme in 2002,

in which ten Greek-Cypriots and ten Turkish-Cypriots

learned about their respective prejudices and stereotypes

via artistic expressions. In this way, arts education can help

to counter prejudice while contributing to more balanced

personal and social development.

Intercultural education beyond the classroom Since the education process that harnesses cultural

diversity is a lifelong process, the development of

intercultural competencies is not — and indeed cannot

be — limited to the classroom but must extend to the

‘university of life’. To this end, greater use could be made

of cultural institutions — art galleries, museums and

archives, under the guidance of the curators and oral

historians, who can help to re-contextualize the objects

exhibited (Kamba, 2006).

Such institutions must, of course, guarantee an

unbiased, pluralistic and participatory approach,

providing concerned parties with information

(including scientifi c information) about cultural

The Luanda National Museum of

Anthropology in Angola provides a

remarkable example of the key role museums

can play in promoting tolerance and cultural

diversity. Following the 1975–2002 civil war,

which ripped apart the country’s social fabric,

the reorganization of the museum’s collections

helped to bring to the fore the common

Bantu cultural basis shared by Angola’s various

ethnic groups (Kongo, Cokwe, Ambundu,

Nyaneka, Ambo, Ovimbundu, etc.), despite the

diversity of political and religious customs. The

exhibition also helped to convey a message

of unity and break down cultural barriers

between ethnic groups by representing the

unifying rather than diff erentiating factors.

Using such an approach, museums and other

types of institutions can exercise their central

educational function and foster intercultural

awareness and restore a sense of dignity to

minority and marginalized communities. But

even here these institutions must be sensitive

to the views of others. For example, for some

indigenous communities, the direct ownership

of sacred objects is taboo, an attitude that runs

counter to the very principle of permanent

collections of works of art. As a consequence,

some cultural centres, such as the Uma Fukun

(meeting place) cultural centre in Timor-Leste,

have respected this tradition by leaving such

sacred objects in the hands of the indigenous

populations themselves and having them

displayed in a place of safekeeping, that

is, ‘a place set aside for everything that is

unique, venerated, respected, protected and

celebrated’. Responses such as this must

be encouraged and widely disseminated

as models for how to adapt diff erent

understandings of art and history to the world’s

varied social and/or traditional contexts.

Source: UNESCO.

Museums as a space for intercultural learningBox 4.4

WRCD_eng2.indd 117 29/09/09 12:41

In order to further the process of learning to live together, there is a need to promote intercultural

competencies, including those embedded in the everyday practices of communities, with a view to

improving pedagogical approaches to intercultural relations.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Undertake a global comparative survey of educational content and methods, including traditional modes of transmission, with particular reference to the recognition and accommodation of cultural diversity.

b. Support eff orts to identify and/or create opportunities and facilities for culture-specifi c learning in each educational system, making use of existing instruments such as EFA National Assessment Reports.

c. Adapt teaching methods to the requirements of the everyday life of learners, with the necessary support of educational policy-makers, educational professionals at all levels and local communities, recognizing the cultural dimension as a central pillar of Education for Sustainable Development.

d. Develop international guidelines for the promotion of intercultural dialogue through the arts, based on the identifi cation of good practices in arts education.

C h

ap ter 4 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

1 1 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

As underlined at the Geneva International Conference

on Education (2004), the principal challenge for

education in the 21st century is to learn to live together,

which requires improving our ability to equip people

with capacities to deal with cultural diff erences and

cultural change within increasingly multicultural

societies. This is a new kind of literacy, on a par

with the importance of reading and writing skills or

numeracy: cultural literacy has become the lifeline for

today’s world, a fundamental resource for harnessing

the multiple venues education can take (from family

and tradition to the media, both old and new, and to

informal groups and activities) and an indispensible

tool for transcending the ‘clash of ignorances’. It can be

seen as part of a broad toolkit of worldviews, attitudes

and competences that young people acquire for their

lifelong journey. The advocacy for linguistic and cultural

diversity within education is an awareness-raising

campaign in need of holistic and offi cial recognition

at the highest possible levels in order to convince all

parties of its benefi ts and relevance.

on Intercultural Education in ‘In focus’ and UNESCO,

2006b). Inclusiveness must be fostered not only in the

classroom (as a professional responsibility of teachers)

or school administration but in the educational

system and the learning environment as a whole.

Indeed, inclusiveness can take hold only if parents and

communities become involved in these processes in

a participatory and empowering way, facilitated by a

pluralistic approach to education.

Conclusion The quest for quality education is today inextricably linked

to the challenges of providing inclusive and pluralistic

educational strategies, adapted to the contexts of learners’

lives in both content and form. Indeed, the ambitions of

Education for All (EFA) cannot be realized if the right to

education is understood in terms of imposed curricula or if

learning is restricted to formal schooling to the detriment

of overall empowerment and appropriate and fruitful

development. The universal ambition of education for

all is synonymous with lifelong learning for all and must

allow for the diversity of culturally embedded learning

environments that exist throughout the world.

WRCD_eng2.indd 118 29/09/09 12:41

E D U C A T I O N . 1 1 9

Chapter 4 Education

to know’, ‘learning to do’ and ‘learning to live together’ —

these key issues have been developed with reference to

the whole set of existing international standard-setting

instruments (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

treaties, conventions and covenants, declarations and

recommendations) as well as to the existing outcomes

from international conferences.

The issues are articulated around three basic principles,

which serve as frameworks for the identifi cation of concrete

strategies to be pursued.

These Guidelines represent the outcome of an Expert

Meeting on Intercultural Education held at UNESCO in

March 2006. They aim to address the key issues arising

in increasingly multicultural societies as they relate to:

culture and identities, culture and education, culture

and language, culture and religion, cultural diversity and

cultural heritage, majority and minority cultures, and

multiculturalism and interculturalism. Within the general

framework of the four pillars of education identifi ed by the

International Commission on Education for the Twenty-fi rst

Century (Delors et al., 1996) — ‘learning to be’, ‘learning

Principle 1: Intercultural education respects the cultural identity of the learner through the provision of culturally appropriate and responsive quality education for all. This principle can be achieved through:

1.1. The use of curricula and teaching and learning materials that:

■ build upon the diverse systems of knowledge and experiences of the learners;

■ incorporate their histories, knowledge and technologies, value systems and further social, economic and

cultural aspirations;

■ introduce the learners to an understanding and an appreciation of their cultural heritage;

■ aim at developing respect for the learners’ cultural identity, language and values;

■ make use of local resources.

1.2. The development of teaching methods that:

■ are culturally appropriate, for example through the integration of traditional pedagogies and the use of

traditional forms of media, such as story-telling, drama, poetry and song;

■ are based on practical, participatory and contextualized learning techniques that include: activities

resulting from collaboration with cultural institutions; study trips and visits to sites and monuments; and

productive activities that are linked to the community’s social, cultural and economic needs.

1.3. The development of culturally appropriate methods of assessment.

1.4. The choice of a language of instruction which includes, where possible, the mother tongue of the learners.

1.5. Appropriate teacher training that aims at:

■ familiarizing teachers with the cultural heritage of their country;

■ familiarizing teachers with practical, participatory and contextualized teaching methods;

■ raising awareness of the educational and cultural needs of minority groups;

■ imparting the ability to adapt educational contents, methods and materials to the needs of groups whose

cultures diverge from the majority group;

■ facilitating the application of diversity as a tool in the classroom to benefi t the learner.

1.6. The promotion of learning environments that are respectful of cultural diversity through, for example, awareness of

dietary requirements; respect for dress codes; and the designation of areas for prayer or meditation.

In focus:

UNESCO’s

Guidelines on

Intercultural

Education

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1.7. Interaction between the school and the community and the involvement of the learners and/or their communities

in the educational processes through the:

■ use of the school as a centre for social and cultural activities, both for educational purposes and for the

community;

■ participation of traditional artisans and performers as instructors;

■ recognition of the role of learners as vehicles of culture;

■ decentralization for the development of contents and methods to take into account cultural and

institutional diff erences from one region to another; and

■ participation of learners, parents and other community members, teachers and administrators from

diff erent cultural backgrounds in school management, supervision and control, decision-making, planning

and the implementation of education programmes, and the development of curricula and learning and

teaching materials.

Principle 2: Intercultural education provides every learner with the cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to achieve active and full participation in society.

This principle can be achieved through:

2.1. The guaranteeing of equal and equitable opportunities in education via the:

■ provision of equal access to all forms of education for all cultural groups of the population;

■ elimination of all forms of discrimination in the education system;

■ provision of educational qualifi cations to ensure equal access to secondary and postsecondary education

and vocational training;

■ adoption of measures that facilitate the integration in the education system of groups with special cultural

needs, such as the children of migrant workers;

■ provision of equal opportunities for participation in the learning process;

■ provision of learning environments that are non-discriminatory, safe and peaceful;

■ implementation of special measures to address contexts where historical backlogs limit the ability of

learners and teachers to participate as equals with everyone else in society.

2.2. The use of curricula and teaching and learning materials that:

■ impart knowledge about the history, traditions, language and culture of existing minorities to majority

groups;

■ impart knowledge about society as a whole to minorities;

■ aim at eliminating prejudices about culturally distinct population groups within a country;

■ involve various cultural systems through the presentation of knowledge from diff erent cultural

perspectives;

■ create a comprehensive grasp of reading, writing and the spoken word, enabling citizens to gain access to

information, to understand clearly the situation in which they are living, to express their needs, and to take

part in social activities.

2.3. Appropriate teaching methods that:

■ promote the learners’ active participation in the education process;

■ integrate formal and non-formal, traditional and modern teaching methods;

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Chapter 4 Education

■ promote an active learning environment, for example through the conduct of concrete projects, in order

to demystify book-based knowledge and to give people a sense of confi dence and to acquire cultural skills,

such as the ability to communicate or to cooperate with others.

2.4. A clear defi nition and accurate assessment of learning outcomes, including knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.

2.5. Appropriate language teaching: all learners should acquire the capacity to communicate, express themselves, listen

and engage in dialogue in their mother tongue, the offi cial or national language(s) of their country and in one or

more foreign languages.

2.6. Appropriate teacher initial education and permanent professional training that provides teachers with:

■ a profound comprehension of the intercultural paradigm in education and its implication for the

transformation of everyday practice in classrooms, schools and communities;

■ a critical awareness of the role education ought to play in combatting racism and discrimination;

■ a rights-based approach to education and learning;

■ the competencies to design, implement and evaluate locally determined school curricula based on the

needs and aspirations of learners and the communities to which they belong;

■ the skills to incorporate pupils from non-dominant cultures into the learning process;

■ the skills to take into account the heterogeneity of the learners;

■ a command of methods and techniques of observation, listening and intercultural communication; of more

than one working language where appropriate and of some notions of anthropological analysis;

■ a command of appropriate assessment procedures and open-mindedness to continual assessment,

evaluation and redefi nition of methods.

Principle 3: Intercultural education provides all learners with cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable them to contribute to respect, understanding and solidarity among individuals, ethnic, social, cultural and religious groups and nations.

This principle can be achieved through:

3.1. The development of curricula that contribute to:

■ discovery of cultural diversity, awareness of the positive value of cultural diversity and respect for cultural

heritage;

■ critical awareness of the struggle against racism and discrimination;

■ knowledge about cultural heritage through the teaching of history, geography, literature, languages, artistic

and aesthetic disciplines, scientifi c and technological subjects;

■ understanding and respect for all peoples; their cultures, civilizations, values and ways of life; including

domestic ethnic cultures and cultures of other nations;

■ awareness of the increasing global interdependence between peoples and nations;

■ awareness not only of rights but also of duties incumbent upon individuals, social groups and nations

toward each other;

■ understanding of the necessity for international solidarity and cooperation;

■ awareness of one’s own cultural values that underlie the interpretation of situations and problems as

well as the ability to refl ect on and review information enriched by the knowledge of diff erent cultural

perspectives;

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■ respect for diff ering patterns of thinking.

3.2. Adequate teaching and learning methods that:

■ treat the heritages, experience, and contributions of diff erent ethnic groups with comparable dignity,

integrity, and signifi cance;

■ provide for learning in an egalitarian context;

■ correspond to the values taught;

■ provide for interdisciplinary projects.

3.3. The acquisition of skills to communicate and cooperate beyond cultural barriers and to share and cooperate with

others through:

■ direct contacts and regular exchanges between pupils, students, teachers and other educators in diff erent

countries or cultural environments;

■ the implementation of joint projects between establishments and institutions from diff erent countries, with

a view to solving common problems;

■ the setting up of international networks of pupils, students and researchers working towards the same

objectives;

■ the acquisition of abilities for confl ict resolution and mediation.

3.4. The teaching and learning of foreign languages and the strengthening of the cultural component in language

teaching.

3.5. Adequate teacher initial education and permanent professional development aiming at creating:

■ awareness of the positive value of cultural diversity and of the right of the person to be diff erent;

■ a critical awareness of the role that local communities and local knowledge systems, languages and social

practices play in the learning process and construction of the person in national, regional and global

societies;

■ knowledge of the history of civilization and anthropology so as to facilitate better understanding and the

ability to convey the idea of the plural, dynamic, relative and complementary nature of cultures;

■ the social and political competencies and the open-mindedness conducive to the permanent promotion

of active social participation in school management and in the design, implementation and evaluation of

school projects and programmes;

■ development of an ability to make the best use of visits to museums and other institutions for eff ective

intercultural teaching;

■ open-mindedness and an ability to interest the student in learning about and understanding others;

■ the acquisition of techniques of observation, sympathetic listening and intercultural communication.

Another outcome of the Expert Meeting on Intercultural Education was the discussion of a database on intercultural

education (see UNESCO, 2006c).

Source: UNESCO, 2006b.

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Chapter 4 Education

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1 2 8 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Television satellite dish outside a yurt in Mongolia

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55 CHAPTER 5Communication and cultural contents

This chapter looks at the entire landscape of communication and cultural contents —

understood to encompass the press, books, radio, recorded media, cinema and television, as

well as more recent phenomena (new media or information and communication technologies)

such as the Internet, CDs, DVDs, video games, chat rooms and the blogosphere — from the

standpoint of cultural diversity. Because the media and cultural industries have become

highly dynamic sectors in economic, social and political terms, they are increasingly shaping

individual and collective identities, worldviews, values and tastes in ways that are challenging

formal education systems. As a result, today’s communication and cultural products are

becoming powerful tools of non-formal education and cultural transmission with the potential

to expand intercultural understanding — though only insofar as they translate the reality,

complexity and dynamics of cultural diversity.

Yet the current situation is riddled with paradoxes relating to issues of media access and

information and media literacy. While the new media and new forms of distribution facilitate

greater access to content production and the dissemination of cultural content, thereby

opening up more opportunities for intercultural dialogue, political and economic imbalances,

the asymmetries implicit in the digital divide, continue to restrict the opportunities for genuine

cultural exchange. Moreover, the very multiplicity of choices and the cultural challenges they

embody can result in cultural isolation as well as a proliferation of stereotypes.

The fi rst section of this chapter reviews the impacts of globalization and technological

innovation on the ways in which communication (by word, sound and image) and cultural

contents both shape and are shaped by cultural diversity. The second section looks at the

messages conveyed by the media and cultural industries in terms of the perception of other

cultures and peoples, and how new media consumption patterns — revolutionized by

multichannel television access, fi lms and DVDs, telecommunication services, user-generated

content, mobile media content, diaspora media and social networks — are both favourable

and detrimental to cultural diversity. The third and fi nal section highlights the need to invest

in media and information literacy initiatives and policies that can strengthen the media and

cultural industries to the benefi t of cultural diversity, by harnessing the capacities off ered by

digital technologies for user-generated content and non-linear production.

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55 5.1 Globalization and new media trends ..... 131

Figure 5.1 Percentage of exports by region, 2006 ............................................................................................ 131

Figure 5.2 Exports and imports of audiovisual services and copyrights, 2006 ......... 132

Figure 5.3 Percentage of countries by type of domestic music piracy levels in 2006

(physical piracy only) ......................................................... 132

Figure 5.4 Public radio programming for selected countries in 2005 .................................... 132

Figure 5.5 Origin of top movies exhibited in 2006 ..................................................................................... 133

Figure 5.6 Public television programming for selected countries in 2005 .................................... 133

Figure 5.7 Recorded music repertoire for selected countries in 2006 ................................... 133

Box 5.1 The emergence of international and pan-regional news services .............................. 134

5.2 Impacts of communication and cultural

products..................................................... 137

Box 5.2 The Power of Peace Network (PPN) ...... 139 Box 5.3 Little Mosque on the Prairie ...................... 143

5.3 Policies fostering cultural diversity ......... 144

Box 5.4 Implementing media literacy programmes.......................................................................... 145

Box 5.5 Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) ................................................................... 148

Conclusion ......................................................... 150

Recommendations............................................ 151

In focus: Media toolkits for cultural

diversity in broadcasting ......................... 152

References and websites .................................. 157

Communi-

cation and

Cultural

Contents

A woman listening to radio in Namaacha, Mozambique

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

In the last two decades, cultural diversity has enjoyed

unprecedented visibility through the expansion of

increasingly visual communication and cultural products

for defi nitions, which have been at the forefront of far-

reaching changes in contemporary culture since the end

of the 1980s.1 While it is undeniable that globalization

has played an integrative role as a ‘window on the world’,

mostly to the profi t of a few powerful international

conglomerates, recent shifts prompted by technological

innovation and new consumption patterns are spurring

new forms of ‘globalization from below’ and creating a

two-way fl ow of communication and cultural products.

Global fl ows and imbalances The importance of the media and cultural industries in

quantitative and economic terms may be gauged from

the statistics on cross-border fl ows. In 2006, the sector

generated about US$51 billion in commercial revenue

and a signifi cant part of worldwide exports. In terms of

employment and economic growth, in developing and

developed countries alike, surveys (KEA, 2006; UNCTAD,

2008) indicate that global cultural industries accounted for

more than 7 percent of global GDP and were worth about

US$1,300 billion in 2006, that is, nearly twice the total

of international tourism receipts, estimated at US$680

billion (UNWTO, 2007). In the 1990s in OECD countries,

the cultural industries economy (also known as the

economy of cultural and creative sectors, e.g. in UNCTAD

terminology) grew at an annual rate twice that of service

industries and four times that of manufacturing. In the EU,

for example, this sector (comprising television, cinema,

music, performing arts and entertainment) generated

€654 billion and contributed 2.6 percent of the EU’s GDP

in 2003 and employed at least 5.8 million people in 2004.

In 2006 the six largest multimedia and transnational

‘cultural’ corporations — Disney, Time Warner, General

Electric, Sony, Vivendi and Bertelsman — generated

about US$320 billion in annual revenue. Generally

speaking, there has been a concentration of power in

the hands of a few global media players, notably AOL,

News Corporation, CNN, MTV and Google, in addition

to those cited above. Of course, the overall fi gures for

the trade of cultural goods and services mask wide

regional disparities, especially between developed and

developing countries, as evidenced by the following 2006

trends in printed and recorded media (see Figure 5.1):

For printed media (books, newspapers, periodicals and

other printed matter), the world’s top fi ve exporters

accounted for more than 56 percent of the world’s

exports: the US (16.7 percent), the UK (15.6 percent),

Germany (13.6 percent), France (5.7 percent) and

China (4.9 percent). Europe dominated the sector

(64 percent), followed by North America (20 percent),

East Asia (10.7 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean

(2.7 percent), Central and South Asia (0.9 percent), the

Pacifi c (0.87 percent), sub-Saharan Africa (0.35 percent)

and the Arab States (0.23 percent). In 2006, the top fi ve

importers of printed media were Canada, the UK, France,

Germany and Switzerland.

For recorded media (primarily music, sound recordings

and related software), the top fi ve exporters accounted

for more than 62 percent of the world’s exports:

Ireland (14.2 percent), Germany (13.9 percent), the

US (12.4 percent), the Netherlands (11.5 percent)

and the UK (10.6 percent). Europe also dominated

this sector (71 percent), followed by North America

(15 percent), East Asia (6.7 percent), Central and South

Asia (3.6 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean

(2.2 percent), the Pacifi c (0.83 percent), sub-Saharan

Africa (0.41 percent) and the Arab States (0.02 percent).

In 2006, the top fi ve importers of recorded media were

Italy, Germany, the UK, France and Belgium.

5.1 Globalization and new media trends

Figure 5.1 Percentage of exports by region, 2006

Source: UIS, 2008 based on data from UN Comtrade database, DESA/UNSD.

Europe North America East Asia Latin America and the Caribbean Central and South Asia Pacific Sub-Saharan Africa the Arab States

64 20

10,7

2,7 0,9

0,87 0,35

0,23

* Books as well as newspapers, periodicals and other printed matter.

6,7

3,6 2,2 0,830,41

0,02

+ Music, sound recordings and related software.

printed media* recorded media+

... recent shifts

prompted by

technological

innovation and

new consumption

patterns are spurring

new forms of

‘globalization from

below’ and creating

a two-way fl ow of

communication and

cultural products

1. For UNESCO's defi nitions of communication and cultural products, please

refer to the glossary pp 372-81.

WRCD_eng2.indd 131 29/09/09 12:41

1 3 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

than 1 percent of world exports, despite its abundance

of creative talent (UNCTAD, 2008). Indeed, the vast

majority of developing countries are not yet in a position

to harness their creative capacities for development.

Moreover, more than half the world’s population is

presently in danger of cultural and economic exclusion,

as 90 percent of the world’s languages are still not

represented on the Internet (see chapter 3 above).

At the same time, these statistics on cross-border fl ows

do not adequately capture the local consumption of

cultural content or the impact of peer-to-peer (P2P)

technologies and piracy (see Figure 5.3). This makes

it diffi cult to calculate their extent and the relative

importance of local and foreign production.

Figure 5.2 provide percentages of exports and imports

of cultural goods and services between OECD and

non-OECD countries. They make it abundantly clear

that a handful of countries dominate the marketplace

(mainly Northern countries as opposed to developing

countries from the South) and that the international

trade in cultural goods and services is still rather weak in

developing countries.

Yet, while international trade in creative goods and

services experienced an unprecedented average annual

growth rate of 8.7 percent between 2000 and 2005

and the value of world exports of creative goods and

services reached US$424.4 billion in 2005 (representing

3.4 percent of total world trade), Africa’s share in this

global trade of creative products remains marginal at less

Figure 5.3 Percentage of countries by type of domestic

music piracy levels in 2006 (physical piracy only)

Source: UIS based on IFPI: Recording Industry in Numbers, 2007.

45% 15%

15%

25%

Over 50% 25-50% 10-24% Under 10%

Figure 5.2 Exports and imports of audiovisual services and copyrights, 2006

Source: UIS database 2008, based on data from UN Comtrade database, DESA/UNSD.

98%

OECD countries Non-OECD countries OECD countries Non-OECD countries

95%

exports imports

Figure 5.4 Public radio programming for selected countries in 2005

Source: UIS Culture & communication database, 2008.

100

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Arab States Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and

South Asia East Asia Europe

Latin America and

the Caribbean Pacific

Share of contents (percent)

National production content International production content

In terms of origin of content production, radio,

television and fi lm broadcasting show similar global

trends, although important disparities can be observed

according to the media concerned. Indeed, radio

programming, for linguistic and localization reasons, does

not lend itself to internationalization in the same way

as do cinema, television or music (see Figures 5.4–5.7).

Television and music, while frequently infl uenced by

international models and formats, are to some extent

more adaptable to local realities.

As for cinema, national productions are generally

struggling to compete with the blockbusters produced

by large motion picture conglomerates. This is

compounded by the fact that 88 countries out of

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C O M M U N I C A T I O N A N D C U L T U R A L C O N T E N T S . 1 3 3

Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

185 have never produced their own fi lms (Nyamnjoh,

2007; see also Rourke, 2004; Oguibe, 2004). However,

there are some notable exceptions. In France, for

example, thanks to a strong national co-fi nancing

mechanism, the share of French fi lms in domestic movie

theatres (approximately 50 percent) is now higher

than it was in the 1970s. One of the paradoxes of the

development of local fi lm conglomerates (e.g. India’s

Bollywood industry) is that they can actually restrict the

diversity of productions at the local level, even if those

conglomerates contribute positively to diversity at the

international level.

Counter-fl ows, local and regional trends While developed countries continue to dominate

the global market for communication and cultural

products, a recent move towards re-fragmentation

and diversifi cation on a global level can be observed.

This move has permit the growth in recent years of

‘counter-fl ows’ that are modifying the global media

landscape. A handful of developing countries are

emerging both as exporters of cultural and media

equipment and as content producers (UNCTAD, 2008).

Developing countries’ exports of cultural and media

equipment increased rapidly over the period 1996–2005

from US$51 billion to US$274 billion as a result of

strategies to increase global competitiveness and an

expanding demand for communications equipment

(including televisions, computer and video equipment,

CD and DVD readers and recorders, game consoles

and multifunction portable telephones). This trend,

accompanied by increased piracy and a decrease in

the levels of cinema attendance (with a few exceptions

such as in India), has facilitated the emergence of local

markets for media content, such as the Nigerian home

video entertainment industry known as Nollywood.

While they represent forms of ‘globalization from

below’, these markets remain relatively localized due to

technological limitations and distribution diffi culties.

The emergence of counter-fl ows has led to a number

of changes: the development of media exports from

newly industrialized societies (e.g. the Republic of

Korea; see Kim, 2007; Iwabuchi, 2007); the rise of new

regional media hubs (e.g. the role of post-apartheid

South Africa in Anglophone Africa; see Teer-Tommaselli,

Wasserman and de Beer, 2007); the global signifi cance

of the Latin American audiovisual sector (the export

Figure 5.5 Origin of top movies exhibited in 2006

Source: UIS database, 2008.

100

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a U

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Percent

National Foreign and USA

Figure 5.6 Public television programming for selected countries in 2005

Source: UIS Culture & communication database, 2008.

100

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Arab States Sub-Saharan Africa Central and South Asia East Asia Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

Share of contents (percent)

National production content Foreign production content

Figure 5.7 Recorded music repertoire* for selected countries in 2006

Source: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 2007.

100

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re ec

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ec h

R ep

ub lic

It al

y Fi

nl an

d U

ni te

d Ki

ng do

m D

en m

ar k

G er

m an

y N

or w

ay Sp

ai n

H un

g ar

y Sw

ed en

Po rt

ug al

Po la

nd N

et he

rl an

ds B

el g

iu m

Ire la

nd A

us tr

ia Sw

it ze

rl an

d U

SA Ca

na da

B ra

zi l

A rg

en ti

na M

ex ic

o Co

lo m

bi a

Ch ile

A us

tr al

ia N

ew Z

ea la

East Asia Europe North

America

Latin America and

the Caribbean Pacific

Share of repertoires (percent)

Domestic repertoire International repertoire** * From physical sales only (excluding digital sales in 2006). ** Classical repertoir included international.

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1 3 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

Examples include the fl ow of Indian fi lm and television

programmes to British Asian communities and the above-

mentioned Bollywood phenomenon (Thussu, 2005),

as well as the ever larger audience for Chinese media

products both in the Greater China cultural region (Chan,

2005) and across the Chinese global diaspora, ‘the world’s

biggest audience’ (Curtis, 2007).

The innovations in ICTs are just beginning to have an

impact on the structure and content of the mainstream

media players and the possibilities they off er for alternative,

small, local and community media. New practices and

content — linked to the development of some of the

newer cultural, informational and communication products

accessible via the Internet, mobile phones or similar tools

— are appearing. These permit the emergence of small

production structures targeting micro-markets and new

models of content creation and delivery. New technologies

are having a major impact on the dissemination of media

content, especially in the fi eld of publishing, where the

reduction of fi xed costs associated with production and

storage, the possibility of doing small print runs (print on

demand) and selling online have favoured the emergence

of small, artisanal publishing houses catering for niche

markets (e.g. Trafi cante de Sueños).

of Brazilian telenovelas to Portugal, for example, or the

rise of pan-regional news services, such as Al Jazeera or

Nuevo Television del Sur; see Box 5.1). At the same time,

international networks such as TV5, which targets the

French-speaking world, and others mentioned above

have been created to counterbalance the infl uence of

networks such as CNN and BBC World.

In these ways, the development of new forms of media

are producing a much more complex and fl uid global

media market, undermining older perceptions of a

linear, unidirectional fl ow of media and facilitating

the emergence of networks of all kinds (Warnier and

Nyamnjoh, 2007). Some of these include: Reporters

sans Frontières, Amnesty International, the World Free

Press Institute, the International Freedom of Expression

network, the European Audiovisual Observatory,

and regional networks such as New Latino Spaces,

the Bruno Manser Fund’s Tong Tana and Africultures.

Diasporic communities and indigenous, minority and

other special-interest groups are also establishing

media outlets that give a voice and provide information

to their communities — through radio and satellite

television and through increased access to computer-

mediated communication (Dayan, 1999; Georgiu, 2006).

The emergence of pan-regional and

international news services (on television

and online) on the global media scene has

been depicted as a shift away from the

monopoly long held by dominant, Western-

based news media. News services such as Al

Jazeera, and most recently Nuevo Television

del Sur (commonly referred to as Telesur),

attempt to provide news programming

from a particular regional setting and in a

region’s primary language. Their presence

refl ects the prominence of news and current

aff airs programming in a globalized context,

the diversity of the global media audience

and the need to respond to this diversity.

Al Jazeera, the Arabic news channel, was

launched in 1996 with a grant from the

Qatari Government. Since then, it has grown

considerably, expanding its programming to

include sports, children’s shows, documentaries

and public interest shows. In 2006 it added

an English-based international news station

called Al Jazeera International. As part of its

code of ethics, it aims to present a diversity

of perspectives and recognize diversity

among peoples and societies through the

acknowledgment of diff erences in cultures,

beliefs and values. Cultural diversity is also

an active policy in its human resources

management; substantial eff orts to ensure

representation of all Arab countries has

yielded positive results. As Al Jazeera grows

beyond its original regional focus to become

an alternative news voice on the international

scene, new questions arise about its position

as a transnational mainstream news network

and how suitably it can balance the needs

of a pan-Arabian audience with those of a

growing global audience (Iskandar, 2006).

While it aims to ‘present all colours of the

spectrum’, some have criticized it for its

coverage of certain aspects of world politics.

A new addition to the global news media

scene, Telesur, was established in 2005 with

major fi nancial support from the government

of Venezuela, as well as support from the

governments of Cuba, Argentina and

Uruguay. Telesur has already expressed an

interest in following Al Jazeera’s example.

In 2006, the two transnational news service

providers signed a cooperation agreement

to share content and expertise.

Source: Raboy, 2007.

The emergence of international and pan-regional news services Box 5.1

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

and sizes across the globe, the World Wide Web has the

potential to signifi cantly redress not only imbalances in

political and economic power between the local and

the global but also divides between various groups

in society. The Internet is in eff ect an ideal means

of facilitating cross-border information streams and

sustaining and promoting cultural diversity through

content production. It is also engendering a boom in

alternative media production and use.

The growth in number of Internet connections is a

good indicator of the potential for development of

alternative media in cyberspace. From 500 million users

in 2000 the number shot up to 1.2 billion by 2007. In

addition, the number of hours spent communicating

via Internet, the number of connections and the

volume of documents made available, consulted or

downloaded show an equally tremendous increase

in use (Esteban, 2006). This is true for all generations

of Internet users. Market surveys show that, in the US,

time spent online among children aged 2–11 increased

63 percent in the last fi ve years, from nearly 7 hours

Another interesting impact of new technologies is the

substantial growth in the production of cultural and

media equipment and related software and network

operations, which have spurred a corresponding increase

in the consumption of products conceived for this

hardware, including video and CD players, computers,

television receivers, consoles and mobile phones. The

shift in consumer preferences has created substitution

mechanisms. Thus, the stagnation of the print publishing

sector in Western countries (including newspapers and

magazines) is directly related to the emergence of online

distribution systems (e.g. Amazon, news websites) and

e-book formats (digital libraries, the Internet Archive,

Google Books, etc.). The rise in home viewing of cultural

products thanks to the fl ourishing of DVD production and

distribution is inversely related to the decrease in cinema

attendance (which, in some countries, may also be

explained by the amount of piracy present there).

A changing media landscape As access to the Internet widens and is appropriated

by social, political and religious movements of all types ��A woman in front of a computer in Koutiala, Mali

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mobility. It also refers to the range of new anxieties and

perplexities in contemporary life: from worries over

climate change and fears of global infl uenza pandemics,

to concerns about how fl uctuations in the global

economy may aff ect job security or interest payments

locally. The dramatic increase in media connectivity in

the late 20th and early 21st centuries embodies a dual

potential for increased cultural interaction and greater

cultural uniformity.

Interactivity refers to the audience shift from relatively

passive recipients of pre-determined broadcast content

to participants in the very production and dissemination

of cultural and communication contents, which are

increasingly user-generated. The ability to actively

use the Internet — via blogs, chat rooms, bulletin

boards, multi-user websites and so on — to express

opinions, establish relationships and pursue individual

and collective projects is undoubtedly changing the

fundamental experience of media use. In particular, Web

2.0 technologies are causing many media companies

to change their strategies; they are providing more and

more tools for customers, partners and other interested

parties to post content including text, video, and pictures.

Media convergence refers to the use of a single platform

(e.g. a laptop computer or a mobile phone) to perform a

range of functions — watching television, downloading

videos or music, web-browsing, emailing, on-line

shopping, telephoning — which until recently were

distinct activities. It is signifi cantly altering the practice

and experience of using the media. The most striking

example today is the cellular phone, which now

enables one to consult the press, receive email, listen

to music, watch television, take photos, consult street

and road maps, shop, etc. It is also a means — in Africa

for example — of communicating in oral languages,

thereby helping to preserve linguistic diversity. This

convergence involves a personalization of the traditional

domestic media audience, since people can choose

among a potentially unlimited range of sources of

entertainment, information and cultural practice, and

achieve greater mobility and interactivity. This last point

is potentially the most signifi cant for the promotion

of cultural diversity. With the progressive replacement

of VHS by DVD formats for videos, new avenues have

opened up for the interactive use of media content (e.g.

enabling the viewer to choose subtitles or even the

per month in May 2004 to more than 11 hours per

month in May 2009 (Nielsen, 2009), in tandem with the

rise of social networking technologies (e.g. Facebook,

MySpace, YouTube; see chapter 1, Box 1.2). The

Internet’s scope, potential and versatility can serve the

interests of the very big and the very small. The increasing

multiplicity of actors is having a major impact on the

nature and, potentially, the diversity of media content.

The changes taking place in the media landscape

are fundamentally characterized by three factors:

connectivity, interactivity and convergence. Connectivity

refers to the growing interdependence between

the networks and global fl ows associated with new

communications technologies — email, the Internet,

mobile phones — and the (increasingly urban)

environments in which people live. Connectivity

infl uences the way people across the globe earn their

living, the sort of food they eat, the music, cinema and

television they choose as entertainment, as well as their

��The roofs of a city in North Africa

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

to diversifi cation. For example, digitization (of visual

and written content) has resulted in a rapid, radical

and permanent reduction in the cost of these systems,

bringing them within the fi nancial — if not the cultural

— reach of the underprivileged (Le Diberder, 2008).

If today’s media landscape is characterized by a number

of interesting and paradoxical changes as we move

towards increasingly interconnected and creative

economies, it nevertheless remains marked by power

imbalances (social, political and economic in nature)

and driven by profi t maximization, at the heart of which

the struggle for identity and communication plays itself

out. The emergence of counter-fl ows is a promising

trend towards the reduction of those imbalances. In

the framework of UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the

Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural

Expressions, the creation of an International Fund

for Cultural Diversity — which, although not yet

operational, has already received considerable fi nancial

support — is a sign that the international community

is ready to implement mechanisms to redress

existing imbalances in national production capacities

and access to international markets. Of course, a

precondition for this is the existence of national

revenue-generating mechanisms, since without

them creative industries cannot fl ourish. If optimized,

however, globalization and technological innovations

can contribute to the enhancement of cultural diversity

in communication and cultural products worldwide.

language of viewing). But the synergies between the

Internet and the more classical media (such as a weekly

newspaper) are more signifi cant than often noticed.

Increasingly, the media sector is becoming not only an

‘enabler of globalization’ but also a ‘powerful agent’ of

social, cultural and political transformation (Siochrú,

2004). The Internet can also be a powerful tool for the

conservation and dissemination of cultural diversity, as

illustrated by UNESCO initiatives such as Memory of the

World and the recent World Digital Library launched in

April 2009 — a project in which UNESCO and the US

Library of Congress have played a leading role.

Obviously the extent of the growth and the impact of

alternative media, Internet development and accessibility

in a given country will depend on the economic and

political conditions prevailing there. In some countries,

economic conditions or the political control exercised

over the Internet do not favour their development.

New physical and virtual spaces are emerging, often

as a result of private initiatives (‘citizen’ cafés, forums,

blogs), and satellite television is reconnecting diaspora

audiences with their homelands while general audiences

are able to discover broadcasts from other countries

and new cultural horizons. The multiplicity of players

and distribution channels has made public information

generally more accessible, allowing its integration into

diff erent socio-economic frameworks and creating

new opportunities for developing public and private

enterprise models, all of which are greatly contributing

5.2 Impacts of communication and cultural products

Researchers and experts in a wide range of fi elds,

including cultural studies, communication and

information sciences, economics, international law

and political science, have sought to describe, account

for and measure these new realities through a variety

of approaches. User-generated media harbour the

potential for diversifying voices, thereby creating

new opportunities for interactive exchanges among

participants from diff erent cultural backgrounds.

Furthermore, increased interconnectedness and

interactivity make it possible to overcome the kind

of ‘passive learning’ that has often burdened visual

communication media. Yet if the growth of on-demand

digital content on the Internet and the widespread

availability of readily reproducible and exchangeable

media (DVDs, streaming media, audio and video fi les)

hold out new promise, they also pose new challenges for

cultural diversity, particularly audience fragmentation and

stereotyping. These can and must be addressed through

appropriate information and media literacy initiatives.

Audience fragmentation and cultural prescription Along with the changes it has brought about through

the increased availability of media content, the digital

era has also had a considerable impact on demand

and how the public consumes such content. The ‘long

tail’ eff ect refers to the increased possibility, created by

digital media, of making available specialized or limited-

audience works as a result of lower production and

distribution costs (Anderson, 2006).

... the World Wide Web

has the potential to

signifi cantly redress

not only imbalances in

political and economic

power between the

local and the global

but also divides

between various

groups in society

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— are becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number

of television channels and the seemingly endless range

of programmes, a signifi cant intergenerational gap is

opening up, particularly due to the emergence of new

practices of consumption of digital content linked to

new forms of social networking (e.g. online services

such as Facebook or Messenger). The existence of

too many choices is thus fragmenting audiences and

triggering closure and social isolation. More and more

audiences are made up of ‘fans’ or ‘sects’ that have little

contact with one another and tend to be exclusive of

other modes of thinking (Sunstein, 2001). The danger

of such a phenomenon is that it can lead to a ‘false

diversity’, masking the fact that people are actually only

communicating with those who share the same cultural

frames of reference.

The rise of satellite channels today caters simultaneously

to the consumer interested in travel, history, classical

music, horses, old fi lms, women’s topics or children’s

programmes, and supplies foreign channels in their

original languages. But if, for example, only women

watch channels for women, if history enthusiasts do

not watch geography channels, if foreign channels are

watched only by immigrants who accordingly shun

national channels in their country of adoption and

simply nurture their attachment to the culture they

have left behind, then the possibility of interculturality

and dialogue is compromised. In some cases, the

‘long tail’ eff ect can lead to the ‘tribalization’ of cultural

consumption, the dangers of which are obvious since

they contravene any attempt to promote intercultural

dialogue and mutual understanding. Moreover, this

may also contribute to the reinforcement of stereotypes

about others. Such diversity amounts to little more than

a juxtaposition of parallel singularities.

The emergence of new viewing and listening practices

linked to technological development thus has important

implications for cultural diversity. In this connection, it

is essential to bear in mind that the digital revolution’s

impact on diversity is asymetric and has diff erential

eff ects depending on the regions and income categories

under consideration. Thus, in the countries of the North

and the South, its eff ects on cultural diversity are likely

to diff er according to the digital practices prevalent in a

given location, and dependent upon Internet access and

use, and piracy levels (Le Diberder, 2008).

The eff ect of the diversifi cation of content on the range

of consumer choices is more complex than it might

seem at fi rst glance. Digital recording has given rise to

an overabundance of choices in media content, but

also to increased piracy facilitated by the distribution

of recordable CDs and DVDs and multiformat recorders,

both in the North and in many urban centres in the

countries of the South. While only one-fi fth of humanity

has access to the Internet, between two- and three-

fi fths have access to video copies or musical fi les (see

also Figure 5.3).

The increased supply of media content is not necessarily

refl ected in greater diversity of consumption. Confronted

by an excess of choice, some consumers prefer to

confi ne themselves to a small number of familiar titles

rather than explore unknown or diff erent content

(Benhamou, 2004). Cultural preferences are usually fed

by interactions with others (e.g. talking about a puppet

performance, borrowing or lending content, sharing

activities like watching television, listening to radio

with fellow workers), a phenomenon known as ‘cultural

prescription’. Interestingly, the enlargement of choice

made possible by the digital revolution is also causing

some to seek out prescription from their closest relations.

A recent study in France by the National Film Centre

(Centre national de la cinématographie) showed for

example that in 60 percent of the cases, a person viewed

a fi lm at the cinema as the result of a recommendation

from someone close to the person rather than due to

advertising or a critic’s review (Le Diberder, 2008).

At the same time, as the traditional agents of

prescription — school, immediate family, local retailers

An increased supply

of media content

can lead to a 'false

diversity', masking the

fact that some people

are communicating

only with those

who share the same

cultural references

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

on local productions are, however, more ambiguous.

While they face greater competition, local productions

are beginning to secure support and networking facilities,

both internationally and locally, as in the case of Nigerian

audiovisual products.

As we shall see, to counter these undesirable eff ects

of the new economy of prescription, it is necessary to

increase initiatives that foster digital media literacy,

with particular regard to providing the public with the

tools it needs and the necessary critical distance to

make more eff ective use of search engines. This is one

of the aims of the UNESCO Power of Peace Network

(PPN) programme (see Box 5.2).

For people in the North connected to the Internet,

digital media expand existing provisions by catering to

broader and more diversifi ed tastes. On the other hand,

for those in the North with only limited or no access

to an Internet connection, advertising campaigns for

the promotion of blockbuster movies probably impact

negatively on cultural consumption. In the countries

of the South, an Internet connection is more likely to

provide access to what is most readily available, i.e. media

content produced in the developed countries, to the

detriment of local productions . For those in the South

without an Internet connection, lack of access to digital

technology is a major ongoing concern, the result of

which is increased piracy. The impacts of digital media

Because the mass media have become a vital

means of educating the general public about

history and the world, there is a need for

‘integrated documentary fi lm projects aimed at

improving knowledge among cultures

[and] fi lms that refl ect both excellent

scholarship, and a strong sense of contemporary

relevance and visual impact’ (UN Alliance of

Civilizations, 2007). A number of ongoing

projects are working towards this goal, including

the productions of the Unity Productions

Foundation (UPF), notably Muhammad: Legacy

of a Prophet (and its companion website The

Islam Project), or the documentary on the

period of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.

Other fi lms funded by public-private initiatives

for international audiences include A Prince

Among Slaves, about Africans in the US, and

the BBC series Story of Africa, Connections

and The Day the Universe Changed.

The UNESCO Power of Peace Network (PPN) is

an interactive platform that seeks to harness

innovative mechanisms to promote peace

through media and ICTs. PPN fosters global

collaboration in the use of ICTs for cultural self-

expression, mutual understanding, the reduction

of confl ict, and the promotion of sustainable

living. PPN endeavours to bring young people

to the forefront of this eff ort, drawing on their

energy and often ground-breaking approaches

to the challenges that lie ahead. Its goals include:

■ Leading the ongoing debate on how to

eff ectively promote mutual understanding by

harnessing the Web 2.0 technologies, as well

as television, newspapers and magazines,

and how to bring youth to the vanguard of

leadership, empower civil society and make

the power of peace an agent of change.

■ Providing an online environment for the

sharing of ideas and content, including

blogs, audio-visual and written materials

that are educational, informative

and support the PPN mission.

■ Creating a strong network and bringing

together stakeholders in the PPN initiative

(including NGOs, youth organizations,

media and ICT specialists, government

and international agencies, private sector

interests, religious and cultural institutions,

universities and other educational

institutions) in order to respond to

new social and economic challenges

in communities around the world.

■ Contributing to sustainable development

through knowledge-sharing and by fi nding

practical ways to use the technologies

at our disposal to encourage self-

expression, achieve better understanding

of ourselves and others, and ultimately

enhance the human condition.

■ Encouraging the formation of a global

coalition of universities and other

educational institutions to develop a

collaborative program that incorporates

media in peace and confl ict studies

for broad public education and for

reaching out to young people on

university campuses around the world.

■ Facilitating a network of those engaged

in the media and peace-building and

identifying possible partnerships between

those working on the ground (NGOs

and other civil society organizations)

and ICTs and media outlets, experts

and trainers, supporters of content

development, educators, researchers,

business advisors and managers.

Generally speaking, PPN activities aim to serve

as an interdisciplinary platform for dialogue

among civilizations and as a clearing house

for audiovisual content in the context of

promoting peace, by providing support to

educational institutions through curriculum

development, training, and a focus on peace

and confl ict studies, and opportunities for

lifelong learning among media professionals,

especially in confl ict-sensitive reporting.

Source: UNESCO, 2009.

The Power of Peace Network (PPN)Box 5.2

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Debates abound on the extent of the media’s infl uence

in constructing both individual and collective attitudes

towards others and cultural diversity (Fürsich, 2008). While

for some, the media have a direct and immediate eff ect

on passive and easily manipulated audiences (often

referred to as the ‘Magic Bullet Theory’), others have

claimed that media have no signifi cant behavioural or

attitudinal eff ects (the ‘Limited Eff ects Paradigm’, especially

in US mass communication research from the 1940s

into the 1970s). According to the latter, the media

infl uence people only indirectly, with psychological

predispositions, demographics, cognitive processes,

interpersonal contacts and other such factors hindering

their direct impact. ‘Spiral of Silence’ theorists argue

that the media can contribute signifi cantly to a climate

of opinion that can obfuscate the real attitudes on an

issue in the mainstream population while stopping

people with dissenting views from speaking out. And

‘Cultivation Theory’ (Gerbner et al., 1986) argues that

television infl uence should not be measured by way of

signifi cant short-term eff ects. Instead, lifelong exposure

to television seems to lead especially heavy viewers

to take television’s constructed reality to be the actual

social reality (e.g. viewers starting to see the world as a

very violent and dangerous place).

While it is no longer assumed that individuals are purely

passive receivers of media content, there is considerable

research (by educational psychologists and across opinion

surveys) that points to the extent to which the media can

and do reinforce people’s values, attitudes, opinions, beliefs

and feelings, and therefore the ways in which individuals

react to ethnic or cultural diff erences. The constructed

realities of the media undeniably contribute to establishing

the norms, communication and behavioural patterns

towards people, groups and institutions, that is to say, the

actual social realities of contemporary society. Benjamin

Barber (1996) goes so far as to state: ‘It is time to recognize

that the true tutors of our children are no longer the school

teachers and university professors, but the fi lmmakers,

advertising executives and pop culture purveyors. Disney

does more than Duke, Spielberg outweighs Stanford,

MTV trumps MIT’. These representations of ‘central

signifying practices for producing shared meaning’ are

constitutive of culture, meaning and knowledge about

ourselves and the world around us (Hall, 1997). In short,

media representations normalize specifi c worldviews and

contribute to perceived reality.

Stereotypes and representations of cultural diversity There is no question that the media exercise enormous

power in shaping our perceptions of, attitudes towards

and opinions about ‘others’. As the strongest purveyors of

globalization, and able to penetrate even the remotest

corners of the planet, the media (television, radio, instant

messaging, newspapers and magazines, advertising

and the Internet) inundate us with representations of

how other people look, feel, live, eat, dress and think

(Appadurai, 1990).

The media’s hold over attitudes, consumption patterns

and creation, as well as over cultural expressions and

cultural diversity, is all too real. They feed into processes of

self-identifi cation on individual and collective levels, and

contribute to the formation of ‘imagined communities’

(Anderson, 1991). Appadurai (1990) uses the term

‘mediascapes’ to designate the ‘imaginary landscapes of

the media’ that play a crucial role in the ways in which

we conceive of our lives. Mediascapes may indeed be

quite powerful and become insidious sources of confl ict,

tensions and even violence in societies.

��A young girl talks with a German journalist about life working in a

garment factory in Bangladesh

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1) the ubiquity, saturation and repetitiveness of

mass media seem to reinforce the longevity of these

representations; 2) profi t-driven commercial media

systems proved to have diffi culties introducing more

complex representations in order to undermine

problematic ones; and 3) the media seem to be

too closely aligned with the elites in societies to

be interested in changing the status quo. Lately, a

debate has begun on whether digital technology and

the Internet can undermine traditional systems of

representation by adding new outlets. And it may be

that the increasing audience fragmentation caused by a

growing number of media outlets available to audiences

in nearly all countries of the world will help to diminish

the impact of negative representations. However, since

representation speaks to a sustained image delivered

across media channels and outlets (and not exposure to

an individual depiction in the media), long-established

representations are bound to survive across genres and

media platforms (Fürsich, 2007).

Since the invention of motion pictures or fi lm over a

century ago, visually based mass media have stockpiled

forms of representation that are constantly recycled

across a variety of media outlets and genres (e.g. the

lack of character development in sitcoms), production

practices (e.g. the use of script conventions) and

economic pressures (e.g. the need to attract a large

mainstream audience), (Entman and Rojecki, 2000,

quoted in Fürsich, 2007). Even shows and media content

that openly try to ‘counter-stereotype’, and thereby

undermine negative representations, by presenting

opposite roles and characters often have only a limited

eff ect because they are bound up with the same

problematic and often broadcast together (Gray, 1995).

Television in general has an inherent tendency to fi xate;

its traditional logic of production and editing, as well

as its narrative structure, forces closure. At the same

time, postmodernism has opened up more fl exible,

albeit sometimes ambiguous, modes of representation

(as in music videos), and the impacts of the Internet

are certainly changing our modes and capacities for

interaction and dialogue in interesting ways.

Television news broadcasting plays an important role in

national integration and has often led to ‘othering’ anyone

outside national borders and to the suppression of

regional, local and minority audience interests.

As is obvious from the limited range of representations

in circulation, the media participate in the creation of

stereotypes through what is often called the process of

‘othering’, namely the determination of what separates

me from other individuals, groups and communities

by cataloguing them as ‘others’. Indeed, national media

(whether commercial or public-service-oriented) usually

cater to national audiences and can often depict both

foreigners and minorities (whether ethnic, linguistic,

racial, religious or gender minorities) in essentialized

or stereotyped ways, thereby dehumanizing and

caricaturizing them. The process of ‘othering’ can also be

informed by contexts or situations, such as in accounts

or depictions of international relations, confl icts and

cultures. In an environment increasingly saturated by

visual communication, imagery has the propensity

to maintain, confi rm and re-create such problematic

representations of ‘others’ ad infi nitum. Over the last 25

years, media specialists have explored the role the media

play in maintaining problematic stereotypes (e.g. Dines

and Humez, 2003; Castañeda and Campbell, 2006).

A similar trend is apparent in the way in which the media,

particularly television, sometimes detach certain cultural

phenomena from their context and transpose them

into other contexts where they contribute to cultural

change. This can lead in some cases to an ‘unconscious

Westernization’ (Shayegan, 2008), with people purchasing

the goods or wearing the clothes they have just seen on

television or on the screen. An example of the kinds of

cultural encounters that may occur through the media

is provided by the impact in the Arab world of certain

South American soap operas (or telenovelas), which have

attracted a huge following and have had some surprising

consequences, such as in Morocco, where the number of

young Muslim girls being given the fi rst name ‘Guadalupe’

(the name of their mother’s favourite telenovela heroine),

despite its strong Christian connotation, has soared to

such an extent that the state registry of births and religious

authorities have taken note of the situation (Tel Quel, 2008).

In Western societies in particular, as research on opinion

surveys amply illustrates, the repertoire of representations

of cultural diversity off ered by contemporary media is

often linked to historical constructions based on national

and collective memory and racially based imagery (in the

continuum of colonialism). There are three main reasons

for the persistence of such representations:

Debates abound

on the extent of the

media’s infl uence

in constructing

both individual and

collective attitudes

towards others and

cultural diversity

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1 4 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

to reach new audiences, and capture and address local

diversity and creativity, more diversity is introduced. The

signifi cance, for example, of the spectacularly successful

Super Girl Contest staged by Hunan Satellite Television in

China in 2005 is not so much in its having adapted the

global Pop Idol format to a Chinese audience (Silverstone,

2007; Hewitt, 2007) but rather in its having thereby

reproduced some of what Zygmunt Bauman (2005) calls

the ‘explicit and tacit assumptions about the ways of the

world, visions of happiness and the ways to pursue them’

that inform the ‘consumer syndrome’. These include the

cult of celebrity, an emphasis on popular glamour as

something to which to aspire, an individualist approach

to life goals based on eliminative competition, and the

reduction of the expression of opinion to audience polls.

Many attempts have been made to combat stereotypes,

distorted images and false perceptions. They are situated

at diff erent levels, depending on whether they involve

information, games or fi ction. Generally speaking, one of

the most fruitful approaches is to present a community

stigmatized by stereotypes in a positive light, by

emphasizing the cultural traits that distinguish them

from others. Such representations, in documentaries

or geographical-historical programmes, can restore

dignity to communities that feel themselves to be

undervalued. Diff erent strategies have been designed

in order to eliminate stereotypes, distorted images

and misperceptions transmitted and supported by

communication and cultural products, which ultimately

hinder our understanding of peoples and cultures and

thus our capacity for dialogue:

■ A common approach to overcoming outright

stereotyping has been to counter-stereotype, that is,

to take a previously stereotyped minority and create

media content that shows this minority in a positive

light. For some media specialists, the internationally

successful American situation comedy The Cosby

Show is an example of such a strategy, while others

maintain that this example shows that to be portrayed

positively, minorities have to ‘act white’. A diffi culty with

counter-stereotyping strategies is that they often refer

back to negative representations and may come across

as overly didactic or as inauthentic.

■ Another strategy for contesting the ‘dominant

regime of representation’ is known as trans-coding,

Travel journalism also illustrates some of the ambiguities

and paradoxes inherent in mediated images of cultural

diversity: fundamentally structured by the search for

diff erence (considered by some as the ultimate motivation

of tourism), travel journalism often results in the perpetual

cycle of manufacturing, celebrating and exoticizing

diff erence (Robinson, 2007). Stressing individual pleasure

and personalized travel, the narratives often neglect

the broader political, social and economic problems of

countries and communities. Travelogues can thereby

reduce local communities and individuals to nameless and

voiceless essentialized ‘types’, instead of ‘unpacking cultures’

by portraying and celebrating the multiple and very real

aspects of the country or location covered.

In a media-saturated culture, lack of attention to entire

segments of a population is a form of silencing — what

cultural specialists call ‘symbolic annihilation’ — which is

insidiously perpetuated in the power imbalances of the

current media landscape and across today’s media fl ows.

A key issue in this regard is the phenomenon of ‘global

localization’ or ‘glocalization’ — the attempt by global

media industries to tailor cultural products to the tastes of

local markets. As Koichi Iwabuchi (2002; 2005) has shown,

glocalization produces a paradox:

As multinational media corporations press ahead with

global tie-ups and partnerships, they are also trying to

raise their profi ts by tailoring this axis to every corner

of the world while promoting cultural diversity in every

market. The world is becoming more diverse through

standardization and more standardized through

diversifi cation. [. . .] In fact, it is now almost impossible

to imagine local cultural creativity outside the context

of globalization and the profi ts cannot be suffi ciently

produced without ‘respecting’ local specifi city [. . .].

One of the most important ways in which this paradox is

enacted is via the use of standardized genres and formats

for television programmes which can be attuned and

adapted to diff erent cultural contexts. Standardized game-

show and reality-television formats are a case in point:

such shows no longer originate only from the West (such

as Who Wants to Be a millionaire? and The Weakest Link) but

also from Japan, for example, where quiz shows like Show

by Shobai and reality television shows like Shiawase Kazoku

Keikaku (Happy Family Plan) are being widely distributed

throughout East Asia and increasingly globally. Hence,

Diff erent strategies

have been designed

in order to eliminate

stereotypes,

distorted images

and misperceptions

transmitted and

supported by

communication and

cultural products

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

emphasizing their construction and fi xity, such that

space can be provided for other voices. This approach

is employed in strategies that seek to promote

information literacy.

Whatever approach is used, it is imperative that media

practitioners not retreat to a seemingly safe position of

objectivity but rather actively embrace the role of ‘go-

between’ and thereby become facilitators of intercultural

dialogue (see Box 5.3). In determining their own position

and then using it to challenge traditional modes of

representation, they can help their audiences to build a

capacity for openness. Ultimately, media professionals

could aid in refl ecting upon the ‘in-between’ situations in

contact and confl ict zones (Pratt, 1992).

an audience-driven activity that permits ‘taking an

existing meaning and re-appropriating it for new

meanings’ (Hall, 1997). It is unclear, however, just how

easily this strategy can be implemented in the media

landscape, since it assumes that representations are

readily identifi able. Nonetheless, ‘some important

avenues for trans-coding might be story-lines that

open up representations and break stereotypes

through the use of humour and exaggeration to

present the dominant position in a new light (such as

ethnicizing “whiteness” as opposed to constructing it

as a latent and normalized category)’ (Fürsich, 2008).

■ Yet another approach is to make evident the concrete

(most of the time hidden) conditions of production,

The critically acclaimed Canadian television

series Little Mosque on the Prairie presents a

fresh approach to the promotion of cultural

diversity through the media. Launched in

January 2007 by the Canadian Broadcasting

Corporation (CBC), the series unabashedly

challenges in a humorous way the dominant

stereotypes and misrepresentations of Muslims.

The show’s creator, Zarqa Nawaz, a Canadian

Muslim woman originally from Pakistan,

developed the series as a counterpoint to

Western media images of Islam and Muslims.

Little Mosque focuses on a small Muslim

community living in a fi ctional rural Canadian

town. The show’s writers entertainingly capture

the mosaic of living together in a diverse

environment, highlighting the everyday

experiences of Muslims as they interact

with each other and with non-Muslims.

The show strives to heighten the viewer’s

exposure to issues of diversity and provoke

them to consider previously unquestioned

assumptions that are commonly held about

Muslims and diversity within and between

generations, cultures and communities.

The sheer popularity and international

appeal of the television series suggest that

mainstream public broadcasting can be critical,

provocative and entertaining while at the same

time seeking to promote cultural diversity.

The Canadian series premiere attracted an

audience of 2.1 million viewers. Thereafter it

drew a weekly viewing audience of 1.2 million

viewers for the fi rst season. Now in its third

season, Little Mosque will be translated into

French and is scheduled for broad international

distribution and viewership. The show has

already started airing in France, Switzerland

and French-speaking African countries. Turkey,

Finland and the United Arab Emirates recently

signed distribution agreements to broadcast

the series. Israeli television began distributing

the series in English (with Hebrew subtitles) in

October 2007. Little Mosque has also been made

available for viewing in the West Bank and Gaza.

Notwithstanding its international popularity, the

programme series is not without its critics, who

decry the show’s representation of Muslims.

For example, the Muslim Canadian Congress

has questioned the absence of secular Muslims

in the community on which it is based, and

whether the series truly captures the diverse

spectrum of Canada’s Muslim community (Fatah

and Hassan, 2007). Nevertheless, the show has

attracted unprecedented attention at a time

when relations (perceived or real) between

Muslims and non-Muslims remain vulnerable.

Among its many accolades, Little Mosque

received the Academy of Canadian Cinema

and Television’s Canada Award in 2007, which

recognizes excellence in mainstream television

programming that refl ects Canada’s racial and

cultural diversity. International awards from

the 2007 RomaFictionFest, an international

television festival, were also signifi cant

accomplishments. Most notable perhaps, Little

Mosque was awarded the prestigious Common

Ground Award in 2007 by the US human rights

organization Search for Common Ground in

recognition of the programme’s promotion of

collaboration as a viable alternative to confl ict.

In so doing, it joined the ranks of recipients such

as former US President Jimmy Carter, Nobel

Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and

former heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali.

Whether Little Mosque on the Prairie challenges

‘Orientalist expectations’ about Muslims

(Taylor, Davis and Zine, 2007) and provides

a meaningful articulation of diversity or, as

some critics suggest, upholds stereotypical

representations, it is nevertheless clear that it

is no simple feat to address issues of cultural

diversity in mainstream media. Since the

show has generated positive worldwide

attention, it may inspire new approaches

to promoting cultural diversity that use the

media as a vehicle for change. In the words

of Zarqa Nawaz, the hit sitcom’s creator:

‘people are talking about it and it’s opened

up dialogue’ (Taylor, Davis and Zine, 2007).

Source: Raboy, 2007.

Little Mosque on the PrairieBox 5.3

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1 4 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

■ Deconstructing representations. The constructedness

of some media productions and the power eff ects

at stake can be exhibited through the juxtaposition

of diff ering experiences. For example, a travel

show could employ traditional, monolithic and

essentialized images of a culture alongside the

fl uid, hybrid contemporary situation of that culture

(Cliff ord, 1988).

■ Opening up meaning. To show that there cannot be

an ‘objective’ journalistic perspective on reality, some

content producers and intermediaries leave it up to

the audience to make sense of the story to which

they have just been exposed. Of course, this approach

should not contradict or nullify the ‘explanatory’

function of the media for the discovery of new forms

of cultural expression (Rony, 1996).

Media literacy can foster critical capacities and promote

multiple perspectives, thus protecting vulnerable cultures

from what some experts have called the ‘colonization of

minds’, such as when modes of consumption and ways

of living from the ‘centre’ are uncritically adopted by

communities or cultures on the ‘periphery’ (Alexander,

2007). Media literacy thus needs to move beyond the

mere textual deciphering of media messages to an

understanding of aspects of production and reception.

From this perspective, media literacy should become

a cornerstone of journalism and production education

and training. Cultural Studies, as an interdisciplinary

movement, is also an important factor in these media

literacy eff orts. Active audiences can then independently

decode problematic representations (McLaren, Hammer,

Sholle and Reilley, 1995).

Media literacy is also an important aspect of media

access. Research on the digital divide has highlighted

the problems of unequal distribution and use of digital

media within and across nations. When one considers

that only a minority of the world’s population (less than

20 percent) actually use online media, it becomes clear

that the issue of access is still a pressing one. In this

context, stronger capacities to use nomad technologies

combined with the recent boom of mobile telephony

in the developing world provide a great opportunity.

At the end of 2006, according to the GSM Association

Initiatives are needed to ensure that global audiences and

cross-border programming contribute to the pluralism

and the free fl ow of ideas that foster cultural diversity.

To this end, more critical consumption of media, and

increased awareness of the importance of understanding

other cultures from within (Benson, 2005) — media and

information literacy — are essential to countering audience

fragmentation, isolation and stereotypes. In this sense,

cultural diversity is not merely a supplement to but rather

the very defi nition of quality media. Furthermore, despite

the vital role played by the media in enhancing (or not) the

plurality of perspectives, the entertainment, culture and

news media tend to be considered separately from each

other and from the policy discussions that aim to promote

cultural diversity. While not diminishing the relevance of

policies addressing the issues of ‘older’ media (television and

radio for example), the recent move towards newer digital

technologies requires enhanced regulatory and industry

support mechanisms in order to accurately refl ect the

dynamics and the breadth of contemporary creation and

content distribution in the promotion of cultural diversity.

Media and information literacy This is the aim of media and information literacy,

which must not only be made an integral part of non-

formal education but also be recognized as a tool for

empowerment and capacity-building in the production

of local content. In practice, this form of literacy can take

place through various means, including:

■ Contextualizing coverage as much as possible. Indeed,

the media tendency to narrow-cast makes it diffi cult to

go beyond one person’s story in order to shed light on

underlying conditions that have made it possible (e.g.

in the case of a migrant’s story, the underlying global

inequalities that cause migration). With hypertext

links in digital media, an increasing number of print

or broadcasting topics can be off ered to interested

audiences as background or supplementary material.

■ Taking critical distance. Some visual anthropologists

recommend adopting aesthetic strategies that

break with viewers’ expectations, such as journalistic

narrative that makes obvious its production methods

or showcases the underlying interests shaping the

message or story.

5.3 Policies fostering cultural diversity

��Samburu near Maralal, Kenya

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C O M M U N I C A T I O N A N D C U L T U R A L C O N T E N T S . 1 4 5

Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

groups include the Cultural Environmental Movement

(CEM) founded by George Gerbner in 1990. More recent

groups include the umbrella organization Voices21 and

Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS).

Some of these groups use e-mail campaigns to inform

politicians and media producers of their concerns; others

try to engage in media literacy eff orts, raise awareness and

develop proposals for cultural policy.

Today new technologies challenge traditional

approaches to media literacy as the media increasingly

open up and allow audiences to become participants

and creators in a digital world. Such developments have

initiated an important new approach to media literacy

that integrates production and reception situations

(Livingstone, 2004). This also shows the importance of

media literacy to ensuring that the media as a whole

have a positive eff ect not only on the visibility of

and the ITU, the total number of people with access

to a mobile phone averaged about 2.7 billion, and

80 percent of the world population was covered by a

GSM network. These fi gures illustrate the potential of

mobile platforms to off er new solutions for services, in

concert with other options, also increasingly available,

such as low-cost laptops.

With this expansion of networks, media literacy eff orts

have increasingly branched out from individualistic

pedagogical eff orts to media-critical grassroots

movements that attempt to translate media criticism into

lobbying eff orts to infl uence policy. Similar to the free

radio and press cooperative movement of the 1970s, the

past 15 years have seen a growing number of movements

across the globe that are critically engaged in overcoming

a limited media environment by using alternative

networking strategies such as the Internet. Earlier

Media literacy programmes should not be

restricted to children’s education, but should

be off ered to the community at large and

especially media professionals and university

students in media studies. Recommendations

for step-by-step implementation of

media literacy programmes include:

a. For parents and their school-age children:

■ Identify target audiences.

■ Organize media literacy activities,

such as ‘media weeks’ in diff erent

regions and in schools, talks, discussion

groups, workshops and interactive

presentations countrywide.

■ Develop media literacy toolkits

for parents and children.

■ Organize a media literacy conference

grouping parents, children, media

practitioners, academics and

others involved in the fi eld.

■ Evaluate various phases of the project.

a. For university students and young media professionals:

■ Create media literacy programmes for

students and journalists on both sides

of the proverbial ‘cultural divide’ so

that they learn each other’s languages,

cultural backgrounds, history, politics

and traditions in a sustained and

comprehensive way. Unfortunately,

what we have today is very superfi cial

and rather distorted. Parachute

journalism and the use of translators

can be more harmful than informative.

■ Institute solid journalism programmes

at universities that provide rich

curricula that not only teach reporting,

editing, photography and blogging,

but that also emphasize media ethics

and sensitivity training and require

comprehensive language skills.

■ Encourage exchange programmes

between students and journalists (each

category separately) so that they can

appreciate the hardships faced by their

colleagues in their respective countries.

■ Encourage journalists to contribute

to each other’s media, whenever

and wherever possible, to encourage

the cross-pollination of ideas. An

article, a feature, an audio report,

an Internet posting, a television

segment may help to alleviate

tensions and foster understanding.

■ Create networks that provide

support and solidarity in times of

crisis. Sometimes it is not what

you know, but who you know

that gets you out of trouble.

■ Create an unoffi cial watchdog

mechanism to monitor off ensive

media reporting and work to

defuse tensions as soon as they

emerge and before things get out

of hand. Work cooperatively to

promote genuine good relations.

■ Very importantly, give more of a voice

to women and youth so that they can

contribute to the media dialogue and

ensure that they are fully empowered

and not marginalized or discredited.

Source: Abu-Fadil, 2008.

Implementing media literacy programmesBox 5.4

Media literacy

can foster critical

capacities and

promote multiple

perspectives,

thus protecting

vulnerable cultures

from what some

experts have called

the ‘colonization of

minds’

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1 4 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

shown that cross-sector policies (mixing cultural, media,

telecommunications, industrial, foreign trade and labour

policies) are most eff ective, as is taking account of the

specifi cities of cultural identities within the competitive

advantages of particular sectors, such as music,

publishing or crafts.

Access to the public sphere through the media remains

a very challenging issue in many cases (at the legislative

level or in practice) and is still far from being universally

guaranteed to all. Large segments of the population,

especially marginalized groups and ethnic minorities, are

often absent from (or inappropriately depicted in) the

media partly because of their lack of access to editorial,

managerial or gate-keeping positions inside media

outlets. Fostering internal diversity in the newsroom

and diversity of cultural backgrounds and gender

within media structures are fundamental steps towards

ensuring diversity in content production, as are support

mechanisms for community-owned media and public-

service media (UNESCO, 2006).

Equipped with user-friendly software, inexpensive

technical devices and 24-hour connections, audiences

participate increasingly in the transmission and creation

of information and knowledge, and are fundamentally

altering the nature of information production (Bowman

and Willis, 2003). This is leading to new cultural patterns,

new forms of transmission (broad- and web-casting),

modifi cation of work routines and fl exible strategies in

media and cultural production. With the development

of user-generated content, a new system of defi nition

of cultural demand has appeared, where traditional

institutions, the media and formal education are

complemented by a layer of social attitudes and

behaviours facilitated by convergence. Innovative

journalism practices are emerging, through mobile-

device-based video-reporting and direct uploading

onto platforms (such as YouTube) of fragments of reality

that can dramatically impact on the daily headlines

of the international press. New strategies for news

production, which include diff erent viewpoints and

diversifi ed reporting, are being used by professionals

across the world; one such strategy involves the use

of thematic blogs in which information, videos and

pictures are exchanged and commented on, discussed

and criticized. Hybrid reporting across ethnic, cultural

and national boundaries — through co-production and

cultural diversity but also on the audiences’ capacities

to ‘discover’ the other and to open themselves to

mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue. Of

course, cultural diversity does not only concern the

origin of cultural and communication content and

the deciphering of their meanings and underlying

messages. It also concerns public debates and the

multiplicity of voices that can be heard in the public

arena. In this respect, insofar as the media as a whole

contribute to the fl ourishing of pluralism, they can

make a strong contribution to cultural diversity.

Public initiatives In the fi eld of cultural industries, governments have

progressively implemented a complex range of

regulatory and industry support mechanisms to foster

the development of more classical or ‘analogue’ content

production and distribution industries, particularly in

fi lm, television, radio and publishing. These policies play

a key role in protecting media practice and audience

exposure; the operational tools range from self-

regulation and codes of ethics to professional standards

and public service broadcasting (PSB). Several regional

organizations, from the EU to the Organization of

American States (OAS) and the African Commission on

Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), have highlighted

the specifi c role of the media in the promotion of

cultural diversity and have stressed the importance

of a free media environment for the construction of

democratic societies. This must be particularly borne in

mind as new digital technologies create new challenges

for regulatory and industry support mechanisms.

On a national level the past decade has been marked

by a renewed policy interest in cultural industry

development and the promotion of content diversity. In

this regard, Australia took the lead in the early 1990s, and

was soon followed by the UK, Finland and many other

OECD countries, as well as Brazil, China, Colombia, India

and other developing countries. Generally speaking,

this fl ourishing of policy initiatives upholds a number

of paramount principles, notably the importance of a

solid industrial base to allow diversity to thrive and the

recognition of the importance of the cultural industries as

vehicles for the transmission of contemporary creativity

and the diversity of expression. However, there is still no

consensus on what the optimum package of policies

on the cultural industries would entail. Experience has

��Bilingual class at Footscray Primary School in Melbourne, Australia

��Boys reading books in Afghanistan

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Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

as national identity, ‘liming’, ‘ole talk’, family and

friendships).

These interesting new usage patterns provide a glimpse

into the potential environments of the future. However,

it remains to be seen whether the current trend towards

digital, global but fragmented media use will create a

more globally mediated reality. The best-case scenario

points to new media platforms in which diverse

audiences can see themselves represented in terms of

their unique experiences, concerns and achievements.

The worst-case scenario involves the fragmentation of

audiences along ethnic, religious, sexual or other cultural

lines. While these new practices related to the production

of communication and cultural contents admittedly

hold great promise, they nevertheless are not a solution

in and of themselves. Rather, important challenges

remain which need to be addressed by decision-makers

if they want the media as a whole to contribute to the

promotion of cultural diversity.

The challenges to be addressed Three challenges have to be met if communication and

cultural contents are to contribute to cultural diversity:

the production of innovative content, access (including

to ICTs) and balanced representation.

The production of innovative content ensures the

transposition of cultural diversity into communication

and cultural products. Every country in the world can

be the source of innovative content that aims to take

account of the diversity of the communities concerned

and highlight their histories, cultures, future orientations

and projected roles in the concert of nations. This

content can also be conceived to specifi cally counter

approaches that are often overlooked or minimized,

such as the gender perspective, the voice of young

people, the discourse of the excluded and the viewpoint

of the disabled. The challenge is to create the conditions

for thinking otherwise: a way of thinking about the

world based on fellowship and the responsibility of all

to others and the planet.

Ensuring diversity in the media will require increased

emphasis on the development and production of local

content by local communities. While the media have

sought to defi ne and represent the nation-state and

national identity since the advent of newspapers in the

pool-production schemes or through national, regional

and international networks of media professionals — are

being tested and encouraged, as is reporting organized

along interest groups.

The implications of such new approaches are

considerable. As we have seen, the Internet off ers

the potential for communicational democracy and

involvement at a local level in a range of progressive

cultural initiatives: capacity for identity-building within

diasporic communities (Chitty and Rattikalchalakorn,

2006); support structures for defending the interests

of minority cultures; the establishment of online

communities with shared cultural interests, lobbying

and campaign groups (e.g. concerning environmental

or human rights issues); and the possibility of bypassing

mainstream information sources (Atton, 2002; Couldry

and Curran, 2004). Of course, this potential varies

greatly depending on the degree of connectivity and

the local contexts for expression on the part of cultural

groups, which may lead to favouring one kind of media

over another. For instance, a detailed study of Internet

technologies as understood and assimilated in Trinidad

and by local and diasporic Trinidadians looked at some of

the ways in which Trinidadians have come to appropriate

various technical possibilities that add up to ‘their Internet’

(Miller and Slater, 2000). Trinidadians, it seems, have a

‘natural affi nity for the Internet’, which corresponds to

established social forms in Trinidad according to which

‘being a family has long meant integrating over distances

through any means of communication’. Given the

intensity of migration to metropolitan areas,

the Internet — specifi cally email — allows the kind

of mundane, constant and taken-for-granted daily

contact that enables Trinidadians to uphold their

notion of family, to be involved in active parenting

and mutual support, despite the diasporic conditions

that had earlier been making this impossible.

In this sense, the

Internet may have helped bring the potential for

being Trini back to Trinidad: indeed, it worked both

for Trinis at home (who could have direct access to

global cultural fl ows, global markets, and world-

class skills and technologies) and for Trinis ‘away’

(who could ‘repair’ other aspects of Trini-ness such

Cultural diversity

also concerns public

debates and the

multiplicity of voices

that can be heard in

the public arena. In

this respect, insofar

as the media as a

whole contribute

to the fl ourishing of

pluralism, they can

make a strong

contribution to

cultural diversity

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1 4 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

the world, especially in the domain of policy, legislation,

management, code of practices, self-regulation,

funding mechanisms and entrepreneurship options,

programming, sustainability, access, participation

and media literacy issues. Community media have

increasingly become a source of empowerment and

dialogue for excluded and marginalized groups and

a central vehicle for participatory social and cultural

development. The global community radio movement

in particular has been steadily growing in importance

as an instrument for social and political change and

for the promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity

(AMARC, 2007). Examples abound of community radio

stations worldwide. They include: Radio Sagarmatha,

the fi rst independent community radio station in South

Asia, established in 1997 in Kathmandu, Nepal, as a

conduit for investigative and ‘watchdog’ public aff airs

programming; Radio Suara Perempuan ( Women’s Voice

Radio) introduced in West Sumatra, Indonesia, as a

means of curbing gender violence; Radio Jën Poj and

Radio Uandarhi, the fi rst indigenous community radio

stations in Mexico, were granted their broadcasting

licences in 2004 and focus on indigenous language

and cultural preservation, as well as relevant social

and economic issues. Community radio broadcasting

is present throughout Africa where it fosters cultural

transmission and social cohesion.

While donors and development agencies have often

stressed the importance of local content at international

19th century, their strong emphasis on national content

has been detrimental to the vitality of local content.

National monopolies of media content are now being

challenged, particularly since 2002, with increasing

recognition that cultural diversity is as much about

internal diversity as it is about diversity among nations.

On a macro-level, key drivers are to be identifi ed for

the development of content industries in parts of the

world where cultural expressions are a long way away

from fi nding viable markets and extended audiences.

On a micro-level, this means developing programmes

that support the production and dissemination of local

content through both standard and new media in

disadvantaged communities of the developing world

by training content creators, supporting local content

production and enhancing content distribution. Such

approaches have proven very helpful in identifying

ways to empower local communities and help them to

express themselves.

UNESCO has facilitated the production of local content

through its Creative Content programme and through

the creation of multi-purpose community telecentres

(MCTs), which enable rural and poor communities

in many regions of the developing world to manage

their own development through access to appropriate

facilities, resources, training and services (from

education and training to business, from health to

local governance). It also focuses on identifying good

practices concerning community media throughout

The story of national Aboriginal broadcasting

in Canada represents a signifi cant milestone

for indigenous cultural preservation and

promotion through the media. Launched

in September 1999, the Aboriginal Peoples

Television Network (APTN) was the world’s fi rst

national Aboriginal television service. APTN

promotes the diverse histories, cultures and

languages of indigenous peoples in Canada

and throughout the world, providing Aboriginal

programming across a variety of genres,

including national news, children’s animation,

youth programmes, and cultural and traditional

programming. APTN targets both Aboriginal

and non-Aboriginal Canadian audiences.

Today APTN is broadcast to over 10 million

Canadian households and businesses through

various platforms, including cable, direct-to-

home satellite and fi xed wireless television

services. The rich linguistic traditions of

indigenous peoples is captured in APTN’s

diverse programming: while 56 percent of

programmes are broadcast in English and

16 percent in French, a notable 28 percent

is broadcast in various Aboriginal languages,

such as Inuktitut, Cree, Inuinaqtuun, Ojibway,

Inuvialuktun, Mohawk, Dene, Gwich’in,

Miqma’aq, Slavey, Dogrib, Chipweyan,

Tlingit and Mechif (APTN, 2005).

No less than 70 percent of APTN programming

is developed in Canada, off ering various

professional opportunities to Aboriginal writers,

directors, producers, actors and news anchors.

The network also broadcasts a small portion of

indigenous programming from various other

parts of the world, including Australia, New

Zealand, the US and Central and South America.

Source: Raboy, 2007.

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)Box 5.5

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cultural contents

the African fi lm industry was able to fi nance its

productions by means of an eff ective European aid

system and the consolidation of distribution networks

through the Inter-African Film Distribution Consortium),

it still has limited access to the major production and

distribution networks. Very talented fi lmmakers, with

competent teams and promising subjects, are often

unable to fi nance their fi lm projects. Thirdly, access has

also to do with the visibility of minorities, which could

be facilitated by new mechanisms that ensure the

representation of a gender perspective and opposing

viewpoints in discussions on all subjects (many journals

adopt this approach) or, where appropriate, the inclusion

of members of diff erent ethnic groups or religious

communities. Policies on access, and especially access to

technologies of production and to distribution channels,

have to identify fi nancially sound schemes that permit

the talent of any country to create content of any kind

and thereby contribute to cultural diversity.

Finally, a third challenge to be addressed is that of

balanced representation. Whole segments of the

population tend to be ignored or do not recognize

themselves in the ways they are depicted in the media

and cultural industries. As some researchers stress,

members of the groups or communities concerned

meetings, concrete initiatives in this area are still rare.

Most content initiatives using ICTs tend to ‘push’ external

content onto local communities, which contributes

to the free fl ow of ideas and to intercultural dialogue,

provided that local communities have the capacity

to receive such foreign contents without losing their

identities. With a few exceptions, new technologies are

not used to strengthen the ‘push’ of local content from

local people. When tested, such as with the project

Development of a National Strategy for the Jamaica Music

Industry (Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, 2004), the

results are rather mixed, due mainly to the complexity

of intellectual property issues — that ensure revenues

for local creators of music content — and the diffi cult

conditions for e-trade in developing economies.

In other instances, pressure from audiences themselves

has had a positive impact on decisions privileging

local production, of which the Bollywood fi lm industry

in Mumbai is one of the most striking examples,

producing as it does over 800 fi lms per year (more

than Hollywood), which are distributed throughout the

world. In the UK, the BBC’s Channel 4 recently stated its

intention to buy fewer foreign dramas in order to spend

more money on locally developed shows; home to

shows like Friends, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives,

the channel said it would spend 20 percent less on

imports by 2013 (BBC News, 2008).

The development of local content is all the more

important since the media’s power to steer attention to

and from public issues often determines which problems

society will tackle and which it will ignore: only those

issues that gain publicity and visibility have the potential

to generate political interest and make people think

about social and political ramifi cations that go beyond

their immediate experience (see Box 5.5).

Access has to be approached from diff erent angles. In

the fi rst place, it involves coherent measures to reduce

the digital divide by providing equipment at aff ordable

prices, training, maintenance, technology updates , etc.

Secondly, production and distribution networks should

be accessible to innovative content. For example, one of

the major problems confronting fi lm production in Africa

is that, despite the creativity it has demonstrated (African

fi lms garnered three awards at the Cannes International

Film Festival in 1987 and 1990, during a period when

��A man fi lming an algebra lesson in Tunisia

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economic necessity than a desire to promote cultural

diversity. Nevertheless, a more diversifi ed workforce is

likely to facilitate the dissemination of diversifi ed media

contents and thereby help to keep the gates open.

Conclusion Across the immense diversity of cultural expressions

that are communicated, transmitted and transformed by

the myriad means available today (from print to digital

technology), the communication of cultural content

has undeniably contributed to enhanced awareness

and greater knowledge of cultural diversity. The new

technologies associated with the rise of new media

practices favour productions geared to export and

thereby broaden markets for local cultural industries,

which are beginning to counter the dominant fl ows that

have been detrimental to traditional cultural expressions

(storytelling, dance, traditional games) and voices of

marginalized populations. In this sense, contrary to

oft-held positions, globalization cannot be said to have

had only a negative impact on the diversity of cultural

content, for it has enlarged choice and stimulated the

production of local content. User-generated technology

has in turn the potential to empower individuals and

groups that were previously marginalized by institutional

and economic obstacles and help them to fi nd a voice

and the means to circulate their ideas and viewpoints to

the public at large. Increased appropriation of methods

and technologies — provided that there is suffi cient

media and information access and literacy — are

essential for combating stereotypes and biases.

While media pluralism is a precondition of cultural

diversity, it will not be suffi cient if universal access to

the media is not guaranteed; for only by guaranteeing

such access will it be possible to enable full participation

in the formulation, expression and dissemination of

diverse viewpoints. This implies the implementation of

measures to strengthen the capacities of all to take full

advantage of the opportunities provided by the new

technologies. Information and media literacy is not only

an important aspect of media access but an essential part

of ensuring quality media on the one hand and critically

informed consumption on the other. In light of the sheer

quantity of cultural representations and messages that

characterize contemporary society, the risks of ‘a false

diversity’ masking social isolation, identity fallback and

stereotypical attitudes loom large; they threaten to block

do not want to be represented as stereotypes, that is

to say, in a manner that devalues them. But they are

wholly in favour of being represented in ways that

value their knowledge, culture and traditions. Cultural

diversity here requires a balanced representation of the

diff erent communities that live together in a particular

country, even though the mechanisms that would allow

such balance have yet to be agreed upon (e.g. quotas,

ombudsman mechanisms or rights of response). The

same consideration naturally applies at the international

level where balanced representation in and more

equal access to the media and cultural industries are a

continuing concern in accordance with the principles of

freedom of expression and the free fl ow of ideas, which

should always prevail.

At the professional level, strategies aiming at

diversifying the workforce might help to promote

cultural diversity. In fact, such diversity could contribute

to overcoming the current representations of ‘others’

that prevail today in the media. Self-directed support

organizations (such as, in the US, the organization

Unity for Journalists of Color) act as important lobbying

groups for a more diverse workforce. Increasingly,

public broadcasters around the world are diversifying

their hiring strategies: the French news network

France24, for example, broadcasts its news in French,

English and Arabic, and therefore has been recruiting

multilingual and multicultural journalists and television

presenters. Similarly, in the US, the percentage

of ‘minorities’ working in journalism and media

production has been growing over the years. In other

cases, government authorities have sought to infl uence

or even to require proportional representation within

broadcasting or other media institutions: such a

strategy, based on ‘positive discrimination’ (the rough

equivalent of the US affi rmative action policies) has

sometimes led to complaints about government

interference and the undermining of the neutrality

mandates of public broadcasters.

While a more diverse workforce is in and of itself a

worthwhile goal, it is less clear whether and to what

extent a more diverse media workforce will automatically

lead to more diverse media content, and research for

the moment remains inconclusive on this issue. Given

the intensely competitive environment of journalism,

the recent rise in ‘ethnic’ coverage may refl ect more an

The development of

local content is all the

more important since

the media’s power to

steer attention to and

from public issues

often determines

which problems

society will tackle and

which it will ignore

WRCD_eng2.indd 150 29/09/09 12:41

There is a need to encourage cultural sensitivity in the production and consumption of

communication and information contents, thereby facilitating access, empowerment and

participation.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Support the production and distribution of innovative and diversifi ed audiovisual materials, taking account of local needs, contents and actors, and having recourse as appropriate to public-private partnerships.

b. Assess the impact of ICT-driven changes on cultural diversity, with a view to highlighting good practices of multilingual access to written and audiovisual productions.

c. Promote media and information literacy for all age groups in order to increase the ability of media users to critically evaluate communication and cultural contents.

C h

ap ter 5 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

C O M M U N I C A T I O N A N D C U L T U R A L C O N T E N T S . 1 5 1

Chapter 5 Com

m unication and

cultural contents

and understanding among people. Nothing would be

gained in bridging the digital divide if it left in place a

knowledge divide. Only if the latter is overcome will it

be possible to achieve the goal of establishing inclusive

knowledge societies.

any real progress towards intercultural dialogue. The

challenge of ‘false diversity’ should be taken all the more

seriously since, beyond issues of access to the media,

culture and entertainment, the role and responsibility of

the media are to contribute to better mutual knowledge

��An offi cial campaign to promote school in Herat,

Afghanistan

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In focus:

Media toolkits

for cultural

diversity in

broadcasting

1 5 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

For the majority of the world population, particularly

by those belonging to disadvantaged groups,

radio and television remain the most accessible

and widespread means of information and

communication. [. . .] It is crucial that PSB serves

all populations refl ecting the needs, concerns, and

expectations of the diff erent audiences irrespective of

their sizes. Public Service Broadcasting is an essential

instrument to ensure plurality, social inclusion, and to

strengthen the civil society.

This commitment of PSB to diversity in broadcasting is

explicitly made, for example, in the African Charter on

Broadcasting 2001 (UNESCO, 2001), adopted on the tenth

anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on

the Development of an Independent and Pluralistic African Press

(UNESCO, 1991). Other national instruments are even more

explicit in their reference to cultural diversity, such as the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act of 1983, which sets

out the Charter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

(ABC), in which ABC is invited, among other things, ‘to

broadcast programmes that contribute to a sense of national

identity and inform and entertain, and refl ect the cultural

diversity of, the Australian community’.

Indeed, cultural diversity has a special role to play both in

‘building citizens’ participation’ (treated in chapter 4 of the

Sourcebook), in keeping with the ‘primary obligation of

broadcasters to promote the public’s right to know through

a diversity of voices and perspectives in broadcasting’, and

in standard-setting for PSB (as treated in chapter 6 of the

Sourcebook), especially when it comes to ‘building national

identity’ and ‘minority programming’. In this area, the

Sourcebook underlines the major role of PSB in broadcasting

for ethnic and religious minorities:

In most countries, programming for these sectors of the

community is not commercially profi table for private

broadcasters, especially when most of these communities

may be in the lower socio-economic category.

To address this problem, in some countries there are

dedicated ethnic or religious radio and television

channels. In some cases, these needs may be catered

for through ‘window’ style programming on national

or regional PSB channels.

Several toolkits have been developed with an emphasis

on cultural diversity and public broadcasting, both by

UNESCO and by its partner institutions. Among UNESCO’s

contributions, Public Service Broadcasting: A Best Practices

Sourcebook (Banerjee and Seneviratne, 2005) and Media

Development Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Media

Development (IPDC, 2008) have set out guidelines for

the assessment and implementation of the factors that

contribute to cultural diversity.

Public Service Broadcasting: A Best Practices Sourcebook

identifi es four factors to be taken into account in

determining whether a public service broadcasting

(PSB) system is ‘playing the role it is expected to perform’.

These are: universality (to ensure that public broadcasting

is accessible to every citizen throughout the country),

independence (to ensure that public broadcasting is a forum

where ideas can be expressed freely, where information,

opinions and criticisms can circulate), distinctiveness (to

ensure that the public broadcasting services off ered are

distinguished from that of other broadcasting services) and

diversity, which covers a wide range of criteria, including

cultural diversity (with reference to the targeted audiences):

The services off ered by public broadcasting should

be diversifi ed in at least three ways: the genres of

programmes off ered, the audiences targeted, and

the subjects discussed. Public broadcasting must

refl ect the diversity of public interests by off ering

diff erent types of programmes, from newscasts

to light programmes. Some programmes may be

aimed at only part of the public, whose expectations

are varied. In the end, public broadcasting should

reach everyone, not through each programme, but

through all programmes and their variety. Finally,

through the diversity of the subjects discussed, public

broadcasting can also seek to respond to the varied

interests of the public and so refl ect the whole range

of current issues in society. Diversity and universality

are complementary in that producing programmes

intended sometimes for youth, sometimes for older

people and sometimes for other groups ultimately

means that public broadcasting appeals to all.

The importance of cultural diversity in broadcasting is

emphasized with respect to comparability:

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and governed and between competing private agents’, ‘a

facilitator of informed debate between diverse social actors,

encouraging the resolution of disputes by democratic

means’, and ‘a means by which a society learns about

itself and builds a sense of community, and which shapes

the understanding of values, customs and tradition’. Here

cultural diversity is seen to play an important role in media

development, especially with regard to the following issues:

■ Regulatory system for broadcasting. According

to the fi ve UNESCO declarations on Promoting

Independent and Pluralistic Media, as well as the

texts adopted by other intergovernmental bodies

and independent professional associations (see

Article 19, 2002), the 'powers and responsibilities

[of regulatory bodies] should be set out in law,

including explicit legal requirements to promote

freedom of expression, diversity, impartiality and the

free fl ow of information’.

■ Media concentration. The ‘authorities responsible for

implementing laws’ against undue concentration

of ownership ‘must have the power divest media

operations where plurality is threatened or

unacceptable levels of concentration are reached,

and to impose sanctions where required’.

Last but not least, the Sourcebook (in chapter 8) also sheds

light on the new opportunities off ered by PSB in the digital

age, especially for reaching out to migrant workers (with best

practices from the Philippines and Fiji).

The concept of knowledge societies that UNESCO advocates

off ers a holistic and comprehensive vision — cutting across

all of UNESCO’s domains — with a clear development-

oriented perspective that captures the complexity

and dynamism of current global trends and prospects.

Knowledge societies require an empowering social

vision, which encompasses plurality, inclusion, solidarity

and participation. Based on the principles of freedom of

expression, universal access to information and knowledge,

promotion of cultural diversity, and equal access to quality

education, knowledge societies are increasingly recognized

as essential for attaining major development goals.

The more recent Media Development Indicators: A Framework

for Assessing Media Development (IPDC, 2008) focuses on

the media’s role as ‘a vehicle for cultural expression and

cultural cohesion within and between nations’, in addition

to their being ‘a channel of information and education

through which citizens can communicate with each other’, ‘a

disseminator of stories, ideas and information’, ‘a corrective to

the “natural asymmetry of information” between governors

��A bookshop in Dakar, Senegal, 1971

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often programmes can reinforce stereotypes and repeat

misunderstandings about minorities’.1

The Toolkit off ers examples of news programmes aimed at

broadcast journalists, instructors and students of journalism,

as well as producers, programme-makers and human-

resource professionals, as well as trainers and managers in

broadcasting organizations. In Part I, it lays out a series of

questions concerning the portrayal of minority audiences,

together with news clips illustrating their relevance, with the

goal of bringing to the fore issues that are often overlooked.

The issues include:

■ Balanced representations. News stories ‘often focus

on the negative issues relating to immigration

and minorities’, not on positive ones. Moreover,

minorities are ‘all too often treated as issues, not

as people, and even then, are hardly ever covered

as consumers, employers, employees, parents,

students or viewers’. Thus, it is necessary to be

aware of the ways in which viewers will decode and

retain stereotypes ‘which, when repeated in the

news, can easily become the reality’.

■ The necessity of checking facts. Since ‘each reporter

is infl uenced by cultural assumptions and

prejudices, and often unaware of them’, there

is a need for ‘checks and balances [. . .] to make

sure that adequate background information

is given in a news report. The opinions should

be counterbalanced by facts. The relevance of

mentioning ethnic or religious identity should be

well judged in the coverage of crimes or accidents’.

■ The uncertainties about ‘who we are seeing’. Diversity

‘is not only being able to count the number

of ethnically diff erent faces on the screen. The

important question is how they are portrayed,

how they are part of the story’ — thus, populations

should be represented in all their variety.

■ ‘ Who chooses the stories?’ Since television ‘transmits

a sense of belonging and of citizenship’, it is

important to give voice to all, including minorities.

■ Diverse mix of public, private and community media.

‘In general, a diverse mix of public, community

and private media is best achieved through legal,

fi nancial and administrative measures, with specifi c

provisions to encourage community media and,

in the broadcasting sector, a fair and equitable

allocation of the spectrum’.

■ Licensing. ‘Licensing is a way of achieving diversity —

there is a need to take diversity into account when

licensing broadcast outlets. It is also important not

only to ensure the equitable allocation of licences

between the diff erent types of broadcasters but also

a suffi cient allocation of frequencies to broadcasting

in the fi rst place’.

■ Availability and use of technical resources by the media.

‘Meeting the information needs of marginalized

groups may require diverse types of infrastructural

and technical support in any given country. These

may include the provision of digital media technology,

production equipment, satellite technology or

independent printing presses to allow for effi cient

news gathering, production and distribution. They

may also include lower-tech interventions, such as the

means for community-based media to produce and

distribute cassette tapes.’

Of course the challenge is to promote a media environment

characterized by freedom of expression, pluralism and

diversity, with laws restricting media freedom being narrowly

defi ned and limited to those necessary in a democracy, and

with legal provisions that ensure a level economic playing

fi eld. This requires provisions for public and community-

based media as well as private media.

Among the tools developed by UNESCO partners, the

European Broadcasting Union’s A Diversity Toolkit for

Factual Programmes in Public Service Television (EBU, 2007)

also highlights the importance of fostering cultural

diversity in order ‘to serve entire national populations

and to refl ect the cultural, racial and linguistically diverse

character of society accurately in content and in the

workforce’, particularly since ‘experience shows that all too

1.UNESCO and the EBU co-sponsor the ‘Boundless’ Cultural Diversity Media

Award for intercultural reporting.

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‘Viewers that never “see” themselves on the

television screen can understandably feel irrelevant’,

and with potentially dire consequences.

■ The need to refl ect the views of the audience in order

to remain relevant and viable. Since PSB is ‘a creative

opportunity to make interesting and engaging

programmes featuring stories and perspectives

from a wide range of viewpoints’, it is important

that PSB ‘take risks, dare to try something new,

dare to make programmes that aim at the minority

audiences specifi cally, as well as the mainstream

audience generally’.

■ How to ‘tell it like it is’. It is not necessary to ‘approach

the problems of living in a multicultural society only

in a serious way’; humour can be ‘a good way to

communicate on delicate issues’.

A ‘Diversity checklist’ is also provided, which consists of the

following questions:

1. Am I aware of my personal assumptions about the issues, the stories and the people I choose to report on?

2. Am I aware of the power of images, words, sounds and music?

3. Do I mention ethnicity if it is not relevant to the story?

4. Do I spend enough time checking the facts? Am I sure that I am using the correct terms?

5. Do I consult more experienced colleagues — and those from diff erent backgrounds — when

necessary?

6. Do I choose my interviewees because of their relevance to the story or because I expect them to

attract the attention of the viewer?

7. Do I try to fi nd a variety of opinions among the minority spokespeople and witnesses I interview?

8. Are the minority subjects presented in my story chosen for authentic reasons?

9. Do I fi nd new angles and develop my stories a bit further?

10. Do I challenge myself to fi nd new sources and to question the dominant discourse?

11. Do I refl ect on whether my stories maintain stereotypes?

12. Do I consider the impact of my report not only on viewer opinion but also on the lives of the subjects

portrayed?

13. Do I actively try to recruit colleagues who will bring a diversity of perspectives into the newsroom?

14. Am I interested in cultures other than my own and open to accepting proposals for stories from diff erent

cultural viewpoints?

Part II of the Toolkit presents useful practices,

encompassing ‘ideas that work’, ‘new ideas that could be

tried’, ‘management policies’, as well as ‘individual actions

that can be very eff ective without huge means, and

that can be adapted’. It presents good practices in the

newsroom and in the workplace. It concludes by proposing

key indicators for measuring progress, including qualitative

tools and processes that can indicate minority audience

reactions to programmes. ��Children running in the playground in Hanoi, Viet Nam

WRCD_eng2.indd 155 29/09/09 12:41

1 5 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

UNESCO Centre of Catalonia (UNESCOCat). 2007. Religious Diversity and Social

Cohesion: A Contribution to the UNESCO World Report on Cultural Diversity.

http://www.unescocat.org/religions-mediacio/publicacions/world_

report_on_cultural_diversity.pdf

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2005. International Flows of Selected

Cultural Goods and Services, 1994–2003: Defi ning and Capturing the Flows

of Global Cultural Trade. Montreal, UIS. http://www.uis.unesco.org/

template/pdf/cscl/IntlFlows_EN.pdf

Websites

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television: http://www.academy.ca

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR): http://www.

achpr.org

Africultures: http://www.africultures.com

Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org

Article 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression: http://www.article19.org

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act of 1983: http://www.austlii.edu.au/

au/legis/cth/consol_act/abca1983361

Binger Filmlab: http://www.binger.nl

‘Boundless’ Cultural Diversity Media Award: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/

ev.php-URL_ID=24682&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Bruno Manser Fund: http://www.bmf.ch

Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC): http://www.cnc.fr

Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS): http://www.

crisinfo.org

European Audiovisual Observatory: http://www.obs.coe.int

GSMA: http://www.gsmworld.com

International Freedom of Expression Network: http://www.ifex.org

International Telecommunication Union (ITU): http://www.itu.int

Islam Project: http://www.islamproject.org

Little Mosque on the Prairie: http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque

Media, Communication, Information: Celebrating 50 Years of Theories and

Practices (international conference, Paris, 23–25 July): http://portal.

unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24350&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_

SECTION=201.html

Motion Picture Association of America (MPA): http://www.mpaa.org

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet: http://www.upf.tv/upf06/Projects/

MuhammadLegacyofaProphet/tabid/75/Default.aspx

Muslim Canadian Congress: http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org

National Film and Video Foundation: http://nfvf.co.za

New Latino Spaces (Nouveaux Espaces Latinos): http://www.espaces-

latinos.org

Background documents and UNESCO sources

Alexander, N. 2007. Rethinking culture, linking tradition and modernity.

Background paper.

Banerjee, I. and Seneviratne, K. (eds.). 2005. Public Service Broadcasting: A

Best Practices Sourcebook. Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/

images/0014/001415/141584e.pdf

Fürsich, E. 2007. Media and the representation of others. Background paper.

International Programme for the Development of Communication

(IPDC). 2008. Media Development Indicators: A Framework for Assessing

Media Development. Paris, UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/

fi les/26032/12058560693media_indicators_framework_en.pdf/media_

indicators_framework_en.pdf

—. 2006. Defi ning indicators for media development. Background paper.

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Street art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 6 1

Creativity and the marketplace

While the previous chapter looked at the impacts of communication and cultural contents

on cultural diversity, this chapter explores the interrelations between cultural diversity and

a broad spectrum of activities extending from cultural creation and innovation through the

commercialization of cultural expressions to the impact of culture in the business world.

Creativity is fundamental to cultural diversity, which is itself conducive to creativity. In a context

of pervasive cross-border fl ows, cultural diversity can be preserved only if its roots are constantly

nourished by creative responses to a rapidly changing environment. The creative impulse at

the root of cultural diversity is essential when it comes to analyzing the present situation of

the world’s cultures and addressing the imbalances they reveal. As the World Commission on

Culture and Development emphasized in its 1996 report, Our Creative Diversity: ‘Today it is ever

more necessary to cultivate human creativity, for in our climate of rapid change, individuals,

communities and societies can adapt to the new and transform their reality only through creative

imagination and initiative’. Creativity is understood here as applicable to the whole spectrum of

human activities, from the arts and the sciences to the world of commerce, including invention

and innovation both by individuals and by groups and their institutions.

As illustrated by current trends in the contemporary world of art, music and literature, diversity

in the arts is facilitated by the growth of artistic exchanges worldwide. The same is true for the

crafts and tourism industries, as well as in contemporary business practices. With the broadening

of the boundaries of the arts and creativity to encompass the whole spectrum of human activity,

cultural diversity has become increasingly pertinent as a source of invention and innovation and

as a resource for sustainable economic development. Cultural policy at the national level, while

rightly concerned with supporting endogenous creation, should ensure that tradition remains

creative, implying responsiveness to a plethora of cross-cultural infl uences that guarantee its

continuing vitality.

66 CHAPTER 6

Russian matrioshka dolls

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1 6 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

66 6.1 Artistic creation and the creative

economy ................................................... 163

Figure 6.1 Share of International market for visual and plastic arts ............................................... 166

6.2 Crafts and international tourism ............. 167

Box 6.1 Towards the legal protection of folklore? .............................................................................. 169

Box 6.2 Religious tourism ............................................ 170

6.3 Cultural diversity and

the business world .................................... 172

Map 6.1 Innovation scores, 2008 ............................. 172 Box 6.3 Consumer values analysis in the BRICs . 173

Box 6.4 Adapting management practices to local contexts: Danone Mexico ........................... 176

Box 6.5 A correlation between diversity and economic performance? ............................................... 178

Conclusion ......................................................... 179

Recommendations............................................ 180

In focus: Tools and approaches for increasing the

relevance of cultural diversity to corporate

audiences ................................................... 181

References and websites .................................. 183

Creativity

and the

Marketplace

A performance of the Carnival of Barranquilla (Colombia) at UNESCO Headquarters

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C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 6 3

Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

In approaching the subject of artistic diversity, it

is important to avoid the trap of ethnocentrism,

of confi ning ourselves to a culturally determined

conception of the arts. As Le Thanh Khoi (2000) has asked:

Should we not apply the term ‘art’ to all the material

productions by which human beings give meaning

to their existence […]? Over the course of millennia,

art was not dissociated from life. All members of the

community participated in its ritual, poetical and

musical activities. Only the activities endowed with

magical powers required the intervention of a specialist.

Today, refl ecting expanded communication and travel,

there is greater awareness and understanding of other

cultures. Thus, one fi nds that the term ‘primitive arts’

is yielding to that of ‘traditional arts’, and a number

of distinctions, such as between art and crafts or

between fi ne arts and decorative arts, are being called

into question. Nevertheless, the defi nition of what is

artistic — and conceptions of art as a collective or

individual activity — varies greatly from one culture to

another. In Africa, for example, art encompasses ritual

functions and everyday objects, which often have a

strong symbolic charge. In China, the ‘four arts’ — music,

poetry, painting and calligraphy — continue to mark

Chinese culture, with painting and calligraphy focusing

less on ornamentation than on the expression of life. In

Islam, art is represented par excellence by the book arts,

since writing is regarded as the vehicle of the word of

God, with ornamentation playing an important role,

particularly in architecture (Khoi, 2000).

The boundaries of art are prescribed not only by

the divergent outlooks of social groups but also

by the materials and techniques available to them.

Ornamentation of the body is the most immediate

form of plastic art surviving among peoples living

close to nature, whereas others have clothed their

nakedness under the infl uence of religious doctrine or

philosophical belief. Because of their arid environment,

the Aborigines of Australia express themselves more

in painting than in sculpture, whereas the peoples of

Oceania have created out of an abundant vegetation

the most fantastic and exuberant of artistic universes.

The Amerindians for their part are unsurpassed in the

arts of weaving and gold working’ (Khoi, 2000). In the

realm of the arts, as with cultural expression more

generally, creative diversity has its origins in both the

natural and the social environments.

Contemporary art practices The encounter with diversity in the arts is facilitated

by the growth of artistic exchanges worldwide. Today

‘cultural diversity’ in the art world has come to mean more

than the cosmopolitanism of early 20th century European

modernity. The era of decolonization and subsequent

worldwide liberation movements from the 1960s

onwards were accompanied by changes in the fi eld of

contemporary art — including exhibitions, conditions

of production, museums and markets — prefi guring the

geopolitical realignments that were to mark the world

of globalization. The 1990s saw a remarkable shift in the

circuits of contemporary art owing to the slow rise to

prominence of new venues for its display, increasingly

receptive to previously excluded artistic expressions —

that of Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Chicanos, First

Nation Peoples and women.

Towards the end of the 20th century, large exhibitions

known as biennials began to emerge as the pre-eminent

global forums for organizing the multiple positions

of contemporary artistic practice. In 1984, the Havana

Biennial and the Cairo Biennial were among the fi rst to

take place outside Europe and North America, followed

by Istanbul in 1987 (which established a new network

for artists working in the Middle East and Eastern

Europe), then Dakar in 1992, Gwangju in 1995, and

Johannesburg in 1995. Not only have the coordinates of

art-making become scrambled due to changes in global

networks but the narratives of artistic production now

exist in often heterogeneous, competitive and mutually

contradictory logics of production. Even in Europe, an

early sign of the impact of the fall of the ‘iron curtain’

in 1989 was the establishment in 1995 of Manifesta, an

itinerant pan-European biennial that moved every two

years to a new city on the continent, from the Balkans

to the Baltics, from the Mediterranean to the North Sea.

By recognizing this very multiplicity of approaches,

biennials became key sites after 1989 for the production

of new discourses and the redrawing of a complex map

of contemporary art.

6.1 Artistic creation and the creative economy

The encounter with

diversity in the arts

is facilitated by the

growth of artistic

exchanges worldwide.

Today ‘cultural

diversity’ in the art

world has come to

mean more than the

cosmopolitanism

of early 20th century

European modernity

WRCD_eng2.indd 163 29/09/09 12:42

1 6 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

defi ned in terms of a set of interesting centres, which

are both diff erent from and related to one another’,

centres that function by means of cultural networks

and in alignment with larger geopolitical shifts (Hall,

2001). This broadening of artistic outlooks, sympathies

and expressions has contributed signifi cantly to cultural

diversity through processes of cross-fertilization that are

increasingly germane to all forms of artistic creation.

However, the range and impact of such infl uences

inherent in globalizing trends is not without its dangers

to cultural diversity. The borrowings or hybrid forms to

which cultural diversity gives rise can take the form of

reductive syntheses that are little more than stereotypes.

By the same token, the Western vogue for ‘exotic’ forms

of expression can make for a confi nement of local forms

— for example, through their assimilation to categories

such as ‘primitive’ art. It can pre-empt or radically alter

the individual’s ability to operate as an artist at all levels,

since he or she is also presented as a member of a given

‘minority’ community. In this way, international markets

in indigenous or ‘exotic’ art can function as exogenous

forms of ‘offi cial’ art, rewarding conformism with prestige

and fi nancial gain. The issue is complicated by the fact

that the canon of originality is not equally applicable

to all artistic traditions. The originality of art identifi ed

variously as ‘primitive’, ‘indigenous’, ‘tribal’ or even

‘ethnographic’ is necessarily relative to the standards of

Western artistic traditions.

One way to counter the exoticization of non-Western

forms of expression in the art market is to ensure a

better balance in the representation of artists from the

developing and developed countries in their mutual

encounters with each other and in the ways in which

they make themselves visible to the public. In this

respect, the international community’s commitment

to guarantee the ‘free fl ow of ideas through word or

image’, as enshrined in UNESCO’s Constitution (1945),

should be implemented in practice, including through

the facilitation of travel for artists. As illustrated by the

fi ndings of the World Observatory on the Social Status

of the Artist, there is no common approach on this

matter within the international community. Discussions

are ongoing about the possibility of facilitating the

exchange and circulation of artists through the

generalization of cultural visa mechanisms, such as

those employed in Brazil or Japan.

From the perspective of contemporary art practices,

‘the world can no longer be structured in terms of the

centre/periphery relation’. There is a ‘slow decentring of

the West’ in which, ‘the constitution of lateral relations

in which the West is an absolutely pivotal, powerful,

hegemonic force, is no longer the only force within

which creative energies, cultural fl ows and new ideas

can be concerted.’ This new face of the world ‘has to be

��A performance of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, Ningyo

Johruri Bunraku, at UNESCO

Headquarters

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

generally, the risk here lies in the commodifi cation

and commercialization of musical expressions at the

expense of their authenticity and originality, leading to

the creation of niche consumer markets, the reductive

appropriation of exogenous cultural forms, and the

substitution of a ‘world culture’ concept for the diversity

of cultural expressions.

The challenge of preserving and promoting cultural

diversity is situated precisely at this point of transition

(or tension) between cultural creation and cultural

commercialization, between the market valuation and

the cultural values inherent in artistic creation. Virtually all

cultural expressions, even intangible ones related to ways

of life or identities, may be commodifi ed, that is to say,

given economic value and subsequently commercialized.

The phenomenon is nothing new, of course: ‘All cultures

and all artists have felt the tension between [. . .] the self-

forgetfulness of art and the self-aggrandizement of the

merchant’ (Hyde, 2007). However, globalization processes

and technology have altered the stakes for the creative

— or aspiring — artist, just as they have for the potential

entrepreneur. They have posed with unprecedented

force the ‘perennial question of how to trade off pure

artistic creativity against hard economic realities’ (Thorsby,

2008). The fi nancial rewards available within a globalized

trading environment have tended to favour economic

considerations, with important implications for cultural

diversity and authenticity.

Popular music is arguably the fi eld in which the

pressures of commercialization make themselves

most strongly felt. Their impact is twofold: on the one

hand, the pressures constitute an inducement to local

artists to exploit their creative talents in an increasingly

global market; on the other, they serve as a vector of

acculturation processes related to the asymmetry of

global cultural fl ows. In the case of popular music, four

out of fi ve of the major music industry conglomerates

are located in the US, the other being in the UK; and

the music sales market is dominated by the Western

countries together with Japan and the Republic of Korea

— Brazil being the only developing country to fi gure

among the top 20 commercial outlets (Anheier and Isar,

2008). As seen in chapter 5 similar huge imbalances in

commodifi ed cultural exchanges between developed

and developing countries are found in all branches

of printed, recorded and audiovisual media. New

Trends in relation to cultural diversity The diversifi cation and interpenetration of artistic

traditions observable in the visual and plastic arts are

refl ected in the performing arts through the international

circulation of theatre productions and traditions. The

discovery of Balinese theatre and Japanese Noh drama

by European dramatists in the fi rst half of the 20th

century is an early example of the signifi cant role of non-

European artistic traditions in the renewal of European

theatrical aesthetics. The scope of such exchanges has

been very broad, extending from high art to all forms

of entertainment, including ritual practices ‘consumed’

outside their place of origin as though they were artistic

performances — as illustrated by the vogue for the

performance of the teyyam or divine dance tradition of

Kerala at European and Asian cultural festivals. Opera,

while remaining primarily centred in Europe and the

Americas, is increasingly international in appeal, fi nding

enthusiastic audiences as well as a rich vein of performers

in Asia (Japan and Korea in particular). Classical music

in general, supported by a strong tradition of major

orchestral tours between Europe, the US and Asia, has

continued to expand its infl uence worldwide. In Latin

America, where music has strong and diverse roots, an

enlightened policy of musical education in Venezuela

for example has revitalized the performance of classical

music under the baton of the prodigy Gustavo Dudamel,

‘the symbol of classical music oriented towards the future,

open to a new world’.

In the fi eld of popular music, diversity is everywhere.

In the West, the range of often overlapping genres

— including rock, pop, jazz, folk, Latin, blues, country,

reggae and musical comedy — is virtually limitless.

Musical traditions on all continents display a vast array

of forms. Festivals off er great opportunities to sensitize

the public to this diversity of expression. The ‘world

music’ festival, where the audience is invited to move

between performances representative of a variety of

cultures and styles, is an especially good vehicle in this

regard. In Australia, the WOMAD (World of Music and

Dance) music festival franchise has greatly infl uenced

the growth of interest in world music. Yet, while this

expansion of musical tastes and encounters with

often radically diff erent musical traditions is to be

welcomed, the potential drawbacks from the standpoint

of cultural diversity should not be overlooked. As

with the globalization of cultural exchanges more

The challenge of

preserving and

promoting cultural

diversity is situated

precisely at this point of

transition (or tension)

between cultural

creation and cultural

commercialization,

between the market

valuation and the

cultural values inherent

in artistic creation

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1 6 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

French and 61 percent were foreign (represented by

11 countries), broken down as follows: US 32 percent,

Italy 23 percent, Germany 19 percent, Switzerland

7.5 percent, UK 5.7 percent, Belgium 3.8 percent, and

Austria, Brazil, China, Israel and the Republic of Korea

1.9 percent each. A similar pattern is revealed in the

analysis of the number of galleries per country selected

to exhibit at the highly infl uential fair, Art Basel, where

in 2000 and 2005 Germany, the US, Switzerland,

France, the UK and Italy dominated. It is also refl ected

in Kunstkompass’s ranking of 100 internationally

recognized artists per country for 1979, 1997, 2000,

2004, 2005 and 2007, in which the relative positions of

the US, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Switzerland

periodically interchange but do not lose their places

as the top six countries. As Okwui Enwezor and Jean

Fischer (2007) have noted, while the discourse on

globalization, cultural relativism and mixing has allowed

for the emergence of artists from a wider variety of

countries — the Third World in particular — their

recognition by the market remains slight, the market

being controlled largely by Westerners and favouring

mainly artists living in the West.

Compared with the mutually intelligible, if stylistically

distinct, languages of music and the visual and plastic

arts, literature presents something of a barrier to

acculturation. On the other hand, in an increasingly

plurilingual world, literatures in the main vehicular

languages have a clear advantage in terms of cultural

diff usion, which is evident from the imbalance in the

fl ow of translations into and out of the world’s dominant

languages. This historical imbalance is refl ected in the

roster of Nobel Laureates in Literature, some 75 percent

having come from Western Europe or the US, as

compared with less than 10 percent from Asia, Africa

and the Middle East combined. A valuable corrective

to this trend is provided by a number of literary prizes

devoted to foreign works in translation, including the

annual International Literature Awards of the US National

Endowment for the Arts (‘provid[ing] Americans with as

direct a connection as possible to both the individual

voice of the author and the heart of a culture’), the Arts

Council England’s Foreign Fiction Prize and the French

Prix Médicis for foreign literature in translation. Mention

should also be made of the Pen World Voices Festival of

International Literature, whose 2009 meeting in New York

hosted 160 writers from 40 countries.

technologies linked to the Internet, which are in the

process of profoundly altering the way in which music

is distributed and accessed, potentially off er the best

prospects for the diversifi cation of creative fl ows in

this sector, depending on political will and economic

constraints.

Similar trends are apparent in the visual and plastic

arts, including painting, engraving, prints, original

sculpture and statuary. For example, the top fi ve

exporting countries — namely, the UK (22.4 percent),

China (20.4 percent), the US (18 percent), Switzerland

(6.3 percent) and France (6 percent) — accounted for

73 percent of the world’s exports in 2006. Europe’s share

of the international market (50.4 percent) was largest,

followed by East Asia (26.2 percents), North America

(18.5 percent), Central and South Asia (2.8 percent), Latin

America and the Caribbean (0.82 percent), the Pacifi c

(0.6 percent), sub-Saharan Africa (0.71 percent) and

the Arab States (0.06 percent) (see Figure 6.1). The top

fi ve importers of visual arts were the UK, Switzerland,

Germany, France and Japan. More recently, the number

of buyers from Asia, Russia and the Middle East has risen

signifi cantly, but it is not yet clear how the recent crisis

in the world’s fi nancial markets will impact on this trend

and, more generally, on new or existing clients of the art

market (Anheier and Isar, 2008).

The contemporary art world remains entrenched in

power hierarchies, even if counter-fl ows may have

begun to emerge. In 2003, 39 percent of the 87 artists

exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris were

Figure 6.1 Share of International market for visual

and plastic arts

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2008 based on data from UN Comtrade database, DESA/UNSD.

50,4

26,2

18,5

2,8

0,82 0,71

0,6 0,06

Europe

East Asia

North America

Central and South Asia Latin America and Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa the Pacific

Arab States

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

intercultural perspective — the names of Rushdie,

Marquez, Coetzee spring to mind — may be seen as

exemplars of new forms of world literature, representing,

as it were, windows on a globalizing world. Some

may see such globalizing trends as a threat to literary

traditions in national languages. However, a case can

be made for regarding such expressions not as inimical

to cultural diversity but as modern avatars of diversity

— ‘locally infl ected and translocally mobile’ (Cooppan,

cited in Damrosch, 2003) — of the continuing dialectic

between cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.

While literature in general may be infl uenced by

globalizing trends aff ecting most aspects of cultural life,

poetic expression may be more resistant to such trends.

If globalization can be said to have less purchase on

poetry than on any other literary form, it may be, on the

one hand, because poetry expresses a propensity to the

universal and, on the other, because poetry’s singularity

makes it non-commodifi able, inconvertible into any

value other than itself. In the tradition of a Walt Whitman,

Rabindranath Tagore, Saint-John Perse, Pablo Neruda,

or Derek Walcott, poets inhabit universes of their own

creation, which commend themselves to us as our own.

In this sense, poetry remains a wellspring of diversity

within a continuum that runs from culture to commerce.

In this context, the discontinuation of the UNESCO

Collection of Representative Works, consisting of some

1,300 titles from more than 80 countries, translated from

100 or so diff erent languages, is regrettable. The collection

nonetheless remains a useful source of information on

foreign classics in translation, as well as for publishers

interested in publishing new editions of the texts. At the

same time, the recently launched World Digital Library

— a collaborative venture by UNESCO and the US Library

of Congress — is making available signifi cant primary

materials in multilingual formats from cultures around the

world (including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical

scores, recordings, fi lms, prints, photographs, architectural

drawings and other signifi cant cultural materials). This

online collection fosters intercultural awareness and

understanding by providing resources to educators,

expanding non-English and non-Western content on the

Internet and supporting scholarly research.

It is a matter for conjecture how far globalization will

nurture a process with deep historical roots to which

Goethe refered when he wrote at the beginning of

the 19th century: ‘National literature is now a rather

unmeaningful term; the epoch of world literature is at

hand, and everyone must strive to hasten its approach.’

Contemporary authors writing from an increasingly

6.2 Crafts and international tourism

Cultural commerce and consumption today concern

an increasingly broad public and encompass an

expanding range of commodifi ed cultural expressions

and experiences. Crafts and international tourism are

culturally and economically important in this regard:

the former, by giving artistic shape to decorative

or domestic objects; the latter, by providing access

to the diversity of cultures in their natural settings.

These two sectors — among many possible examples

— illustrate the tension between authenticity and

commercialization that is central to the preservation

and promotion of cultural diversity.

Crafts and the commercialization of cultural objects Despite the relative lack of data and research in the fi eld,

the economic importance of the craft sector is indicated

by a number of examples highlighted in a recent

UNESCO study (Richard, 2007). In Italy, for example,

24 percent of enterprises belong to this sector, which

employs one-fi fth of workers in the private domain.

In Colombia, craft production represents an annual

income of roughly US$400 million, including some

US$40 million in exports, providing workers in the sector

with an annual income ranging from US$140 to US$510.

Tunisia’s 300,000 craftworkers (two-thirds of whom work

part-time) produce 3.8 percent of the country’s annual

GDP, or an annual income per family of US$2,400. In

Morocco, crafts production represents 19 percent of

its GDP, including exports estimated at US$63 million.

In Thailand, the number of craftworkers is estimated at

2 million (out of the 20 million workers in the informal

sector), almost half of whom can be regarded as full-time

workers. In recent years, crafts have become a major

means of income-generation and capacity-building

for trade. Craft fairs are appearing in more and more

countries, sometimes to raise funds for humanitarian

causes but increasingly to sell products for utilitarian use,

such as furnishing or decoration.

Artistic creation and

all forms of innovation

spanning the

spectrum of human

activity may be seen

as primary sources of

cultural diversity

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1 6 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

a philosophy specifi c to the culture from which it derives.

However, the pressures and opportunities of the global

economy risk imposing a form of mass production

excessively geared to commercial demands. Such mass

production threatens to impoverish craftwork by cutting

it off from its cultural roots and robbing it of all creativity.

Strong demand can also prompt price increases that

place a product beyond the reach of local populations,

inducing them to turn to cheap products manufactured

in the countries of the North. The fl ooding of traditional

markets with Western industrial products has had a

serious impact on craft economies. The introduction

of mill-made English cloth to the Indian market or

machine-made goods in Indonesia are two examples.

India, which has the largest number of independent,

self-supporting craftworkers in the world, is currently

operating a dual economy policy under which small-

scale and cottage industries can develop alongside

large-scale industry. In this way, it has been able to

support a revival in craft activities, such that old markets

that had been lost are being regained and new ones

are being created. Increased demand for craft products

should not lead to a decline in their quality or to the

loss of ancient know-how. Ensuring fair returns on

craft products and preserving traditional know-how

are concerns that should carry equal weight. In this

connection, a case can be made for ensuring the

protection of craft manufacture through the legal

protection of folklore (see Box 6.1).

Microfi nance and micromarketing The promotion of cultural diversity depends to large

extent on support for commercial ventures adapted

to cultural contexts and local economic constraints,

which in turn calls for a more pluralistic and accessible

marketplace. Microcredit — which consists in lending

small sums (often under US$100) and charging

competitive interest to very small business owners

— has proven remarkably successful in this regard,

especially in developing countries. The source of its

success is based on the fact that the mechanisms of the

commercial economy take into account the structures

of cooperation specifi c to a given society, especially in

contexts to which the traditional banking system cannot

adapt. Microfi nance has proven eff ective in reducing

poverty and increasing self-empowerment throughout

the developing world, particularly among women. The

Crafts production is an important form of cultural

expression, refl ecting as it does the aesthetics, symbolism

and worldviews of the producing communities. As

tradable forms of cultural diversity, crafts have become a

signifi cant source of additional income and employment

in many parts of the world. Major segments of the

populations of the Kashmir Valley and Bali, for example,

derive their income from handicrafts as well as tourism.

In isolated areas of Myanmar, craftwork — such as the

weaving of lungi (the traditional garment made from

hand-spun cotton) — boosts household incomes, and

in Central Asia where, following the collapse of the USSR,

women employ their traditional skills in the processing of

raw materials, such as local wool and silk cocoons. Highly

skilled and labour-intensive craft-making is an important

income-generating activity for women, especially

in societies where their mobility is restricted. In Iran,

Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, India and Pakistan,

lace-making, embroidery skills and carpet weaving are

important sources of income and access to credit.

As an increasingly high-growth industry, crafts have

become part of a highly organized system of guilds, traders,

organizations and banking systems. Industrialization and

marketing, combined with the forces of globalization,

are helping the traditional economy of crafts to adapt to

the demands of the global marketplace. Yet craftwork

that remains faithful to its traditions adapts an object or

product to the materials at hand and to the symbolism of

its context. Each product placed on the market embodies

��An Indonesian woman making a basket

Crafts and

international tourism

... illustrate the

tension between

authenticity and

commercialization

that is central to the

preservation and

promotion of cultural

diversity

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

handicraft products, as well as to enlarge and strengthen

the markets for these products.

Tourism and the commercialization of intercultural experiences In recent years tourism has enjoyed unprecedented

growth, generating signifi cant revenues for both

developed and developing countries. With a growth

factor of about 5 percent annually, it is predicted that

tourism will double in size over the next 15 years. In 2004,

it represented approximately 10 percent of the EU’s GDP

(compared with 2.6 percent for the cultural and creative

sector). In Colombia, 650,000 tourists have brought in

revenues totalling some US$800 million. In Morocco,

the tourism industry represents about 6.5 percent of

GDP (Richard, 2007). Some experts estimate that it could

continue to develop, reaching the fi gure of 1.56 billion

travellers by 2020 (1.2 billion intra-regional travellers and

some 400 million long-distance, extra-regional tourists).

Europe is forecast to be the top receiving region (with

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Muhammad Yunus in 2006

has focused attention on the virtues of such a system in

combating poverty and stimulating local economies.

Microfi nance and micromarketing have the potential

to help small businesses from the developing world to

innovate and compete within the marketplace. A recent

survey (Light Years IP, 2008) estimates that by harnessing

the intangible value of certain of their products (e.g.

Ethiopian leather, Kenyan tea, Malian mudcloth, Namibian

marula oil and Togolese black soap) sub-Saharan African

countries can increase their export income by a factor of

2–3, rising to 80–200 solely for the television animation

market, and 40–60 for the creative industries. UNESCO’s

‘Award of Excellence’ programme, established in 2001

to encourage craftworkers to use traditional skills and

materials to ensure the perpetuation of traditional

knowledge and set quality standards, now operates in

Asia, Western Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean,

and thereby helps to raise international awareness about

While the rise of globalization has enabled

the recognition of the world’s rich folklore

tradition (including crafts, folktales, music,

dances and designs), the pressures of the

global marketplace have led to the unfair

exploitation of folklore and other traditional

cultural expressions ( TCE), without regard for

the interests of the communities in which they

originate. The issue of their legal protection

has been bogged down in international

disagreements over the past 30 years.

The question was fi rst raised at the

international level in 1973, when the Bolivian

Government invited UNESCO to examine the

possibility of providing for the legal protection

of folklore by means of an amendment

to the Universal Copyright Convention

(UNESCO, 1952), as well as an agreement

concerning the conservation, promotion

and distribution of folklore. Diffi culties arose,

however, regarding the protection of folklore

under copyright since the notion of ‘author’

central to copyright law is inapplicable to

the continuous and collective nature of the

creative process underlying traditional folklore.

Attempts to arrive at a solution to the

problem led, in 1982, to the formulation

of model legal provisions, by the World

Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO) and

UNESCO, on the protection of expressions of

folklore against illicit exploitation, prescribing

intellectual-property-type protection for

expressions of folklore at the national level.

Following the adoption by many developing

countries of domestic measures for the

protection of folklore, attention turned to the

need for international measures to protect

folklore expressions beyond their countries

of origin. The debate by joint WIPO/UNESCO

committees continued without fi nding

a solution until the end of the 1990s.

In 2000 WIPO established the

Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual

Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional

Knowledge and Folklore (GRTKF) as a

forum for international policy debate and

development of legal mechanisms and

practical tools concerning the protection of

traditional knowledge ( TK) and TCE/folklore

against misappropriation and misuse, and the

intellectual property (IP) aspects of access

to and benefi t-sharing in genetic resources.

Despite eff orts, little progress has been made

in reaching consensus on an international

norm on the protection of folklore.

Alongside these eff orts, however, UNESCO

has made some important strides towards

standard setting in the preservation and

safeguarding of TCE, notably through the

1989 Recommendation on the Safeguarding

of Traditional and Folklore and the 2003

Convention for the Safeguarding of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage. While neither of

these instruments contains any provisions on

intellectual property rights or legal protection

proper, they serve as benchmarks in the

continuing efforts to secure such provisions.

Source: UNESCO.

Towards the legal protection of folklore?Box 6.1

��Tourists standing with a South American Indian woman

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1 7 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

other cultures’, followed by ‘excitement’ (74 percent)

and ‘increasing knowledge’ (69 percent). The survey

identifi es the main benefi ts gained from travel as being

an increased understanding and appreciation of other

cultures linked to a thirst for more travel. The promotion

of tourism plays an important role with respect to

intercultural dialogue and the negotiation of diff erence,

and special eff orts should be made to involve local

populations in tourism development, including vetting

the information provided for tourists.

After decades of so-called mass tourism, there has

been a resurgence of tourism in search of authenticity,

motivated by the desire to discover other people in their

natural, social and cultural settings. The World Tourism

Organization (2008) estimates that cultural tourism

represented about 40 percent of all travel in 2006,

making it one of the highest growth sectors in the world.

Whereas the major hotel groups previously tended to

provide an international clientele with standards of

comfort and cuisine akin to those found in the major

717 million tourists), followed by East Asia and the Pacifi c

(with 397 million), the Americas (with 282 million), and

then Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Above

average growth is forecast for East Asia and the Pacifi c,

South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. However, other

experts foresee the approaching end of the low-cost

fl ight boom — given the volatility of the price of petrol

and the possibility of a longer-term rise in petrol prices in

a context of scarcity — which would once again restrict

cheap fl ight to a clientele able to aff ord increasingly

costly journeys.

As illustrated by a recent ISTC and ATLAS survey on ‘youth

and travel’ (Richards and Wilson, 2003), tourism is a key

example of the contribution of profi t-oriented initiatives

to intercultural dialogue and better understanding

among peoples. People engage in new cultures because

they are curious. For 83 percent of the 2,300 young

people and students interviewed from Canada, the Czech

Republic, Hong Kong, Mexico, Slovenia, South Africa,

Sweden and the UK, their main motivation was ‘exploring

An increasingly important segment of cultural

tourism relates to ‘faith travel’, tourism motivated

by religious or spiritual reasons or associated

with religious heritage sites. Previously a largely

domestic phenomenon, religious tourism has

turned into a major international commercial

service. Travel agencies off er extensive multi-

faith journey packages to ancient places of

worship, sacred destinations and pilgrimage

sites associated with the mainstream faiths.

In November 2008, the World Religious Travel

Association (WRTA) held the fi rst global trade and

educational conference aimed at the 300 million

potential faith travellers, with exhibitors

from more than 30 countries drawn from

ecumenical communities and travel agencies.

Thus globalization has opened up religious

tourism to commercialization, transforming

it into a marketable economic product

serving overlapping markets: spirituality,

physical and mental health, leisure activities,

culture, short stays and city breaks. Given

its considerable demographic base, this

form of tourism holds enormous potential

for fostering interfaith and intercultural

dialogue if it is harnessed. Indeed, if correctly

conceived, tourism can be a tremendous

development tool and an eff ective means of

preserving and promoting cultural diversity.

Part and parcel of this process is ensuring

that such tourism remains sustainable, which

means that it deals eff ectively with issues

related to environmental, social and cultural

conservation and preservation of local areas.

With regard to pilgrimage sites and

destinations, sustainability entails taking

steps to equip and maintain — often ancient

— monuments that must be protected and

restored, as well as providing environmental

protection for natural sites using access

ways and traffi c corridors in order to prevent

congestion and not exceed load capacities.

Other issues relate to the management

and promotion of these destinations, the

development of sustainable local economies

and respect for the traditions and customs

of the host populations. In the case of large

religious events and gatherings, challenges

include how best to manage fl ows and

access in order to ensure that participants

are received and accommodated under

proper hygienic and public-health conditions

(including the allocation of appropriate food

services for participants who observe the

dietary rules prescribed by their religion),

guarantee the safety and security of persons

and their property, provide assistance

for the sick, the elderly and children who

may get lost, and supply information on

programming (times of ceremonies, meals,

types of meals according to religion and

dietary traditions). Pilgrimage routes and

religious itineraries require well-coordinated

partnerships and collaboration among all

the host communities, tourism professionals

and territorial development authorities

involved. The World Tourism Organization

(UNWTO) has developed objectives and

guidelines specifi cally aimed at promoting

the rise of sustainable religious tourism.

Source: UNWTO, 2008.

Religious tourismBox 6.2

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C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 7 1

Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

take the form of direct revenues from tourist visits, the

sale of local crafts, music and other cultural products, and

the promotion of longer-term development objectives.

For these potential benefi ts to be realized in practice,

it is necessary that the countries concerned fulfi l their

responsibilities to conserve and maintain the sites in

question — which as World Heritage sites are held in trust

for humanity as a whole. Another — albeit intangible —

benefi t from cultural tourism linked to World Heritage sites

is that it can nurture a sense of pride, which is an essential

factor in the dynamic of sustainable development intrinsic

to the fl ourishing of cultural diversity.

Thus both crafts and tourism can function as eff ective

levers for sustainable development, provided that the

excessive ‘culturalization’ of such economic sectors is

avoided in the interest of preserving cultural diversity.

Today, an increasing number of enterprises highlight

the ‘cultural’ nature of their products. In some cases,

this refl ects a genuine wish to promote local products,

particular types of manufacture or gastronomic traditions.

In other cases, it is no more than an artifi ce designed to

boost the sales of the product concerned.

Western capitals, the focus today is increasingly on

providing ‘typical’ experiences, a décor refl ecting the

local environment and customs and an opportunity to

experience local cuisine. New forms of tourism have

come into being, catering for the traveller anxious to

explore what is diff erent or inaccessible. Travel packages

are becoming increasingly varied — combining, for

example, trekking expeditions, lodging with local

populations and learning diff erent cultural expressions

or traditional sports. Another new form of ‘cultural’

tourism is religious tourism (see Box 6.2), which has

led to the creation of very sophisticated infrastructures

in pilgrimage sites and varied tourist itineraries. In the

case of the Muslim Hajj, which lasts up to 45 days, some

tourist agencies propose a variety of cultural excursions

in combination with visits to holy shrines.

The results of this new trend in local tourism are mixed:

the authenticity of the experiences on off er inevitably

becomes somewhat problematic, such as when some

initiatives ‘exoticize’ cultural diversity. The sensationalizing

of diff erence is taken to extremes when discriminatory

or degrading practices to which particular groups (such

as women) are subject are highlighted in order to satisfy

tourists’ curiosity. An egregious example is that of the

‘giraff e women’ of the Karen hilltribes in Burma: the practice

of elongating their necks by means of a series of brass

coils, supposedly to protect them from tiger attacks, has

been turned into a tourist spectacle without regard to the

dignity or possible dangers to the health of the women

concerned. It is important that tourism avoid turning

cultural practices and expressions into ‘folklore spectacles’,

divorced from their true context and meaning. The risk

inherent in cultural tourism is that it may reify others,

reducing them to mere objects to be discovered — and

‘consumed’ — rather than permitting them to be subjects

who may equally well discover us. The preservation of

cultural diversity presupposes the promotion of its living

expressions while avoiding any action or attitude that

denigrates these by reducing them to imitations.

Tourism linked to UNESCO World Heritage sites plays an

important role in the promotion of cultural diversity: by

lending historical depth to other cultures, situating others

in their natural setting, and highlighting the diversity of

cultural expressions as a collective heritage to be preserved

for present and future generations. The economic benefi ts

from this form of tourism can also be substantial: they can

��Statues of the Holy Virgin Mary in a souvenir shop in Lourdes, France

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1 7 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

brand image and marketing strategies of products that

are successful in the global market. But cultural diversity

is also beginning to be integrated into the internal

functioning of businesses and to inform operational and

development strategies. Indeed, corporate governance

is becoming more and more multinational and

diversifi ed in order to satisfy a diverse range of partners,

collaborators and clients. As a result, cultural diversity

today fi gures as prominently on private-sector agendas

as it does on those of political decision-makers at the

national or international level.

Marketing, diversifi cation and customization Multinational corporations are becoming increasingly

aware of the benefi ts of diversifying and customizing

their products in order to penetrate new markets and

meet the expectations of local consumers. Diversifi cation

runs parallel to a general standardization of tastes

The internationalization of markets has increased the

importance of competitive advantage based on creativity

and innovation. As illustrated in the map below, an

assessment of innovation systems as measured by the

World Bank — i.e. involving fi rms, research centres,

universities, think tanks, consultants and other kinds of

organizations — shows important disparities between

Europe and North America, on the one hand, and the

rest of the world’s regions on the other. The map does

not however show the creative potential that can result

from capitalizing on cultural diversity in terms of culturally

diverse forms of innovation. The business world is

beginning to understand and respond to the challenges

of cultural diversity as a key factor of economic success.

In an increasingly global marketplace, the capacity to

create a universe with which consumers can identify

adds signifi cantly to a product’s value. Today cultural

diversity has a central role to play in the conception,

6.3 Cultural diversity and the business world1

1. In this section, reference to companies and brands has been limited to those

companies that are members of the United Nations Global Compact. See the

relevant website, listed below.

Per country 0 - 5 (70 countries)

5 - 7 (26 countries)

Data not available (71 countries)

Above 7 (34 countries)

Scores depend on three variables of the innovation system that are scaled by population (the weighted innovation variables).*

Map 6.1 Innovation scores*, 2008

Source: World Bank Institute, 2009.

Today cultural

diversity has a central

role to play in the

conception, brand

image and marketing

strategies of products

that are successful

in the global market.

But cultural diversity

is also beginning to

be integrated into the

internal functioning

of businesses and to

inform operational

and development

strategies

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

of successful relationships and mutual understanding.

HSBC promoted these as crucial values in a global

advertising campaign and on a website that invited

visitors to explore diff erent points of view. Another

important group in retail clothing has also sought to

capitalize on expressions of diversity through a focus

in its communications strategy on global humanitarian

concerns, such as peace and the struggle against racism

and intolerance. In the manufacturing sector, it is now

a general principle that a product must take specifi c

account of local conditions and preferences, even if

the brand itself is international. Thus, for example, as a

consequence of Renault-Nissan’s position that ‘There is

no such thing as a “world car”’, the company is changing

its approach to manufacturing: cars intended for Chinese

consumers are built with vertical suspension and very

elaborate interiors, while those intended for Japanese

consumers have horizontal suspension and simpler and

more sober interiors (FNSP, 2008; Smith, 2008). Diversity

in the global commercial context is thus a protean

concept, sometimes engineered into the product and

sometimes underpinning a claim to universality.

The new consumer class arising in developing countries

— especially the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) —

is of particular interest to market specialists today,

off ering attractive potential markets that call for fresh

observation, measurement and analysis. Consumer

research based on measures of income, media habits

and consumption patterns, gathered through extensive

opinion studies paralleling the analytical tools developed

by and used in Western consumer societies , is seeking

to capture the complexity of cultural attitudes within a

variety of national settings (see Box 6.3).

and lifestyles, especially in global cities (Sassen, 2001).

The worldwide expansion of the Coca-Cola brand, for

example, has been accompanied by the emergence

of rival brands (in the Arab States, in Iran), which off er

a similar product but under a diff erent name with

local associations. Its popularity has also spurred older

products to evolve in keeping with local tastes and

supply, an example being the Russian drink Kvas, made

from black bread, which is sometimes labelled the

‘Russian Coca-Cola’. Customizing or tailoring a product to

a particular cultural context is a new strategic element in

marketing policies worldwide.

Major global brands, such as Nike and Coca-Cola, spend

millions of dollars advertising and promoting their

products to align with the cultures, needs and aspirations

of their consumers. Increasingly, global and national

marketers are adapting universal brand positioning to

the cultures and aspirations of the markets they are in,

seeking to fi nd more common ground and to refl ect

the full range of diversity that may be present in given

market. One example is the corporate sponsorship of

national athletes, teams and celebrities, such as Nike’s

support of cricket in India.

In the global economy, cultural diversity has the

potential to become a more prominent factor in

commercial strategy. An example in the banking

sector is HSBC, which in 2004 mounted a global

advertising campaign to illustrate its claim to be ‘the

world’s local bank’. The campaign expressed the idea

that individual and cultural diff erences are, in fact, the

lifeblood of innovation and creativity, that knowledge

of and sensitivity to these diff erences are at the heart

A study issued by the Target Index Group (TGI),

entitled Brand Building in the BRICs (Wicken

and Lobl, 2006), focuses on the mainstream

consumer market and the comparative

examination and analyses related to adults

aged 20–54 who live in one of the two or

three largest urban areas in each country,

which are considered a key target by many

brand owners. These cities are ‘leading the

charge’ towards consumerism, off ering the

largest distribution networks and the greatest

numbers of potential brand purchasers,

many of whom are at the forefront of their

countries’ social and economic development.

These four countries have very diff erent

urbanization patterns: While more than

70 percent of Brazilians and Russians live in

cities, less than 40 percent of Indians and

Chinese do. Thus, beyond the two or three

major urban areas of these four countries —

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Moscow

and St. Petersburg in Russia; Mumbai, Delhi and

Calcutta in India; and Beijing, Shanghai and

Guangzhou in China — it would be extremely

diffi cult to fi x any criteria for the comparison

of the four countries. Comparisons with

Consumer values analysis in the BRICsBox 6.3

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1 7 4 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

developed markets were made, based on

four Western European countries (France,

Germany, Spain and the UK), and the entire

span of the 20- to 54-year-old populations

were taken as the best comparative

representation of the developed consumer

populations. Data were compiled in three

categories — universal values, specific

values and divergent values — and

were commented upon as follows:

Universal values, which show very similar levels

of agreement among the BRICs and Western

Europe, are related to the importance of the

family and to conservative forms of behaviour.

Specifi c values not shared by Europeans basically

related to how one is perceived by one’s family

or society. A desire to succeed, get rich (‘Money is

the best measure of success’), be recognized by

one’s family (‘It’s important my family thinks I’m

doing well’) and become an affl uent consumer

(‘I really enjoy any kind of shopping’) appears

to be the driving force behind most of these.

In another respect, however, we see less

individualism in the BRICs markets than

in their Western counterparts. There is

a greater degree of acceptance of the

view that individuals have to act within

the collective framework of society (‘It

is more important to do your duty than

to live for your own enjoyment’). This

also refl ects strong family structures. For

instance, in each of the BRICs, children

live at home well into adulthood. Looking

after your parents is ‘expected’ behaviour.

Consumer values analysis in the BRICsBox 6.3

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplacenumber of developing countries than in the so-called

developed world, underscoring the importance of this

infl uence in countries with younger demographics. The

omnipresence of commercial media in the streets creates

an environment that is conducive to consumerism.

In this way, new products appear on the market,

reconciling the values specifi c to a local context (or at

least the perception of these values) with the effi ciency

of global trading instruments. This holds particularly in

the case of commercial activities that could be thought

to be incompatible with a particular cultural context

due to religious proscriptions. Thus, in Muslim countries,

Islamic banking services designed to be compatible with

the prohibition on money lending (on the payment or

receipt of interest) have been conceived as solutions to a

specifi c cultural problem. Launched some 30 years ago,

Islamic fi nancial institutions now number more than 400

Some have predicted that these emerging countries

could become the largest economies in the world by

2050 (Wilson and Purushothaman, 2003). Earthwatch

estimates that this consumer class now exceeds

300 million people in both China and India (Pigott,

2008). Fuelled by a US$400 billion advertising industry

(combining print, radio, television, Internet, billboards),

many of the brands promoted are endowed with

emotional and cultural meanings that far exceed the

functional benefi ts of the given product, whether it be a

mobile phone, a soft drink, a beauty product, a car or fast

food. Inevitably, these meanings will infl uence consumers’

perceptions of and outlooks on dress, style, popularity

and belonging, not to mention attitudes towards food,

diet, health and exercise, signifi cantly adding to the

complexifi cation of contemporary identities (see

chapter 1). Indeed, it appears that the attraction, trust

and interest in brands is signifi cantly stronger in a

Divergent values are important because

they indicate points of difference among

BRICs. Fundamentally, these are reflected

in statements that are related much

more closely to local attitudes or values

and are often controversial issues rooted

in local culture. Faith, a woman’s place,

men crying and being attractive are very

controversial areas, and the responses

to statements bearing on such matters

vary significantly, indicating that each

country has its own views about them.

Consumer values analysis in the BRICsBox 6.3

An interesting theme in this group is related

to risk-taking: Brazilians seems to be the most

conservative and least individualistic, in clear

contrast to the Chinese, with Russia being closer

to Brazil, and India to China. Status is a key

personal driver in China and India, perhaps an

outcome of the opening up of new economic

opportunities and growing wealth. At this stage

in China’s development, especially among

those living in the three largest cities, it is most

important to convey status at the individual

level. In Brazil however looking attractive,

especially to the opposite sex, is much

more important than status, thereby clearly

contrasting with Chinese and Indians. Russians

are much closer to Brazilians in this respect.

Source: Pigott, 2008, based on Wicken and Lobl, 2006.

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1 7 6 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

and management, and externally in terms of corporate

operations and governance practices. This has cast doubt

on many of the assumptions underpinning mainstream

business practices and has prompted a re-evaluation of

‘good business practices’ worldwide, inasmuch as national

cultures will obviously have a bearing on local business

cultures, as well as on the degree of adaptability of

foreign corporate cultures (Bollinger and Hofstede, 1987;

Hofstede, 2001; see also Box 6.4).

In a globalized business world, very diff erent

cultures are brought into professional contact across

multinational partnerships, mergers and relocations.

While many still experience ‘cultural diff erences’ more

as ‘a source of confl ict rather than of synergy’ (Hofstede,

2009), it is becoming increasingly clear that cultural

misunderstandings can be avoided through awareness-

raising aimed at reinforcing cooperation in multinational

contexts (Gancel, Raynaud and Rodgers, 2002). In

response to questions related to cultural mistakes that

occurred when the SkyTeam Alliance of airlines started

out, the president of a member company remarked

that what is often underestimated is the importance of

how people come to conclusions and the very diff erent

worldwide, spread over 70 countries and representing

over US$800 billion in capital, corresponding to an

average annual rate of increase of 15 percent (Les

Dossiers, 2007). In Morocco, for example, three ‘alternative’

products entered the market in July 2007: one for trade

fi nancing, another for capital investment and a third

resembling a form of leasing that is also applicable to

equipment and property. Even in a country not

predominantly Muslim, such as Kenya, Barclays Bank has

launched a range of commercial products compatible

with the Islamic banking system and aimed at the

country’s 8 million Muslims (afrik.com, 2005). However,

these products are subject to the same uncertainties as

traditional commercial products. In Morocco, for example,

clients have been reticent to use these alternative

products because of their signifi cantly higher cost as

compared with traditional banking services (Sqalli, 2007).

Diversity management and corporate culture As the development of commercial strategies tailored

to diverse cultural contexts becomes an increasingly

important component of successful business strategies,

the notion of corporate culture is beginning to change

— internally in terms of human relations, resources

The Mexican subsidiary of the French group

Danone represents an outstanding case of a

highly successful company in an emerging

country. Impressed by the subsidiary’s superb

technical performance and profi tability, the

group’s executives attributed the success to

its employees’ high level of motivation. While

the executives linked the motivation with the

group’s social policy of ‘dual commitment’

(associating business success with social

progress), they were nonetheless intrigued by

the enthusiastic response the policy inspired.

They wondered to what extent the response

stemmed from the fact that the group’s policies

were particularly well suited to the Mexican

context. Further investigation revealed that

the personnel saw the company as an entirely

diff erent social form, with ways of being

and acting not found in ordinary Mexican

companies. Unlike traditional companies,

where considerable distance and indiff erence

exist between hierarchical levels and peers,

the personnel of Danone Mexico felt that

they belonged to a tightly knit and intensely

supportive group of peers. This enabled them to

feel as strong collectively as they are powerless

individually. A combination of policies relating

to social policy, labour organization, hierarchical

levels and the company’s actions towards local

communities, has caused the relations typical of

most Mexican companies to gradually give way

to behaviour that is more familial in character.

Once outside the American context and vision

of society, management practices based on the

prevailing standards of American business no

longer serve as an eff ective frame of reference.

In Mexico, for example, the prevailing vision

of good hierarchical relations is quite diff erent

from American contractual relations. Whereas a

clear-cut defi nition of individual responsibilities

as a means of judging personal achievements

and knowing unequivocally whether employees

have fulfi lled their contractual obligations are

the norm in the US, the exact opposite is true

in Mexico, where collective responsibility is the

norm. It is, of course, necessary — as it is in the

US and elsewhere — to identify precisely what

functions more or less well in a company, so

that problems can be corrected. This is simply a

universal imperative for management. However,

in Mexico one tends to do so without drawing

a close connection between the evaluation

of results and the judgement of individuals;

rather, the aim is to locate and correct the faulty

processes without necessarily seeking out

the individuals responsible for these failings.

Such diff erences between local

conceptions and American conceptions

of management practices can be

found in all of the cases examined.

Source: d’Iribarne and Henry, 2007.

Adapting management practices to local contexts: Danone MexicoBox 6.4

Managerial

competencies now

have to include the

ability to work in

very diff erent cultural

contexts. This has

triggered a range of

culturally sensitive

human resources

policies, which have in

turn spurred the need

for new corporate

governance patterns

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Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

(Lagace, 2004), although the complexity of the issue and

the sensitivity of the subject matter make this diffi cult

to measure. Available literature and surveys suggest

that not attending to diversity may jeopardize group

processes (communications, confl ict and cohesion)

(Jehn, Northcraft and Neale, 1999) and point to the

importance of the organizational context in which the

work takes place, that is, human resources practices and

corporate culture (Gomez-Mejiaf and Palich, 1997). In

this context, the position of ‘chief diversity offi cers’ (CDO)

has been created; CDOs are tasked with promoting and

managing diversity within companies so as to prevent

confl icts in daily operations which could be detrimental

to the group’s overall performance (Jehn, Northcraft and

Neale, 1999). Indeed, if multinationals are to enhance

the fl ow of technological know-how in transnational

exchanges, spur innovation and promote activity-

sharing among business units in the global landscape,

‘logical structures’ used by diff erent populations to arrive

at the same conclusion, thus underlining the necessity

of making room for fl exibility in thinking. Indeed,

today’s managers are increasingly aware of the need to

take cultural factors into account in order to optimize

both working conditions and company performance.

Strategies range from adopting culturally neutral

professional attitudes to emphasizing sensitivity to the

specifi c origins or cultural backgrounds of colleagues.

In the 1990s diversity discourse shifted away from the

affi rmative action approaches that grew out of the civil

rights movement in the 1960s, designed to overcome

patterns of exclusion or discrimination and legally ensure

fair employment practices (Thomas, 1991). Since then,

corporations have come to recognize the added value of

a diversifi ed workforce for corporate operations (Kochan,

2003) and have ‘discovered culture’ (Gordon, 1995).

Corporate culture2 has sought increasingly to ensure that

employees feel valued and respected by their colleagues,

particularly regarding ethnicity and gender, in order to

build organizations that are more fully integrated across

occupations and hierarchical levels (Ely and Thomas,

2001). Recruitment and training campaigns have become

more and more competitive internationally as companies

attempt to attract or retain people with very diff erent

backgrounds who have themselves developed a stronger

drive for self-fulfi lment in the workplace. Managerial

competencies now have to include the ability to work

in very diff erent cultural contexts. This has triggered a

range of culturally sensitive human resources policies,

which have in turn spurred the need for new corporate

governance patterns able to bridge diff erent corporate

cultures, especially following a cross-boarder merger or

acquisition (see ‘In focus’ below).

In the US, the non-profi t organization Business

Opportunities for Leadership Diversity (BOLD) launched

an initiative in 1996 among industry chief executive

offi cers (CEO) and human resource (HR) professionals

to demonstrate the added value of a diversifi ed

workforce for corporate operations (Kochan, 2003).

Since then, a number of surveys have sought to show

the correlations between diversity and performance

2.. ‘Corporate culture’ is loosely defi ned as ‘the pattern of shared beliefs and

values that gives the members of an institution meaning, and provides them

with the rules for behaviour in their organization’ (Davis, 1984; Schein, 1999).

��A multinational business team joining hands

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1 7 8 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

careful employee selection and training (Kochan et al.,

2003; Gomez-Mejiaf and Palich, 1997).

From social intelligence to cultural intelligence In addition to other indicators of ability, such as social

intelligence and emotional intelligence, employers are now

paying more attention to the cultural intelligence of their

staff as a way to synergize diff erences in international

organizations and to build capacities adapted to the

strategic outlook of markets (Earley, Ang and Tan, 2006).

Cultural intelligence is a concept that is gaining currency

in the corporate world, marking the potential engagement

in support of cultural diversity as both a key business

driver and a signifi cant opportunity for innovation when

leveraged. It involves knowledge of the importance of

respecting and understanding cultures and the dynamics

among those cultures, developing the capacity and

a skills-set to create and promote programmes that

are more mindful of cultural diversity, and the will and

commitment to prioritize cultural diversity in individual

they have little choice but to tackle diversifi cation and

cultural diversity head-on.

As cultural diversity becomes an ever more prominent

concern in corporate intercultural management

studies, researchers are also seeking to assess

the diversity-performance link in an increasingly

competitive marketplace. Recent research indicates

that there is a positive link between diversity and the

financial and economic performance of multinational

corporations (see Box 6.5).

In these ways, fi rms are putting themselves in a

better position to overcome the impacts of greater

cultural diversity through deliberate strategies related

to: the potential benefi ts of employee diversity in

terms of greater creativity and innovation and more

successful marketing to diff erent types of consumers;

comprehensive decision-making as fi rms internationalize

and become exposed to a variety of environments, and

UNESCO commissioned the extra-fi nancial

rating agency BMJ Ratings to conduct a survey

of the 120 multinational corporations quote on

the Paris Stock Exchange’s SBF 120 index. The

survey sought to determine whether there is a

correlation between socio-cultural diversity and

overall economic and fi nancial performance.

The results were plotted as follows:

This fi gure maps the coordinates of the 120

multinationals as measured according to

correlations between a consolidated socio-

cultural diversity indicator (perfDIV ) and a

consolidated overall economic performance

indicator (perfECO). The perfDIV criteria

were based on a qualitative and quantitative

assessment of factors related to social cohesion

(overall nationality, nationality of managers

and directors, minority integration) and non-

discrimination (gender parity at diff erent levels

of hierarchy, corporate social responsibility and

recruitment policies concerning minorities).

The perfECO indicator combines three partial

indicators: 2007–2008 sales fi gures (perfCA), net

results (perfRES) and stock-market values (perfB).

While coeffi cient correlations reveal little or

no causality between perfDIV and perfCA,

perfRES or perfB taken individually, the analysis

concluded that a causal link does exist between

diversity and global economic performance

(perfECO) and found that socio-cultural

diversity explains 49 percent of the variance.

Source: Bello, 2009.

A correlation between diversity and economic performance?Box 6.5

Correlation between cultural diversity and economic development

for French stock market companies

Source: UNESCO, PBC, Diversity and Performance Report, 2009.

100

120

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Global economic performance

Cultural diversity performance

Recent research

suggests the existence

of a positive link

between diversity

and the fi nancial

and economic

performance of

multinational

corporations

WRCD_eng2.indd 178 29/09/09 12:42

C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 7 9

Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

encourage both the private sector and other social

actors to participate in promoting the advancement of

responsible corporate citizenship and universal social and

environmental principles in order to meet the challenges

of globalization. This global initiative, with over 6,000

participants, spans some 130 countries. While it is but

a small step towards integration of the UN goals in the

world of commerce, it may nevertheless yield signifi cant

benefi ts in terms of the safeguarding and furtherance of

cultural diversity if the notion of sustainable development

becomes anchored ethically as well as strategically in

business practices and outlooks. As CSR and sustainability

become signifi cant strategic aspects of business, it is

important that cultural diversity, identity and cultural

recognition are understood as key factors in dealings with

all stakeholders.

Conclusion Creativity is fundamental to cultural diversity, which is

itself conducive to creativity at all levels of society and in

all spheres of action, whether cultural, scientifi c, social or

political. The crafts and tourism industries highlight the

extent to which the cultural dimension can stimulate the

vitality of culture-related sectors. As diversity becomes

a cornerstone in the business world, from marketing to

corporate management, it will be important to develop

tools and capacity-building mechanisms that emphasize

the benefi ts of cultural diversity together with other

forms of diversity (e.g. ethnic or gender diversity). Cultural

diversity must thus be considered an asset, whose added

value is coming to be recognized in more and more

��The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

and/or institutional spheres and translate them into

concrete actions and policies that promote respect for and

appreciation of diverse cultures (Pigott, 2008).

The benefi ts of developing cultural intelligence relate

essentially to the notion of inclusion, understood as

both a value and a process for creating an enabling

corporate environment in order to establish clear metrics

that support intelligent investment in cultural diversity.

As a fi rst step towards sizing up cultural intelligence,

an international research team led by Simon Fraser

University (Canada) created an online test to assess a

variety of skills and traits, such as tolerance of uncertainty

and adaptability, empathy and cultural knowledge

(Leung, 2008). Anecdotal evidence linked to this project

suggests that smart people with good social skills do not

necessarily make a good showing when interacting with

people of other cultures. On the other hand, individuals

with high cultural intelligence are able to adapt quickly

across cultures and are sharply attuned to nuances

regardless of the country (see ‘In focus’ below).

Because an individual’s cultural makeup is composed

of a cross-section of traits and numerous allegiances

corresponding to regional, national, social, religious,

ethnic, sexual and many other kinds of affi liations,

including personal history, choices and other

commitments, the ability to think globally as well as

locally and to apply cultural intelligence will enable

global leaders and management to move beyond

stereotypes. Inattentiveness to many of the assumptions

embedded in our conceptions of others is evident in the

research literature on international management, where

the word ‘culture’ is often still used synonymously with

‘nation’, and national cultural traits tend to systematically

be treated as indicative of predictable behavioural

patterns (Brannen, 2009). Today, global business success

increasingly depends not only on understanding diff erent

cultures but on being able to build bridges between

them and negotiate within complex organizational

structures and contexts.

Practical incentives exist for fi rms to develop the

kind of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on which

achievement of the UN’s environmental and political

goals largely depend. Indeed, this is the central purpose

of the United Nations Global Compact, a voluntary

international corporate network initiated in 2000 to

WRCD_eng2.indd 179 29/09/09 12:42

Creativity being a source of social and technological innovation, there is a need to invest in its

development, both in the cultural sector and in the business sector, within which cultural diversity is

to be understood as a source of profi t and enhanced performance, conducive to corporate ‘cultural

intelligence’.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Facilitate the exchange of artistic productions and the circulation of artists, including through a system of cultural visas.

b. Develop appropriate systems for the protection of traditional know-how in the crafts sector, as well as ways and means of compensating the communities concerned for the commercial exploitation of such know-how.

c. Draw up and widely disseminate good practices in relation to tourism development with a view to maximizing its positive impacts on cultural diversity.

d. Develop ‘cultural intelligence’ in the business and marketing world through the establishment of real and virtual forums and the production of relevant research on the profi tability of cultural diversity, not limited only to ethnic or gender diff erence.

C h

ap ter 6 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

1 8 0 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

and the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, must be

furthered. Such policies may help to stimulate public-

private partnerships for the sharing of know-how and

experiences, as well as for the development of suitable

sector policies and legislative frameworks. These include

promoting international respect for and enforcement of

intellectual property rights, which help to protect artistic

works and turn creativity into viable sources of income.

It goes without saying that turning cultural diversity

to economic account must be compatible with the

principles of sustainable development, thereby ensuring

the protection of the environment and the social

fabric. As will be seen in Part III, cultural diversity also

has a crucial role to play in renewing the international

community’s strategies for achieving sustainable

development and peace.

areas of economic development, notably through the

rise of the creative sector, which, according to recent

surveys, accounted for up to 7.8 percent of GDP in the

US in 2001 and 6.7 percent of GDP in Brazil in 1998

(Anheier and Isar, 2008; UNCTAD, 2008). There is a need

to promote new initiatives favouring the diversifi cation

of exchanges so as to ensure a better balance in the

circulation of cultural products between the countries

of the North and the South.

What matters is that the social, economic and political

conditions governing the production, distribution and

exploitation of ideas and expressions in knowledge

societies be conducive to creativity and innovation

(Venturelli, 2001). Policies that contribute to the

harnessing of cultural diversity for the benefi t of creativity

and innovation, such as Creative Clusters, Creative Cities

��Monks waiting for the ferry to take them across the Chao Phraya

River to Pak Cret island in Bangkok,

Thailand

WRCD_eng2.indd 180 29/09/09 12:42

In focus:

Tools and

approaches for

increasing the

relevance of

cultural diversity

to corporate

audiences

C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 8 1

Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

power relationships eff ectively and to ‘work the system’

as critical to their career success.

The risk of such generalizations, however, is that one will

fall prey to stereotypes. Today’s research, in tandem with

the rise of global operations and a diversifi ed workforce,

has accordingly come to deal more with the cross-cultural

skills that managers need to develop to maximize their fi rm’s

global operations (intercultural management).

Based on cultural audits in large multinational

corporations, some specialized consulting fi rms (e.g.

Aperian Global, Berlitz Cultural Consulting, and ICM

Associates) have designed specifi c toolkits for managing

complex multicultural corporate situations, exploring

skill-sets related to being a good manager, refi ning

appropriate communication, developing curiosity and

openness, being aware of one’s cultural bias or being able

to adapt and to develop empathy with others. In talking

about the way to deal most effi ciently with mergers or

acquisitions, Torben Laustsen, Corporate Head of Group

Identity and Communications at Nordea, advises that ‘it is

very important to allocate enough time in the fi rst phase

to investigate the cultural diff erences and test existing

opinions and values. Do this together with your new

partners so that you can formulate, together, the values

and vision for the new company’ (Gancel, Raynaud and

Rodgers, 2002).

In response to company needs, most intercultural

management consultancy fi rms changed their emphasis in

the 1990s: seminars and workshops aimed at sensitizing the

participants to cultural diff erences and conceived almost

wholly in terms of nationality were progressively replaced

by training courses concerned with the diff erences between

business cultures so as to optimize mergers and acquisitions.

Ivar Hafsett, Strategic Advisor of Hydro Aluminium, notes

that his company ‘goes beyond language and national

diff erences and acknowledges that ways of doing things and

managing business are diff erent within companies, even

from the same country or in the same business’ (Gancel,

Raynaud and Rodgers, 2002). Some CEOs even recognize

that when they claim that their company’s culture is based

on diversity, it is because they think that there is not only

one way to do things and that diversity should be part of the

corporate culture. Such a dynamic approach to diversity, as

opposed to fi xed approaches to diversity (e.g. solely in terms

As Nancy Adler (2002) has pointed out, ‘the importance

of world business has created a demand for managers

sophisticated in global management and skilled at working

with people from other countries’. She says further:

Cross-cultural management describes the behaviour

of people within countries and cultures; compares the

behaviour of people across countries and cultures;

and, perhaps, most important, seeks to improve the

interaction among colleagues, managers, executives,

clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from countries

and cultures around the world. Cross-cultural

management thus expands the scope of domestic

management practice to encompass multicultural and

global dynamics.

With the goal of predicting the behaviour of counterparts

with diff ering cultural backgrounds, cross-cultural

management has tended to reduce cultural diff erences

to national diff erences, as illustrated by André Laurent’s

(1986) typology of managers, which aims to provide some

indicative trends across a typology of diverse management

styles throughout Europe:

German managers, more than others, believe that

creativity is essential for career success. In their minds,

successful managers must have the right individual

characteristics. German managers’ outlook is rational:

they view the organization as a coordinated network of

individuals who make appropriate decisions based on

their professional competence and knowledge.

British managers hold a more interpersonal and

subjective view of the organizational world. According

to them, the ability to create the right image and to

get noticed for what they do is essential for career

success. British managers view organizations primarily

as a network of relationships among individuals

who get things done by infl uencing each other using

communication and negotiation.

French managers look at organizations as an authority

network where the power to organize and control

members stems from their position in the hierarchy.

French managers focus on the organization as a

pyramid of diff erentiated levels of power to be acquired

or dealt with. They perceive the ability to manage

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1 8 2 P A R T I I . K E Y V E C T O R S O F C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y

In the end, it is the diversity of experiences observable within

a single context that makes the company a remarkable

laboratory for studying the relationship between forms of

governance and cultural context. This diversity leaves room

for both successes and failures. Comparing the two makes it

possible to shed light on those management methods that

benefi t most from capitalizing on the cultural context, and

clearly to discern what distinguishes them from less eff ective

approaches. In this way, intelligence can be developed

about the phenomena that come into play during the

implementation of a form of management that has been

tailored to a particular cultural context.

As operational guidelines, Tony Pigott (2008), CEO of J.

W. Thompson (JWT ) Canada, suggests a clear, accessible

approach to reframing and advancing cultural diversity in

and through the corporate sector. The approach has three

main components: respect, rapport and return. He sketches

these as follows:

Respect

■ Respect for cultural traditions and values.

■ Respect for the impact that culture has on business

in all its facets — from manufacturing to labour to

marketing.

■ Conscious inclusion of diverse cultures and

backgrounds throughout business operations.

Rapport

■ Rapport with and among cultures and communities.

■ Enhanced rapport with and inclusion of key

stakeholder groups through knowledge and

appreciation of cultural factors.

Return

■ Return on investment in cultural diversity and

understanding.

■ Establishment of clear metrics that support and

encourage more intelligent investment in cultural

diversity.

of ethnic or gender diff erences), makes the case for better

taking account of cultural diversity.

Peter Isackson, director of the consultancy fi rm ICBM, is

currently writing an educational handbook for the global

network, Cultural Detective, on the topic of ‘corporate

cultures’, in order to accompany the process of mergers and

acquisitions. The Cultural Detective network encourages the

practice of observation in intercultural contexts and helps

readers and trainees ‘to acquire detective refl exes’, that is, ‘to

look at what is the case rather than coming with one’s mind

made up’. A handbook on ‘global diversity and inclusion’

written by Rui-ling King, Alan Richter and Jeremy Solomons,

consultants in intercultural management working around

the globe, is due to be published shortly. The advertising

copy for their book states: ‘“Global Diversity” has become

something of a buzzword in recent years as organizations

and individuals try to grapple with all the ways people are

diff erent and similar across the world. In the USA, diff erences

might focus on race and gender. In Latin America, heritage

and socio-economic status. In India, religion, language and

caste’ (Cultural Detective, 2009).

To take advantage of the opportunities that diversity has

to off er in the of building an organizational culture, human

resources practices and managerial/group process skills

need to translate diversity into positive managerial results

at both group and individual levels. This can be achieved

by adopting a more analytical approach, supporting

experimentation and evaluation, and providing training for

the desired skills. In this spirit, a leading microelectronics

company created its own ‘Diversity Council’ in 2003, chaired

by its CEO, to ensure that it visibly encourages and values

the contributions and diff erences of employees from various

backgrounds. Its chief objectives are to heighten employee

and management awareness and encourage the eff ective

use of a diverse workforce through key initiatives, such as

developing attraction and recruiting strategies along with

retention and awareness strategies. Under the guidance of

the Diversity Council, a series of cultural diversity employee

roundtables have been held to gather more face-to-

face feedback and ideas from staff . These meetings have

generated some practical ideas for increasing awareness

of cultural diversity within the company. Some, like the

suggestion of a cross-cultural communications course, were

simple ideas that became pilots for full-fl edged diversity

training initiatives. Other ideas, such as a networking and

‘cultural evening’, were one-off events.

��Ecuadorean blankets

WRCD_eng2.indd 182 29/09/09 12:42

C R E A T I V I T Y A N D T H E M A R K E T P L A C E . 1 8 3

Chapter 6 Creativity and

the m arketplace

International Communication for Business Management (ICBM): http://

www.icbm.fr

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Religious Tourism: http://www.religious-tourism.com/religoustourism.htm

SkyTeam Alliance: http://www.skyteam.com

UNESCO Catalogue of Representative Works: http://www.unesco.org/

unesdi/index.php/eng/biblio/tous.185

UNESCO Power of Peace Network: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/

powerofpeace

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culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37649&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_

SECTION=201.html

United Nations Global Compact, Participants and Stakeholders: http://www.

unglobalcompact.org/ParticipantsAndStakeholders

United Nations Global Compact: http://www.unglobalcompact.org

World Digital Library: http://www.wdl.org/en

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): http://www.wipo.int

World Observatory on the Social Status of the Artist: http://portal.unesco.

org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=32056&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_

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World of Music and Dance (WOMAD): http://womad.org

World Religious Travel Association (WRTA): http://www.wrtareligioustravel.

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World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): http://www.unwto.org

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1 8 6 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E1 8 6 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

WRCD_eng2.indd 186 29/09/09 12:42

PART III.

Renewing International

Strategies related to

Development and Peace

Cultural diversity — understood as a dynamic process within which

cultural change can best be managed through intercultural dialogue

— can become a powerful lever for renewing the international

community’s strategies towards development and peace, based on

respect for universally recognized human rights. Sometimes construed

as being of secondary importance, cultural diversity needs to be

placed at the heart of policies for the furtherance of international

cooperation and cohesion. Recognition of its enabling role is

necessary for attaining the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Within the framework of a broader commitment to universalism and

international cooperation, cultural diversity off ers a new approach that

highlights the cultural dimension of all areas of policy formulation and

stresses the insuffi ciency of ‘one-size-fi ts-all’ approaches insensitive

to the diversity of cultural contexts. This approach rests on the

empowerment of individuals and communities and takes us beyond

notions of fi xed and isolated identities, furthering openness to others

and dialogue within and between groups, and promoting a plurality

of possible ways for achieving overarching objectives. As a source of

artistic, intellectual, scientifi c and material creativity, cultural diversity

represents an engine of social transformation and renewal.

CHAPTER 7 — Cultural diversity: A key dimension

of sustainable development

Chapter 7 examines the cultural

assumptions underlying

conceptions of socio-economic

development increasingly

confronted by their own

limitations, argues the case for

reviewing poverty alleviation

strategies and environmental issues through the lens

of cultural diversity, favouring the support and active

participation of local populations.

CHAPTER 8 – Cultural diversity, human rights

and democratic governance

Faced with the tendency of

individuals or groups to fall back

upon singularities, chapter 8

shows that cultural diversity, when

properly understood, contributes

to the appropriation and hence to

the eff ective exercise of universally

recognized human rights and freedoms. In so doing, it

facilitates social cohesion in multicultural societies and

points towards renewed approaches of democratic

governance.

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1 8 8 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Two young children playing at a local waste dump in Maputo, Mozambique

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 1 8 9

77 CHAPTER 7Cultural diversity: A key dimension of

sustainable development

Despite widespread assumptions to the contrary, there is no prescribed pathway for the

development of a society, no single model on which development strategies should be based. The

Western model of development, conceived as a linear process involving largely economic factors, is

often incompatible with the complex social, cultural and political dimensions of societies pursuing

diff erent goals, refl ecting their own values. The ideology of development has all too often tended to

damage the social fabric and foundations — often rooted in traditions of communal solidarity — of

the communities that have received ‘development aid’.

Just as no development strategy can be said to be culturally neutral, a culturally sensitive approach

to development is the key to addressing the interlinked social, economic and environmental

problems confronting the planet as a whole. Cultural diversity — which emphasizes the dynamic

interactions between cultures and sensitivity to cultural contexts — thus becomes a key lever for

ensuring sustainable, holistic development strategies. While the international community, in its

attempts to operationalize the concept of sustainable development over the last two decades, has

begun to acknowledge the role of culture in the development process, the cultural factor has yet to

be fully integrated into the development equation.

The 1987 Bruntland Report of the UN Commission on Environment and Development (UNCED),

entitled Our Common Future, was seminal in its assertion that genuine development must

be sustainable — denoting a form of growth ‘that meets the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. At the 1992 Earth Summit

in Rio de Janeiro, sustainability was conceived in terms of the three pillars of economic viability,

social responsiveness and respect for the environment. These pillars have since served as the

basis for important standard-setting instruments, including the Convention on Biological Diversity

(CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The 2002 World

Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg went further by recognizing cultural

diversity as a signifi cant cross-cutting factor in sustainable development. Cultural diversity must be

seen as a cross-cutting dimension (rather than as a separate, fourth pillar of sustainability), with an

important role to play in all development projects, from poverty eradication and the safeguarding

of biodiversity to resource management and climate change.

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77 7.1 The cultural approach to development .. 191

Box 7.1 Population and development action programmes.......................................................................... 194

Map 7.1a Population living below the income poverty line (US$1.25 per day), 2006 .................... 196

Map 7.1b Population living below the income poverty line (US$2 per day), 2006 ............................ 196

7.2 Perceptions of poverty and poverty

eradication ................................................ 196

Box 7.2 The Fair trade movement ........................... 200 Box 7.3 Ecomuseums and poverty alleviation in Viet Nam ............................................................................. 201

7.3 Cultural diversity and environmental

sustainability ............................................. 203

Map 7.2 Protected terrestrial and marine areas, 2005............................................................. 205

Box 7.4 Sustainable development assistance for displaced populations and refugees .............. 206

Box 7.5 Local management of natural resources and biodiversity ........................................... 208

Conclusion ......................................................... 209

Recommendations............................................ 210

In focus: The Cultural Diversity Programming

Lens: A tool for monitoring development

projects ...................................................... 211

Figure 7.1 Cultural Diversity Programming Lens (CDPL) general framework ............................... 212

References and websites .................................. 215

Cultural

diversity:

A key

dimension of

sustainable

development

Lake in China

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

A widely held view in the industrialized world rests on

the tacit assumption of a causal relationship between

‘culture’ and ‘underdevelopment’ holding that individuals

either are or remain poor because cultural beliefs and

attitudes impede their development. It has been argued,

for example, that some countries in Latin America and

the Caribbean remain underdeveloped due to a lack of

social cohesion, sense of social justice and commitment to

self-realization (Harrison, 1985; Harrison and Huntington,

2000). The Chairman of the UN Permanent Forum

on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) has traced the notion

of underdevelopment back to European colonialism

and its aftermath, and to the sometimes misguided, if

well-intentioned, eff orts of the North to aid the poor

countries of the South. Signifi cant in this regard is said

to have been US President Harry S. Truman’s 1949 call to

Western countries to make the benefi ts of their scientifi c,

technological and industrial progress available for ‘the

growth and improvement of underdeveloped areas’

(quoted in Tauli-Corpuz, 2008). The eff ect of Truman’s

speech has been summed up as follows:

On that day, two billion people became underdeveloped.

In a real sense, from that time on, they ceased

being what they were, in all their diversity, and were

transmogrifi ed into an inverted mirror of the others’

reality: a mirror that belittles them and sends them off to

the end of the queue, a mirror that defi nes their identity,

which is really that of a heterogeneous and diverse

majority, simply in the terms of a homogenizing and

narrow minority (Gustavo Esteva, 1991).

In this way culture came to be seen in development

thinking as a barrier to growth. The free-market and

trade liberalization policies advocated in the 1990s were

accordingly rooted in the idea that the policies that had

successfully spurred the economic growth of Western

countries would produce growth elsewhere, regardless of

cultural context.

In recent decades, various international conferences and

initiatives have attempted to situate the development

process within a broader cultural framework. Following

the Accra Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural

Policy in Africa (1975), where culture was identifi ed as

‘a conditio sine qua non of endogenous, compatible

and balanced development’ (Obuljen, 2002), the theme

was taken up at the 1982 Mexico World Conference on

Cultural Policy (Mondiacult) in Mexico City (UNESCO,

2000) and led to the United Nations World Decade

for Cultural Development (1988–1997) and the 1988

Stockholm proceedings of the Intergovernmental

Conference on Cultural Policy for Development.

Meanwhile, the 1996 publication of Our Creative Diversity,

the landmark report of the World Commission on Culture

and Development, made the case for placing culture

at the centre of development thinking, since culture is

precisely the medium through which individuals express

their ability to fulfi l themselves and is therefore an integral

part of development. In the same spirit, the UNDP’s 2004

Human Development Report, Cultural Liberty in Today’s

Diverse World, stressed the importance of culture and

multiculturalism in human development strategies.

These key dates refl ect the emergence of a broader

and more nuanced conception of development, which

considers that, while the existence of diff erent value

systems can account for diff erent business attitudes

and practices, successful economic performance does

not necessarily entail a cultural conversion to Western-

style values based on individualism and competition

( Weber, 2002). In a Japanese context, for example, the

Samurai’s code of honour and the Kaitokudo educational

institution may be seen to play a role in an economy

based on group responsibility, company loyalty,

interpersonal trust and implicit contracts (Sen, 2001).

Some countries, such as the Republic of Korea, draw on

a strong Confucian tradition in their corporate practices.

Other cultural traditions, characterized by a social

rather than a mercantile conception of trade, implicitly

challenge the association of development with the

maximization of profi t and the accumulation of material

goods (see chapter 6).

What is striking in most theories of development — e.g.

the modernization theories (Rostow, 1960; Deutsch, 1961;

Inkeles and Smith, 1974), the dependency theories

(Cardoso and Faletto, 1979), the world systems theories

(Wallerstein, 1974), and the economic growth theories

(Domar, 1946; Harrod, 1939; Solow, 1957; Arrow, 1962;

Lucas, 1988; Romer, 1990) — is the assumption that

development refers to a process that is linear (i.e. moving

7.1 The cultural approach to development

��A child is vaccinated against polio in Afghanistan

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indigenous and traditional modes of living and endangered

the management of natural resources (Shiva, 2005) but may

have contributed to the world food crisis in 2008. Other

examples of actions with unanticipated consequences

include the forced sedentarization of nomadic peoples,

the rapid loss of local languages, cultural practices and

values when an external formal education system is put in

place, or the distribution of relief supplies during famines

or natural disasters which do not take account of the social

and cultural dynamics of the societies in question.

Insuffi cient cultural awareness among international

organizations and national governments concerning

the local groups scheduled to receive aid can have

particularly tragic consequences in confl ict-ridden and

crisis situations. Simon Harragin (2004) argues compellingly

that the distribution of famine relief in Sudan in 1998 was

hampered by the failure of international organizations to

take proper account of local culture. Not only were early

signs of imminent famine ignored by relief organizations,

but the community response to aid was misunderstood.

Among the Dinka in southern Sudan, the allocation of

resources, status and local authority is based on the

kinship system, and all resources (aid included) are thus

to be evenly distributed among the population. Food

reallocation mechanisms among the community are

precisely the means by which the Dinka prevent famine.

However, relief agencies perceived aid redistribution of this

type as a form of political corruption and patronage, such

that by 1998 the age-old system of self-support had long

been severely strained.

Mainstream development programmes often fail to

recognize that societies hastily labelled as ‘underdeveloped’

have in fact been living sustainably for generations. The

application of external recipes for development — as if

these societies had never developed on their own — must

today be seriously challenged. Greater awareness, at the

local level, of the importance of the human dimension —

notably ‘cultural’ and ‘diversity’ factors — is undoubtedly

the key to any development that can be deemed entirely

sustainable. This implies genuine eff orts to understand

and respect cultural specifi cities, identities, values and

worldviews. As former World Bank president James

Wolfensohn has said (quoted in Gould, 2007):

We are realizing that building development solutions

on local forms of social interchange, values,

on a straight path from point A to point B) and evolutionary

(i.e. progressing from a less developed or lower, ‘primitive’

or ‘traditional’, level to a more developed and higher,

‘advanced’ or ‘modern’, level). Thus, applying the term

‘development’ in cross-cultural contexts is problematic.

The term brings with it assumptions about the status of

the persons targeted in development policies and the

purpose of development. Yet culture is often left out of

the equation, wheras it can become the very facilitator of

development. Experience has repeatedly demonstrated

that when ‘development’ is imposed upon a society from

the outside, this invariably leads to ecological and societal

dislocation. Furthermore, when inadequate consideration

is given to social factors and cultural contexts, the receiving

community’s rejection of the development project is

almost inevitable, with culture acting, so to speak, as a

society’s ‘immune system’ (Odora-Hopper, 2007).

The cultural dimension of development The role of culture in shaping the development of

individuals and groups calls into question the so-called

cultural neutrality of development aid projects. It has

been argued that certain development policies have

impaired the capacity of local cultures to contribute to

the well-being of their communities by imposing a vision

of the world dictated by economic productivity and

by contributing to the dissemination of a psychology

of ‘cultural inferiority’ (Regenvanu, 2007). Indeed,

development strategies ‘are heavily impregnated with their

culture of origin, what one might call the subconscious

component of development. [. . .] This cultural bias is

rooted in the donor agency’s inability to imagine models

other than those within which it is accustomed to work, to

which it subscribes and whose legitimacy is, for the agency

at least, indisputable’ (UNESCO, 2000).

Examples abound of well-intended but inappropriate

development responses by international NGOs that fail to

integrate cultural parameters into the project design —

from collective facilities (for freshwater, sanitation, medicine

and agriculture) built in symbolically unsuitable village

locations where no villager would be willing to use them

(Guingané, 2007), to inappropriate concrete classrooms

situated in places where school lessons are typically

held outdoors. The consequences of poorly conceived

development strategies can be dramatic. The replacement

of domestic farming with industrial-type monoculture

production of cash crops has not only undermined

��A man fi shing in the French Antilles

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

Towards a dynamic approach to development thinking In acknowledging ‘the cultural traits of a human society

or group as core elements, as the most complete

manifestations of its economic, social, political, ethical,

spiritual, intellectual and ideological operation, and as

representing all those processes by which society is able

to solve its own problems’ (UNESCO, 2000), the cultural

approach to development facilitates an understanding of

development in terms of adaptation. Every human group,

faced by a specifi c and changing environment (natural,

political, social, economic), must adapt its responses and

strategies to achieve overall well-being. But this adaptation

is not a one-way relationship: societies shape their

environments, which in turn shape them. The dynamic

perspective of cultural diversity is a useful prism through

which to view this two-way and refl exive relationship,

in which cultures are constantly in contact with other

cultures and are continually readjusted and adapted to the

new environments in which they evolve. When applied to

development processes, cultural diversity reveals itself as a

‘mainspring for sustainable development for communities,

peoples and nations’, as stated in the Preamble of the

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity

of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO, 2005).

Following the UNDP’s elaboration in the 1990s of the

human development model, a shift of focus began to take

place marked by growing acknowledgment of dimensions

of development other than strictly economic ones.

However, it was not until the 2002 Johannesburg Summit

that the cultural approach to development began to fi nd

refl ection in the international strategies, such as those

implemented under the auspices of the Spanish MDG

Achievement Fund.1 Indeed, it is impossible to negotiate

any level of human change without confronting culture.

Development cannot ignore the ‘webs of signifi cance’ — as

Cliff ord Geertz (1973) defi ned ‘culture’ — through which

people develop their values, relationships, behaviour and

social and political structures: ‘A cultural approach sets out

to systematically engage with the “webs of signifi cance”

that people create; it takes account of the cultural context

in which communities and groups exist; it negotiates with

local social hierarchies and living patterns; and it draws on

local forms of communication and expression to engage

people’ (Gould, 2007).

traditions and knowledge reinforces the social fabric.

We are starting to understand that development

eff ectiveness depends, in part, on 'solutions' that

resonate with a community’s sense of who it is.

Global development policies arose in response to the plight

of newly decolonized countries and ‘development’ became

an extremely attractive option as governments sought to

transform countries devastated by the eff ects of colonization

into modern nation-states as rapidly as possible. Yet the

question of how development was to be implemented

gave rise to diff erences of approach in a multilateral context

in which the developing countries were widely coveted as

sources of natural resources, new markets for expanding

economies and as bases for geopolitical ambitions. The

unanticipated result, as Majid Rahnema (1997) has pointed

out, was often to create new forms of poverty:

the virtues of simplicity and conviviality, [. . .] of the

wisdom of relying on each other, and the arts of suff ering,

were derided as signs of underdevelopment. A culture of

‘individual’ success [. . .] led younger men to depart their

villages, leaving behind dislocated families of women,

children and older men who had no one to rely on but

the promises of often unattainable ‘goods’ and ‘services’.

Lack of consideration of the cultural relevance of

development projects has sometimes led to downright

resistance to their implementation and to communities

vigorously defending practices on which they might

have been ready to negotiate. In some regions of Africa,

for example, where slash-and-burn cultivation has been

traditionally linked to ancestor worship, eff orts on the

part of development agencies to prohibit it — stemming

from the false assumption that all types of slash-and-burn

agriculture are environmentally destructive (the practices

of the Karen peoples in northern Thailand actually serve

to increase biodiversity) — have often resulted in a

withdrawal into local identity, which has in turn nurtured

a stronger attachment to these practices on the part of

those communities. Clearly, more respectful solutions that

make room for symbolic attachments need to be found,

as well as strategies in which participatory mechanisms

are an integral part of the design and implementation of

development projects (see ‘In focus’ section).

The dynamic

perspective of cultural

diversity is a useful

prism through which

to view this two-

way and refl exive

relationship, in which

cultures are constantly

in contact with other

cultures and are

continually readjusted

and adapted to the

new environments in

which they evolve

1. In the framework of the MDG Fund created in 2006, 18 national programmes

have been implemented in the past 3 years refl ecting the contribution of

culture to the MDGs and the joint action of a dozen UN bodies. UNESCO plays

a leading role in the inter-agency coordination and in the implementation of

projects.

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thereby helping to create a virtuous circle that serves to

expand opportunities for all parties (see Box 7.1).

Regarding HIV and AIDS prevention, for example, better

results have been achieved when projects were adapted

to their specifi c socio-cultural contexts. Health-related

attitudes are often hard to dissociate from worldviews,

ancestral beliefs and practices, and trust in traditional

doctors and medicine. Ann Swidler (2007) has found

that governments and NGOs were more eff ective

in reducing HIV and AIDS infection in Uganda and

Botswana when they mobilized local meaning systems

Increasingly, donors are looking at how they can work

within these cultural webs to improve the impact of

work on the ground. The United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA), for example, has sought to integrate the

cultural factor in its programme strategies, as illustrated

in case studies involving a range of countries and

focusing on improving the status of women. UNFPA

has found that its broader cultural approach (culture

as content) has helped it to achieve programme goals

more eff ectively and with greater transparency and

satisfaction by the donor, which has in turn built trust,

greater community involvement and sense of ownership,

Case studies from Brazil, Ghana, Guatemala,

India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Uganda and

Yemen provide good examples of UNFPA’s

country-level strategy to serve as a ‘facilitator’

of change in contexts of long-standing

‘hardening of positions’ on sensitive issues. In

all these countries, through an understanding

of local context networks, ‘local change actors’

were identifi ed who had the capacity and the

leadership to tap local resources and launch

eff ective action to promote International

Conference on Population and Development

(ICPD) action programmes. Once engaged,

leadership could be taken on the ground,

with UNFPA continuing to facilitate the

process as requested and providing technical

assistance as needed. UNFPA’s role as a

facilitator was complex in these cases, in

that it required Country Offi ces to build a

strong in-house capacity to ‘manage diversity’

by bringing together political leaders, civil

society organizations, local power structures,

religious and faith-based institutions, and

the private sector concerning key issues

— in the case of Guatemala, for example,

an reproductive health and rights issues.

As a facilitator UNFPA had to bring about,

to the extent possible, the convergence

of the various interests of diverse groups

by building on commonalities in their

respective agendas. The case studies on

Guatemala, India and the Islamic Republic

of Iran concluded that ‘consensus on

culturally sensitive issues can be created

through interventions based on ICPD

respect for cultural diversity, in conformity

with universally recognized human rights.’

Project reviews also demonstrated that

participatory approaches should be adapted

to the specific cultural context. In some

cases (Guatemala, the Islamic Republic of

Iran, Uganda and Yemen), it was necessary to

engage the leaders of local power structures

and religious and faith-based institutions

before involving grassroots communities

in project design and implementation.

Facilitating those leaders’ participation in

the initial stages of the programme then led

to their call for grassroots participation.

The case studies indicate that developing a

culturally sensitive language ‘is an invaluable

negotiating and programming tool. If the

language used is loaded with negative

judgements on the community or its values, it

creates unnecessary tensions and constructs

a wall between the community and the

programme.’ For example, when a community

has practised female genital cutting for

centuries, it might perceive the phrase

‘female genital mutilation’ as value-loaded.

This perception may lead to the community’s

resistance, at least in the project-launching

phase, to any advocacy campaigns to

terminate the practice. By contrast, the

phrase ‘female genital cutting’ describes

the practice in neutral language that allows

discussions of the practice and its negative

impact on the health and rights of women.

Language sensitivity also applies to the choice

of project titles and the messages they convey

to the target community, especially in areas

where reproductive health and rights projects

have not previously existed. Interviews in some

countries indicate that when reproductive

health projects were established for the fi rst

time, it was better to give titles that frame

reproductive health in the broader context

of health, and then to move gradually to

the more specifi c issues of reproductive

health and rights. This is not a matter of

semantics but an approach that increases

inclusivity. In the initial phases of projects, it

off ers wide latitude for diverse partners to

engage, participate and provide support.

Interviews in the course of the case studies

indicated that it is important to clarify the

distinction between ‘cultures as broad ethical

and value systems’ and certain ‘traditional

practices’ that are harmful to the individual

and the community. In sensitization processes

during the pre-project implementation

phase, it was also essential to underline

UNFPA’s position: that it does not make value

judgements on cultures, even though it stands

fi rm on specifi c traditional practices that

are considered harmful to women’s health

and violate their human rights, such as early

marriage and female genital mutilation.

Source: UNFPA, 2004.

Population and development action programmesBox 7.1

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

diversity of cultural contexts and making provision for

local participation can in this way become crucial levers

for overcoming poverty.

and social solidarities.2 Any health policy that seeks to

be sustainable must take account of the deep roots of

traditional medicine in population lifestyles. Increasingly,

we are seeing a symbiosis between traditional and

modern medicine, notably in Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria,

Tanzania and Zambia.

In 2002 the World Health Organization ( WHO) set

up its fi rst traditional medicine strategy, thereby

acknowledging the critical importance of local

knowledge and know-how with regard to prevention:

in Africa, for example, 80 percent of the population

uses traditional medicine; in China, it represents

40 percent of delivered healthcare; in Malaysia, an

estimated US$500 million is spent annually on traditional

healthcare as compared to about US$300 million on

allopathic medicine; and in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and

Zambia, the fi rst line of treatment for 60 percent of

children with malaria is the use of herbal medicines at

home. The popularity of traditional medicine in these

contexts is explained by its effi cacy, accessibility and

aff ordability, in comparison with Western medicine,

as well as the fact that it is embedded in wider belief

systems. Yet still today only 25 of the 191 WHO Member

States have developed policies on the use of traditional

medicine (see World Bank, 2006), and bio-prospecting

(and bio-piracy) by the pharmaceutical industry

has expanded, sometimes to the detriment of local

knowledge and local ownership of traditional medicines.

Recognition of the cultural specifi city of lifestyles,

modes of production and forms of governance is

thus necessary for the viability of any sustainable

development project. The sustainability agenda

is applicable in many diff erent cultural and

religious traditions (Hasan, 2006). In this respect,

acknowledgement of the cultural factor adds a crucial

dimension to projects in terms of relevance and

appropriation. Indigenous groups have for many years

been calling for ‘self-determined development’ ( Tauli-

Corpuz, 2008), especially where poverty-eradication

strategies have been concerned. It highlights, in

particular, how perceptions of the poor tend to relegate

them to situations of inferiority, which constitute major

obstacles to their empowerment. Taking account of the

2. See also UNESCO’s initiatives surrounding HIV and AIDS-related stigma and

discrimination, and human rights at its website ‘Human Rights, HIV and AIDS’.

��A camp of nomad tribes in Southern Morocco

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1 9 6 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

to the right to food, UNESCO with regard to the right

to education), this remains a political statement that

needs to be operationalized at all levels, based on the

indivisibility of human rights (see chapter 8). Poverty is

not just about the denial of access to basic social services

(going to school, receiving medical treatment, benefi ting

Since the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human

Rights, poverty has come to be recognized as a denial

of basic human rights, a violation of human dignity. Yet

despite the endorsement of this position by the UN

General Assembly and UN specialized agencies (such as

WHO with regard to the right to health, FAO with regard

7.2 Perceptions of poverty and poverty eradication

Map 7.1a Population living below the income poverty line (US$1.25 per day), 2006

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, based on the World Bank indicators database, 2007.

Data not available (93 countries)

Below or equal to 10 (44 countries) Between 11 and 40 (38 countries)

Between 41 and 60 (19 countries) Above 60 (15 countries)

Data not available (93 countries)

Below or equal to 10 (44 countries) Between 11 and 40 (38 countries)

Between 41 and 60 (19 countries) Above 60 (15 countries)

Percent

Map 7.1b Population living below the income poverty line (US$2 per day), 2006

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, based on the World Bank indicators database, 2007.

Data not available (94 countries)

Below or equal to 10 (27 countries) Between 11 and 40 (30 countries)

Between 41 and 60 (22 countries) Above 60 (36 countries)

Percent

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

Poverty must be

looked at from the

inside and with a

clear commitment

to a human rights-

based approach to

eradication, so that

local solutions may

be found in concert

with the communities

involved, who can

thereby contribute to

fi nding their own way

out of poverty

of poverty. In 2007, President Abdoulaye Wade of the

Republic of Senegal suggested that poverty should be

expressed not so much in terms of income but rather ‘a

set of defi cits in terms of individual needs and basic social

services’. He proposed that poverty be defi ned as ‘as a

cluster of unsatisfi ed human needs, in particular those

seven wounds of the modern age where the majority of

the world’s population is concerned’, which are ‘lack of

access to basic housing, to clothing, to drinking water, to

an adequate supply and quality of food, to health care,

to literacy and children’s education, and to a healthy

environment’ (Wade, 2007).

In the social sciences alone, poverty has at least 12

diff erent meanings (Spicker, 2007). Dozens of economic

poverty lines, poverty gaps, poverty orderings and

the like have been proposed, each shedding light on

a diff erent aspect of the phenomenon (see Sen, 1976;

Atkinson, 1987; Jenkins and Lambert, 1993). The

defi nition put forward by the UN Committee on Social,

Economic, and Cultural Rights (CESCR, 2001) states that

poverty is ‘a human condition characterized by sustained

or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities,

choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment

of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural,

economic, political and social rights.’ The challenge of

a broad and comprehensive defi nition, however, is not

to lose sight of the specifi c issues in need of attention

so as to distinguish between poverty and other human

and social problems (OHCHR, 2004). Indeed, not all social

problems are related to poverty, nor are all forms of

denial of human rights, social exclusion or deprivation.

The understanding of poverty as a denial of basic human

rights follows on the work of such infl uential thinkers

as Amartya Sen (1999) and Thomas Pogge (2002) and

from international refl ection and research, consultations

and dialogue initiatives, such as those by UNESCO (see

Pogge, 2007). This perspective is important for poverty

eradication because it can draw on fundamental freedoms

and human rights as engines of social change, including

with respect to the institutions that may have a causal role

in the generation and persistence of poverty. During the

same period, greater attention began to be paid to the

idea that the perception of poverty is culturally based and

that its meaning is as diverse as the cultural perspectives

within which it is experienced. Indeed, in a culture that

values detachment from material goods rather than

from housing facilities, exercising civil and political rights);

it has cultural dimensions that are often left unattended.

We must re-examine the very defi nition of poverty, with a

view both to revising the strategies for poverty eradication

devised in the 1950s and ensuring better participation of

those concerned. Cultural diversity can play an important

role in addressing these challenges and in facilitating

the implementation of policies for poverty eradication

according to the will of the societies concerned.

Defi ning poverty It is obvious that economic poverty measures do not

provide a satisfactory understanding of the complexity

of this multifaceted phenomenon. Those of the World

Bank, for example, defi ne poverty in terms of a threshold

of income or consumption (since 2005, US$1.25 a day

per person measured in ‘purchasing power parity’ —

absolute poverty line — or a median poverty level of

US$2 a day; see maps) below which people are ‘poor’

regardless of standard of living. Other poverty lines are

determined nationally in terms of food minima and

non-food. While these approaches have the merit of

providing comparable information, they tend to exclude

the eff ects of poverty in human terms, as well as the

possibility of qualifying development in non-quantitative

terms. The examples of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands,

which are classed among the least developed countries

in terms of GDP per capita, amply illustrate that both the

nature of poverty and what qualifi es as the fulfi lment of

basic needs must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

These relate, in the cases of Vanuatu and the Solomon

Islands, to customary land ownership systems, clan-based

social networks and subsistence food production.

Poverty must be looked at from the inside and with a

clear commitment to a human rights-based approach

to eradication, so that local solutions may be found in

concert with the communities involved, who can thereby

contribute to fi nding their own way out of poverty.

In reaction to the World Bank and IMF donor frameworks

for intervention which enforced ‘stabilization packages’

and ‘structural adjustments’ upon the national economic

policies of poor countries as a precondition for receiving

loans, alternative paradigms to dealing with poverty

began emerging in the 1990s. These led in turn to new

political approaches and development strategies (Riddell,

2004), notably UNDP’s work on human development

that takes account of the multi-dimensional aspect

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1 9 8 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

exercise have not been ensured. Freedom of choice, like

any other form of freedom, is eff ective only when we

are able to ensure the conditions necessary to exercise

it. From the perspective of cultural diversity, human-

rights-based strategies for poverty reduction can be

strengthened when emphasis is placed on giving voice

to marginalized groups (Mathews, 2007) and thereby

empower them to contribute to defi ning their own way

out of poverty and the paths for their own development.

What is most often lacking is the means to initiate a

virtuous circle.

Perceptions of poverty Attempts to assess how poor populations perceive

poverty have sought to nuance the one-size-fi ts-all grids

such as those that inform the Human Development Index

(HDI) and the Human Poverty Index (HIP-1) by capturing

those populations’ situations as they are rooted in

traditional schemes and the collective imagination (Sall,

2002). UNESCO’s work in this domain serves to illustrate

the complexity of the channels through which poverty

is perceived by way of surveys on popular perceptions

of poverty and human rights, such as those recently

conducted in Mali and in Burkina Faso (UNESCO, 2009).

Bamanan expressions used in Segou, Mali, generally

link poverty to social rank, and the poor are referred

to as ‘powerless’ or ‘exhausted’ (fangantan, setan, dèsè,

dèsèbagato, dogoto kolibagati). In traditional Bamanan

communities, wearing rags is not a sign of poverty but

of modesty, especially for wealthy landlords. According

to the traditionalist Nko in Mali, poverty (fantanya)

and wealth/power (setiguiya¸ fentigiya) exist only in

relation to one another: one is always poor in relation

to someone else and not poor in relation to another.

From this perspective, one has a responsibility to those

who are poorer. While one cannot divest oneself of one’s

poverty, one has a particular responsibility to combat

the incapacity to feed, to heal, to dress, or to have a

home (dogotoya). In this way, poverty is understood as

a relative phenomenon, and linked to notions of social

responsibility and solidarity.

Among certain ethnic groups in Burkina Faso, wealth is

related to physical health and the capacity to work (the

individual ability to produce), and poverty is equated with

sickness, incompetence and laziness — a person in good

health simply cannot be poor. For the Mosse in Burkina

monetary wealth, the Western conception of ‘being poor’

is untenable. Culture shapes how people understand and

experience poverty: historical background, lifestyles and

systems of belief condition how poverty is conceived and

should therefore dictate the strategies needed to combat

it (Appadurai, 2004).

Sociological defi nitions of poverty are often quite helpful

for grasping the complexity of the phenomenon, for

they take as their perspective the overall organization

and functioning of societies (Bruto da Costa, 2008).

Sociologists describe how power structures (political,

economic, cultural, social) emerging from economic

systems actually force out segments of the population

− sometimes the great majority of their citizens − and

keep them from participating in the collective actions

of a society. These factors may function as obstacles to

poverty eradication (e.g. resistance to change) or even

as causes of poverty. The solutions lie in social change,

based on the principles of social justice, solidarity and

the common good.

In this respect, a powerful approach to poverty eradication

emphasizes the rights of the poor. As Amartya Sen

(1999) has said: ‘it would be wrong, and have disastrous

consequences, to consider that poverty is merely a

question of lack of material resources. Ultimately, what

the poor are denied is their human fulfi lment. They are

denied the freedom to fulfi l themselves, as human beings

and as citizens; they are blocked in their access to options

and in their freedom of choice.’ Freedom is meaningless

so long as the necessary conditions for its eff ective ��In Roça Ribeira Peixe plantation in Sao Tome and Principe

Ultimately, what the

poor are denied is their

human fulfi lment.

They are denied the

freedom to fulfi l

themselves, as human

beings and as citizens;

they are blocked in

their access to options

and in their freedom of

choice

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

Enabling cultural capacities In the context of the UNDP’s work on human

development, Sen (1987, 1999) has proposed the

‘capabilities approach’, which emphasizes the substantial

freedoms expressed in such categories as life, health,

self-expression, relationships and control over one’s

environment. This approach moves away from the overly

materialistic emphasis on income, employment and

wealth towards an emphasis on amplifying people’s

choices, towards ‘the expansion of the “capabilities” of

persons to lead the kind of lives they value and have

reason to value’ (Sen, 1999). The capabilities approach

advocates the promotion of opportunities for the poor,

‘recognizing their vulnerability to risks, and the need

for empowerment, including gender equality’ (Ruggieri

Laderchi et al., 2003). Two other approaches have been

advanced in the context of poverty eradication strategies:

the ‘social exclusion approach’, which stresses the

integration of all, and the ‘participatory approach’, which

focuses on the participation of stakeholders in decision-

making about what constitutes poverty.

An approach that capitalizes on the synergies between

cultural diversity and human rights resides in the

dynamic idea that cultures are trajectories towards the

future. Arjun Appadurai (2004) sums up the idea at

the heart of this approach as follows: ‘We need a sea

change in the way we look at culture in order to create

a more productive relationship between anthropology

and economics, between culture and development,

in the battle against poverty. This change requires us

to place futurity, rather than pastness, at the heart of

our thinking about culture.’ The aim here is to unleash

‘the capacity to aspire’ and enable individuals and

groups, once aware of their basic human rights and

their value, to participate in the defi nition of their own

development. To advance participatory initiatives, the

World Bank utilizes participatory poverty assessments

(PPAs) in poverty diagnostics and ‘Voices of the Poor’

exercises. The challenge, in line with the intercultural

dialogue (see chapter 2), is to seek concrete means to

enhance opportunities for the poor, the disadvantaged

and the marginalized to ‘exercise “voice,” to debate,

contest, and oppose vital directions for collective social

life as they wish’, especially when operating under

‘adverse terms of recognition’ (Appadurai, 2004). Culture

in this sense is what enables individuals and groups to

become the agents of their own development, even

Faso, the best expression of human dignity is work. This is

not related to the social recognition of wealth, however,

for the wealthy are subject to particular scrutiny and

are invited to put their wealth at the service of solving

collective problems. Interestingly, the Mosse view poverty

in terms of the smooth functioning of the community: on

a community level, poverty is characterized as an absence

of common understanding, and lack of solidarity and

peace among individuals and groups; on an individual

level, poverty is associated with an absence of sociability,

an incapacity to integrate and a propensity for dissent.

Some of the groups surveyed discuss poverty as a loss of

ability to stand up for one’s rights and thus emphasize the

need to help the poor to recover their self-esteem and

dignity. The notion of the right to be protected against

poverty appears in many diff erent cultural contexts. The

right to be protected against poverty through zakat is

also a cornerstone of the Muslim tradition.

To ensure a complementarity between a universal

approach to poverty eradication and recognition of the

diversity of perceptions and values, holistic approaches

that include all the relevant parameters (social,

historical, economic and cultural) need to be identifi ed,

so as to take account of culture as the means by which

empowerment becomes possible. People have to be

empowered to become aware of their fundamental

rights and make their own informed decisions. If they

are not, they may be forced to adopt what they may

perceive to be externally imposed solutions. A fruitful

way to strike a balance between a human-rights-based

approach to poverty eradication and the credit given

to cultural parameters — that is, between a universal

approach and the so-called ‘relativistic’ approach (see

chapter 8) — is by ensuring self-determination.

The recognition of traditional communities’ ability to

address poverty through mutual assistance mechanisms

or solidarity highlights the importance of focusing on

cultural capacities for poverty alleviation. In Burkina

Faso, despite obvious poverty-related problems, there

exists an equilibrium between poverty, progress

and culture ( Tevoedjre, 1990); this makes it clear

that well-being is related less to the abundance of

material wealth than to mechanisms of solidarity, the

enhancement of culture through knowledge and the

will to progress.

Holistic approaches

that include all the

relevant parameters

(social, historical,

economic and

cultural) need to be

identifi ed, so as to take

account of culture

as the means by

which empowerment

becomes possible

... The aim here is to

unleash ‘the capacity

to aspire’ and enable

individuals and

groups, once aware

of their basic human

rights and their value,

to participate in the

defi nition of their own

development

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2 0 0 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

Fair trade began as an organized citizens’

movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and the

slogan ‘Trade Not Aid’ — in conjunction with

poverty alleviation eff orts through equitable

trading relations with the South — began

circulating in the international political arena

about the time of the 1968 United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD). Since 1998, fair trade has been based

on a chain extending from producers to sellers,

under the aegis of four federations: the World

Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), formerly the

International Fair Trade Association, created in

1989; the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA),

created in 1990; the Network of European

Worldshops (NEWS), created in 1994; and the

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International

(FLO), created in 1997. In 1998, these four

created FINE (an acronym of the fi rst letter of

each body’s name), an informal association to

harmonize fair trade standards and guidelines

and to streamline monitoring and awareness-

raising systems. In 2007, the fair trade system

benefi ted about 1.5 million workers/farmers

in 58 developing countries in Africa, Asia

and Latin America, estimated at 7.5 million

people, including family and dependents.

Involving mainly local sectors (handicrafts

and products such as coff ee and cocoa), fair

trade seeks to avoid the potentially harmful

eff ects of production for foreign markets by

paying close attention to workplace standards,

balanced North-South trading relations and

consumer guarantees regarding product

origin. By focusing on the cultural dimension

of products in the commodity sector and the

related agricultural sector and its practices, fair

trade helps to ensure that the human capital of

individuals is turned to account for their own

benefi t. The symbolic value of certain products

(such as the cocoa much appreciated by

Andean cultures for their stimulating qualities)

can help to stimulate a ‘cultural’ interest in the

product on the part of foreign consumers,

thereby generating a sense of pride among

producers in the quality of their products.

While research into the impact of fair trade on

poverty has so far been limited, the evidence

available suggests that it has a positive

development impact on livelihoods, not only

by providing access to markets but also by

empowering the poor to make choices that

ensure non-exploitative market access. A

key part of fair trade’s success has been and

continues to be its responsiveness and

pragmatic approach to meeting the needs

and aspirations of marginalized producers.

Although it has experienced rapid growth

(40 percent annually on average over the past

fi ve years), with certifi ed sales amounting

to approximately €2.3 billion worldwide (a

47 percent year-to-year increase), the equitable

trade market remains rather restricted;

it accounts for only about 0.02 percent

of global trade (and, most signifi cantly,

only 0.1 percent of the trade between

Europe and the countries of the South).

The real interest of fair trade lies less in its

economic potential than in its role as a

consciousness-raising model for an equitable

and sustainable global economy. South-South

trade (currently representing only about

14 percent of the total exchange of goods in the

countries of the South) is beginning to develop

as part of an emerging consumer market, and

fair trade practices could further benefi t the

poor through the development of other sectors,

such as the service and tourism industries.

Source: WFTO and FLO websites.

The Fair trade movementBox 7.2

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

media, community-based tourism and the equitable

commerce in crafts and food products are means of

contributing to improved socio-economic conditions

while enhancing the creative link between cultures,

traditions and modernity.

Fair trade — a trading partnership based on dialogue,

transparency and mutual respect — has the potential to

become an eff ective tool for poverty eradication insofar

as it off ers better trading conditions to, and secures the

rights of, marginalized producers and workers, especially

in the South. Fair trade is an excellent example of a

productive partnership between social responsibility

and economic interest as applied to the entire

production and consumption cycle — from producers

to distributors, down to the consumers themselves.

By respecting the human and cultural dimensions

of production and commerce, fair trade can make a

signifi cant contribution to economic justice and social

understanding (see Box 7.2).

Community-based tourism, ecotourism and pro-poor

tourism can likewise be eff ective means of escaping

from poverty when they genuinely benefi t local

communities by improving their living conditions while

revitalizing their local cultures and connecting them to

the global marketplace (see chapter 6). New concepts

are also emerging in the battle against poverty —

concepts such as ‘new museology’ or ‘ecomuseology’ in

countries such as Viet Nam — based on the recognition

of the interdependencies between sustainable

development and cultural diversity (Box 7.3). Crucial

here is the insight that successful development

when resources are limited, by providing the means

for awareness-building based on their own assets and

emphasizing the development of open-mindedness

and cooperation.

Social policies that favour cultural diversity help to

increase the level of self-determination among low-

income or low-status minority groups by acknowledging

or celebrating their distinctive cultural heritage. In

addition to income redistribution and equal access to

rights, institutions and other resources, poverty alleviation

also requires measures to ensure that such groups

can play an increased role in the public sphere. Public

celebrations of cultural diversity can contribute to this

end, along with the promotion of a positive collective

identity among natives and immigrants. Research has

shown that retaining cultural distinctiveness can provide

important advantages, such as bilingualism (see chapter

3) and multiple cultural perspectives (see chapter 4).

Breaking the spiral of poverty among low-income or

low-status minority groups involves restoring their sense

of pride, which entails valuing the intangible heritage

of which they are depositories. ‘Change in continuity’

(UNESCO, 2000), as the key to eff ective development,

involves the same competencies as successful

intercultural dialogue, namely openness to diff erence

without loss of identity (see chapter 2).

Public and private initiatives for poverty alleviation Thus initiatives that are able to harness the cultural

capacities of communities are the keys to unlocking the

spiral or vicious circle of poverty: intangible heritage,

alternative forms of education, community-based

Viet Nam had already begun making new

strides related to cultural heritage with the

inauguration in 1997 of the Vietnam Museum

of Ethnology in Hanoi. It has since intensifi ed

its commitment to harmonizing population

needs and natural environmental protection

by using ecomuseology as a critical holistic

tool for promoting the concept of sustainable

heritage development and local ownership. The

concept of the ecomuseum arose when the Ha

Long Bay began to face a number of challenges

related to rapid urbanization, heavy population

pressure and the unplanned development of

transport, tourism, seaport, coal mining and other

industries. Viet Nam was the fi rst country in Asia

to apply a comprehensive management strategy

to a World Heritage Site, the Ha Long Bay.

Initially funded by the UNDP and UNESCO

in 2000, the Ha Long Ecomuseum has been

an ongoing and open-ended project driven

by the simple principle that the confl icts

between conservation and development can

be adequately dealt with only by bringing

people and their environment together through

productive partnerships. The ecomuseum

considers the entire Ha Long Bay area to be

a living museum. It employs an ‘interpretive’

approach to its management, which views

the components and processes of nature,

culture and tangible heritage as continuously

interacting with each other in a constantly

changing equilibrium. Through intensive

Ecomuseums and poverty alleviation in Viet NamBox 7.3

A Fair Trade coff ee farmer sorting through organic beans at a coff ee plantation �

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2 0 2 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

enabling the survival of the people — and therefore

their culture — over the short, middle and long term.

Moreover, cultural approaches help to make poverty

eradication strategies highly relevant at the local level,

since they take the specifi cities of the concerned

populations (history, traditions, belief systems, social

organization) into account. Developing multi-sectoral

policies — with true collaboration and cooperation

among diff erent ministries — that are built on the

linkages between culture, education, health, gender,

decentralization and the environment (sustainable

policies) are the most eff ective ways to successfully

address the issue of poverty. It is essential that

countries take ownership of Poverty Reduction Strategy

Papers (PRSPs)3 for these documents to become

eff ective poverty reduction tools. To improve the local

planning is not just a function of addressing economics,

social or political change, health advancement, human

and cultural rights, the absence of physical violence, or

sustainable physical environments in isolated fashion,

but is achieved holistically, through the interplay of all

these functions.

Cultural policies and culture-based projects have the

potential to make signifi cant contributions towards

achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

and poverty eradication. As illustrated by the sub-

Saharan countries of Africa, the identifi cation, protection

and appropriation of a culture and its integration in

development strategies and in the fi ght against poverty

is essential. Culturally based knowledge is a core

resource for people in the desert and a lever for the daily

activities (animal husbandry, agriculture, crafts, etc.),

research, managers and stakeholder-community

groups monitor the bay’s equilibrium and

make carefully planned interventions to

rebalance the components when necessary.

The ecomuseum concept encompasses

the following actions:

■ Supporting communities in securing

their basic living needs (this may require

advocacy with other agencies);

■ Facilitating the community planning

process within communities, including

the identifi cation of local resources;

■ Supporting the protection of local resources,

including cultural maintenance;

■ Developing skills and providing other

business support infrastructure, including

funding and communications infrastructure;

■ Launching businesses through contracting

and outsourcing, as well as the provision

of space for community markets;

■ Promoting the growth of enterprises

and employment by developing a

plan for any business opportunity

with good prospects for viability;

■ Supporting communities in making

wise investments and increasing

their economic resources;

■ Facilitating demonstration projects.

‘New museology’, or ‘ecomuseology’, has

proven to be a valuable tool for mitigating

development confl icts in several countries.

Projects such as the Ha Long Ecomuseum

could become models for promoting heritage

economics without compromising conservation

values, models in which community

museological discourse is brought to bear on

the economic dimension of conservation.

The Ha Long project has spurred the work

of Vietnam’s Poverty Task Force (PTF) — a

government-donor forum for dialogue and

consultation on poverty reduction. In a 2005

report, the PTF recommended that priority

be given to three targets as part of the main

goal of eradicating poverty and preserving

the culture and diversity of ethnic minorities:

1. Preserve and develop ethnic minority

languages and promote bilingual

literacy in areas where there are high

concentrations of minority peoples.

2. Ensure that individual and collective

land-use rights for all land-use types

have been allocated to the majority

of ethnic mountainous peoples.

3. Increase the proportion of government

personnel of ethnic origin closer to the

proportion in the national population.

These targets address the three pillars of

sustainable development in concert with

culture, emphasizing the importance of

integrating cultural diversity in policy-

making, planning, and project development

and implementation at all levels.

Source: Galla, 2002.

Ecomuseums and poverty alleviation in Viet NamBox 7.3

3. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are policy documents prepared

by low-income countries detailing development and poverty reduction

priorities through policy matrices in order to avail of concessional lending

from multinational donors. They were introduced by the World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1999. They have become an important

means for assessing priorities and resource allocation for poverty reduction.

Cultural approaches

help to make poverty

eradication strategies

highly relevant at the

local level, since they

take the specifi cities

of the concerned

populations into

account

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 2 0 3

Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

Social anthropology has shown that there are numerous

ways of perceiving and interacting with the natural

environment, thereby challenging modes of thought

that divorce culture and nature (Descola, 2005). One

example is the Lakalaka system of dances and sung

speeches of Tonga, which embodies the shared

knowledge, beliefs and values that have supported

culturally and environmentally appropriate fi shing

practices for generations. Thus, cultural expressions

are not simply the product of human creativity

independent of the environment in which they prosper;

rather, they are the manifestations of our interactions

with each other and our natural environment, as

diversely refl ected in diff erent ‘cosmovisions’ of the

world (see Descola, 2005; Ishizawa, 2004).

Much can be learned from the good practices of

environmental management preserved by local, rural or

indigenous peoples who view the human-environment

relationship as a series of coevolving interactions.

Most of these populations, including shifting and

permanent cultivators, herders, hunters, gatherers

and fi shers, occupy ecosystems about which they

have developed in-depth knowledge over time. Their

unique experience with the use and management of

such ecosystems encompasses multi-use strategies of

appropriation, small-scale production with little surplus

and low energy needs, and a custodial approach to

land and natural resources that avoids waste and

resource depletion.

The social and human sciences — particularly

archaeology, history, social anthropology, ethnobiology

and ethnoecology — have investigated whether and

to what extent indigenous societies may off er solutions

to contemporary environmental problems. While many

books have highlighted cases in which societies failed

In issues ranging from the erosion of biodiversity to

climate change, cultural diversity has an important

— though often underestimated — role to play in

addressing current ecological challenges and ensuring

environmental sustainability. For while the international

community has primarily sought technical and scientifi c

responses to ecological challenges, there is increasing

recognition that cultural practices are intimately linked

to environmental integrity. The development of any

culture arises from the constant interplay between

the environment and human needs. Just as cultural

identity and social stability can be strongly infl uenced

by environmental conditions, cultural factors can

infl uence consumer behaviours and values related

to environmental stewardship. In this sense, culture

and cultural diversity are fundamental drivers of

environmental change (see Nelson, 2005).

7.3 Cultural diversity and environmental sustainability

appropriation of PRSPs and the conditions under which

they are developed, it may be necessary to support

multi-stakeholder approaches and partnerships, to

strengthen government and institutional capacities

in developing pro-poor growth policies, capacity-

building in formulating, negotiating and implementing

development policies, and to devise policies for the

informal economy. In addition to economic growth

strategies, targeted pro-poor policies, including job

creation for vulnerable populations, must also be

part of poverty reduction strategies. Development

strategies must therefore recognize the poor as

essential stakeholders in the development process.

Poverty eradication strategies should tackle poverty

in its multidimensional nature through multi-sectoral

social intervention.

��The Lakalaka, Tonga’s national dance, a blend of choreography,

oratory, and vocal and instrumental

polyphony

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2 0 4 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

as has the adoption in 1995 of the Seville Strategy

for Biosphere Reserves (UNESCO, 1996). The latter

established the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, under

the MAB Programme, and stressed that they play a

major role in achieving a new vision of the relationship

between conservation and development, one that takes

into account both cultural and natural dimensions (see

UNESCO, 2008c). These linkages are reiterated within

the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of

the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which focuses on the

custodians of the various forms of intangible heritage,

including ‘knowledge and practices concerning nature

and the universe’ (CBD, 2008).

In the context of sustainable development, UNESCO

has also played an important role in raising awareness

of the links between biological and cultural diversity,

notably with UNEP, through the High-Level Round Table

on Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity for Sustainable

Development at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit

(UNESCO, 2002). As a follow-up, a more in-depth analysis

has revealed seven ‘areas of interdependence between

biological and cultural diversity’ (UNESCO, 2008b):

1. Language linguistic diversity (see chapter 3);

2. Material culture (e.g. objects created from and/or

representing biodiversity);

3. Knowledge and technology (including traditional

and local knowledge such as traditional medicine

or early-warning systems);

4. Modes of subsistence (e.g. resource-based

livelihoods, plant/animal domestication, selective

breeding);

5. Economic relations (e.g. partnerships based on

trading natural resources);

6. Social relations (including attachment to place);

7. Belief systems.

Eff orts to further elucidate the links between cultural and

biological diversity and their implications for sustainable

to adapt to environmental change, episodes have

been recorded of prolonged and successful shifts in

livelihood and settlement patterns and innovative

state policy in ancient times (Rosen, 2006; Butzer,

1971), the Middle Ages (Newman, 1990; Lamb, 1995;

Rotberg and Rabb, 1983; Le Roy Ladurie, 1967), and the

modern period (Orlove, 2005; Post, 1977). In view of the

considerable challenges our world currently faces, the

time has come to draw on the riches of our cultures

to fi nd approaches to sustainable environmental

management, as well as adaptation and mitigation

in the face of natural hazards and climate change.

The best way to proceed in this regard is to empower

peoples whose local knowledge and experiences have

long enabled them to conserve much of the earth’s

remaining biological diversity (Posey, 1999).

The links between biological and cultural diversity4

While biological and cultural diversity may have evolved

diff erently, they have nonetheless constantly interacted

to produce human and environmental diversity as we

know it today ( Toledo, 2007). The Declaration of Belem

(ISE, 1998) points to the ‘inextricable link between

biological and cultural diversity’ and recognizes the

coevolving interdependence and reinforcement of

these two components of the Earth’s diversity. This is

echoed in Article 1 of the 2001 Universal Declaration on

Cultural Diversity in reference to the functional parallel

between the two: ‘As a source of exchange, innovation

and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for

humankind as biodiversity is for nature.’

UNESCO has long promoted the dynamic inter-

dependence between human beings and nature,

particularly since the launch in 1971 of the Man and the

Biosphere (MAB) Programme and the adoption of the

World Heritage Convention (UNESCO, 1972) the following

year. These fl agship programmes have contributed to

the development of protected terrestrial and marine

areas all over the world (see Map 7.2). The further

inclusion of ‘cultural landscapes’ in the World Heritage

Convention in 1992 ( World Heritage Committee, 1992)

has since enhanced the recognition of these linkages,

4. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1993: art. 2) defi nes ‘biological

diversity’ as ‘the variability among living organisms from all sources including,

inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological

complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species,

between species and of ecosystems.’ In addition, it defi nes biological

resources’ as ‘genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations, or

any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential use or

value for humanity.’

��A toucan bird from Panama

��A puma from Brazil

��A chimpanzee in a National Park in Kenya

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 2 0 5

Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

for revitalizing biological, agricultural, cultural and other

forms of diversity, including traditions, celebrations, family

structures, language and knowledge. They also provide a

way of reinforcing the cultural and economic dynamics

between town and countryside by developing food-

processing fl ows, promoting creative and participative

tourism and highlighting new perspectives on

preservation and economic and social development by

turning to account the diverse facets of the rural world.

In many respects, local cultural practices, especially

those corresponding to cosmologies that assume an

intrinsic connection between human beings and nature,

tend to favour a balanced relationship between human

activities and environmental sustainability. A greater

involvement of local and indigenous communities in

the international community’s decisions concerning the

global environmental agenda may help to achieve some

measure of harmony between the two perspectives

when, for example, ancestral ways of living (e.g. whale

hunting for the Makah Indians in the north-western US)

are confronted with decisions taken by the international

community to safeguard endangered species.

development are currently underway in many contexts

and across a wide array of disciplines — the academic

world, UN agencies, programmes and forums (e.g. the

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues [UNPFII], the

International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity [IIFB], the

Inuit Circumpolar Council), and NGOs (e.g. International

Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN], Tebtebba,

Terralingua, International Union of Forest Research

[IUFRO], Resilience Alliance, Global Diversity Foundation),

to name but a few (see UNESCO, 2008b).

Many new practices have been developed as a result

of increased awareness of the interactions between

landscapes, economics and cultures, both conceptually

(Toledo 1992, 2002; Barrera-Bassols and Zinck, 2003) and

on the ground, as illustrated by the renewed interest

of decision-makers in the terroirs paradigm. The term

‘terroirs’, which in France designates culturally distinctive

areas that have existed for several centuries (in Japan,

the equivalent of the terroir is the satoyama), has been

revitalized and updated, and consideration is currently

being given to setting up an international network. The

terroirs are focal points for the establishment of systems

Map 7.2 Protected terrestrial and marine areas*, 2005

Source: United Nations, UNEP-WCMC, 2006.

Data not available (22 countries)

0.0 - 5.0 (74 countries) 5.1 - 10.0 (37 countries)

10.1 - 30.0 (62 countries) Above 30.1 (14 countries)

Percent

* The World Conservation Union - IUCN, defines a protected area as an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. The total protected area extent by country/territory is divided by total territorial area of the country/territory (includes total land area, inland waters and territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles).

WRCD_eng2.indd 205 29/09/09 12:43

2 0 6 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

settlements will have devastating eff ects. Since cultural

expressions and practices are very often developed in

response to environmental conditions, the prospect

of large-scale environmental upheavals represents a

potentially major cultural challenge.

Responding to climate change: A cultural challenge? Climate change may become one of the greatest

challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, especially

for vulnerable communities already under stress, for

whom the cumulative eff ects on water supply, disease

patterns, farming systems and the habitability of coastal

By the end of 2007, the total population

of concern to the UN High Commission

for Refugees (UNHCR) was estimated at

31.7 million people, including some 11.4 million

refugees, 740,000 asylum-seekers, 731,000

repatriated refugees (in 2007), 13.7 million

internally displaced persons (IDPs), 2.1 million

repatriated IDPs (in 2007), and about 3 million

stateless persons or others, many of whom

had been dislocated by environmentally

related problems, from resource scarcity to

desertifi cation, deforestation, droughts and

fl oods (UNHCR, 2008). While there is much

debate on the concept of ‘environmental

refugees’ (for natural factors alone cannot be

said to be the sole cause of migration, which

is also a by-product of economic, social and

political factors), it is reasonable to assume

that further environmental degradation linked

to global warming will lead to major forced

migration in the future, exacerbating current

trends in rural depopulation, international

wage migration and fl ight from confl ict areas.

Beyond issues relating to basic security, health

and human rights protection, not to mention

the technical and administrative organization

needed to deal adequately with refugees, a

real understanding of the importance of

culture and cultural disruption in humanitarian

situations has yet to be fully developed and

integrated on the ground. Refugee situations

are often characterized by high degrees of

cultural diversity and complexity (because

diff erent cultures are brought into contact with

one another, both locally and internationally),

which heightens the potential for intercultural

miscommunication and necessarily aff ects

group and organizational capacities and

assistance outcomes (Ngai and Koehn, 2005).

In addition to genocide, warfare and/or

exile, victims of dislocation often experience

extreme cultural disruption, all of which leads

to a fundamental re-examination of their

cultural identity. Divorced from the material

and symbolic representations of their past,

new conditions of life alter the socio-cultural

practices of a given community, weaken the

transmission of traditional knowledge and

lead to changes in established power relations,

not only between men and women but

also inter-generationally. This can be further

exacerbated by the experience of entering

into a worldwide globalization process — for

example, through unaccustomed exposure

to radio and television, and in contact

with a wide range of development actors

responding to displaced persons’ needs.

The preservation of the languages of

displaced persons in refugee camps and the

maintenance of their traditional and religious

beliefs, their history and their social norms

and values are of fundamental importance to

cementing their sense of common identity in

the face of cultural disruption. These factors

also help to foster solidarity and mutual

aid and are a necessary prerequisite for

reintegrating returnees in their homeland. In

this sense, programmes that aim to facilitate

the transmission of traditional knowledge,

adapted to the new social and cultural realities,

provide refugees with the tools they need

to meet the new challenges they face.

The major objective of the UNESCO pilot project

on the transmission of Burundian intangible

cultural heritage in refugee camps in Tanzania

relies on oral tradition (storytelling) as a means

of facilitating sustainable adaptation and

repatriation. Focusing on aspects of traditional

knowledge that had undergone a number of

changes — from agriculture and stockbreeding

to social relations (notably gender relations,

relations between elders and youth, family

and community relations) and cultural and

ritual performance — the storytelling activities

provided a platform for transmitting and

discussing Burundian culture (especially to

younger generations), reviving social relations

among Burundians, and awareness-raising

for the humanitarian staff associated with

the project. Furthermore, these storytelling

activities were broadcast by radio to residents

in Burundi, thereby connecting refugees to

homeland populations and maintaining a

sense of connectedness to help to ensure

peaceful co-existence for returnees. The

follow-up study (2007) demonstrated the

eff ectiveness of this method not only for the

transmission of intangible traditional heritage

but also for social unity and awareness-raising

among humanitarian workers about the value

of cultural transmission and the importance

of cultural diversity in refugee settings.

While international institutions, such as the

UNHCR and the International Organization

for Migration (IOM), and NGOs that address

refugee and displacement issues, have begun

to integrate cultural diversity factors into

repatriation and reintegration planning, it will

be increasingly necessary to cultivate upstream

organizational and communication capacities

related to social and cultural heritage loss, as

well as to further study the cultural impacts

of mass displacement in refugee settings so

as to anticipate changes that may lie ahead.

Source: UNHCR, 2008.

Sustainable development assistance for displaced populations and refugeesBox 7.4

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 2 0 7

Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

climate change can have serious eff ects on cultural

transmission, especially in rural areas and among

minority-language groups already under stress due to

economic globalization, urban drift and years of neglect

or even hostility from those in charge of government,

language, education, and cultural policies.

Despite the growing awareness of good practices

stemming from local knowledge of resource

management and the eff orts of the International

Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change

since 2000, most climate change research has

focused on technical modelling and national policy

formulation. It was not until November 2006, at the

12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the

Climate Change Convention (COP 12) held in Nairobi,

Kenya, that case studies could be presented as side

contributions from indigenous peoples — collected by

the International Alliance of the Indigenous and Tribal

Peoples of the Tropical Forest (IAIPTF). The fi ve-year

Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability,

and Adaptation to Climate Change (UNFCC, 2007)

was a signifi cant outcome of COP 12, ensuring, for the

fi rst time, indigenous participation in the collection

of information for mitigation and adaptation based

on traditional knowledge, even though there is still

no eff ective protection for traditional knowledge (see

also chapter 6, Box 6.1). In December 2007, at the 13th

session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate

Change Convention (COP 13) held in Bali, Indonesia, the

implementation of the pilot phase for promoting the

reduction of emissions by avoiding deforestation was

approved, as were other initiatives involving greater

participation of indigenous and local communities.

Towards holistic and participatory approaches to adaptation and mitigation The emergence of a daunting nexus of environmental

problems that threaten the stability, if not the very

existence, of human societies has triggered widespread

refl ection on the limitations of purely technical and

scientifi c responses to the ecological imperative and on

the potential of a sustainable development perspective

that would draw on a broad range of cultural experiences,

institutions and practices, including those of local and

indigenous knowledge systems.

Short-onset, acute hazards (earthquakes, tsunamis,

fl oods, etc.) can have considerable impacts on cultural

diversity; for example, the destruction of key cultural

centres and monuments (temples, museums, schools)

interrupts the transmission of traditions and beliefs and

possibly even entire cultures. The earthquake in 2003

that ravaged the old city of Bam in Iran provides further

testimony to the fragility of human heritage in the face

of natural disasters.

In the medium and long term, livelihood security is

placed at risk by the increasing occurrence of mega-

disasters (hurricanes, cyclones, tropical storms, etc.),

which produce cascades of secondary environmental

hazards (such as landslides and fl ooding) that in turn have

a domino eff ect on all aspects of life. In urban industrial

landscapes, these can bring about further complications

through damage to factories, storage facilities, and

pipelines, resulting in ‘natural-technological’ (NATECH)

hazards that are very expensive to clean up and can have

long-term public health consequences (Cruz et al., 2004).

The institutional systems for anticipating post-disaster

‘surprises’, including their eff ects on the diversity of

cultural practices, have not been suffi ciently developed,

particularly in the case of slow-onset, pervasive hazards,

such as water stress and climate change, which are

recognized as potential sources of social confl ict and

instability (see IPCC, 2007; Hartmann, 2003, 2002, 1998).

The environmental consequences of climate change

may create, among other things, massive population

displacements that may seriously undermine cultural

continuity and diversity. These include displacements

due to large-scale projects undertaken by governments,

confl icts over water and arable land, worsening rural

livelihood conditions, deforestation and disease

(see Box 7.4). For many rural and indigenous people,

cultures remain very much place-based. Their homes

and much of their material culture are made of locally

available natural materials. Their stories, myths, songs

and the imagery in their languages are also tied to

place. As a result, forced displacement can be culturally

devastating, as in the case of small islands.5 Moreover,

new intermixing of diff erent population groups may

create new challenges for our living together with

our diff erences (see chapters 1 and 8). In these ways,

5. See UNESCO webpage on ‘small island developing states’.

��The streets of Konarak, India

The environmental

consequences of

climate change

may create, among

other things,

massive population

displacements

that may seriously

undermine cultural

continuity and

diversity

WRCD_eng2.indd 207 29/09/09 12:43

2 0 8 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

management, natural disaster response and climate

change adaptation.

We have much to learn from the good practices of

environmental management embedded within local,

rural and traditional knowledge and know-how as it

relates to the management of natural resources and

local biodiversity. Indigenous peoples living in ‘frontier

lands’ or ‘refuge regions’ — that is, remote areas where

the structure of original ecosystems has been more or

less safeguarded — make up most of the 15–21 million

world fi shers, some 25–30 million nomadic herders

or pastoralists (in East Africa, the Sahel and Arabian

Peninsula), most of the slash-and-burn agriculturalists

and half the 1 million hunters and gatherers still in

UNESCO has contributed to work and refl ection on

traditional knowledge, since the 1960s, when its

Jakarta offi ce published An Ethnobotanical Guide for

Anthropological Research in Malayo-Oceania (Barrau,

1962), a study of the vast knowledge of plants

possessed by the traditional societies of the area. In

the 1980s, UNESCO actively supported investigations

of customary marine resource management across

the Asia-Pacifi c region through its Coastal Marine

Programme (Ruddle and Johannes, 1985) and has

continued to support policies and practices pertaining

to traditional knowledge. The emergence in 2002 of the

interdisciplinary programme on Local and Indigenous

Knowledge Systems (LINKS) specifi cally addresses

indigenous knowledge in the framework of biodiversity

Among the examples of local and indigenous

management of natural resources and

biodiversity, the following can be highlighted:

■ Land management plans in the Amazon

region: These plans, involving the Shuar

people of the south of Ecuador, the Sarayacu

Association in the centre of the Amazon,

and the Limoncocha Association, consist

of mapping the land to better organize

use and management of resources for the

future by identifying community reserves;

hunting, farming and extraction zones; and

residential, riverside and sacred areas.

■ Intercropping in West Africa: In zones of

intense, yet variable, rainfall and limited

sunlight at the height of the growing season,

intercropping has proven more eff ective

than plough agriculture. Planting several

(sometimes many) diff erent species, and

diff erent varieties of the same species, on the

same farm off ers the benefi ts of minimized

exposure of the soil to erosive rainfall,

minimized spread of pests and diseases,

minimized risk of crop failure, maximized

use of available soil moisture and plant

nutrients, as well as the suppression of weeds

at later stages in the cropping sequence

through competition by established crops

approaching harvest (Richards, 1983).

■ Community-based disaster risk reduction

in the Indian State of Bihar: Faced with

increasing severity of fl ooding since the

late 1970s and resultant loss of life, livestock

and possessions, community-based

programmes were implemented in India

(in addition to government emergency

assistance) which rely on a combination of

physical interventions and social capacity-

building. Village Development Committees

(VDCs), which have specifi c responsibilities

during fl oods (e.g. a village rescue and

evacuation team and a women’s self-help

group), were created and trained. The

programme has had positive outcomes for

the community not only in terms of social

relations and physical assets but also in

terms of natural resources management.

■ National Adaptation Programme of Action

(NAPA) in the Samoa Islands: Because the

impacts of climate change on livelihoods

are anticipated to be very severe (with

food security challenges due to storms and

landslides, fi res, diseases linked to fl ooding

and droughts, water quality and quantity

challenges, as well as forced changes in

land-use practices) in the Samoa Islands,

adaptation programmes have been set up,

including the introduction of new animal

species suited to local climate, nurseries

for cultivars and planting, logging quotas,

Coastal Infrastructure Management Plans

(CIMPs) and strategies, designation of

marine protected areas (with respect to

fi sheries), leak detection (with respect

to water) and family relocation.

Indigenous peoples have also transformed

and managed wild biodiversities across a

wide range of land- and seascapes. Perhaps

one of the most powerful and dramatic of

these cultural tools relates to the use of fi re.

While fi re has traditionally been viewed by the

Western scientifi c community as an agent of

environmental destruction, indigenous peoples

subsisting in a number of the world’s ecosystems

have used fi re to modify entire landscapes for

several millennia. In northern Australia, the

Aboriginal peoples have used fi restick farming

to selectively burn specifi c habitats in specifi c

seasons and thereby create a landscape mosaic

of diff erent habitats that are resource-rich and

biologically diverse (Lewis, 1989). Biodiversity

and landscape management through the

astute application of fi re was systematically

practiced by indigenous peoples in numerous

ecological settings around the world; other

well-documented examples are the traditional

burning practices of several indigenous peoples

in the southwestern US (Anderson, 2006).

Source: Cerda, 2007 and UNESCO.

Local management of natural resources and biodiversityBox 7.5

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 2 0 9

Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

between indigenous understandings of natural processes

and specialized external knowledge. Indeed, with active

participation, people become more conscious of their

own situation and their own knowledge and practices.

Tacit knowledge embodied in conventional practice

becomes explicit, can be articulated and then discussed

critically. In turn, external research tools are more likely

to be accepted in ways that complement local concepts

and experience of change. Three-dimensional modelling,

the use of geographical information systems (GIS),6 and

the adoption of on-farm crop trials and new livelihood

elements (Wangui, 2003) have all successfully involved

active participation by local stakeholders.

Conclusion Sustainable, human-centred development presupposes

the participation of empowered individuals and

communities and refl ects their cultural patterns and

solidarities. In this way, it restores the pride of individuals

and communities, particularly indigenous peoples

and other vulnerable groups, on the basis of their

cultural expressions, values and perspectives. This in

turn contributes to capacity-building geared towards

a consensual search for well-being and alternative

development pathways. ‘Identity’ can then move from

defensive positioning to a form of empowerment

conducive to the achievement of self-defi ned and

sustainable objectives. In this sense, ‘development

with identity’ ( Tauli-Corpuz, 2008) comes to mean

‘development with dignity’.

Insofar as cultural diversity involves strategies that

capitalize on traditional knowledge and its synergies

with scientifi c knowledge, it is a powerful tool for the

achievement of the MDGs:

Science exerts a powerful infl uence on our daily

lives, our interactions with the environment, our

value systems and worldview. However, it is just

one knowledge system amongst many. Other

knowledge systems, many of them embedded in

a remarkable diversity of cultures and sustaining

a broad spectrum of ways of life, constitute a rich

and diverse intellectual heritage whose importance

for attaining international development objectives,

existence. They inhabit a substantial portion of the world’s

little-disturbed tropical and boreal forests, mountains,

grasslands, tundra and desert, as well as large areas of

the world’s coasts and near-shore waters, including

mangroves and coral reefs. As guardians of more than

1,000 species and thousands of varieties of domesticated

plants and animals, indigenous communities are involved

in on-farm conservation and breeding, selecting varieties

and improving crops on a day-to-day basis (see Box 7.5).

As the encounter between traditional knowledge and

other techniques of managing natural resources begins

to yield ‘hybrid’ local practices that combine traditional

rural practices with technical external tools, deeper

cultural changes — e.g. shifting gender divisions of

labour — are also underway (Wisner, 2007).

Part of the diffi culty in drawing on local and indigenous

knowledge is that it tends to be tacit knowledge. Due

to mistrust and language barriers, early European

observers of shifting cultivation and polyculture in the

Americas misunderstood these practices as chaotic,

disorganized and wasteful. A more respectful and open-

minded approach would have revealed the inherent

rationale of these practices — soil fertility restoration

and mobilization of nutrients in ash from burned forest

on the one hand, and the benefi ts of shade and diff erent

rooting depths that hedge against drought on the

other hand (Wisner, 1994, 2004; Wisner and Smucker,

2008). If tacit knowledge is to be made explicit and

harnessed, justice must be done to the complexities of

intercultural dialogue — for example, through inclusive

and participatory methods such as those embedded

in the Cultural Diversity Programming Lens (see ‘In

focus’ below). A much more sophisticated and nuanced

approach to local knowledge now understands that no

single, homogeneous ‘knowledge’ exists in a given locality

and that if we are to confront current environmental

challenges, diff erent knowledge systems need to be

engaged together — cross-culturally, inter-generationally,

and diff erentiated by gender, occupation and ethnicity.

Participatory approaches are conducive not only to co-

learning in action but also to more rapid change. This is

supported by recent and current projects in Africa, Latin

America and Asia, which have fostered creative dialogue

6. See the websites of the Participatory GIS Network and the Integrated

Approaches to Participatory Development (IAPAD).

��A collection of stones in the Yuyuan garden, Shanghai, China

WRCD_eng2.indd 209 29/09/09 12:43

The principles of cultural diversity, as embodied in particular in the Cultural Diversity Lens, should be

duly taken into account in the design, implementation and monitoring of all development policies.

To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Identify concrete measures to operationalize research on the cultural dimension of natural resources conservation and management, with particular reference to the knowledge and know-how of indigenous communities.

b. Establish a clearing-house for documenting participatory approaches to environmental problems, including indications as to their success.

c. Encourage the participation of members of all communities in defi ning resource allocation criteria on the basis of social justice, so as to foster a dynamic of social dialogue and promote intercultural solidarity.

C h

ap ter 7 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

2 1 0 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

Session of the General Assembly, which followed up

on that Declaration.7 Indeed, the integration of cultural

diversity within the MDGs framework may reinforce

the ‘global partnership for development’ foreseen in

MDG 8. A major step towards the recognition of the

positive contribution of local and traditional knowledge

for development was the recent release of the UN

Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’

Issues (2008), which was broadly distributed throughout

the UN system, including to UN Country Teams. Other

guidelines corresponding to other aspects of cultural

diversity could follow.

including the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs), continues to be underestimated.

(Matsuura, 2008)

Cultural diversity can help to reshape strategies for

achieving MDG 1 (eradication of extreme poverty) and

MDG 7 (environmental sustainability). Although not

explicitly mentioned in the Millennium Declaration (UN,

2000), which commits the international community

to the realization of the eight MDGs, cultural diversity

was emphasized in the 2005 World Summit Outcome

Document by the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th

7. ‘Acknowledging the diversity of the world, we recognize that all

cultures and civilizations contribute to the enrichment of humankind. We

acknowledge the importance of respect and understanding for religious and

cultural diversity throughout the world. In order to promote international

peace and security, we commit ourselves to advancing human welfare,

freedom and progress everywhere, as well as to encouraging tolerance,

respect, dialogue and cooperation among diff erent cultures, civilizations and

peoples’ (UN, 2005: para. 14).

��Rice fi elds in Indonesia, 1984

Sustainable, human-

centred development

presupposes the

participation

of empowered

individuals and

communities and

refl ects their cultural

patterns and

solidarities

WRCD_eng2.indd 210 29/09/09 12:43

In focus:

The Cultural

Diversity

Programming

Lens: A tool

for monitoring

development

projects

In focus:

The Cultural

Diversity

Programming

Lens: A tool

for monitoring

development

projects

C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y : A K E Y D I M E N S I O N O F S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T . 2 1 1

Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

indicated by an ad hoc committee of experts created by the

French Government (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, 2009)

Still, the challenge remains to operationalize an approach

to development that is both comprehensive and

multidimensional, incorporating ‘all the dimensions of life

and the energies of a community’ (UNESCO, 1982), and that

integrates the fundamental purpose of development, namely:

■ The realization of the potentialities of the human

person in harmony with the community;

■ The human person understood as a subject (and not

the object) of development;

■ The satisfaction of both material and non-material

needs;

■ Respect for human rights and the principles of

equality and non-discrimination;

■ The opportunity for full participation; and

■ A degree of individual and collective self-reliance (as

embodied in the 1986 United Nations Declaration on

the Right to Development).

With the goal of monitoring and evaluating cultural and

sustainable development projects and mainstreaming

cultural diversity into programme design, development

and implementation, the UNESCO Regional Offi ce in

Bangkok developed the Cultural Diversity Programming Lens

(CDPL) to operationalize such principles and associated

normative standards (see UNESCO, 2000). Designed for

use by decision- and policy-makers, programme managers

and community leaders, the CDPL works like a lens that

augments vision. It is an interdisciplinary checklist of criteria

and questions, supplemented by indicators, that provides

a means for integrating cultural diversity issues while

ensuring the participation of all stakeholders across all

phases of a given project, including in upstream research

and needs assessment. The CDPL facilitates refl ection

and analysis linking culture and development. Due to

the increasing importance of intercultural dialogue as an

entry point for policies that promote cultural diversity,

UNESCO has started integrating such dialogue in the

analytical framework of the Lens and intends to develop it

further. The CDPL also makes a useful contribution to the

implementation of the UN’s human-rights-based approach

to programming, focusing on cultural diversity and

intercultural dialogue, including cultural rights.

Various indicators, models and tools, many of which

have been discussed throughout this report, are already

being used to help to capture the various facets of

how cultural diversity is lived on the ground — from

participatory methodologies to intercultural dialogue

facilitation and cultural mapping (see chapters 1 and 2),

multilingualism (chapter 3) to intercultural skills (chapter

4) and inventories of cultural practices and industries

(see chapters 5 and 6). These can serve to stimulate

reflection on the methodologies to be used in sustainable

development projects.

Since the 1980s and the rise of a ‘people-centred’

approach to development — as opposed to a ‘commodity-

centred’ approach ( Throsby, 2008) — a paradigm shift

has been underway which recognizes that sustainable

economic growth cannot be the sole indicator of positive

sustainable development. While the emergence of the

concept of ‘human development’ marks clear progress

towards greater recognition of the specifi city of assets in

a given society and a given cultural context, the Human

Development Index (HDI) is methodologically limited in its

categorizations (e.g. measuring a healthy life on the basis

of life expectancy or measuring knowledge in terms of

combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment

ratios). That said, the aim to establish comparable

standards for the assessment of each country’s eff orts

to enhance human capabilities remains both useful and

necessary, for varied eff orts can ultimately yield indicators

that do capture the cultural specifi city of the values

prevailing in each cultural context.

Because greater importance is given today to well-being

and happiness in the assessment of development progress,

diff erent societies have begun to attempt to assess and

measure their own quality of life, as determined by the

specifi c values that give meaning to their existence and the

criteria of a ‘good life’ (Agazzi, 2002). The Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also has

recently become interested in the elaboration of indicators

that take account of the diversity of cultural conceptions

of progress and well-being through so-called ‘happiness

indicators’ (Veenhoven, 2007). The goal thereby is to develop

indicators that are comparable across societies, midway

between local indicators of development (such as Bhutan’s

Gross Happiness Index) and the universal concept of human

development. The refl ection on the economic crisis may

provide a new rationale for such initiatives, as recently

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7. Promotion of intercultural dialogue and

cultural pluralism

8. Interactions between modern science and

traditional knowledge

9. Exchange and cooperation

10. Other.

Each of these topics refers to key questions that each

decision-maker should have in mind when elaborating

a programming activity. The general matrix can then be

articulated across thematic lenses according to needs.

The CDPL builds on ten main topics, each of which is further

divided into a series of sub-topics that are adaptable to the

development of appropriate lenses. The main topics include:

1. Understanding the social, economic,

political and legal background

2. Access for and inclusion of all

3. Participation of all

4. Linguistic diversity, with a special focus on

mother tongue

5. Safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage

6. Promotion of cultural industries, goods and services

Figure 7.1 Cultural Diversity Programming Lens (CDPL) general framework

Themes Key questions Sub-themes

1 Social, economic, political and legal environment

Ref.: UDCD: 4,5,6,7,8,9 MLAP: 2, 4, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18

Is a detailed socio-economic analysis in the target area available?

How can the legal environment aff ect the implementation and outcomes of the programme?

• Collecting disaggregated data (sex, age group, family situation, education, income, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual preferences, political affi liations)

• Mapping and visualizing data using GIS • Identifi cation of culturally-related international instruments which can infl uence the programme

design or be promoted through the activities • Infl uence of the national legal system (laws on culture, cultural industries, intellectual property

rights, socially-marginalized and minority groups, mobility, specifi cally for artists, etc.) • Advocacy for cultural rights

- Right not to be discriminated on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, ethnicity, national or social origin, birth, HIV and AIDS or other health conditions and disabilities

- Freedom of expression, thought, religion, media pluralism, and multilingualism - Right to choose the kind of education for your children - Right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community

2 Access and inclusion of all

Ref.: UDCD: 2, 6, 8, 9 MLAP: 3, 10, 16, 17

Is the programme really accessible to all?

Are the materials used and produced during the programme usable by all?

• Inclusion of persons or groups from diverse cultural backgrounds: ethnicity, religion, social group, sex, age, etc

• Physical, economic, time-sensitive, legal and social accessibility to the programme • Content of materials linguistically and culturally-appropriate for all target groups • Formats and dissemination methods adapted to various levels of literacy and lifestyles

3 Participation of all

Ref.: UDCD: 2 MLAP: 3, 19

Do stakeholders and interest groups from diverse backgrounds truly participate in the programme design and implementation?

Does participation really contribute to empowerment and capacity- building among diverse cultural groups?

• Disaggregated data help identify cultural groups • Knowledge of local pressure groups and power structure

4 Linguistic diversity with special focus on the mother tongue

Ref.: UDCD: 5, 6 MLAP: 5, 6, 10

How will the programme infl uence linguistic diversity?

How will the programme increase (or decrease) access to resources and services in people’s mother tongue?

• Expression in the greatest number of languages • Cultural creation in the greatest number of languages • Dissemination of programme documents, outputs and information in the greatest number of

languages and understood by all stakeholders • Content and materials for both formal and informal education and relevant information are

produced or translated in the reader’s mother-tongue

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

ent

Themes Key questions Sub-themes

5 Safeguarding cultural and natural heritage

Ref.: UDCD: 7 MLAP: 5, 13, 14

How can the programme encourage the safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage?

How can the programme raise awareness and increase visibility of the heritage by utilizing its strengths?

• Assessment of cultural and natural heritage aff ected by the programme: identifi cation, documentation, mapping, archiving, display of tangible and intangible assets

• Revitalization of cultural and natural heritage: preservation, conservation, and protection, restoration and revitalization

• Education of heritage professionals and civil society • Monitoring mechanisms on the use of cultural and natural resources through the programme • Use of heritage and cultural expressions as information platform and educational tools • Use of heritage and cultural expressions as a tool for development • Use of heritage and cultural expressions as a tool for peace and dialogue

6 Promotion of cultural industries and cultural goods and services

Ref.: UDCD: 8, 9, 10 MLAP: 12, 15, 16, 17

How can the programme promote cultural industries and cultural goods?

How can the programme raise awareness and increase visibility of the cultural industries by utilizing their strengths?

• Improvement of the production, dissemination, and exchange of diversifi ed cultural products and services

• Activities fostering creativity and diversity through recognition and protection of artists and authors’ rights and cultural works

• Improvement of the dissemination and exchange of diversifi ed cultural products and services • Support in the emergence and consolidation of cultural industries and markets • Use of crafts, performing arts and other art forms as information platform and educational tools. • Use of crafts, performing arts and other art forms as therapeutic tools

7 Promotion of intercultural dialogue and cultural pluralism

Ref.: UDCD: 1, 12 MLAP: 2, 7, 18

How does the programme integrate and reinforce intercultural dialogue?

How does it recognize the positive value of a culturally diverse society and promote cultural pluralism?

• The programme provides space for exchanging diff erent perspectives on the issue and objectives of the intervention between people of diff erent cultural groups (gender, ethnic, age/generation, religious, etc.)

• The programme identify mediation/ confl ict resolution mechanism within the implementation of the project and as its result

• Programme includes activities to strengthen appreciation and respect of cultural diversity: - Awareness-raising, advocacy, and research - Educational and informational components - Forum for dialogue

8 Interactions between modern science and traditional knowledge

Ref.: UDCD: 8, 9, 10 MLAP: 3, 8,

Does the programme increase the opportunities to foster exchange and synergies between traditional and modern pedagogies, methods and knowledge?

Does the programme protect traditional knowledge?

• Exchanges and cooperation between traditional and modern experts and practitioners • Creating synergies between tradition and modernity

- Integration of traditional facets into the programme to build ownership - Use of modern technologies as a transmission medium for indigenous knowledge

• Legal protection of traditional knowledge • Maintaining a healthy balance between tradition and modernity

9 Exchange and cooperation

Ref.: UDCD: 7, 10, 11, 12 MLAP: 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 17, 19

How will the programme reinforce cooperation at local, national, and international level and increase opportunities for exchanges?

• Promotion of intergenerational and intercultural dialogue • Development of links between marginalized groups, technical experts, public sector, private

sector, civil society, research institutions, etc. • Cooperation and exchanges in the development of necessary infrastructures and skills

(e.g. technological/technical transfer) • Measures to counter the digital divide

10 Others How will other cultural factors aff ect the programme?

UDCD: Articles of the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity MLAP: Main Lines of an Action Plan for the Implementation of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

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The general framework of the CDPL is now being adapted

for use in the context of Joint UN Programming in ‘Delivering

as One’ pilot countries. Access and

inclusion of all

Cultural, social, economical, political and

legagal environemnet

Exchange and

cooperation

Interaction between

modern science and trational bknowledhe

Intercultural dialogue

Creativity and cultural

industries

Heritage

Linguistic diversity

Participation of all

Cultural diversity

Intercultural dialogue

��A beach in Mauritania

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Chapter 7 Cultural diversity: A key dim

ension of sustainable developm

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2 2 0 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Young children playing, Alice Springs, Australia

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Cultural diversity, human rights and democratic governance

It is argued throughout this report that respect for cultural diversity contributes to the dignity

of each individual, group and community. Rights and freedoms are not exercised in a vacuum

but are embedded within a social context. All rights and freedoms have a cultural dimension

that contributes to their eff ective exercise. It is precisely this dimension that forms the link

between the individual, the community and the group, which grounds universal values within

a particular society.

Human rights are universal because they belong to all of humanity. This is the sense intended

in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948), which acknowledges that everyone,

as a member of society, should exercise all rights ‘indispensable for his dignity and the free

development of his personality’ (Art. 22).

Although sometimes portrayed as challenging to social cohesion, cultural diversity is, on the

contrary, an enabler of dialogue and mutual enrichment and thus a source of economic, social,

political and cultural creativity. Democratic governance presupposes forms of government

and modes of decision-making that take account of the multicultural composition of

contemporary societies and their wide variety of beliefs, projects and lifestyles. In promoting

a more inclusive form of governance, the management of cultural diversity can turn a societal

challenge into a democratic strength and thereby contribute to the establishment of that

culture of human rights and peace to which UNESCO and the United Nations are committed.

88 CHAPTER 8

Kutiyattam, a form of sacred theatre from Kerala, India

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88 8.1 Cultural diversity and universally

recognized human rights ......................... 223

Box 8.1 International case law highlighting cultural aspects of human rights.............................. 227

Box 8.2 Individual and collective dimensions of cultural rights ........................................................................ 229

8.2 Cultural diversity: A parameter of social

cohesion..................................................... 231

Map 8.1 Government policies on immigration, 2005 ...................................................... 231

Box 8.3 The challenges of social cohesion in Africa: from colonial empire to African

nationhood ............................................................................ 234

8.3 The challenge of cultural diversity for

democratic governance ............................ 238

Map 8.2 Percentage of political positions in Parliaments held by women, 2007 .......................... 239

Conclusion ......................................................... 242

Recommendations............................................ 242

In focus: Three examples of traditional

mechanisms and intangible heritage in the

service of democratic governance .......... 243

References and websites .................................. 246

Cultural

diversity,

human

rights

and

democratic

governance

A billboard on Suva’s main street, Fiji

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

‘No one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon

human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to

limit their scope’. This core provision of the 2001 Universal

Declaration on Cultural Diversity (Art. 4) underlines

the tension that is sometimes confusedly invoked

between cultural diversity and the proclamation of

universal human rights. This perception of cultural

diversity as a possible impediment to universality

stems from political and academic circles that tend to

view cultural diversity as synonymous with relativism

and thus as potentially in contradiction to universal

principles. From this perspective, questions arise as to

the relevance or legitimacy of accounting for cultural

diversity in the implementation of international human

rights standards, particularly when cultural diversity

is used to sustain discriminatory or harmful practices.

The present section argues that such criticisms are

based on an assumption of the mutual exclusiveness

between cultural diversity and universal human rights.

Yet, since human rights emanate from the very fabric

of cultures — as recognized by the countries that have

become signatories to human rights instruments —

universal human rights and cultural diversity cannot

be philosophically, morally or legally opposed to

one another. On the contrary, cultural diversity and

intercultural dialogue can in fact become key levers for

strengthening the universal grounding of human rights.

As stated by the 1993 Vienna Declaration, the challenge

is to promote and protect all rights and fundamental

freedoms ‘regardless of [the States’] political, economic and

cultural systems’ (UN, 1993: Art. 5), while bearing in mind

‘the significance of national and regional particularities and

various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds.’

The cultural dimension of universal rights The rights and freedoms universally recognized by the

world community in the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights (UN, 1948) are inherent in everyone, regardless

of sex, ethnic or social origin, level of education,

disabilities, or religious beliefs. In this sense, they are

intangible. They are also inalienable since no one

can renounce their rights and freedoms even if they

should wish to do so, since this would compromise the

rights and freedoms of all by virtue of being human.

If someone voluntarily wished to accept slavery, this

would be at odds with the right of everyone to be born

free. Accordingly, no one can invoke slavery as a cultural

practice in opposition to the right to freedom. In the

same way, there can be no contradiction between

the intangibility of human rights and fundamental

freedoms and cultural diversity. The statement that

cultural diversity constitutes an asset for humanity as a

whole and consequently should be safeguarded is not

the same as saying that any cultural value, tradition and

practice must be preserved as intangible heritage. As

shown in chapter 1, cultures have never been fi xed and

are in a state of perpetual change since they interact

with the outside world and are expressed through

human beings who themselves change.

The interdependency and indivisibility of human rights

provide an interesting common ground for analysis of

the relations among all human rights: the identifi cation of

one human right is connected to another because of the

cultural dimension of all human rights.

Indeed, while civil and political rights and freedoms

are sometimes regarded as covering the rights and

freedoms that should be given prominence, some

point out that the very indivisibility of human rights

pleas for greater recognition of the linkages between

all categories of rights. While international standards

may seem far removed from the recognition of the

importance of preserving cultural diversity insofar as

it pertains to identities and values, the advancement

of human rights in the last decades has begun to

bridge this gap, particularly when due consideration

has been given to the principles of non-discrimination,

equality, gender parity and intercultural dialogue. This

is illustrated below by the signifi cant progress made

both in the fi eld of civil and political rights and in that

of economic and social rights:

■ Civil and political rights are essential for the freedom

of thought, religion and association, as well as

for taking part in decision-making processes that

determine the development of one’s community,

among other things. If these rights, which have an

obvious cultural component, are not guaranteed,

there can be no political freedom. In addition, the

right to vote is contingent on the right to education,

8.1 Cultural diversity and universally recognized human rights

‘No one may invoke

cultural diversity to

infringe upon human

rights guaranteed by

international law, nor

to limit their scope’

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2 2 4 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

■ With respect to economic and social rights, Article 12

of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966b) emphasizes the right to

enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and

mental health, which also has a cultural dimension.

This was clarifi ed when the UN Committee on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) affi rmed

that this right implies both freedoms and entitlements

and that health services (in this case for indigenous

people) should be ‘culturally appropriate, taking into

account traditional preventive care, healing practices

and medicines’ (CESCR, 2000). The CESCR also called

on States to provide resources for indigenous peoples

to design, deliver and control those services and off er

protection of the vital medicinal plants, animals and

minerals necessary to the full enjoyment of the right.

Another example concerns the right to safe drinking

water, which, in addition to being of suffi cient quality,

should include services and water facilities that are

‘culturally appropriate’.

Highlighting the cultural dimensions of all human

rights should in no way be understood as undermining

universality but rather as encouraging a sense of

ownership of these rights by all, in their diversity. What

is needed, as the Fribourg Group underlined in the

Fribourg Declaration on Cultural Rights (2007), is to take

into account ‘the cultural dimensions of all human rights

in order to enhance universality through diversity and

to encourage the appropriation of these rights by all

persons, alone or in community with others’ (Art. 9d).

Progress in the appropriation of universally recognized

human rights is a multifaceted process: it builds on

existing human rights treaties and institutions — to

which States freely adhere — and takes account of

developments in the human rights fi eld, which are

grounded in a diversity of experiences and priorities

identifi ed worldwide (An-Na’im, 1992, 2002, 2003;

Forsythe and McMahon, 2003). Thus, as a common

achievement of the international community

representing hard-won consensus, the universal

grounding of human rights in the social fabric of

societies is reinforced by the promotion of cultural

diversity and intercultural dialogue, which contribute

to the fl ourishing debate in the international

community on human rights. For example, the same

principles of human dignity and self-determination that

which is the condition upon which the language(s)

written on ballot cards and used in political debates

can be understood. The clarifi cation of the cultural

requisites of these rights and their implications

across diff erent cultural settings is crucial. This holds

equally of the right to justice (see the European Court

of Human Rights [ECHR], case Airey v. Ireland of 9

October 1979), the right to information (see ECHR

case Conka v. Belgium of 5 February 2002), and the

right to correspondence (see ECHR case Chishti v.

Portugal of 2 October 2003). The cultural dimension of

civil and political rights is also recognized in a series of

other freedoms, such as the freedoms of expression,

information and communication developed in

Article 19 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights. In this connection, language

rights are particularly important since they provide

access to a capacity essential to all other rights. This

is made quite clear in the Covenant when it states

that anyone charged with a criminal off ence must

be informed ‘in a language which he understands

of the nature and cause of the charge against him’

(UN, 1966a: Art. 14.5) and ‘have the free assistance of

an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the

language used in court’ (Art. 14.3.f ).

��African immigrants queue at the port of Lampedusa before being

transferred to Sicily, Italy

Highlighting the

cultural dimensions

of all human rights

should be understood

as encouraging a

sense of ownership of

these rights by all, in

their diversity

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

of public life to be guaranteed without any distinction,

exclusion, restriction or preference based on race,

colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.

■ The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW; UN, 1979)

developed a similar approach regarding women,

highlighting the principle of equal treatment of men

and women, as well as the recognition, enjoyment or

exercise by women, ‘irrespective of their marital status,

on a basis of equality of men and women, of human

rights and fundamental freedoms in the political,

economic, social, cultural, civil or any other fi eld’ (Art. 1).

It became a cornerstone for the implementation of

women’s rights at school, at work and in healthcare, as

well as for the support of women’s organizations and

their participation in cultural life. CEDAW is the only

human-rights instrument that identifi es culture and

tradition as infl uential forces shaping gender roles and

family relations.

■ The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) —

the most widely ratifi ed of the Conventions —

provides a number of recognitions and protections

related to children under the guiding principle of

the ‘best interests of the child’ (Art. 3) and State

obligations to respect the right of the child to preserve

his or her identity and to undertake actions in order

to re-establish his or her identity speedily in case

of deprivation (Art. 8). In cases of deprivation, the

Convention stresses the State obligation to ensure

alternative care that ‘could include, inter alia, foster

placement, kafalah of Islamic law, adoption or if

necessary placement in suitable institutions for the

care of children. When considering solutions, due

regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in

a child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious,

cultural and linguistic background’ (Art. 20).

■ The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to

National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

(UN, 1992c),1 although non-binding, provided a

step forward in the debate on the importance of

appropriate educational policies aimed at encouraging

oppose external domination likewise oppose internal

domination and advocate an open and evolving

democratic governance. From this perspective, it is

through dialogue and communication that standards

protecting individual human rights and freedoms can

be incorporated into a cultural context (An-Na’im,

1992). Thus, human rights do not appear as imposed

at the expense of cultural integrity, but rather as being

declared from within the cultures in order to fulfi l a

need (Laclau, 2000). In this sense, cultural diversity

has the potential to become a useful instrument

for facilitating consensus among diff erent cultural

traditions by engaging debate within and across cultures

on human rights by virtue of our common humanity,

despite possible divergences related to context.

Recognition of cultural diversity grounds the universality

of human rights in the realities of our societies by

drawing attention to their appropriation by all individuals

who can identify these rights with a sense of ownership,

regardless of language, tradition and location. In the same

vein, the fact that these rights and freedoms are meant to

be exercised in a wide variety of cultural environments by

no means implies that universal norms can be relativized

in terms of their application.

Cultural diversity and the eff ective exercise of human rights All universal human-rights instruments allow for

an application of rights and liberties according to

given social and cultural realities, subject to the strict

observance of the proclaimed norms and dispositions.

As illustrated by some of the international human

rights instruments related to gender, child protection,

education and health — grounded in the core principles

of non-discrimination, equality, justice, pluralism and

tolerance — an increasing number of such international

instruments make room for the integration of cultural

diversity in the eff ective exercise of human rights:

■ The International Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN, 1965) proclaimed the

exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in

the political, economic, social, cultural or any other fi eld

1. Recent emerging international norms relevant to indigenous peoples include:

the Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries

(ILO, 1989); Art. 29 (c) and (d) and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

(1989); Art. 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN, 1992a); Agenda 21

of UNCED (1992), esp. chap. 26; See also the preamble and Art. 3 of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN, 1992b); and Art. 10 (2) (e)

of the International Convention to Combat Desertifi cation in Countries Experiencing

Serious Drought and/or Desertifi cation, Particularly in Africa (UN, 1994).

An increasing number

of international

instruments make room

for the integration of

cultural diversity in the

eff ective exercise of

human rights

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2 2 6 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

rights (human dignity), as may arise in cases of slavery

and punishments (e.g. physical mutilation), or in gender

relations, religion and the rights of the child.

Where such confl icts arise, cross-cultural initiatives (An-

Na’im, 1992), involving NGOs and the UN, have provided

intermediary solutions through educational means and

alternative arrangements aimed at preserving human

dignity. For example, advances have been made regarding

female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya, Nigeria and

Uganda (More, 2005), which neither limit human rights

to suit a given culture nor impose external values on

a particular culture (see OHCHR et al., 2008). Another

example of such confl ict resolution concerns Egypt:

an alliance of government agencies, civil court judges,

women’s groups, lawyers and progressive Muslim clerics

won a major victory for women’s rights in 2000 with the

passage of a law that enables a woman to divorce without

her husband’s consent; this alliance succeeded mainly

because it argued its case within the general framework

of human rights, while also emphasizing historical aspects

of Islam — examples from the Prophet Mohammed’s

life — that confer equal rights on women. The lesson

here is that the implementation of universal provisions of

international law can be facilitated through appropriate

reference to the meaningful cultural context in which

rights and freedoms are rooted and appropriated. The

increasing relevance of cultural diversity in international

law is confi rmed by case law as detailed in Box 8.1.

Cultural rights Both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

(UN, 1966a) and the International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966b) build on the

fundamental proclamations in the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights that ‘All human beings are born free and

equal in dignity and rights’ (UN, 1948: Art. 1), that ‘Everyone

is entitled of universal dignity and to all the rights and

freedoms, without distinction of any kind such as race,

colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,

national or social origin, property, birth or other status’ (Art.

2), and that ‘Everyone has the right freely to participate in

the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to

share in scientifi c advancement and its benefi ts’ (Art. 27).2

knowledge of their traditions and customs, history,

language and culture ‘except where specifi c practices

are in violation of national law and contrary to

international standards’ (Art. 4.2). With regard to

indigenous populations, the 1993 Vienna Declaration

and Programme of Action affi rmed that ‘States should,

in accordance with international law, take concerted

positive steps to ensure respect for all human rights

and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, on

the basis of equality and non-discrimination’ (UN, 1993:

Art. 20). Thus civil and political, economic, cultural and

social rights should be put on the same footing. The

challenge, then, is to ‘treat human rights globally in a

fair and equal manner’ (Art. 5).

All these universal human-rights instruments mark

progressive developments in the concept of cultural

diversity, while reaffi rming its relation to all human rights.

In the case of the principle, for example, of the ‘best

interests of the child’ as enshrined in the Convention on

the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989), while no exception can

be tolerated, this principle will be interpreted according

to the realities of kinship systems in a particular country,

the relations within and between communities, etc.

From these examples it follows that the eff ective exercise

of human rights is to be understood as a step towards

equality and the recognition of particularities. By no means

can it be said to support the domination, homogenization

or ‘Westernization’ of cultures. Universal human-rights

instruments are not a form of imperialism. They represent

a dynamic base for respecting human dignity, even while

States remain sovereign and have latitude to undertake

measures related to cultural diversity.

However, in the implementation of human rights it can

be extremely challenging to achieve a balance between

States’ unconditional commitment to implement and

uphold human rights (notably through national and

federal laws, judicial decisions or degrees of recognition

in national legislation and policies) and the necessary

recognition of cultural specifi cities. Indeed, problems

arise when deeply rooted traditions and practices

contravene the universal values inherent in human

2. These proclamations are reinforced in the Preamble, which recognizes

the importance of a human-rights-based legal framework to maintaining

international peace and security, stating that the ‘recognition of the inherent

dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is

the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’ (UN, 1948).

��The fortifi ed town of Ait ben Haddou near Ouarzazate

in Morocco

The implementation of

universal provisions of

international law can

be facilitated through

appropriate reference

to the meaningful

cultural context in

which rights and

freedoms are rooted

and appropriated

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

Defi ning cultural rights is sometimes a complex issue

since, as shown above, all human rights have a cultural

dimension. Two sides of the debate emerge in legal

discussions: whether cultural rights go beyond civil and

political rights or whether the adoption of ‘cultural rights’,

once recognized, imply a further need to accommodate

the diff erent identities and values of minorities (Kymlicka

and Norman, 2000; Kukathas, 1992).

Five rights are generally understood as specifi cally

referring to cultural issues, as they appear in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948: Art.

26 and 27) and the two 1966 Covenants (especially

These Covenants draw attention to the question of

cultural identities and values: the International Covenant

on Civil and Political Rights, by stating that no person

(belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities)

shall be denied the right to enjoy his or her own culture,

to profess and practice his or her own religion or to

use his or her own language (UN, 1966a: Art. 27); the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights, by proclaiming the right to take part in cultural

life and the right to education, the latter of which ‘shall

be directed to the full development of the human

personality and the sense of its dignity’ (UN, 1966b: Art.

13), underlining the principle of non-discrimination.

Courts have played an important role in the

development of integrated approaches to

multiculturalism and have led to the defence

of the principles of non-discrimination,

inclusion, participation of minorities and

promotion of their rights. Courts have the

crucial task of integrating universal values

with values of diversity and fi nding ways

for individuals to enjoy these rights.

Numerous cases have been heard by

the diff erent treaty bodies, as well as by

national institutions and courts, notably

those bearing on the enjoyment of culture

in relation to traditional land-use.

Such a landmark case is that of Lubicon

Lake Band v. Canada (Comm. N°. 167/1984).

On behalf of the native Indian community,

the Chief claimed a violation of the right of

self-determination under Article 1 of the

International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights (ICCPR; UN, 1966a). The United Nations

Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), which is

responsible for implementing the Covenant,

found that, while it could not deal with cases

concerning self-determination (since only

individuals who are victims of violations of

rights under the Covenant can submit claims,

and an individual cannot be a victim of a

violation of the right of self-determination),

many of the claims presented by the applicants

raised issues pertaining to the enjoyment of

culture by individuals belonging to ethnic,

religious or linguistic minorities (UN, 1966a:

Art. 27). The UNHRC has pursued its broad

interpretation of ‘enjoyment of culture’ to

include certain traditional use of land.

Other cases have arisen concerning the Sami

community and its use of land to breed and

herd reindeer in relation to the Swedish and

Finnish governments’ permitting companies

to use the land for logging, mining or

forestry, including: Ivan Kitok v. Sweden, where

the UNHRC confi rmed that the economic

activity of reindeer husbandry is an essential

component of the Sami culture and as such

falls under Article 27 of the ICCPR (Comm.

N°. 197/1985); the Länsman cases against

Finland (Comm. N°. 511/1992 and 671/1995);

the case of Anni Äärelä and Jouni Näkkäläjärvi

v. Finland¸ where more attention was paid to

the quality of the land (Comm. N°. 779/1997).

In the case of Apirana Mahuika et al. v. New

Zealand, the petitioners were New Zealand

Maoris who claimed that their rights under

Article 27 of the Covenant had been violated in

a dispute over fi shing rights (UN Doc. CCPR/

C/70/D/547/1993 and Comm. N°. 547/1993). In

these cases, the UNHRC has employed a dynamic

approach to the concept of culture, including

economic activities linked to the culture of

a community, without confi ning itself to the

protection of traditional economic activities

or means of livelihood. For example, the fact

that technological innovations are used in such

activities (e.g. reindeer herding) does not mean

that Article 27 no longer applies. Rather, as land

claims fall under the enjoyment of culture, a

close relationship between the two must be

demonstrated. Thus, because in the case of J. G. A.

Diergaardt (the late Captain of the Rehoboth Baster

Community) et al. v. Namibia this relationship

was not suffi ciently demonstrated and the

claimants did not prevail (UN Doc. CCPR/

C/69/D/760/1997 and Comm. N°. 760/1997).

Other cases have concerned the enjoyment

of culture in relation to linguistic rights,

such as Diergaardt v. Namibia. The Namibian

Constitution (1990: Art. 4) spefi cies that English

is the country’s sole offi cial language. The

claimants complained that the Constitution’s

prohibition on the use of their own language

violated Article 26, which provides equality

before the law and non-discrimination on

any ground, and Article 27 of the ICCPR. The

UNHRC’s fi nd that Namibia was indeed in

violation of Article 26 confi rmed the importance

of non-discrimination in relation to cultural —

in this case linguistic — diversity. However,

the UNHRC’s decision was not unanimous on

the issues relating to language and cultural

diversity: one committee member dissented on

the fi nding of a violation of Article 26 because

the use of minority languages had only been

limited at the offi cial level; he also stated that

giving many tribal languages an offi cial status

would be an obstacle to nation-building.

Source: Donders, 2007.

International case law highlighting cultural aspects of human rightsBox 8.1

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2 2 8 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

(often elaborated by UNESCO) refer to all human

rights, seldom singling out cultural rights per se except

that of heritage. In the same vein, the Faro Framework

Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society

(Council of Europe, 2005: Art. 1) recognizes that ‘rights

relating to cultural heritage are inherent in the right to

participate in cultural life, as defi ned in the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.’ The same article refers

to ‘the role of cultural heritage in the construction of a

peaceful and democratic society, and in the processes of

sustainable development and the promotion of cultural

diversity’. Yet this central role accorded to cultural

heritage is not refl ected over the whole range of cultural

rights as provided for in the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966b).

There are a number of reasons why cultural rights are

less developed than other human rights. First, the term

‘culture’ is elusive and diffi cult to translate into human

rights standards. Where culture is interpreted narrowly,

cultural rights include the protection of cultural creations

such as works of art, literature and monuments, as well

as access to museums, theatres, libraries, etc. If culture

is understood as the process of artistic and scientifi c

creation, then cultural rights include the right to freedom

of expression, as well as the protection of the producers

of cultural products, including copyright. If culture is

considered in terms of a specifi c way of life, the sum

of a community’s material and spiritual activities and

products (Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies,

UNESCO, 1982), then cultural rights comprise the right

of self-determination — particularly in the case of a

community, including cultural development — and

also the rights to maintain and develop one’s own

culture (Stavenhagen, 2001; Hansen, 2002; Marks, 2003).

Regardless, violations of cultural rights are often

dramatically lived by the individuals or groups

concerned and can lead to social unrest.

The broad compass of cultural rights (as related to

both arts and ways of life) poses numerous problems

of defi nition and varying levels of opposability. The

problems relating to the opposability, monitoring and

verifi cation of cultural rights take many forms, including

the following: To whom are cultural rights opposable?

Who can guarantee the exercise of such rights? The

State? Public or private institutions? Are the guarantors

accountable if these rights are violated? Can individuals

UN, 1966b: Art. 13, 14 and 15). These are: the right to

education; the right to participate in cultural life; the

right to enjoy the benefi ts of scientifi c progress and its

implications; the right to benefi t from the protection of

the moral and material interests resulting from scientifi c,

literary or artistic production of which the person is the

author; and the freedom to pursue scientifi c research

and creative activity.

Similar provisions exist in regional human-rights

instruments, such as the American Convention of Human

Rights (OAS, 1969: Art. 26), the African [Banjul] Charter on

Human and Peoples’ Rights (OAU, 1981: Art. 17 and 22),

and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European

Union (EU, 2000: Art. 14 and 22). Broader classifi cations of

cultural rights include the right to freedom of expression,

the right of parents to choose the kind of education

given to their children, not to mention soft international

laws adopted by the UN General Assembly (e.g. the

2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) or

by UNESCO (e.g. the 1966 Declaration of the Principles of

International Cultural Cooperation and the 2001 Universal

Declaration on Cultural Diversity). Some other instruments,

notably the 1976 Algiers Declaration of the Rights of

Peoples (civil society, including labour unionists and

NGOs) and the 1981 African [Banjul] Charter on Human

and Peoples’ Rights (OAU, 1981), recognize other cultural

rights — such as the right to respect cultural identity,

as well as traditions, languages and cultural heritage in

the case of minority populations; the right of a people

to its own artistic, historical and cultural wealth; the right

of a people not to have an alien culture imposed on it;

and the right to the equal enjoyment of the common

heritage of humanity (see Levy, 1997).

Academic, judiciary and political circles throughout

the world tend to point out that cultural rights are

poorly developed in international human-rights law in

comparison with civil, political, economic and social

rights (see Türk, 1992; Symonides, 2000; Hansen, 2002).

The situation is further complicated by the fact that

provisions pertaining to cultural rights are scattered

across a variety of international instruments, which

does not make for consistency or understanding of

them as a whole. This situation is somewhat paradoxical

since many aspects of rights and obligations relating

to tangible and intangible heritage have given rise to

a wide range of legal instruments. These instruments

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y , H U M A N R I G H T S A N D D E M O C R A T I C G O V E R N A N C E . 2 2 9

Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

Ongoing debate on whether the implementation of

cultural rights might create tensions with other human

rights, such as the right to equal treatment and non-

discrimination, is also bound up with the concern that such

rights might be assimilated to collective rights (see Box 8.2).

States often regard cultural rights — unlike civil and

political rights — as constituting an objective to be

attained progressively. This is patently the case of the

American Convention of Human Rights (OAS, 1969), which

declares that: ‘The States Parties undertake to adopt

measures […] with a view to achieving progressively

[…] the full realization of the rights implicit in the

economic, social, educational, scientifi c, and cultural

take responsibility? For instance, once ‘the right of

everyone to take part in cultural life’ is recognized (UN,

1966b: Art. 15.1.a), to whom is it opposable? In addition,

if a State wishes to guarantee this right, how can its

eff ectiveness be monitored? Is the State expected to

create the conditions conducive to the exercise of

such a right? This is implied by Article 15.2, since States

Parties to that Covenant are expected to take the

necessary steps ‘for the conservation, the development

and the diff usion of science and culture.’ Thus, States

have positive obligations in this regard, but they are also

expected to refrain from undue interference ‘to respect

the freedom indispensable for scientifi c research and

creative activity’ (Art. 15.3).

Cultural rights can be divided into individual

rights, group rights (rights of individuals as

part of a community) and collective rights

(rights of communities as a whole) (Prott, 1988).

While cultural-rights provisions are mostly

defi ned as individual rights, their enjoyment

is fi rmly associated with other individuals and

communities. For example, the individual right

to participate in cultural life can be enjoyed only

by members of a cultural community. Moreover,

apart from individually defi ned cultural rights,

such as the rights to freedom of religion,

expression and association, communities have

started claiming rights, such as the collective

right to the protection of cultural identity, the

right not to have an alien culture imposed

on them, and the right of peoples to their

own cultural heritage, as well as to participate

in the cultural heritage of humankind.

States have approached cultural rights mainly

as individual rights, because the provisions in

international human-rights instruments have

been defi ned primarily in individual terms —

except the right of self-determination, which,

as included in the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

(both Art. 1), is a right of ‘all peoples’. States have

been anxious about endowing communities as

a whole with cultural rights for fear that such

a collective approach might endanger the

stability of their society. Despite this anxiety,

however, the collective dimension of culture has

not been entirely disregarded, as is illustrated

by the development of rights of minorities and

indigenous peoples. The Declaration on the

Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,

Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UN, 1992)

contains specifi c cultural rights for members of

minorities, such as rights to enjoy their culture,

to use their language and practice their religion

(Art. 2), as well as linguistic and educational

rights (Art. 4). The Declaration recognizes

the collective dimension of these rights. The

protection of the cultural, religious, ethnic and

linguistic identity of minorities in Article 1, for

example, is understood to be a duty of States.

And Article 3 refers to the possibility of the

collective enjoyment of the rights elaborated

in the Declaration. The Declaration also refers

to minorities as a whole, especially with

regard to the protection of their identity and

existence, thereby recognizing minorities as

collectivities. However, the provisions referring

to minorities as a whole are formulated not

as rights for the communities involved but as

duties on the part of States. This means that

the communities are not the subjects but

rather the benefi ciaries of these provisions.

On the other hand, the UN Declaration on the

Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the

General Assembly in September 2007, goes

much further in its collective approach. In its

Preamble, it affi rms that all peoples contribute

to the diversity of cultures, which constitute

the common heritage of humankind. The

Declaration contains several collective rights for

indigenous peoples, including rights related to

non-discrimination, non-assimilation and not

being forcibly removed from territory. It also

contains several cultural rights, as discussed.

Even though there are collective dimensions

to many human rights (e.g. the right of

association), it is mainly the individual

who is the ‘holder’ of a right. The collective

dimensions of human rights are not to be

confused with collective rights, which are

‘essential for the integrity, survival and well-

being of distinct nations and communities...

inseparably linked to cultures, spirituality and

worldviews… and also critical to the exercise

and enjoyment of the rights of indigenous

individuals’ (Letter from 40 indigenous peoples’

organizations to Tony Blair, September 2004;

quoted in Survival International, 2005).

Few human-rights instruments recognize

collective rights as such, and they remain at

this point diffi cult to claim and to enforce.

Source: Donders, 2007.

Individual and collective dimensions of cultural rightsBox 8.2

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2 3 0 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

without realizing that such a two-tiered approach

misses the interrelatedness of all these aspects of

human life. Indeed, the full enjoyment of the ‘right

to education’ (UN, 1948: Art. 26) enhances access to

hygiene and to work; the full enjoyment of the ‘right to

share in scientifi c advancement and its benefi ts’ (Art.

27) enhances access to food and health; and the ‘right

to participate in the cultural life of the community’ (Art.

27) enhances a sense of citizenship and belonging to

the common human family. Cultural rights are all the

more important as they contribute to self-realization.

Hence, they should be seen not as ‘supernumerary

rights’ but rather as capacities of capacities, as they have

been called, insofar as they contribute to the eff ective

exercise of other human rights, at the heart of which lies

our sense of dignity (Meyer-Bisch, 2006).

Moreover, it is worth noting the adoption on 10

December 2008 of the Optional Protocol to the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights by the United Nations General Assembly, in

the context of the 60th anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights. The entry into force of

this Optional Protocol will undoubtedly add a new

dimension to international doctrine and case law

regarding the eff ective enjoyment of cultural rights.

The ongoing process of discussion and standard-setting

concerning cultural diversity could lead to further

elucidation or better implementation of human rights,

as regional intergovernmental organizations (such as

the Organization of African Unity, the European Union,

the Council of Europe, the Organization of American

States) are taking steps in this direction. Several NGOs

(such as Amnesty International, Article 19 and Human

Rights Watch) have gradually stressed the importance of

the cultural dimension for the full enjoyment of civil and

political rights, as well as for economic and social rights

— for instance, for the right to decent living conditions

and in the struggle against poverty. These developments,

coupled with the work of the United Nations Committee

on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), can

help to make visible the important link between cultural

diversity and the implementation of human rights.

Indeed, cultural diversity can serve as a reference point in

their implementation, both for the enjoyment of cultural

rights proper and for the observance of all human rights,

given their cultural dimensions.

standards set forth in the Charter of the Organization

of American States as amended by the Protocol of

Buenos Aires’ (Art. 26). But this is equally true, albeit in

a more nuanced way, of the International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966b): while

stipulating that ‘Primary education shall be compulsory

and available free to all’ (Art. 13, 2, a), it refers in the case

of secondary and higher education to ‘the progressive

introduction of free education’ (Art. 13, 2, b and c). This is

particularly important since States do not always agree

as to whether cultural rights are substantive human

rights or policy-oriented rights, which do not entail

direct and defi nite obligations.

While the UN and UNESCO have stressed on more

than one occasion that all rights are indivisible and

interdependent, there remains a tendency to consider

the eff ective exercise of cultural rights to be subordinate

to the achievement of other rights related to food,

hygiene, health, shelter, labour and decent living,

��Houses in Celebes Islands, Toraja, Indonesia

��New Jersey City skyline on the Hudson River, US

Cultural diversity

can serve as a

reference point in the

implementation of

human rights, both

for the enjoyment

of cultural rights

proper and for

the observance of

all human rights,

given their cultural

dimensions

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C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y , H U M A N R I G H T S A N D D E M O C R A T I C G O V E R N A N C E . 2 3 1

Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

As highlighted throughout this report, cultural diversity

represents a key challenge today in light of the

increasingly multicultural composition of the social

fabric of most countries. This multiculturalism is the

result of long-standing, slow and pervasive processes of

interaction, infl uence and syncretism, as well as of more

recent increases in migration fl ows, where developed

countries, for the most part, have become host

countries to populations from all over the world. This

phenomenon has resulted in a variety of immigration

policies worldwide, as illustrated by Map 8.1.

Multiculturalism presents opportunities and risks, the latter

most often discussed in terms of the looming potential

for confl icts. However, it is not the context of cultural

diversity that leads to confl ict so much as how cultural

diversity — including the social processes to which it

gives rise — is understood and managed. The source of

confl ict lies neither in the recognition of multiculturalism

nor in its negation; rather, it arises from conceptions that

distinguish heterogeneous communities and from the

interplay of economic, political or cultural factors with

actual situations of domination.

The UNDP’s 2004 Human Development Report, Cultural

Liberty in Today’s Diverse World, stresses the need to

implement public policies that recognize diff erence,

champion diversity and promote cultural freedoms.

Yet this is only possible to the extent that we are fully

cognizant of the confl icts that can arise in multicultural

societies from the very recognition of diversity. Experience

has shown that attempting to reinforce the national

fabric by pretending that diff erences do not exist is

not a genuine solution since it often leads to cultural

backlashes and confl icts. Confronting the question

of diff erence (with respect to all forms of exclusion,

citizenship and values) is the only eff ective way of living

together with our diff erences.

In the context of increased migration, what has tended

to be regarded as an issue between diff erent societies is

increasingly becoming one within societies. It is therefore

worth examining the issue of cultural diversity with

respect to the challenges it creates for social cohesion.

How can we implement culturally pluralistic policies that

contribute to stronger dialogue and civic engagement

as opposed to withdrawal into radicalized positions and

Lower

Maintain

No intervention

Raise

Not applicable

Map 8.1 Government policies on immigration, 2005

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Aff airs, Population Division (2006), World Population Policies, 2005.

8.2 Cultural diversity: A parameter of social cohesion

WRCD_eng2.indd 231 29/09/09 12:43

2 3 2 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

While it may be true that diversity does not

spontaneously cohere, particularly since the divisions

and violence found in most contemporary societies

render the social link even more problematic (Cornu,

2008), we nevertheless need to rethink the ways in

which unity may be created, with reference to the idea

that a society holds together through trust, particularly

trust in a person’s word or promise. The problem of

reciprocal trust between culturally distinct communities

has become even more complex due to the polarization

of relations between a majority and minorities that feel

themselves insuffi ciently recognized and integrated (as

opposed to assimilated) in the social fabric.

The competition between majority and minority groups

is a negative assumption that undermines most of social

functioning. The scarcity of resources and the challenges

of social justice are signifi cant sources of negative

attitudes towards others, particularly where the ‘zero-

sum competition belief’ is prevalent. According to this

belief, minorities, disadvantaged groups and indigenous

populations absorb resources that would otherwise be

accessible to majority groups (Vala and Costa-Lopes, 2007).

One way of dealing with this negative assumption is to

tailor persuasive messages that target these assumptions,

including through public campaigns that demystify

the perception of minorities and stigmatized people

as consumers of scarce resources and as a threat to the

economy and the welfare system. This was highlighted at

the First EU Roma Summit (2008), a recent governmental

and civil society summit on Roma migrants within the

EU. Researchers in Canada are conducting studies that

document the positive impacts of such persuasive

messages on perceptions of immigrants and immigration;

they are leading to new pathways, beyond affi rmative

action and preferential treatment initiatives, for advancing

the cause of marginalized communities (Esses et al., 2001).

For example, a key dimension of social cohesion

policy would be to provide the means for minorities

to express themselves, since this could lead to better

understanding of their views within majority groups and

help them to overcome intolerance, misconceptions

and stereotyping. Platforms and measures should

be developed that ensure that minority voices and

views can be heard and that debates with members

of the communities involved can take place so as to

shed light on fears, values and positions and to dispel

values? Seeking to answer this question would lead us

towards new forms of conviviality and solidarity.

The challenges of diversity and multiculturalism All societies consist — and have always consisted — of a

web of diverse infl uences, interactions and exchanges, a

situation that is becoming more complex as globalization

takes hold (see chapters 1 and 2). There are no culturally

homogenous societies, unless specifi c policies to this

end — contradicting the right to cultural self-determination

— have been implemented. Unfortunately, the history

of humanity — with its genocides, ethnic cleansing and

multiple forms of exclusion or ‘ghettoization’ — is full of

such attempts. Cultural references are often mobilized to

exacerbate the manifestation of confl ict, as is attested by

the inter-confessional riots in 2002 in the Indian State of

Gujarat, which resulted in hundreds of fatalities, as well

as by the inter-community clashes with Zimbabwean

refugees in South Africa in 2007, which challenged the

‘Rainbow Nation’ model of successful integration.

In host countries, massive urbanization and immigration

are also provoking questions related to accommodation

and fuelling debates about cultural diff erences and

sustainable social cohesion. Immigrant host countries

such as France or Canada (Quebec) have been paying

increasing attention to secularism or reasonable

accommodation mechanisms and have created high-level

commissions for investigating and debating these issues

(e.g. the Stasi Commission in France in 2003–2004 and the

Bouchard-Taylor Commission in Canada in 2007–2008).

It is worth reiterating that, in the majority of societies,

diversity is perceived in terms of social constructs

(see chapter 2 on stereotypes). Individuals tend to be

categorized in ways that are at variance with how they

perceive themselves. In reality, the very context of diversity

is changing our concept of community and our sense of

identities. Evidence of this is provided by ethnic endogamy

(in-marriage) in the US: at the turn of the last century, in-

marriage was caste-like for new immigrants from eastern

and southern Europe, whereas by 1990 only one-fi fth of

so-called Caucasian Americans had spouses with identical

migration origins (Paginini and Morgan, 1990; Alba, 1995;

Putnam, 2007). Issues of perception are crucial here: most

controversies surrounding accommodation issues involve

signifi cant misunderstandings and distortions between

facts and perceptions.

A key dimension

of social cohesion

policy would be to

provide the means for

minorities to express

themselves, since this

could lead to better

understanding of

their views within

majority groups

and help them to

overcome intolerance,

misconceptions and

stereotyping

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

history is replete with examples of societies that have

attempted to ensure social cohesion and peaceful

coexistence. A case in point is the development of

nation-states in the 19th century which sought essentially

to maintain unity despite the existence of diversity:

At the height of the European nation-state, from

around 1870 to 1945, it was widely assumed that

all those who lived within a State boundary should

assimilate to its predominant ethos, into which

successive generations were socialised — via, inter alia,

national, sometimes nationalistic, rituals. However,

over the last centuries, Europe has also seen other

more positive experiences, for instance during certain

periods of the history of central and eastern Europe,

misunderstandings. This could include the provision of

cultural centres or media for minority groups, as well

as the simplifi cation of the procedures for setting up

associations or for the receipt of subventions. Indeed,

‘the challenge […] is to ensure that the values and

principles guiding community interactions are geared

towards positive outcomes, balancing the interests

of the community as a whole, rather than serving

alternative power structures which can appropriate the

social wealth to the interests of a minority’ (Gould, 2001).

Multiculturalism must begin to be seen as an opportunity

to strengthen social cohesion, since contemporary

societies must in any case manage the cultural

diff erences that form them. This is nothing new, and

��Outside the classes of the Majid Primary School Mahal, Bagh,

Kashmir, Pakistan

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2 3 4 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

US, the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, with specifi c

objectives and programmatic components. In many

countries, these policies have entailed diff erent actions

in the following fi elds:

■ Public ‘recognition’: Support for ethnic minority

organizations, facilities and activities (see, for

example, the Multicultural Centre Prague in the Czech

Republic) and creation of public consultative bodies

incorporating such organizations.

■ Education: Often focused on dress, gender and other

issues sensitive to the values of specifi c ethnic and

religious minorities; creation of curricula refl ecting the

backgrounds of ethnic minority pupils; mother-tongue

teaching and language support; the establishment of

schools (publicly fi nanced or not).

which helps us to understand how diff erent cultures

and religions could peacefully coexist in mutual

tolerance and respect (Council of Europe, 2008).

On a broader scale, however, policies of assimilation

during that period led to colonial imperialism, which has

left an enduring mark on the societies of the countries

of the South (see Box 8.3). Such policies of assimilation

were however followed by multicultural policies

oriented towards greater acceptance of culturally

diverse populations.

Policies of multiculturalism As a policy framework, multiculturalism has been

advanced to ensure equality in diversity and the

promotion of tolerance and respect for cultural diversity.

In the early 1970s it was implemented primarily in

immigration countries, notably Australia, Canada, the

The question of cultural diversity in sub-Saharan

Africa is a long-standing problem — one that

greatly exercised the colonial administrations,

as it did the African elites at the time of

independence, the promoters of democracy

and most recently the contemporary

proponents of cosmopolitanism.

The British and French colonial administrations

came face to face with the problem of cultural

diversity. How was a colonial law to be applied

to such diff erent peoples within the same

administrative constituency who had been

brought together purely by chance as the

result of a geographical boundary drawn on a

colonial map? How could one legislate, discern

the causes of revolt and set about recruiting

collaborators in a population whose members

did not speak the same language and were

not governed by the same ontological system,

the same legal principles and even less by the

same founding myths? In other words, how

was one to fathom this diversity of culture and

then subordinate it to the new colonial norm?

How could obedience to any one power (‘the

civilizer’) encompass diversity? The response

of French colonialism to this question was that

diversity must be assimilated, that all concerned

must practice self-denial and become more

or less French. British colonization gave the

opposite reply: all must be equal but in a

state of servitude known as indirect rule. The

colonized were allowed to keep their social

structures, myths and hierarchies so long as

they all served to magnify the British Crown.

African elites also faced the problem of diversity

when they threw off the colonial yoke. How

was unity achieved during the anti-colonial

struggle to be maintained after independence?

In other words, diversity came up here against

the problem of nation-building. The legacy

of colonialism took the form of States rather

than nations. How was it possible to unite

ethnic groups that often had nothing in

common and have them construct a national

founding narrative together? How was the

problem of living together in harmony to

be managed? What was to be the common

bond? Some African elites invented political

philosophies based, for example, on the notion

of the family — such as the African socialism

of Julius Nyerere, the former President of

Tanzania. Others have replied to the question of

diversity by promoting a very vague and rather

essentialist notion of African authenticity, where

diversity was accounted for by reference to

some unchanging essence called ‘Africanness’.

Marked by disillusion, economic failure and

fi nally the loss of momentum of the States

concerned, the 1990s ushered in — with

the help of the new deal in international

politics — the so-called democratization phase.

The watchword at that time was to rethink

the notion of citizenship and the relationship

to politics, which were frequently restricted

to the narrow confi nes of the State. Such

democratization was a response to the notion

of diversity. Multiparty democracy was to be the

key to silencing ethnic rationales and creating

a space for public discussion. Unfortunately,

the response to the question of diversity

fell far short of expectations. The multiparty

approach, which was supposed to respond to

the issue of diversity, simply produced more

of the same, despite the fact that genuine

diversity is not a mechanical duplication but

the emergence of strangeness, otherness and

the unexpected into the realm of sameness.

Source: Bidima, 2008.

The challenges of social cohesion in Africa: From colonial empire to African nationhoodBox 8.3

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

(Alliance of Civilizations, 2006). This in turn has fostered

communitarianism or enclosure within the ‘cultural tribe’

and, by way of reaction, criticism of the multicultural

policies alleged to be responsible for such trends.

In response to these issues, new approaches to

multiculturalism emerged in the early 1990s, framing

debates on cultural diversity within an opposition

between ‘liberalism’ and ‘communitarianism’, highlighting

issues relating to minority rights and their role in

modern democracies, the nature of collective rights, the

meaning of equality, the relation between equality and

impartiality, equality and neutrality when speaking about

cultural diversity, the principle of self-determination

of minorities, and the appropriateness or universal

standards when defi ning and shaping cultural diversity.

The issue of cultural identities has given rise to substantial

diff erences of opinion. Some political theorists defend

the perspective of cultural identities as a question of total

freedom, arguing, for example, in favour of a separation

of State and religion (Taylor, 1994; Kymlicka, 1989, 1995

and 2007; Barry, 2003). In their opinion, the State is not

to interfere with the expression of cultural identities, but

must also refrain from promoting any specifi c cultural

expression. The State is to observe a degree of neutrality

by not supporting a specifi c model of culture but instead

promoting neutral and abstract political principles that

should lead to a conception of equality (Tomasi, 2001).

Another approach, based on the concept of ‘political

multiculturalism’, argues that the State should always,

even implicitly, defend cultural identities and consider

intervention in order to correct any imbalance between

some identities and others. In this sense, multiculturalism

would promote the integration and recognition of

minorities into society, allowing for minority rights to be

conceived as a compensation for prejudice.

Today governments in several countries face the

challenge of fi nding post-multiculturalist models that

fuse agendas for promoting national identity and

agendas ‘celebrating’ diversity, fostering social capital

and reducing socio-economic inequality. The challenge

thereby is to adopt structures and programmes that

are broad enough to permit strong group identities to

endure within a legal framework that upholds the rights

and obligations of citizenship — that is, to fi nd solutions

that can successfully combine national and multiple

identities (King, 2005).

■ Culturally sensitive practices: Training and information

established within social services, among healthcare

providers, police and the courts.

■ Public material: Such as health promotion campaigns

provided in multiple languages.

■ Law: Cultural exceptions to laws (such as allowing

Sikh turbans instead of motorcycle helmets); oaths on

sacred books other than the Bible; recognition of other

marriage, divorce and inheritance traditions; protection

from discrimination and incitement to hatred.

■ Religious accommodation: Permission and support for

the establishment of places of worship, cemeteries

and funerary rites; allowance of time-off for worship.

Practices of reasonable accommodation and

concerted adjustment, while refl ecting upon open

and rigid secularism and the demand for fairness

in harmonizing the practices of public institutions,

and the acknowledgment of the importance of

‘perception crisis’ over identities, are crucial for the

understanding of the issue of secularism and the

peaceful coexistence of diff erent religions (Bouchard

and Taylor, 2008).

■ Food: Allowance of ritual slaughter; provision of

prescribed foods (halal, kosher, vegetarian) in public

institutions.

■ Broadcasting and media: Monitoring of group images

to ensure non-discrimination or to avoid stereotypes;

provision of media facilities for minority groups (see

Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service).

Despite progress, multicultural policies have more

recently been marked by a number of shortcomings,

such as the promotion of the ‘feel good’ celebration

and consumption of ethno-cultural diversity (taught

in multicultural school curricula, performed in

multicultural festivals, displayed in multicultural media

and museums), which mask a widespread failure to

address the inequalities faced by immigrant populations

(Alibhai-Brown, 2000). ‘Multiculturalism’ has in practice

too often led to an ‘ethnization of cultural values’, a

‘dependency on State largesse in political relations with

minorities’ and an ‘overemphasis on cultural identity

to the detriment of overcoming general inequality’

‘Multiculturalism’ has

in practice too often

led to an ‘ethnization

of cultural values’

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2 3 6 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

practices and to actively demonstrate their desire to

‘belong’. Such measures are seen by policy-makers as

crucial steps to ensure immigrants’ and ethnic minorities’

own socio-economic mobility, to avoid unrest and to

guarantee the security of all.

Despite a strong emphasis on conformity, cohesion

and national identity in these practices, they are not

intended to function as a return to ‘assimilation’ as

understood and practiced in the fi rst half of the 20th

century. In almost all the contexts in which these

new policies are being implemented, there remains

an explicit and institutionally embedded attempt

to include the signifi cance and value of diversity by

reducing socio-economic inequality among ethnic

and cultural minorities. In the UK, plans and measures

have been adopted to improve educational results

and attainment among ethnic minority pupils and to

recruit ethnic minority teachers to better represent

the communities they serve, as well as to improve

literacy and numeracy among ethnic-minority adults

and implement housing policies to ensure decent

accommodation of vulnerable tenants through

home improvements initiatives (Joint Committee

on Human Rights, 2005). Better support and training

are also provided for prison offi cers ‘to help address

discrimination and serve all communities equally’

(JCHR, 2005). Moreover, legislation is scheduled to be

introduced that will require that providers of goods and

services cannot discriminate against customers and

refuse services on grounds of religion or belief.

The solution to the challenges of diff erence is clearly to

be found neither in ‘assimilationist’ initiatives claiming

to be ‘blind to diversity’ nor in communitarianism,

understood as exclusive identifi cation with a cultural,

religious or linguistic community, which can lead to a

potentially dangerous fragmentation of the public space.

Post-multiculturalist policies require going beyond such

extremes to embrace cultural diversity conceived in terms

of multiple interactions and allegiances.

Towards new forms of solidarity The search for solutions to the impasses of multiculturalism

has much to gain from greater recognition of multiple

identities (as described in chapter 2). This is not a

matter of questioning the capacity of communities

to provide their members with a shared outlook and

In this respect, agendas promoting national identity

and limiting immigration (most often perceived as an

inherently divisive process) have been introduced in

countries such as Germany, the UK, the Netherlands,

Singapore and Australia, where governments have

established policies and programmes to enable

immigrants to acquire knowledge of the host country’s

cultural norms and values. Successful immigrants are

rewarded with ceremonies celebrating the acquisition

of national citizenship. In other countries, language

requirements for immigrants are being augmented —

again through compulsory courses and tests, sometimes

even prior to entry — to ensure that newcomers

demonstrate acceptable levels of competency in the

offi cial language. In these and other ways, the onus and

obligation are being placed on immigrants and ethnic

minorities to take up ‘host’ country values and cultural ��An elderly woman in Surgut, Russia

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

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within voluntary organizations far removed from the

political sphere — such as trade unions, social clubs and

philanthropic groups — promote interpersonal trust,

social tolerance and cooperative behaviour. In turn, these

norms are regarded as cementing the bonds of social

life, laying the foundation for building local communities,

civil society and democratic governance. Engagement

in common causes illustrates people’s ‘capacity to

aspire’ and contributes to new forms of citizenship (civic

engagement) based on shared overarching values.

The development of networks facilitates such new

patterns of cohesion. Informal webs of solidarity further

the exchange within and between minority groups and

between majority and minority groups. These new forms

of solidarity and networks play a crucial role in helping to

respond to the demands for recognition of newcomers

and minority groups that are not being fulfi lled by

established structures and often are not even registered

by national or local administrations.

Social cohesion cannot be forged by glossing over

diff erences since they remain present even when they

go unrecognized in the public space, with the risk that

they will reappear in expressions of violence due to

frustration. Such policies serve only to exacerbate the

clash of diff erences. If cultural diversity can contribute

to the reinforcement of social cohesion, it does so

by empowering individuals and groups through an

enlargement of choice — thus, not by imprisoning them

in the confi nes of a cultural ‘tribe’ but by fostering in

them an openness to the cultures of others. It is crucial,

therefore, to create new forms of governance designed

to take greater account of diff erences in accordance with

the principles mentioned above.

services meeting their expectations so much as one of

creating the conditions for renewed dialogue between

communities in order to counter the temptation to

withdraw into themselves or to become mistrustful of

cultural diff erences. Since multiple cultural allegiances

run counter to withdrawal into self and identity-based

or culturalist reactions, the task is to mobilize such

allegiances in the service of greater openness between

communities, which represents one of the main

challenges of intercultural dialogue.

At the policy level, the goal must be to determine how

to account for the plurality of individual and group

affi liations and identities and to translate them into

eff ective policies. Indeed, it is the convergence of

possible affi liations among members of diff erent groups

that makes it possible for them to meet on a common

ground. And rather than creating new administrative

categories, recognition of the multiple dimensions of

individual and group identities can aid the rediscovery of

common norms relevant to each kind of group. Too often,

multicultural initiatives have focused on strengthening

existing cultures’ and communities’ capacities in a

competition for visibility and recognition. Yet for cultural

diversity to contribute to pluralism, emphasis must be

placed on providing enabling environment to facilitate

access to other cultures.

Indeed, as numerous studies on the impacts of the

new technologies and networking have shown, new

forms of sociability and solidarity are emerging which

can facilitate dialogue between communities and help

to strengthen social cohesion. The development of

civil society movements based on common ideas and

goals has led to new kinds of project-based solidarity.

Campaign-oriented forms of participation involve actions

aimed at infl uencing the parliament and government of

a representative democracy, primarily through political

parties. Cause-oriented activities focused mainly on

infl uencing specifi c issues and policies. These actions are

exemplifi ed by consumer politics (buying or boycotting

certain products for political or ethical reasons), taking

part in demonstrations and protests, and organizing or

signing petitions. Civic-oriented activities, by contrast,

involve membership and working together in voluntary

associations, as well as collaboration with community

groups to solve a local problem (Norris, 2003). Face-to-

face deliberative activities and horizontal collaboration

��Local architecture in the Dourrou village, Mali

For cultural diversity

to contribute to

pluralism, emphasis

must be placed on

providing an enabling

environment to

facilitate access to

other cultures ... new

forms of sociability

and solidarity are

emerging which can

facilitate dialogue

between communities

and help to

strengthen social

cohesion

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8.3 The challenge of cultural diversity for democratic governance

Governance is understood as ‘a system of values,

policies and institutions by which a society manages its

economic, political and social aff airs through interaction

within and among the State, civil society and the

private sector’ (Dwivedi, 2001). Over the past 20 years

or so, the concept of governance has ‘transcended the

formal government apparatus’ (Weiss, 2000) to include

the processes of decision-making and those by which

decisions are implemented. ‘Good governance’ has

come to refer to open and enlightened policy-making,

a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos

acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of

law, transparent processes and a strong civil society

participating in public aff airs. ‘Poor governance’, by

contrast, is characterized by arbitrary policy-making,

unaccountable bureaucracies, un-enforced or unjust legal

systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society

unengaged in public life, and widespread corruption

(World Bank, 1994; Treisman, 2000).

Governance has thus come to include a range of

activities involving all cultural communities and

stakeholders in a given country, from governmental

institutions to political parties, interest groups, NGOs,

the private sector and the public at large, including the

formal and informal actors involved in decision-making

and implementation, and the formal and informal

structures in which these all take place (Frederickson,

1997). Recognizing the interdependence of all these

actors in the smooth functioning of society connects

governance to a wider concern with social capital (see

section 8.2) and the underpinnings necessary for social

cohesion which go beyond ‘recourse to the authority

and sanctions of government’ and are related to the

very interactions, power dependencies and networks for

collective action (Stoker, 1998).

As governance theories evolve in order to better

facilitate the implementation of multi-stakeholder

initiatives, cultural diversity is increasingly pertinent to

a proper understanding of the mechanisms through

which a society regulates the relations between

the individuals and groups within it and creates

institutions to this end. With the acknowledgement of

culture as a major factor infl uencing how governance

is conceptualized and put into practice across

administration, law enforcement, citizen participation

and the promotion of equality, cultural diversity provides

a key to new forms of governance, which are better

attuned to the styles and practices of particular cultural

contexts and the coexistence of specifi c cultural groups.

This enables people and groups to express themselves

and participate in their own way in the realization

of the common objective of democratic ideals. This

development has implications for both power-sharing

mechanisms and the provision of rights.

It is worth recalling that the UN’s commitment to the

democratic ideal does not prejudge the particular

arrangements that States may wish to implement

and that, as the Preamble of UNESCO’s Constitution

(1945) says, ‘dignity, equality and mutual respect’ are

not incompatible with a diversity of acceptable or

respectable political regimes throughout the world. The

UN system has evolved regarding its neutrality towards

the political systems prevailing in its Member States. Only

on rare occasions (as in the case of National-Socialist,

fascist and racist regimes) has it condemned certain

regimes. It was not until the 1980s, with the ‘rediscovery’

of Article 21, paragraph 3, of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights (UN, 1948), that the UN system made the

transition from stressing the criterion of the eff ective

exercise of power (or the equivalence of political regimes)

to that of democratic legitimacy (or the preponderance

of pluralistic democracy). This point was discussed at

length at the 1991 International Forum on Culture and

Democracy in Prague (Hermet, 1993). At the Forum,

��Moroccan pupils in a primary school class in Tifelte near Rabat

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

the notion that there exists only one single ‘good’

organizational pattern possible for each and every

society. Indeed, it is the way in which a given form of

democratic governance is exercised within a particular

cultural context that will determine its eff ectiveness.

Empowerment and participation Insofar as multicultural societies continue to be

perceived and experienced as divided societies (with a

majority group and minorities striving for recognition),

the major issue with respect to governance is that

of access to political power by persons belonging to

such minorities while remaining members of their

communities. This is also the case for women (Map 8.2),

who continue to be under-represented in high political

positions. Building multicultural societies, without falling

prey to the problems outlined in the previous section,

requires the development and implementation of

policies that ensure the political participation of diverse

cultural groups. Indeed, many minorities and other

historically marginalized groups are often excluded

from real political power and so feel alienated from the

State. In some cases, their exclusion is due to a lack of

democracy or a denial of political rights. But very often

it is because something more is required; for even when

members of such groups have equal political rights in a

democracy, they may be consistently under-represented

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1993), then the Secretary-General

of the UN, stated that: ‘democracy is the private domain

of no one. It can and ought to be assimilated by all

cultures. It can take many forms in order to accommodate

local realities more eff ectively. Democracy is not a model

to copy from certain States, but a goal to be achieved by

all peoples. It is the political expression of our common

heritage’. Nearly ten years later Boutros-Ghali (2002) made

the point even more strongly when he reaffi rmed that

the recognition of universal values does not mean

that a veil should be drawn over the specifi c

historical, religious and cultural characteristics

that make up the genius peculiar to each society

and each nation State. For the general principles

of democracy can be embodied in diff erent ways,

depending on the context. Thus, while democracy

is the system in which 'sovereign power lies with the

people', the methods with which it can be exercised

can vary depending on the social system and

economic development peculiar to each country.

Those methods also tend to change depending on

political, demographic, economic and social change.

It is essential to bear in mind that the enhancement

of governance mechanisms in any society must be

respectful of local contexts and perceptions, beyond

1% - 10% 11% - 20%

More than 31% 0% (none)

21% - 30%

Not applicable Data not available

Map 8.2 Percentage of political positions in Parliaments held by women, 2007

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2007. Parline database.

Cultural diversity

provides a key to new

forms of governance,

which are better

attuned to the styles

and practices of

particular cultural

contexts and the

coexistence of specifi c

cultural groups

WRCD_eng2.indd 239 29/09/09 12:43

2 4 0 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

practices in the ways they have chosen. In this sense

and as a general principle, authorities should not

intervene or interfere except under specifi c conditions.

■ States should prevent third parties from intervening.

■ States should develop laws and policies and all

manner of measures for the fulfi lment of cultural

rights (provisions of resources, subsidies, international

assistance, etc.).

■ Democratic and transparent processes should

guarantee the participation and empowerment of

minorities.

■ Education about cultural diversity is crucial. The media

play an important role in promoting such knowledge.

Some human-rights-based initiatives for empowering

and recognizing minorities have already been undertaken

following some of these proposals. Indeed, at the national

level, some States have recognized in their constitutions

the ‘autonomy’ of minorities to develop their values and

practices — such as in the Swiss Constitution (Art. 2,

para. 2 and 3), the Colombian Constitution (Art. 7) and

the Peruvian Constitution (Art. 7) — or have embraced

multiculturalism, such as in Ecuador, whose Constitution

refers to Ecuador as a ‘pluricultural and multiethnic

State’ (Art. 1). Some have gone further and decreed an

obligation of ‘consultation’ with indigenous communities

and their participation in political decisions that could

aff ect them (e.g. Colombian Constitution, Art. 11). Other

initiatives include, for example, the creation of a special

jurisdiction for indigenous peoples (see Colombian

Constitution, Art. 246).

Other countries have developed specifi c models for the

protection of cultural diversity — such as the National

Cultural Autonomy Model (NCA), proposed by the former

president of Austria, Karl Renner (2005), on the premise

that ethnic and national communities should be allowed

to organize themselves freely and autonomously within

multinational States (Nimni, 2007). In the same way, the

UK has developed a social policy linking arts and social

inclusion with special emphasis on cultural diversity: the

Arts Council England (2009) has focused its initiatives on

community development and empowerment as means

for preventing discrimination.

or outvoted, or may be shackled by cultural obstacles

because of there diff erence (UNDP, 2004).

In tandem with the international human rights

standards and the international instruments allowing

the autonomy and sovereignty of States, some

scholars have made interesting proposals that could

provide useful guidance in the formulation of policies

concerning minorities (Stamatopoulou, 2008). The

proposals include the following:

■ States are submitted to a general obligation related to

freedom: this obligation entails respect for the freedom

of minorities, as individuals and groups, to participate

(or not) in cultural life and to express their values and

��Fishermen children playing with a bicycle in Aral Sea region,

Kazakhstan

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

are accompanied by parties’ symbols, such as a fl ower

or a sickle. In Cambodia, the Cambodian Institute of

Human Rights (CIHR) uses television quiz shows to

teach people about human rights. In the US, an artistic

experiment aimed at reclaiming a confl ict-ridden

Chicago neighbourhood took the form of multiple video

dialogues among neighbours displayed on monitors that

lit the street and provided a neutral site for cultural and

social exchange (Karim and Wayland, 2001).

Educational and cultural policies committed to both the

empowerment of the disadvantaged and the building

of communities of interest (see also chapters 3 and 4)

are central to public policies committed to the same

objective. For example, some cultural policies supportive

of cultural diversity have incorporated in their agenda

the need to devise means for extending governance

participation to those who are on the society’s margins

(Council of Europe, 1997). This includes engaging groups

in civic dialogue through literature, music, photography

and other cultural goods and services from all parts of

the world in order to promote democratic principles and

human rights. From awareness-raising high-visibility rock

concerts to awards shows, or photojournalism initiatives

aimed at sensitizing the general public to such issues

as living conditions, work situations, environmental

challenges — there are multiple means for promoting

active citizenship in service to more equitable and

diversity-adapted governance mechanisms.

The overarching goal of these policies is to promote

an enabling environment for realistic progress towards

genuine democratic governance. Such a universalistic

approach founded on mutual trust is the key to peaceful

coexistence within societies; it is the point of departure

for the forging of a wider international consensus in

keeping with the goals of the United Nations. The more

human-centred governance (going one step beyond

the World Commission on Culture and Development’s

‘people-centred’ development approach) advocated

here would involve precisely the creation of networks

and other forms of collaboration in which a bottom-

up approach would permit the participation of all

stakeholders and thus off er them the opportunity to

articulate and promote their claims and views. The

resultant empowerment would in turn increase the

chances of successful collaborations and shield them

against future disruptions; it would strengthen the

Power-sharing arrangements In addition to institutional solutions, ‘power-sharing

arrangements’ have enabled the political participation of

diverse cultural groups through a process of consensus

democracy designed to address the claims made by

culturally diverse groups not territorially concentrated or

not demanding autonomy or self-rule. Indeed, consensus

democracy has proven to be an important advance in

refl ection on democracy in divided societies, particularly

in response to ‘authoritarian rulers trying to justify their

non-democratic regimes by invoking the overriding need

for national unity’ (Bogaards, 2006).

More recently, such power-sharing arrangements have

included the provision of limited territorial autonomy

for indigenous groups, for example, in response to Inuit

demand, in Alaska, the Canadian Arctic and Greenland,

for political and territorial recognition accompanied

by cultural and linguistic measures. So far, the Inuit

community has secured the creation of a parliament in

Greenland (1979) and a legislative assembly in Nunavut

(1999), which will be followed in 2010 by the creation

in Arctic Quebec of a legislative assembly to be called

uqarvimarik (‘the site of speech above all others’).

Recent standard-setting initiatives for promoting

cultural diversity, and particularly community-level

empowerment initiatives encouraged by the Convention

on the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage (UNESCO,

2003), may also contribute to the revival of local modes

of governance and initiation of new forms of public

involvement which are more respectful of the worldviews

and values of other cultural groups (Therrien, 2008; see

also ‘In focus’ below).

Power-sharing arrangements must come to be seen as

integral to the eff ective empowerment of marginalized

populations insofar as they provide ethnic minorities or

indigenous communities with the opportunity to engage

actively in citizenship and democratic practices. Central

in this regard are media policies that are respectful of

cultural diff erences and that enable cultural minorities

to exercise their citizenship fully (see chapter 5 above).

Many countries have adopted radio, television and video,

as well as traditional songs and theatre, as instruments

for participatory governance, especially for illiterate

citizens. In India, fi lm and television — for which

basic literacy is not required — are used to facilitate

electoral consultations, and names on electoral ballots

��Measuring rice in the grain section of the Zumbahua market,

Ecuador

Consensus democracy

has proven to be an

important advance

in refl ection on

democracy in divided

societies

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2 4 2 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

with a sense of pride essential to their empowerment.

This recovered dignity is essential to social cohesion,

in which diff erences unite rather than divide. Links of

solidarity are in this way forged between individuals so as

to transcend selfi sh competition over resources. Cultural

diversity can thereby provide a means to renew the

modes of democratic governance, so that groups — the

young, the disenfranchised, the have-nots, minorities,

indigenous populations and immigrants — can recover

their trust in systems of democratic governance and see

that their contribution is recognized and appreciated, and

that it makes a diff erence.

By furthering human rights, social cohesion and

democratic governance, cultural diversity creates a

convergence of three factors that are essential for the

establishment of peace and peaceful co-existence within

and between nations. In this way, the triad of human

rights, social cohesion and democratic governance is

strengthened by the promotion and safeguarding of

cultural diversity.

self-esteem of cultural minorities and groups and the

social fabric, and it would help to eliminate stereotyped

perceptions related to ‘passive welfare recipients’ as

opposed to individuals responsible for their own destiny.

Empowerment can therefore be prioritized in the same

way as information (one-way fl ow of information),

consultation (two-way fl ow of information) and

collaboration (shared control over decision-making).

Conclusion Cultural diversity is central in two ways to nurturing

a culture of human rights, which has been one of the

international community’s main goals for over 60 years.

Firstly, it can favour the eff ective exercise of human

rights by people everywhere, without discrimination or

exclusion, by highlighting the diverse ways in which rights

and freedoms can be exercised in a wide variety of cultural

contexts and situations throughout the world. Secondly,

it can help to ensure that universal human rights are also

universally recognized by and embedded in all cultures.

Recognition of the value of each culture, in terms of its

creative diff erence and originality, invests all individuals

As universally recognized human rights should be guaranteed to every individual, their eff ective exercise

can be fostered through the recognition of cultural diversity, which can also reinforce social cohesion and

encourage renewed modes of democratic governance. Policies that are conducive to the preservation and

promotion of cultural diversity should be encouraged to this end.

Action should be taken in particular to:

a. Collect striking examples of cases in which the cultural context is a key factor in the eff ective exercise of universally recognized rights and freedoms, so as to highlight the cultural dimension of all rights and freedoms.

b. Map exchanges within and between minority groups and between majority and minority communities, especially in the context of ‘global cities’, in order to create informal networks of solidarity, and widely publicize such exchanges.

c. Study the diversity of intangible heritage as a source of examples of modes of democratic governance based on the empowerment and participation of all communities.

C h

ap ter 8 Reco

m m

en d

atio n

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

The participating farmers play numerous roles, such as the

conservation and management of the irrigation system

through their association in irrigator communities, the

settlement of confl icts through their internal courts, the

sharing of water through assemblies of landowners and

trade unions, and the representation of their peers in

the governing bodies of communities, enabling them to

participate in the courts and other relevant institutions and

public services. The two judicial bodies regulate confl icts

between irrigators by means of orally based, rapid, and

impartial procedures. The verdicts are usually respected

because the two courts command authority and respect,

their procedures are transparent and fair, and the farmer-

judges are recognized by their peers as honest individuals

familiar with usages and customs.

The council and court constitute the identity marker of the

communities that create and compose them, the depositories

and culmination of a millennial farming culture. They are the

most visible expression of the customs of the living water

culture heritage, its natural environment, its people and its

language — in short, a comprehensive vision linked to soil

and irrigation as it is practised in the fertile plains.

In addition to defending the collective interest, the two

bodies are also involved in monitoring and sanction. For the

immigrant community, the council and court therefore fulfi l

an extraordinary cultural function relating to the maintenance

of the group’s identity and cohesion, represented by the

traditional black smock worn by the farmer-judges. The

cultural identity function is also recognized by Murcian

and Valencian society, while other local and international

communities have recognized that the council and

court contribute to intercultural dialogue and encourage

sustainable development by promoting models of democratic

self-governance, as well as respect for the wisdom of elders.

The council and the court represent a broad spectrum of

intangible cultural heritage, which consists of non-material

assets that are essentially economic in nature: trades and

lifestyles that have survived from the pre-industrial world

and that today are threatened by the global industrialization

of production systems, despite the fact that such trades

and lifestyles have been, as in the present case, decisive in

forming the identities of communities and peoples. Such

lifestyles are the product of centuries of wise adaptation by

The Council of Wise Men and the Water Court (Murcia and Valencia, Spain) The Council of Wise Men and the Water Court are the

bodies responsible for administering justice within the

traditional irrigator communities of the plains (huertas or

vegas) of Murcia and Valencia. They are customary tribunals

with jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to irrigation.

Since the construction of the extensive and complex

irrigation systems of Murcia and Valencia in the age of

al-Andalus (9th to 13th centuries CE), these two bodies

have contributed to the management and maintenance

of irrigation canals and infrastructures (dams, fl ow

separators, water mills, water wheels, sluices), as well as to

the safeguarding and organization of the intangible water

culture. They contribute to the maintenance of a society

governed by shared community principles and a spirit

of respect, survival and responsibility towards its living

environment. Their proven eff ectiveness in the settlement

of confl icts led the 13th-century Christian peoples to

perpetuate the Islamic tradition by incorporating it in their

cultural practices. They later exported this model to the

Americas, where it is still in operation today.

This organization, which is a remarkable example of the

intercultural transfer of techniques, skills and knowledge

inherited from the medieval Islamic world (with traditions

linked to Hindu, Iranian, Mesopotamian, Nabatean,

Yemenite, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, and Berber

cultures) and extended by the colonists of the most arid

regions in the Americas, survived over the millennia due to

its integration in the Spanish judicial system. It off ers the

same guarantees and has the same legal standing as any

other civil court — immediacy, effi ciency and due hearing

of parties. Governed by the principles of cooperation,

good government and the sustainable exploitation of a

scarce common resource (water), the members of these

two bodies are farmer-judges with no legal training who

have been chosen independently and democratically by

the users of the irrigation canals and who settle disputes

with reference to the most basic human rights embodied

in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948):

equality, the right to the presumption of innocence and

the right to a fair trial. Their goal is to maintain social peace

and mutual respect but also to ensure the optimal use of

water resources, without compromising its enjoyment by

other users and its transmission to future generations.

In focus:

Three examples

of traditional

mechanisms

and intangible

heritage in

the service of

democratic

governance

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2 4 4 P A R T I I I . R E N E W I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T R A T E G I E S

of human life and the prohibition of physical or mental

torture; education within the family out of respect for

parents, support for family members and the supervision of

children; the integrity of the homeland and the protection

of the human person; food security; the abolition of slave

raiding; and freedom of expression and enterprise.

The Manden Charter is one of the oldest of the Manden

constitutions. Its eff ectiveness in the Manden and in all the

territories conquered by Sundiata Keita had to do, fi rstly,

with its character as an oath and founding document and,

secondly, with the determination of the Ngwana (warlords

and companions of Sundiata) to pacify the country. The

repositories of the Manden Charter are therefore the

Malinké, the founding clan of the empire of Sundiata,

through their ‘men of the word’, namely the blacksmith and,

above all, griot castes.

In Kurukan Fuga, Sundiata and his companions proclaimed

human rights, the freedom of movement of people and

goods, the freedom for all to enjoy the fruits of their labours;

they laid the foundations for alliances, unity and integration

between peoples. According to some, the African Union was

born in Kurukan Fuga. Indeed, the Manden Charter laid the

foundations for the politics, administration and functioning,

as well as the rules of conduct of its men and women, of the

great Mandingue community.

Over a span of eight centuries, the Manden Charter proclaims

the importance of intercultural dialogue, peace and fraternity.

It establishes a sense of belonging to a community, whose

laws and prescriptions continue to govern everyday lives,

even though the empire of Sundiata is no more.

For this reason, the highest authorities of Mali attach

particular importance to the preservation and promotion

of the Manden Charter, which remains a model and source

of inspiration in the formulation of legal and administrative

instruments governing our societies.

Traditional monarchs supporting the National Policy Agenda in Education, Science and Culture (Nigeria) Traditional monarchs can play an important role in

promoting cultural diversity for the development of their

communities. As observed by Folarin Osotimehin, UNESCO’s

Senior Science Policy Advisor in Nigeria, ‘the monarchs’ exert

a strong infl uence on their people. A few years ago, key

traditional rulers in the North managed to convince their

human groups to their surroundings through the creation

of sustainable systems of resource exploitation. The council

and court are the culmination of a complex system of

sustainable, communal, autonomous and democratic water

management by the irrigators, a system that has successfully

adapted itself to its setting.

The council and court demonstrate human creativity

through the rapidity and effi ciency of their oral dispute-

settlement procedures and the construction and

maintenance of complex water-distribution systems.

Moreover, the two bodies are open to change; they

encourage any innovation that would help to ensure the

continuity of the irrigator communities and the cultural

landscapes upon which they depend without deforming

them; and their members have always shown themselves

ready to place their experience at the service of irrigators in

other parts of the world. These are dynamic traits that are

to be recognized.

The encouragement of mutual respect among water-users

and the avoidance of confl icts pertaining to water — a

resource that may one day lead to confrontations between

communities at the global level — are the main reasons for

the existence of the council and the court.

The Manden Charter (Mali) The new Manden Charter was adopted in the early 13th

century CE by the general assembly of the chiefs of the

Manden in response to its proposal by Sundiata Keita,

following his victory over Soumangourou Kanté, King

of Sosso, at the historic battle of Kirina. Keita stated the

principle of this document as follows: ‘Now that we are

masters of our destiny, we shall set our country on a fi rm

and just footing. Let us therefore enact laws that the

peoples must respect and apply.’ At the conclusion of the

general assembly, the Charter regulating the life of the

Mandenka community was solemnly proclaimed to the

world at large in Kurukan Fuga, a vast clearing extending

from the village of Kenielen to the gates of the village

of Kaaba (usually known as Kangaba) in the heart of the

Manden, 90 km from Bamako.

Enacted in the form of an oath, the proclamation includes

a preamble and seven chapters consisting of rules for

the conduct of public and family life grouped under the

following major headings: social understanding and peace in

the context of ethnic and cultural diversity; the inviolability

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��Gelede ceremony, performed by the Yoruba-Nago community

spread over Benin, Nigeria and Togo

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Chapter 8 Cultural diversity,

hum an rights

and dem ocratic governance

One of the projects for which the monarchs are mobilizing

seed money is the setting-up of a conservation and

analytical laboratory for the preservation of an 8,000-year-old

canoe that Nigerian and German archaeologists recently

excavated in the Nguru-Hadeija wetlands within the Lake

Chad Basin of northern Nigeria. The canoe is the oldest in

Africa and the third-oldest watercraft in the world. Another

project concerns the establishment of the Yoruba Academy

of Science to promote scientifi c cooperation among

communities that use the Yoruba language. UNESCO is

assisting with feasibility studies for the Academy, which will

be launched at Ile-Ife in early 2010.

The monarchs’ initiatives fall within the ongoing reform

of science and technology undertaken by Nigeria with

the support of UNESCO since 2004. They also accord

with the African Union’s decision in January 2007 to build

constituencies to defend and champion science, technology

and innovation in Africa.

people, after government offi cials had failed to do so, to

participate in a vaccination campaign against poliomyelitis in

which they had initially refused to take part.

The three monarchs of the Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa ethnic

groups in Nigeria visited UNESCO in March 2007. On this

occasion, they announced plans to develop three initiatives:

the teaching and communication of science and technology

in the Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa languages; the integration

of traditional knowledge in building local innovation

systems; and the building of bridges between the language

communities in the country and in the diasporas.

Indeed, although English is Nigeria’s offi cial language,

about 85 percent of the country’s 140 million inhabitants

speak one of the three main mother tongues: Yoruba,

Ibo and Hausa. In recent years, Nigerians from these

ethnic groups have launched a number of initiatives to

foster quality education and sustainable development

by promoting the use of their mother tongue in their

communities, as well as in diaspora communities all

over the world. (Yoruba is spoken not only in much of

Nigeria but also in parts of Benin and Togo, as well as in

communities in Brazil, Cuba and the US — constituting

about 150 million people with Yoruba affi nities in diff erent

parts of the world.)

The commitment of traditional monarchs to the promotion

of scientifi c development contributes to the cultural

relevance of the national strategies implemented. As

explained by the fi ftieth Ooni (King) of Ife, Oba Okunade

Sijuade, in a speech to UNESCO in March 2007 on behalf of

the Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria:

Without doubt, science and technology are the basis

for socio-economic development in any nation (…);

however, technology must be culturally relevant and

adapted to local situations and needs. Experience

has shown that, in Nigeria, development strategies

are designed and communicated in the English

language, a language which is not accessible to a

large percentage of the local people.

The idea is to use an existing platform for dialogue and

cooperation among African monarchs, the Group of

Leading African Monarchs, to move initiatives forward. Their

fi rst meeting was held in Nigeria in 2006, and the second,

in Kenya in 2007.

WRCD_eng2.indd 245 29/09/09 12:43

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G E N E R A L C O N C L U S I O N . 2 5 1

of solidarity. Finally, forms of democratic governance

can be renewed by deriving lessons from the diff erent

models adopted by diverse cultures.

Recognizing cultural diversity as a resource to be

promoted requires that we refi ne our understanding of

it and of intercultural dialogue so as to rid ourselves of a

number of preconceptions.

Towards a new understanding of cultural diversity The World Report sets out to promote such a renewed

understanding by examining certain common

preconceptions:

■ Globalization leads inevitably to cultural

homogenization. While globalization undoubtedly

weakens cultural diversity in some respects by

standardizing modes of life, production and

consumption, it equally helps to reconfigure

cultural diversity in many of the ways highlighted

in the present report. The expansion of digital

networks, for example, has sometimes helped to

revitalize endangered or even extinct languages;

and the development of new technologies has

greatly increased the possibilities of communicating

and exchanging cultural content in time and

space. Moreover, in certain cultural contexts, global

cities in particular, the varied cultural flows and

sometimes unexpected encounters produced by

globalization are reflected in a growing range of

consumer habits and trends.

■ Cultural diversity is reducible to the diversity of national

cultures. Yet national identity is not a fi xed quantity: it

represents an historical construction; and identity that

Regarding development, culture is increasingly

recognized as a cross-cutting dimension of the

three economic, social and environmental pillars

of sustainability; for there is a cultural dimension to

development that should not be underestimated. In this

respect, eff orts by the international community to adopt

new strategies for safeguarding and managing natural

resources have been signifi cantly enhanced by the

approach off ered by cultural diversity, which highlights

some of the ways in which indigenous knowledge can

direct us towards more sustainable modes of living. It

also shows us that poverty – which is an intolerable

violation of human rights in terms of both the hardships

and the loss of dignity it causes – must be approached

in terms of each specifi c social and cultural setting.

Regarding peace and conflict prevention, acknowledging

cultural diversity places emphasis on ‘unity in diversity’,

the shared humanity inherent in our diff erences.

Far from representing a potential restriction on

universally proclaimed human rights, cultural diversity

furthers their eff ective exercise, strengthens social

cohesion and provides sources of inspiration for

renewing forms of democratic governance. For rights

and freedoms are exercised in very varied cultural

environments and all have a cultural dimension that

needs to be acknowledged so as to ensure their

eff ective integration in diff erent cultural contexts.

Similarly, ignoring the increasingly multicultural

make-up of societies would amount to negating the

existence of large sections of the population, which

compartmentalizes society and damages the social

fabric by creating competition between the diff erent

communities over access to resources (for education,

health, social services) rather than promoting a sense

General Conclusion

There is an urgent need to invest in cultural diversity and dialogue. Integrating cultural

diversity into a wide range of public policies – including those somewhat remote from

the cultural field proper – can help renew the international community’s approaches

to two key objectives: development and peace building and conflict prevention.

��One of the 6th century Buddhas of Bamiyan destroyed in 2001

by the then Taliban government

in Afghanistan

��A man playing a trumpet in the old French Quarter of New

Orleans, US

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2 5 2 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

intellectual traditions), does not mean relinquishing

our convictions but simply remaining open-minded.

Intercultural dialogue must be seen as a complex and

ongoing process that is never completed .

■ Cultural diversity and the economy are mutually

incompatible. In practice, cultural diversity pervades

all sectors of the economy, from marketing and

advertising to fi nance and business management.

Diversity is coming to be seen as a resource within the

enterprise, since it stimulates creativity and innovation,

particularly of a social kind. Recognition of the tools

required for cultural diversity to fl ourish (‘cultural

intelligence’) is one of the most tangible signs of this

gradual shift in the economic sector.

■ Scientifi c and technological progress and the diversity

of cultural practices are mutually incompatible. Cultural

diversity is in no way incompatible with progress or

development. Indeed, the emergence of genuine

‘knowledge societies’ implies a diversity of forms

of knowledge and of its sources of production,

including of indigenous knowledge conducive to

the preservation of the environment. By observing

the balances between the diff erent ecological niches

more closely, indigenous peoples have often been

able to preserve the biodiversity of their environment.

Reason dictates that such knowledge should not

be overlooked, while recognizing that it can be

supplemented by other scientifi c inputs. Indeed,

the new technologies have not rendered the older

technologies obsolete. Both are mediums of cultural

expressions that, while potentially very diff erent, are

nonetheless of equal value.

■ There is an irreconcilable contradiction between cultural

diversity and universalism. The assertion that cultural

diversity leads inevitably to the relativization of rights

and freedoms, seen as varying in time and space,

rests on an unjustifi ed confl ation of standardization

and universality. The rights and freedoms universally

recognized by the world community are intrinsic to

every human being and are in this sense intangible.

They are also inalienable since no one can renounce

his or her rights. On the other hand, these rights and

freedoms are exercised in a wide variety of cultural

environments, and all have a cultural dimension

that needs to be underscored. This is not to say

may appear seamless is in fact the product of multiple

interactions, showing that all identities are multiple

and that cultural diversity is present in all national

contexts. As long been known, no culture has ever

been totally isolated or immobile. Cultures interact

and are continuously evolving, as underlined by the

Mondiacult Conference some 30 years ago.

■ Cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue are mutually

exclusive. Rather than viewing the world as a plurality of

civilizations, whether in terms of confl ict (the ‘clash of

civilizations’) or dialogue (the ‘alliance of civilizations’),

we need to move towards the reconciliation of

diff erence whereby the harmony of the whole is

born of the resonance inherent in receptiveness

to others. Cultural diversity is the precondition

of intercultural dialogue, and vice versa. Without

genuine dialogue, the dynamic of change (which is

the very essence of cultural diversity) is not sustained,

and diversity is lost or declines as a result of self-

enclosure. Dialogue, including interreligious dialogue

(conceived as dialogue between all spiritual and

��Dancers and musicians of Cilipi, Croatia

��Group of tourists in front of the Giza sphinx in Egypt

WRCD_eng_ n i n.indd 252 29/09/09 12:21

G E N E R A L C O N C L U S I O N . 2 5 3

that universal norms are relative in terms of their

application. It is rather that cultural diversity can

further the exercise of rights and freedoms, since

to ignore cultural realities would be tantamount to

affi rming formal rights and freedoms without ensuring

that they can in practice be rooted and enjoyed in

diverse cultural contexts.

It is all the more necessary to dispel these preconceptions

since it is tempting to see cultural factors as the cause of

confl icts, whereas they are only the pretext for confl ict;

the ultimate cause of confl ict lies in political or socio-

economic circumstances. To clarify the question, it is

necessary – as the present report recommends – to

establish new mechanisms for monitoring, data collection

and the circulation of information.

In challenging such received notions, the World Report

suggests a new approach that emphasizes the dynamic

character of cultural diversity. It implies that policies to

promote cultural diversity should not be confi ned to

safeguarding the tangible and intangible heritage and

creating the conditions in which creativity can fl ourish,

but should also encompass measures aimed at assisting

vulnerable individuals and groups ill-equipped to cope

with cultural change.

The implications of cultural diversity for public policy Although the cultural dimension of the challenges

confronting the international community is not directly

refl ected in the Millennium Development Goals, an

informed awareness of the implications of cultural

diversity is essential to public policy-making in areas

lying outside the cultural domain proper:

■ In the fi eld of languages, it is cultural impoverishment,

as much as the political, social, administrative and

cultural status of languages, which is at the root of

language decline. Thus, in keeping with the demand

for recognition of the dignity of every individual

whatever his or her language, we see the emergence

of claims for the promotion of endangered mother

tongues or the revival of languages not spoken for

over half a century. Multilingualism has in this way

today become a necessity for knowing where we

come from (mother tongue) and for knowing other

people (a national or vernacular language) on a

worldwide scale (an international language).

WRCD_eng_ n i n.indd 253 29/09/09 12:21

2 5 4 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

larger community to help raise the profi le of cultural

diversity in educational practices, including in out-of-

school activities.

■ In the area of communication and cultural content,

since the diversifi ed communication of varied

content contributes to the vitality of exchanges, and

because globalization and the new technologies have

expanded the scope of possible choices. When taken

into account in this context, cultural diversity enables

many communities to have a voice within the public

sphere, even if continued eff orts are necessary to curb

the stereotypes and prejudices to which they may be

subject. The contemporary media, in their many forms

and formats, can help to give greater prominence to

and ensure better awareness of cultural diversity. Thus

it is important to ensure that they not only reach but

that they refl ect the widest possible audience.

■ In the private sector, cultural diversity is impinging on

all spheres of economic activity, since creativity and

innovation are linked. It is moreover not suffi cient for

such diversity to be visually representative (in terms

of gender or ethnic origin): other non-visible aspects

are equally relevant, such as social background,

educational profi le, professional career, past

experience, culturally distinct interpersonal relations,

and so on.

Because cultural diversity cuts across a whole series

of public-policy areas not obviously related to culture,

UNESCO has a particular responsibility to assist Member

States in the formulation of relevant policies in all its

fi elds of competence (education, natural sciences, social

sciences, culture, communication and information).

The main challenges to be addressed The World Report highlights three challenges relating

to cultural diversity that will confront the international

community in the years ahead: combating cultural

illiteracy; reconciling universalism and diversity; and

supporting new forms of pluralism resulting from the

assertion of multiple identities by individuals and groups.

■ In a globalized world in which the contacts between

cultures are expanding rapidly, it is necessary to

combat the spread of cultural illiteracy. Indeed, the

ability to accept cultural diff erences, to welcome

■ In education, integration of the cultural dimension

makes for greater relevance of educational methods

and contents. The cultural dimension contributes

to the full realization of the right to education and

the diversifi cation of forms of learning, including

out-of-school learning, ensuring that no group in

society (e.g. indigenous minorities, vulnerable groups)

is overlooked. If cultural diversity is not taken into

account, education cannot fulfi l its role of learning

to live together. Consequently, the development of

intercultural competencies that are conducive to

dialogue between cultures and civilizations should

be an educational priority. A multi-pronged strategy

is needed to meet the requirements of education

through and for diversity. It should inform the

education system as a whole, in all disciplines, at

all levels and in its diff erent branches (formal and

non-formal). It should draw on the help of local

communities, enjoy the backing of teachers and

explain its objectives to parents in order to enlist

their support. It calls for the training of teachers in

the challenges of intercultural and inter-religious

education, and presupposes the involvement of the ��The Hudhud chanting of the Ifugao in the Philippines

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G E N E R A L C O N C L U S I O N . 2 5 5

them without being unsettled by them, calls for

intercultural competencies that some societies have

learned to develop in particular contexts but which

can sometimes appear sorely lacking at the individual

level. Helping to equip individuals or groups with the

tools they need to manage cultural diversity more

eff ectively should be the new concern of public

and private decision-makers. Intercultural dialogue

should ensure equality between all stakeholders in

society. Multilingualism and media and information

literacy have an important role to play in this regard.

Multilingualism (understood as the ability to master

several languages) considerably strengthens the

possibility of openness to others and is therefore one

of the factors favouring intercultural competencies.

Similarly, information profi ciency and media education

for all have today become a necessity in order

to make critical choices based on quality amid

the increasing fl ows of information and contents

characterizing contemporary societies. For diversifi ed

communication can mask a ’false diversity’, and the

proliferation of channels can refl ect the existence of

closed audiences or groups that are not receptive to

one another. Such a juxtaposition of cultural enclaves

creates no more than the illusion of cultural diversity.

■ There is a need to strengthen the foundations of

universalism by showing how it can be embodied

in a wide variety of practices without being

compromised. Cultural diversity is central to human

rights. These rights must be ‘appropriated’ at the

local level, not as elements superimposed on cultural

practices but as universal principles deriving from

the practices themselves. For each cultural practice

constitutes a pathway to the universal, testifying to

our shared humanity.

■ There is a need to explore the new approach opened

up by recognition of the multiple – multidimensional

– identities of individuals and groups in order to

further the development of cultural pluralism.

Increasingly, individuals decline to be limited to

fi xed categories (whether ethnic, linguistic, cultural,

political or otherwise) and no longer identify with

a unidimensional identity that some would assign

to them. This is not to question the signifi cance of

collective identities – postmodern hyper-individualism

being far from a planetwide phenomenon – but rather

places the stress on the increased circulation between

groups characteristic of individual experiences today.

This is an opportunity to be seized. The growing

number of potential points of encounter between

individuals can reduce the obstacles to intercultural

dialogue, and the plasticity of identities can create a

dynamic of change conducive to innovations of all

kinds and at every level. Such an approach makes it

possible to transcend the limits of the multiculturalist

policies initiated in the 1970s, which tended to confi ne

individuals within community categories rather than

encouraging mutual exchanges from the standpoint of

pluralism and openness.

It follows that States should invest increased fi nancial and

human resources in cultural diversity as a matter of priority.

What are the main areas in which these investments

should be made and what should be their goal? The

recommendations that follow off er a number of pointers

in this regard. The returns that can be expected on

such investments are no less than progress towards the

achievement of sustainable development and a peace

based on ‘unity in diversity’. The cost of such action may

be high but the cost of inaction could be even greater.

If the international community is able in ten years time

to measure the progress made along this long road, the

approaches outlined in this World Report will have served

their purpose. ��Children in a school in Bangkok, Thailand

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2 5 6 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E2 5 6 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

R e

c o

m m

e n

d a

tio n

The following recommendations are addressed as appropriate to States, intergovernmental

and non-governmental international and regional bodies, national institutions and

private-sector entities.

Chapter 1 – CULTURAL DIVERSITY

1. Consideration should be given to establishing a World Observatory on Cultural Diversity to monitor the impacts of globalization and to serve as a source of information and data for comparative research with a forward-looking function.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Collect, compile and widely disseminate data and

statistics on cultural diversity, building inter alia on the

revised 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics.

b. Develop methodologies and tools for assessing,

measuring and monitoring cultural diversity, adaptable

to national or local conditions by governments and

public and private institutions.

c. Establish national observatories to monitor policies and

advise on appropriate measures for the promotion of

cultural diversity.

Chapter 2 – INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

2. Support should continue to be given to networks and initiatives for intercultural and interfaith dialogue at all levels, while ensuring the full involvement of new partners, especially women and young people. To this end, action should be taken to:

a. Develop measures to enable members of

communities and groups subject to discrimination and

stigmatization to participate in the framing of projects

designed to counter cultural stereotyping.

b. Support initiatives aimed at developing real and

virtual spaces and provide facilities for cultural

interaction, especially in countries where inter-

community confl ict exists.

c. Showcase ‘places of memory’ that serve to symbolize

and promote reconciliation between communities

within an overall process of cultural rapprochement.

Chapter 3 – LANGUAGES

3. National language policies should be implemented with a view to both safeguarding linguistic diversity and promoting multilingual competencies.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Facilitate language use through appropriate measures,

be they educational, editorial, administrative or other.

b. Make provision – as appropriate – for the learning,

alongside mother tongues, of a national and an

international language.

c. Encourage the translation by all possible means of

written and audiovisual materials in order to promote

the international circulation of ideas and artistic works,

including through the use of new technologies.

d. Develop reliable and internationally comparable

indicators for assessing the impact of language

policies on linguistic diversity, and promote good

practices in this regard.

Chapter 4 – EDUCATION

4. In order to further the process of learning to live together, there is a need to promote intercultural competencies, including those embedded in the everyday practices of communities, with a view to improving pedagogical approaches to intercultural relations.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Undertake a global comparative survey of educational

contents and methods, including traditional modes

of transmission, with particular reference to the

recognition and accommodation of cultural diversity.

b. Support eff orts to identify and/or create opportunities

and facilities for culture-specifi c learning in each

educational system, making use of existing instruments

such as EFA National Assessment Reports.

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R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S . 2 5 7

c. Adapt teaching methods to the requirements

of the everyday life of learners, with the

necessary support of educational policy-

makers, educational professionals at all

levels and local communities, recognizing

the cultural dimension as a central pillar of

Education for Sustainable Development.

d. Develop international guidelines for the

promotion of intercultural dialogue through

the arts, based on the identifi cation of good

practices in arts education.

Chapter 5 – COMMUNICATION

AND CULTURAL CONTENTS

5. There is a need to encourage cultural sensitivity in the production and consumption of communication and information contents, thereby facilitating access, empowerment and participation.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Support the production and distribution

of innovative and diversifi ed audiovisual

materials, taking account of local needs,

contents and actors, and having recourse as

appropriate to public-private partnerships.

b. Assess the impact of ICT-driven changes on

cultural diversity, with a view to highlighting

good practices of multilingual access to

written and audiovisual productions.

c. Promote media and information literacy

for all age groups in order to increase the

ability of media users to critically evaluate

communication and cultural contents.

Chapter 6 – CREATIVITY AND

THE MARKETPLACE

6. Creativity being a source of social and technological innovation, there is a need to invest in its development, both in the cultural sector and in the business sector, within which cultural diversity is to be understood as a source of profi t and enhanced performance, conducive to corporate ‘cultural intelligence’.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Facilitate the exchange of artistic productions

and the circulation of artists, including

through a system of cultural visas.

b. Develop appropriate systems for the

protection of traditional know-how in the

crafts sector, as well as ways and means of

compensating the communities concerned

for the commercial exploitation of such

know-how.

c. Draw up and widely disseminate good

practices in relation to tourism development

with a view to maximizing its positive impacts

on cultural diversity.

d. Develop ‘cultural intelligence’ in the

business and marketing world through the

establishment of real and virtual forums and

the production of relevant research on the

profi tability of cultural diversity, not limited

only to ethnic or gender diff erence.

Chapter 7 – CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

7. The principles of cultural diversity, as embodied in particular in the Cultural Diversity Lens, should be duly taken into account in the design, implementation and monitoring of all development policies.

To this end, action should be taken to: a. Identify concrete measures to operationalize

research on the cultural dimension of natural

resources conservation and management,

with particular reference to the knowledge

and know-how of indigenous communities.

b. Establish a clearing-house for documenting

participatory approaches to environmental

problems, including indications as to

their success.

c. Encourage the participation of members of all

communities in defi ning resource allocation

criteria on the basis of social justice, so as

to foster a dynamic of social dialogue and

promote intercultural solidarity.

Chapter 8 – CULTURAL DIVERSITY,

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC

GOVERNANCE

8. As universally recognized human rights should be guaranteed to every individual, their eff ective exercise can be fostered through the recognition of cultural diversity, which can also reinforce social cohesion and encourage renewed modes of democratic governance. Policies conducive to the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity should be encouraged to this end.

Action should be taken in particular to: a. Collect striking examples of cases in which

the cultural context is a key factor in the

eff ective exercise of universally recognized

rights and freedoms, so as to highlight the

cultural dimension of all rights and freedoms.

b. Map exchanges within and between minority

groups and between majority and minority

communities, especially in the context of

‘global cities’, in order to create informal

networks of solidarities, and widely publicize

such exchanges.

c. Study the diversity of the intangible heritage as

a source of examples of modes of democratic

governance based on the empowerment and

participation of all communities.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

9. There is a need to promote awareness among policy- and decision-makers about the benefi ts of intercultural and interfaith dialogue, while bearing in mind its potential instrumentalization.

10. Consideration should be given to establishing a national mechanism for monitoring public policies as they relate to cultural diversity, with a view to ensuring improved governance and the full implementation of universally recognized human rights.

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Songs from the Garifuna, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

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A N N E X . 2 5 9

Statistical Annex

Annex

Introduction to the Statistical Annex .............. 260

Methodological explorations of the measurement

of culture and cultural diversity .............. 261

Figure A.1 French labour force in cultural sector

by type of activities in 2005 ......................................... 264

Figure A.2 The culture cycle ...................................... 267

Figure A.3 Domains and activities ......................... 268

Figure A.4 Types of dichotomy useful

to assess diversity ............................................................... 270

Figure A.5 Population of adults by ethnic group

experiencing Taonga Tuku Iho activity during the last 12 months............................................................. 271

Figure A.6 Share of foreign literature in French

book publishing and in bestselling novels ........ 272

References and websites .......................... 273

Reader’s guide .................................................. 276

Table 1. Ratifi cations of the seven cultural

conventions of UNESCO............................ 277

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Intangible

Cultural Heritage of Humanity ................ 281

Table 3. Demographic context......................... 286

Table 4. Telecommunication access ................ 294

Table 5. Gender ................................................. 298

Table 6. Highlights of the World Values

Survey ........................................................ 302

Table 7. Languages ........................................... 304

Table 8. Translations ......................................... 308

Table 9. Education and literacy ....................... 312

Table 10. Education and curricula .................. 320

Table 11. International fl ows of mobile

students at the tertiary level .................... 328

Table 12. Newspapers ...................................... 332

Table 13. Broadcast content ............................ 340

Table 14. Movies ............................................... 344

Table 15. Recorded music: Sales

and repertoire .......................................... 348

Table 16. International fl ows of

selected cultural goods and services ...... 352

Table 17. Tourism fl ows .................................... 360

Table 18. Environment, biodiversity

and habitat ................................................ 364

Table 19. Economic development

and innovation .......................................... 368

Glossary ............................................................. 372

A28A ANNEX

Tamil workers planting

tea in Sri Lanka

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countries. Alternative data from private sources (such

as the International Federation of the Phonographic

Industry (IFPI) for music or from household surveys) are

also provided to complete the data set despite the fact

that country coverage remains limited.

As cultural statistics are still under development in many

countries, coverage varies immensely depending on the

country and the domain in question. Generally speaking,

economic data off er better coverage than social data

(see methodology chapter). Most of the data on media

are focused on content in radio, television or cinema. The

low response rates for feature fi lms or music refl ect data

scarcity, especially concerning Internet and interactive-

media products such as e-newspapers, music downloads

and e-books, all of which are diffi cult to capture using

traditional statistical tools.

It is diffi cult to draw a global picture of cultural diversity

and the diversity of cultural expressions from available

data. Some information can be drawn from statistics on

fl ows of students or goods (see methodology chapter).

The statistics on media and culture provide a sense of

the variety of cultural products and activities available,

but cannot provide a full picture of the products actually

‘consumed’. The scarcity of cultural data generally speaking

highlights the urgent and overarching need to implement

standards to improve cultural data collection worldwide.

This Statistical Annex is divided into two parts. The fi rst

part discusses and explores the diffi culties and

methodological issues surrounding the measurement

of cultural domains and activities, drawing attention to

the limited coverage and scarcity of existing cultural data

worldwide, especially regarding cultural participation

and questions pertinent to heritage and indigenous

issues. It also introduces the newly revised UNESCO

Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS), which updates

the 1986 version and represents a methodological tool,

which helps countries with varying capacities to organise

their cultural statistics. The last section describes some

initial approaches to measuring cultural diversity and the

diversity of cultural expressions based on the conclusions

of the fi rst UNESCO Expert Meeting on Cultural Diversity

(2007), which attempted to disentangle the complexities

and sensitivities inherent to some of these issues.

The second part presents 19 statistical tables covering

the areas described in the FCS and current coverage

across a wide range of topics and more than 200

countries and territories. Data were gathered from

diff erent sources but no specifi c surveys were carried

out for the present report. UIS data covering culture,

communication, education and science were collected

from the standard UIS surveys. To complete the data

set, data from international or regional agencies such as

United Nations (UN) agencies or the World Bank were

used as much as possible: regarding telecommunications

access, data were gathered from the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU); data for tourism

fl ows were gathered from the UN World Tourism

Organization (UNWTO), and for trade from the UN

Statistical Division (UNSD); demographic data from the

UN Department of Economics and Social aff airs (UNDESA)

and environmental data from the UN Environment

Programme (UNEP), International Union for Conservation

of Nature (IUCN) and Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO). Other data come the Organization for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN

Development Programme (UNDP).

Still, most data originating from administrative sources

lead but to a partial picture of the cultural domains as

described in the FCS. For example, no harmonized data

on cultural participation exist except from European

Introduction to the Statistical Annex

��Old believers in the cultural space of the Semeiskie, east of Lake

Baikal, Russian Federation

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A N N E X . 2 6 1

Statistical Annex

countries (with a few exceptions, such as Chile, Colombia

and Singapore), which are for the most part unable

to produce regular cultural statistics. The problem of

data scarcity is particularly challenging on the African

continent, despite the major role the cultural industries

play in Africa’s development, as has been acknowledged

in the Dakar Plan of Action (UNESCO and OAU, 1992)

and reiterated in the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development (NEPAD) plan for culture and development

(UNESCO, 2003). Few cultural statistics are currently

collected on a regular basis, despite the increasing

importance of assessing the revenue generated from

the music, crafts and fi lms that thrive on the continent.

The growth in the importance of such assessment is a

general trend that can be observed all around the world.

To meet the challenge posed therein would require,

in many countries, better characterization of cultural

industries in international classifi cation systems in order

to provide clear guidance to national statistics offi ces.

At international, regional and national levels, eff orts to

gather economic data in this sector have nevertheless

intensifi ed over the past decade (see the next section).

However measurement strategies have tended to fall

short of fully assessing the depth and breadth of cultural

activities – from creation through dissemination and

consumption of cultural expressions and products –

and taking account of how globalization allows the

transmission of cultural products throughout the world

and is generating new communication tools (such as the

Internet) which are engendering new forms of culture

and new ways of accessing and practising culture.

Digital technology has drastically changed the modes

of producing and disseminating cultural products, and

cultural industries that previously were kept separate

by analogue systems of production (fi lm, television,

photography and printing) have now converged. As

cultural consumption has grown with the rise of digital

As illustrated throughout this report, the rise of cultural

diversity on the international agenda is concomitant

with the expansion of globalization, the speed of

technological change and the emergence of the cultural

and creative industries1 – all of which are changing our

very notions of culture and the ways in which we create,

express and ‘consume’ it. As these industries become

increasingly important components of contemporary

post-industrial, knowledge-based economies,

governments throughout the world have begun to

recognize the potential value of the cultural and creative

industries in growth, job creation and development (UIS

and Global Alliance, 2002). As vectors of cultural identity,

cultural activities play an important role in fostering

cultural diversity, as well as in sustainable development

and poverty alleviation.

While public policy has placed higher priority on culture

and cultural diversity in recent decades, the sector of

cultural activities is still poorly understood – largely

because the accurate measurement of economic

and social activity in the sector continues to pose

considerable theoretical and political problems. While

many developed countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, Finland,

France and Spain) have fi nely tuned or dedicated systems

for producing high-quality national cultural statistics,

the intangible nature of culture (e.g. the valuation of

heritage) and the diff ering defi nitions of it across the

globe, compounded by cultural biases, tend to permeate

many of the widely used statistical instruments and

investigative approaches. This makes it diffi cult to

accurately capture the extent of the fi eld and the size

of its workforce, much less to understand the social

dynamics inherent in cultural activities.

International comparability remains highly problematic

throughout the sector, and data scarcity is a major

problem in all countries, but especially so in developing

Methodological explorations of the measurement of

culture and cultural diversity

1. The term ‘cultural industries’ refers to industries that combine the creation,

production and commercialization of creative content that is intangible and

cultural in nature. The content is typically protected by copyright and can take

the form of goods or services. Cultural industries generally include printing,

publishing and multimedia, audiovisual, phonographic and cinematographic

productions, as well as crafts and design. The term ‘creative industries’

encompasses a broader range of activities, which include the cultural industries

and all cultural or artistic production, whether live or produced as an individual

unit. The creative industries are those in which the product or service contains a

substantial element of artistic or creative endeavour and include activities such

as architecture and advertising (see DCMS, 1998). The terms ‘cultural industries’

and ‘creative industries’ are often used interchangeably, but they are not

synonymous. See also the Glossary following the statistical tables.

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2 6 2 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

disadvantaged groups to participate in productive

activities that contribute in turn to gender equality, self-

esteem and social awareness.3

UIS’s statistical work in the fi eld of culture was given

new impetus with UNESCO’s adoption in 2005 of the

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity

of Cultural Expressions, which expressly obligates UNESCO

to ‘facilitate the collection, analysis and dissemination

of all relevant information, statistics and best practices’

regarding cultural diversity (Art. 19). At the same time,

there has been a change of focus in UIS work, from data

collection on infrastructure to new surveys and analyses

that focus on content and refl ect the digital era.4 A UIS

survey on print and electronic press was launched in 2005

with new questions related to languages and community

newspapers; it was followed in 2006 by a survey on

radio and television broadcasting which focused on the

content and origin of programmes; and in 2007 a survey

on cinema was conducted that includes questions on the

digital production of feature fi lms, languages used and

the origin of co-productions. The results of these surveys

are presented in the statistical tables.

This chapter surveys the fi eld of cultural statistics,

discussing some of the developments and challenges

facing the assessment and measurement of cultural

activities, and introduces the 2009 Framework for

Cultural Statistics. This revised Framework is a holistic

organizational tool for capturing a wide range of cultural

expressions based on consensual defi nitions of cultural

practices, irrespective of the particular economic or

social mode of its production. It is explicitly designed

to provide a basis for producing comparable data

on culture worldwide founded on this wider notion

of culture, with the goal of enabling countries with

varying capacities in statistics collection to work within

their constraints, as may be posed by policy priorities,

statistical expertise and human and fi nancial resources.

technology and the global exchange of goods, services,

ideas, people and capital, so too has the range of

products expanded, such that a ‘product’ now mediates

most cultural experiences, which have themselves

become multicultural in nature.

UNESCO sees culture as part of everyday life, refl ected

in many forms of human activity and expression, and

involving beliefs, attitudes and practices including all

forms of artistic and creative expression. Many of these

can indeed be measured through cultural goods, services

and practices, but so far a holistic methodological

approach – based on a wider, more inclusive defi nition

of cultural practices and consumption – has been

lacking that would also take account of traditional forms

of art that are expressed in non-commodifi ed forms,

such as intangible heritage, use of local languages

and crafts. Since UNESCO’s mandate goes far beyond

a strictly economic evaluation of cultural activities, the

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has been tasked

with redefi ning its 1986 Framework for Cultural Statistics,

which represented the fi rst comprehensive attempt to

develop common methodologies to capture information

about cultural activities on an international level while

taking into account the needs and specifi cities of the

developing world.2

The importance of the link between culture and

development has received increased attention from

aid agencies and specialists as culture has come to

be recognized as a means for economic, social and

individual development (UNESCO, 1995). In this sense,

cultural activities (including tourism, crafts and artefacts)

make an important contribution to poverty alleviation.

Community cultural assets, such as intangible heritage,

support sustainable local development and contribute

to social and cultural revitalization. Many cultural

industries are predominantly small or family businesses

that off er opportunities to women, youth and socially

2. UNESCO’s 1986 Framework for Cultural Statistics was subsequently adopted

by various national institutions, which then adapted and modifi ed their

methodology to refl ect the specifi c cultural realities of their country. The

Framework defi ned ten distinct categories: (0) cultural heritage; (1) printed

matter and literature; (2/3) music and the performing arts; (4) visual arts;

(5/6) audiovisual media (cinema and photography; radio and television);

(7) socio-cultural activities; (8) sports and games; and (9) environment and

nature. It also proposed cross-category matrices, such as creation/production,

transmission/dissemination, consumption, registration/protection and

participation (UIS, 1986).

3. The Jodhpur Initiatives, an interagency technical assistance programme

launched in 2005 by UNESCO in cooperation with WIPO, UNIDO, UNDP, the

World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, has developed a framework

for strengthening national capacity-building projects related to the cultural

industries sector as a strategy for poverty reduction and community

regeneration. See UNESCO Bangkok, 2005; Askerud and Engelhardt, 2007.

4. UIS has also produced analytical reports on culture focusing on fl ows of

cultural goods and services and on languages Measuring Linguistic Diversity

on the Internet. It has also contributed analysis to the culture sector for reports

such as World Heritage: Challenges for the Millennium (UNESCO, 2007).

WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 262 29/09/09 12:1

A N N E X . 2 6 3

Statistical Annex

Singapore, 5.7 percent and 5.8 percent (in 2001); and

in Canada, 5.3 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively

linked to a very clear policy goal, namely to ensure that

countries protect their intellectual assets. However, it

concerns only those economic activities that give rise to

intellectual property rights, thus based on a defi nition

of cultural industries that is more restrictive than that

of UNESCO. Many areas of industry may be ‘creative’ or

‘cultural’, but it may be diffi cult to spell out a clear right

to intellectual property in them (e.g. cultural practices

such as the crafts sector or museum activities). Neither

non-market cultural production nor the ownership of

a cultural product are fully accounted for in the WIPO

framework. Furthermore, when all copyright industries

are factored into the economic model, the total value of

their contribution to GDP nor to the workforce can vary

considerably depending on how these are defi ned, and

the results of the studies are not entirely comparable

National accounts, which oversee national economic

activity, are another means for determining the extent of

cultural industries’ contribution to national economies,

namely in the form of earnings and employment. In

Canada, a recent study has shown that, on average from

1996 to 2003, the culture sector accounted for 3.8 percent

of national output and 4 percent of national employment

(Statistics Canada, 2007).

Yet because this approach focuses purely on fi nancial

factors, it is diffi cult to assess the value of non-

commercial cultural products. Furthermore, precise

assessment of a broad range of cultural products and

services within national accounting systems requires

very sophisticated data collection and technical skills,

as well as dedicated resources, which are often lacking

or incomplete. There is a widespread lack of resources

and expertise to ensure high quality statistical work in

this area, especially in the developing world, where data

collection related to culture remains a low priority area

for many countries. Diff ering defi nitions and categories

further complicate comparability.

In this way, it is hoped that the 2009 Framework will

help to support appropriate policy implementation in

the fi eld of culture.

Overview of the challenges facing the fi eld of cultural studies At international, regional and national levels, eff orts

have intensifi ed considerably in recent decades to

measure the economic and social aspects of cultural

activities through data on intellectual property rights,

national accounts, cultural satellite accounts, trade and

employment statistics, as well as household and time-use

surveys. While these have enabled the production of a

wide range of cultural data that can help to measure

the contribution of culture to the national economy

in terms of GDP and trends in cultural participation,

consumption and employment (though often by means

of a re-aggregation of classifi cations that are not directly

cultural), data scarcity, diff ering defi nitions, and structural

and operational challenges permeate the sector. One

of the crucial tasks that we face today is to fi nd a way to

capture the social dimension of cultural activities beyond

their economic value, in order to fully grasp their role

in furthering sustainable development and promoting

policy that supports cultural diversity.

The economic dimension The identifi cation of goods and services that generate

intellectual property rights is a key component of the

contribution of culture to the economy. The World

Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO) has developed

a framework that enables countries to estimate the

size of their creative and information sector, with a

breakdown into four categories of industries depending

on their level of involvement in the creation, production

and manufacturing of literary, scientifi c and artistic

works: core copyright, interdependent copyright, partial

2003).5 In 2002, total copyright industries accounted

for 12 percent of GDP and 8.4 percent of the workforce

in the US, whereas in Hungary they accounted for 6.8

percent of GDP and 7.1 percent of the workforce; in

5. ‘Core copyright industries’ are usually those characterized as typical

cultural industries that are wholly engaged in the creation, production and

manufacturing, performance, broadcast, communication and exhibition,

or distribution and sales of works and other protected subject matter.

‘Interdependent copyright industries’ are those engaged in the production,

manufacture and sale of equipment whose function is wholly or primarily to

facilitate the creation, production or use of works and other protected subject

matter. ‘Partial copyright industries’ cover industries in which a portion of the

activities is related to works and other protected subject matter and may

involve creation, production and manufacturing, performance, broadcast,

communication and exhibition or distribution and sales. ‘Non-dedicated

support industries’ are those in which a portion of the activities is related to

facilitating the broadcast, communication, distribution or sales of works and

other protected subject matter.

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have to be supplemented with cultural occupations

in non-cultural industries. These could include, for

example, design activities in manufacturing and other

sectors. However, cultural occupations in developing

countries are often a secondary occupation for

agricultural labourers or other workers and, as such,

often are not declared or captured in censuses and

labour force surveys.

The International Standard Classifi cation by Occupations

(ISCO) does not currently provide the level of detail

required to identify cultural occupations in a truly

comprehensive manner. In some cases, it is necessary

to link employment data with industry data to calculate

total cultural employment. These hidden or ‘embedded’

cultural occupations may not include a large enough

number of practitioners to be accurately measured in

sample surveys. Moreover, self-employed or informal

work, and small companies employing less than ten

people, are not captured in surveys. In this respect, even

European statistics may well underestimate cultural

employment. Nevertheless, national labour force surveys

have a major role to play, especially in collecting data on

secondary occupations, since cultural activities are often

associated with part-time or amateur production but

remain vital supplements to economic growth, especially

in developing countries.

In many countries the cultural sector is more economically

important than a number of older established industries

(e.g. mining and car manufacturing) and contributes

signifi cantly to national export earnings. As a result, trade

statistics may be more signifi cant than employment data,

especially in the developing world, with implications

for the potential role of culture in development

(Barrowclough and Kozul-Wright, 2006). The United

Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

has for example developed models to measure trade

fl ows within the creative industries, defi ned as ‘the cycle

of creation, production and distribution of goods and

services that uses intellectual capital as primary input’

(2008). UNCTAD estimates total trade of creative industries

to have been US$445.2 billion in 2005. One major

drawback of trade statistics, however, is that they fall short

of assessing the value of ideas, creativity and innovation

that may be transformed into productive capacity which

may require intellectual property protection. Only the

declared value of goods crossing a country’s border is

The development of cultural satellite accounts is being

promoted in Latin America to provide a macroeconomic

view of the part that cultural goods play in the national

economy. Initiatives in Brazil, Chile and Colombia are

attempting to use national accounts data to measure the

economic contribution of culture. The Convenio Andrés

Bello (a group of Latin American countries and Spain) is

developing a handbook on cultural satellite accounts,

with the goal of providing a common methodology

among countries, which aims to assess the cost of cultural

products supply, the total expenditure on culture, and

fi nancial fl ows of cultural activities and uses. MERCOSUR

countries have been very active in studying this area of

potential economic growth. Initial results from a study

for diff erent Latin American countries show that the

contribution of culture (here understood as publishing,

leisure, cultural services and sports) to the GDP for the

MERCOSUR countries was less than 2 percent in 2003 –

except for Argentina and Uruguay, with 2.6 percent and

2.9 percent, respectively – in comparison to 2.6 percent in

the EU (KEA, 2006). However, the studies were not strictly

comparable as they use diff erent methods. Statistical data

and indicators are non-existent in other countries of the

region, particularly in Central America.

The measurement of cultural employment is another

signifi cant means for obtaining data on cultural statistics,

but it also presents problems. In France, the French

labour force in the cultural sector was estimated to be

2 percent of total employment in 2005 (see Figure A.1).

To accurately assess cultural employment within a

country, occupations within cultural industries would

Figure A.1 French labour force in cultural sector

by type of activities in 2005

Source: Lacroix, 2003.

Performance and Artistic

activities 28%

Publishing and Library

19%Print 16%

Architecture 12%

Cinema and Video

Radio and Television

Heritage 7%

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Statistical Annex

The purpose of cultural participation surveys should be

to assess overall participation levels, even though it may

be diffi cult to distinguish active from passive behaviour.

For example, at some festivals, individuals may at one

time be performers (active, creating, and inspiring others)

and at other times be the audience (passive or seeking

inspiration). Cultural participation does not concern

activities carried out for employment purposes, however,

which are defi ned by occupation (ILO, 1987); for example,

cultural participation would include visitors to a museum

but not the guide.

Pilot cultural participation surveys have been conducted

mainly in the European Union. The European Leadership

Group (LEG, 2000) attempted to produce a regional

model, which was applied in the Eurobarometer. Three

surveys have been carried out since then to collect

harmonized data on European participation in cultural

activities and to experiment with their applicability. The

European conception of cultural participation includes

the arts and everyday life activities that are related to

enjoyment. It encompasses ‘the ways in which ethnically

marked diff erences in cultural tastes, values and

behaviours inform not just artistic and media preferences

but are embedded in the daily rhythms of diff erent ways

of life; and of the ways in which these connect with other

relevant social characteristics – those of class and gender,

for example’ (Bennett, 2001).

In 2006 the UIS commissioned a study on cultural

participation that looked at the European model

of cultural participation surveys and its potential

adaptability to cultural activities in developing countries

(Morrone, 2006). The study reviewed the potential

for cultural participation surveys in three developing

countries, (Bhutan, Thailand and Uganda), as well as

current data in New Zealand. It was found that surveys

in these countries – when carried out – basically covered

the same activities as those in the Eurobarometer, with

additions adapted to the cultural practices and contexts

of the countries themselves. Thailand carried out three

rounds of cultural participation surveys, in 1985, 1995

and 2005, covering the Thai system of values and the

protection of Thai culture. The Bhutan Living Standard

Surveys, undertaken in 2003 and 2007, collected data

on participation in community celebrations of cultural/

historical events, community rites/events (non-religious),

participation in community social, and household

captured in customs data, not their actual market value,

which is often considered far more important. Trade data

on services are collected using balance of payments data,

and only cover service transactions that relate to the

cross-border supply of services (suppliers and consumers

remain in their respective countries and the services

cross the border). Thus, the results given in trade statistics

provide only the tip of the iceberg of a far more global

phenomenon (UIS and UNESCO, 2005).

The 2009 Framework seeks to incorporate these

mechanisms while placing them within a holistic system

that gives equal weight to the social dynamics within

which they function.

The social dimension The economic and social measurement of cultural

participation is a particularly challenging but crucial

dimension of cultural statistics. While participation

in cultural activities and practices can be captured

through attendance at formal and payable events, such

as going to a movie or a concert, it often occurs in the

informal sector where no economic transactions take

place, such as participating in community activities and

amateur artistic productions, or in everyday activities

like reading a book.

A few commonly accepted statistical standards that

focus on consumer expenditures on cultural goods and

services and participation at paid cultural activities –

namely, household and time-use surveys – are being

used to capture facets of the economic dimension

of cultural participation. However, such surveys are

expensive and often designed for other purposes

than strictly ‘cultural’ ones. Internationally comparable

indicators on the social aspects of culture is an area

requiring further development as regards both defi nitions

and standard instruments. The term ‘consumption’ is

normally used when referring to an activity for which the

consumer has given a ‘monetary’ value, while the term

‘participation’ is used to designate taking part in amateur

or unpaid activities. In practice this distinction can be

diffi cult to make as consumers/participants may take

part in informal activities ‘paying’ in kind or contributing

to the ‘cost’ of the event in other ways. Moreover, cultural

participation covers both active and passive behaviour.

For example, it includes the person who is listening to a

concert and the musician.

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guidance for developing additional statistical tools for

defi ning the social element of culture and identifying

appropriate indicators and defi nitions. It is acknowledged

that carrying out frequent cultural participation surveys

requires extensive human and fi nancial resources, and

that measuring the manifestations and expressions of ICH

is extremely diffi cult and requires further methodological

work in order to develop appropriate tools. At this stage,

the Framework proposes that participation surveys

concentrate on overall levels of participation and on

recording the domain under which cultural activities

take place. By using such surveys in a systematic way –

for example, to survey participation in activities such as

music, dance and reading – it will be possible to examine

social issues, as well as to link amateur or informal cultural

production to more formal activity. This link is vital for

examining the economic relevance of the cultural sector

and its impact on society as a whole.

Overview of the UNESCO 2009 Framework for Cultural Statistics It is recognized that very few countries have suffi cient

resources for dedicated surveys of cultural activity, and

that the 1986 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics

had been centred on OECD or EU perspectives rather

than those of developing countries. As a result, UIS has

concentrated on a pragmatic approach that builds on

the most common international statistical classifi cation

systems7 to maximize the potential of existing surveys to

measure cultural activity, such as through labour force

surveys and population censuses. Yet while the standards

used for constructing the core defi nitions of the 2009

Framework are economic and social in nature in order

to maximize international comparability, the updated

Framework aims to be fl exible enough to allow countries

to select the domains that form part of their cultural

statistics (a product that is highly cultural in one country,

such as clothing and national dress, may have little

cultural meaning in another). Furthermore, it allows for an

interpretation of a resulting domain that is not limited to

economic aspects of culture and extends to all aspects

of that domain. So, for example, the defi nition for the

production of traditional crafts. While Uganda does not

carry out participation surveys, the study suggested that

such a survey would require items on food and nutrition,

traditional dress, traditional medicine and oral tradition.

One possible approach for obtaining data on cultural

participation would be to add a module in the Ugandan

National Household Survey, which collects information

on the socio-economic characteristics at both the

household and community levels. Finally, New Zealand

cultural participation surveys included participation in

rituals, ceremonies and practices of indigenous language

by ethnic group, social group and gender, indicating

the diversity of groups participating in diff erent cultural

activities (see the discussion of cultural diversity in the

fi nal section of this chapter).

The report of the study, Guidelines for Measuring Cultural

Participation (Morrone, 2006), proposed a defi nition

of cultural practices according to three categories:

1) Home-based refers to the amount of time spent

watching television, listening to the radio, watching

and listening to recorded sound and images, reading

and using computers and the Internet; 2) Going out

includes visits to cultural venues such as the cinema, the

theatre, concerts, museums, monuments and heritage

sites; and 3) Identity-building covers amateur cultural

practices, membership in cultural associations, popular

culture, ethnic culture, community practices and youth

culture. Indeed, to refl ect developing countries’ views on

cultural participation it would be necessary to extend

the EU defi nition to include the language dimension

(knowledge and transmission of particular languages,

including story-telling, that contribute to community

preservation) and the intangible cultural heritage

(ICH)6 or tradition dimension (everything from food to

music, dress, traditional tools, indigenous knowledge,

community social, cultural, historical events, religious and

non-religious activities and festivals, etc.).

The 2009 Framework therefore seeks to establish some

broad agreement on the overall conceptualization of

the social model of culture and to provide some general

6. In the context of this statistical framework, ‘intangible cultural heritage’ (ICH)

covers the ‘practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills, as well as

the associated instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces’.

7. Principally, the International Standard Industrial Classifi cation (ISIC) for cultural

production activities, the International Standard Classifi cation of Occupations

(ISCO) for cultural employment, the Central Product Classifi cation (CPC) for

cultural goods and services, the Harmonised Commodity Description and

Coding System Harmonised System (HS) for international fl ows of cultural

goods, and the UN Trial International Classifi cation of Activities for Time-Use

Statistics (ICATUS).

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Statistical Annex

the value of paying guests. At the same time, tangible

and intangible heritage encompass artistic, aesthetic,

symbolic and spiritual values. Thus, the characteristics of

cultural goods and services diff er from other products

in that their value system is linked to their appreciation

(Throsby, 2001).

Domains and activities A review of selected cultural statistics frameworks from

around the world (BOP, 2006) has shown that there is

general agreement that culture is the result of a group

of identifi able constituent activities. However, the review

also suggested that this can be partly obscured by two

measurement of ‘performance’ includes all performances,

amateur and professional, whether they take place in

formal concert halls or in open spaces in rural villages.

The Framework aims to assess cultural goods, services

and activities arising within the cultural production

cycle, conceived of in terms of its diff erent cycles and

the potential interactions between them: creation,

production, dissemination, exhibition/reception and

consumption and participation activities (see Figure A.2).

While the concept of a culture cycle is not new, it seeks

to highlight how a given ‘cultural product’ is embedded

within both economic and social processes, regardless

of funding or governance arrangements or whether

activities take place in the formal or informal economy.

The term ‘culture cycle’ is helpful since it suggests the

interconnections across these activities, including the

feedback processes by which activities (consumption)

inspire the creation of new cultural products and

artefacts. The model is an abstract analytical aid for

thinking about cultural production and dissemination

and functions as a lens for awareness-raising purposes.

In practice, some of the phases of the cycle may overlap.

For example, while musicians may compose (create)

and perform (produce/disseminate), playwrights write

(create) but rarely act (produce/disseminate). The

individual craftsperson who may collect raw materials

(informal resource input), use traditional skills (informal

training) and sell the resulting product at the roadside

(informal distribution and retail) personifi es the whole

cycle in an informal setting. Understanding which

part of the process is being measured is an important

element in designing the appropriate public policies for

intervention in cultural production.

Central to this process is understanding and being able

to track the totality of activities and necessary resources

that are required to transform ideas into cultural goods

and services, which then reach consumers, participants

or users. In terms of cultural economy (which includes

the informal economy), the artefact (whether painting,

craft object, performance, etc.) is meaningless without

a value system and a production system that gives it

value or meaning. So, for example, having a particular

site recognized as being of outstanding cultural heritage

is of only limited economic use to a developing country,

unless that country is also able to mobilize the assets of

tourism, transport, preservation and hotels to capture

Figure A.2 The culture cycle

1. Creation: The origination and authoring of ideas and content (e.g. sculptors, writers, design companies) and the making of one-off products (e.g. crafts, fi ne arts).

2. Production: Reproducible cultural forms (e.g. television programmes), as well as the specialist tools, infrastructure and processes used in their realization

(e.g. the production of musical instruments, the printing of newspapers).

3. Dissemination: Bringing generally mass reproduced cultural products to consumers and exhibitors (e.g. the wholesale, retail and rental of recorded music and computer games, fi lm distribution).

With digital distribution, goods and services can go directly from the creator to the consumer.

4. Exhibition/Reception/Transmission: Sites of exchange of rights to provide audiences with live and/or unmediated cultural experiences by granting or selling restricted access to consume/

participate in often time-based cultural activities (e.g. festival organization and production,

opera houses, theatres, museums). Transmission relates to the transfer of knowledge that may

not involve any commercial transaction and that often occurs in informal practices. It includes

transmitting cultural identity from generation to generation, particularly in the form of

intangible cultural heritage (ICH). It also includes festivals and events with open access.

5. Consumption/Participation: The activities of audiences and participants in consuming cultural products and taking part in cultural activities and experiences (e.g. book reading,

dancing, participating in carnivals, listening to radio, visiting galleries).

Source: UIS, 2009.

Production

Creation

Dissemination

Consumption/ Participation

Exhibition/ Reception/

Transmission

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or convey cultural expressions, irrespective of their

commercial value, and may give rise to the production

of cultural goods and services (UNESCO, 2005).

Unlike in the 1986 Framework, this defi nition of cultural

domains is based on a hierarchical model that comprises

core cultural domains and related cultural domains.

The cultural domains include cultural activities, goods

and services that are involved in all the diff erent phases

of the cultural production cycle. The related domains

are linked to the broader defi nition of culture, which

encompasses social and recreational activities. In contrast

to the 1986 Framework, intangible cultural heritage

(ICH) has been added as a core transversal dimension

(previously covered only partially by the category

‘community’s services’). In addition, equipment/material

and education/archives are presented as transversal

domains because they can be applied to all the diff erent

core and related domains (see Figure A.3). To avoid

double counting, each activity can be classifi ed only once

within the Framework, even though there are instances

where activities logically span more than one domain. For

instance, music would fall under both ‘Performance and

Celebration’ and ‘Audiovisual’, as it consists of live music

(Performance) and recorded music (Audiovisual). But the

2009 Framework prioritizes the subject rather than the

form in which the cultural content can appear.

factors: a lack of agreement in identifying how these

activities should be grouped together at a higher level

as domains, and little shared understanding as to what

functions should be included in the analysis of the

cultural sector. In part, divergence related to the former

is a genuine refl ection of local diff erences in culture,

but it is also related to the lack of a fully developed

underlying model or logic for the analysis, which is the

root cause of the latter.

Identifying sectoral breadth is necessary for measuring

the cultural domain and defi ning which categories

belong to it and which do not. For the purpose of the

2009 Framework, which follows a pragmatic approach,

the operational defi nition of culture has been taken

from the Preamble of the 2001 Universal Declaration

on Cultural Diversity: ‘culture should be regarded as the

set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and

emotional features of society or a social group, and

that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature,

lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems,

traditions and beliefs’. The pragmatic defi nition

of culture used in the Framework is based on the

representation of culture in terms of domains in order

to measure the cultural activities, goods and services

generated by industrial and non-industrial processes.

It is understood that these cultural activities embody

Figure A.3 Domains and activities

Souce: UIS, 2009.

CULTURAL DOMAINS RELATED DOMAINS

B. Performance and Celebration

C. Visual arts and Crafts

D. Books and Press

E. Audio-Visual and Interactive

media

F. Design and Creative

services

G. Tourism

- Fine arts - Photography - Crafts

H. Recreation

INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE (oral traditions and expressions, rituals, languages, social practices)

EDUCATION and TRAINING

ARCHIVING and PRESERVATION

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS

INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

EDUCATION and TRAINING

ARCHIVING and PRESERVATION

EQUIPMENT and SUPPORTING MATERIALS

- Museums (also virtual)

- Archeological and historical places

- Cultural landscapes

- Natural heritage

A. Cultural and Natural

heritage - Performing arts - Music - Festivals, fairs and

feasts

- Book - Press and

magazine - Other printed

matter - Library

(also virtual) - Book fairs

- Film and video - TV and radio

(also internet live straiming)

- Internet podcasting

- Video games (also online)

- Fashion design - Graphic design - Interior design - Landscape design - Architectural

services - Advertising

services

- Charter travel and tourist services

- Hospitality and accomodation

- Sports - Physical fitness

and well being - Amusement

and themes park

- Gambling

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Statistical Annex

individual emancipatory experience. Diversity requires

an enabling environment in order to fl ourish, where

‘environment’ is understood as the set of conditions

that allow for freedom of expression, ethnic diversity

and the availability of social and cultural capital,

technology, infrastructure, education, social networks

and representation of social groups within institutions.

Cultural expressions generate cultural goods, services and

activities, which in turn can be (or become) commercial

in nature, though not necessarily. While commodifi ed

goods can usually be measured through economic

statistics, non-commodifi ed goods, services and activities

have to be identifi ed through household surveys and

qualitative studies, which can serve to evaluate amateur

practices and non-formal cultural activities.

Cultural diversity is a multifaceted policy area with a

number of diff erent roots and with diff erent emphasis

and articulation at diff erent territorial levels: intra-state,

inter-state or transnational. In the latter context, the drive

towards active policy on cultural diversity has a number

of interconnected aspects:

■ In general terms, there has been a growing demand for

cultural products originating in the developing world

or, in some cases, a hybridization of these products

with those from the developed world. But developing

countries are often poorly positioned to negotiate

returns on their cultural exports that are comparable

with returns received by developed nations. This is partly

due to a lack of local institutional capacity but also to

the absolute power of an oligopolistic industrial sector.

■ The blurring of boundaries between (largely Western)

notions of high and low culture, and between the West

and ‘the rest’.

■ The commercialization of crafts production and its

role in strategies of economic development in the

developing world.

A range of issues is emerging as a result of these

changes, perhaps the most debated of which concerns

intellectual property rights (IPR). Since culture is seen

increasingly as a commodity, a system of rights (and

determination of which rights may be accorded to

individual producers) dictates the degree of protection

that should be given to individuals and communities

At this stage, the purpose of the Framework is to show

how statistics derived from economic data, household

and visitor surveys, and valuation of cultural assets can

be combined to present a holistic view of the culture

sector that will allow for international comparability.

Only after the revised Framework has been adopted

and has entered into its implementation stage can the

development of guidelines, indicators, pilot exercises, and

training and capacity-building begin.

As has been pointed out, on reviewing the existing

cultural statistics frameworks in several countries and

regions of the world, it was found that very little cultural

data is actually collected even in developed countries.

The new Framework should be therefore understood

as the starting point of a process of building cultural

statistics from an international perspective, with

the aim of highlighting the importance of culture

and increase its visibility. Its primary purpose at this

stage is to assist countries in developing their own

locally sensitive frameworks and to relate them and

make possible adaptations to existing frameworks. The

Framework may also serve as a basis for negotiations

between cultural policy and practitioners and national

statistics offi ces, whose participation is critical for

developing cultural statistics. In this sense, the

Framework can act as a tool for stimulating demand

and as a means for providing the culture sector with

guidelines for requesting data collection.

Measuring cultural diversity and the diversity of cultural expressions As we have seen, many comparability issues arise

when discussing cultural statistics, and even more so

when assessing diversity, particularly when trying to

make international comparisons or accounting for

diff erences between countries (e.g. in attitudes towards

social participation). This section describes approaches

to measuring diversity of cultural expressions and

presents some initial thoughts for discussion, based

on conclusions of the fi rst UNESCO Expert Meeting on

Cultural Diversity, which attempted to disentangle the

complexities and sensitivities inherent to some of these

issues (UIS, 2007).

Diversity is an aspect of diff erent elements of culture,

from personal identity to preferences, quality of life,

indigenous/ethnic affi liation, or even culture as an

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cultural expressions can be easily measured, however,

and depending on the market or section, assessing

the demand for diversity may be extremely complex.

Household surveys would be required to assess the

demand, which is a costly instrument.

Studying cultural fl ows between nations is a common

tool for looking at diversity between nations. Imports

and exports of fi lms can be used to represent production

and exchange diversity by indicating the origin of fi lms

entering a country, but measurement is severely limited

by the technical constraints of customs and balance

of payments data. Typically, fi lms are exported to the

destination market and then copied and distributed

locally. As a result, the level of exports may bear little

relation to the volume distributed in the recipient

country. While an exported fi lm has an almost negligible

value at customs, the bulk of international exchanges

relating to its export are compiled in data from balance

of payments, in the form of receipts for royalties

and licences through copies, exhibition rights and

reproduction licence fees. Customs statistics provide

information about the country of origin and the country

of destination of each good. Unfortunately, the ‘cultural

origin’ of a cultural good is not easily identifi able. Only

limited information is available on the origin of the

cultural content of traded products. The rules applied

to origin and destination of imported and exported

products relate to the location of processing, but do not

specify the origin of its cultural content. It is possible

for the original work and its copies to be produced in

diff erent locations. For example, many fi lms created and

projected in country A may have been imported in the

form of release prints from country B, which benefi ts from

competitive laboratories that process at lower prices. In

trade recor ds, the products are declared as originating

from country B. However, from a cultural point of view,

country B is not considered to be the country of origin of

this product (UIS and UNESCO, 2005).

Diversity within nations: Internal diversity The diversity within a nation is expressed not just by

diversity of products but also by diversity of creators,

consumers and actors of cultural activities and products.

The study of diff erent social/ethnic groups, as well as

the use of languages, could be undertaken to assess

domestic diversity (gender, various social groups,

including people belonging to minorities or indigenous

for the exploitation of their ideas. As has been well

publicized, there are particular problems – mainly

argued on behalf of large corporations seeking to

protect their assets – associated with copying or theft.

At the same time, areas of culture that are untraded

may not develop a robust identifi cation of rights,

leaving them vulnerable to theft. This problem exists

in developing countries and often goes unreported,

posing a threat to the diversity of cultural expressions.

Furthermore, while the connections between

and ill-defi ned, intellectual property rights may have

a paradoxical eff ect on diversity, namely by either

enhancing it (fostering the creation of products

and their distribution) or depleting it (developing

new entry barriers for users). It could also accelerate

phenomena such as homogenization, where common

cultural patterns can be identifi ed around the world

(consumption of the same movies) or hybridization of

culture (new forms of culture).

Diversity between nations The dive rsity of cultural expressions can be studied by

looking at the types of dichotomy in the supply and

demand of cultural goods and services, as shown in

Table 1 below. Not all dichotomies in the diversity of

WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 2 0 29/09/09 12:1

A N N E X . 2 7 1

Statistical Annex

and comprises four sub-categories: learning about

traditional Maori customs, practices, history or beliefs;

visiting the ceremonial centre of a community, the

fore-court of a meeting house (marae); visiting sites of

historic importance to Maori; and viewing exhibitions

of Maori ancestral treasures. Statistics New Zealand

initiated the Cultural Experience Survey (CES) in 2002

as a supplement to its Household Labour Force Survey

(HLFS). The survey results provided the percentage of

the population involved in ethnic cultural activities.

Figure 4 below shows that more than two-thirds of

Maori adults experienced one or more Maori activities

during the 12 months before the survey. This level was

more than twice that for Europeans. A socio-economic

portrait of the adults experiencing at least one Maori

activity indicated that four out of ten of these adults

had a tertiary qualifi cation and more than 40 percent of

adults under 45 years of age experienced at least one

Maori experience, which was double the rate among the

population over 65 years of age.

Assessing the diversity of cultural expressions As discussed throughout this chapter, severe limitations

in current data render the measurement of cultural

activities problematic, and this holds even more for the

evaluation and assessment of changes in the diversity

peoples).8 Some countries are quite advanced in this

domain, such as Canada, the Netherlands and New

Zealand, where detailed social statistics are available

with data broken down by social/ethnic groups or types

of languages. This diversity can be studied by analyzing

diff erences or commonalities in cultural practices of

diff erent ethnic groups or by gender.

In New Zealand many analyses look at the

representation of minorities in diff erent cultural

practices. Statistics New Zealand has developed cultural

indicators to monitor trends in the cultural sector,

broken down into fi ve themes: engagement, cultural

identity, diversity, social cohesion, and economic

development. The indicators aim to measure whether

New Zealand’s growing cultural diversity is freely

expressed, respected and valued (MacKenzie, 2007). The

list of potential indicators is as follows:

■ Percentage of grants New Zealand’s national lottery

has distributed to arts and cultural activities for ethnic

organizations

■ Percentage of the population involved in ethnic

cultural activities

■ Level of minority cultural activities presented to wider

audiences

■ Proportion of local content on New Zealand television

■ Speakers of te Reo Māori

■ Involvement in community arts, culture and heritage

groups by members of ethnic groups that are not

Maori or New Zealand European.

Maori cultural heritage is an integral part of the New

Zealand Framework for Cultural Statistics. The fi rst

category of the Framework contains the category

Taonga tuku iho,9 which is exclusive to Maori culture

8. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

identifi ed the need to develop indicators relevant to indigenous peoples

and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The work undertaken by

the Working Group on Indicators of the International Indigenous Forum

on Biodiversity (IIFB) was set up by the Secretariat of the Convention on

Biological Diversity and is supported by the UNPFII. The IIFB has developed

indicators pertinent to indigenous peoples for assessing progress towards

the 2010 biodiversity target, which covers the status of traditional knowledge,

innovations and practices (CBD, 2008). The indicators relate to indigenous

rights, ‘enabling environments’, cultural practices and the use of traditional

languages.

9. Refers to valued items relative to Maori passed down from earlier

generations.

Figure A.5 Population of adults by ethnic group

experiencing Taonga Tuku Iho activity during the last 12 months

Source: Statistics New Zealand, 2003.

34 29

Adults Maoris Pacific people ethnic group

Europeans*

Percentage of adults

*UIS estimation

WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 2 1 29/09/09 12:19

2 7 2 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Françoise Benhamou and Stéphanie Peltier (2007) applied

Stirling’s model to the book publishing indu stry in

France, based on the defi nition of cultural diversity as ‘the

quantitative and qualitative diversity of the production

and consumption of cultural goods and services in a given

country’. They evaluated the supplied and consumed

diversity of that industry in terms of three categories:

title, genre and original language. The diff erentiation in

supplied and consumed diversity highlighted the fact

that while the choice of products can be quite large,

the products consumed can involve a smaller range, as

refl ected, for example, in the superstar phenomenon10

(Ranaivoson, 2007), which leads to less diversity.

The analysis of the linguistic origin of the books has led

to the observation that the share of books of foreign

origin in French publishing fell between 1997 and 2004.

But in the meantime, the pattern of distribution of books

of foreign origin has changed, with a decline of books

in English in favour of books from diff erent origins.

Nevertheless, the share of bestselling novels consumed

is still dominated by English/American literature. As

illustrated in Figure A.5, the variety of books supplied is

greater than the variety of books consumed.

There is still no clear common understanding or

defi nition of the diversity of cultural expressions, and

additional in-depth research projects need to be carried

out in other cultural sectors before any conclusions can

be drawn about the pertinence of this model. Cultural

expressions should be examined and measured at all

stages in the value chain, from production to distribution

to consumption, and include both commodifi ed cultural

goods and services and un-commodifi ed activities (e.g.

amateur practices or Internet use). The diversity of cultural

expressions should be measured at both the national

and the international levels. Relevant defi nitions for

the examination of social diversity need to be explicitly

debated. The enabling environment – that is, the

conditions that allow diversity to fl ourish – should also

be taken into account. Developments of these measures

should bear in mind policy relevance and the specifi c

needs of the countries concerned.

of cultural expressions (loss of diversity, endangered

languages, impact of globalization, etc.).

A basic theoretical model of diversity was developed

by Andrew Stirling (1998) and can be used to analyze

diversity, while drawing on developments in other fi elds

and tested in cultural domains such as publishing and

music. The model is based on three components:

■ Variety: Number of categories, cultural types (e.g. in book

publishing, it refers to diff erent genres of books, such as

literature, academic books, comics, art books, etc.)

■ Balance: Market share, frequency or any measure of

the proportion revealing the pattern in the distribution

of that quantity across the relevant categories (e.g.

percentage of academic books in a shop as compared

to the percentage of children’s books)

■ Disparity: Degree to which each category diff ers

from the others (e.g. is the distinction between adult

and children’s literature greater than that between

university and school textbooks?)

Disparity is more diffi cult to measure and can often

be subjective. Disparity of cultural expressions can be

captured as a distance defi ned between types within a

hierarchy. The application of this model would concentrate

on the fi rst two aspects of variety and balance.

10. ‘Superstars’ are products and producers that stimulate a great deal of

consumption and attract even more attention.

Figure A.6 Share of foreign literature in French book

publishing and in bestselling novels

Source: Benhamou and Peltier, 2007.

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Linguistic origin of bestselling novels in %

Titles from other foreign origin consumed English/American novels consumed Foreign titles in total titles published

WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 2 2 29/09/09 12:19

A N N E X . 2 7 3

Statistical Annex

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reference_library/publications/4740.aspx

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Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Hong

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Aff airs. http://www.keanet.eu/Ecoculture/Study%20

new.pdf

Lacroix, C. 2009. Statistiques de la culture. Chiff re clés.

Edition 2009. Paris, Ministère de la culture et de la

communication, Département des Etudes de la

Prospective et des Statistiques (DEPS).

MacKenzie, J. 2007. Best practices, methodologies and

approaches to measure the diversity of cultural expressions.

http://www.uis.unesco.org/template/pdf/cscl/Cultdiv/

McKenzie.pdf

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Expressions in Montreal, September. http://www.uis.

unesco.org/template/pdf/cscl/cultdiv/Ranaivoson.pdf

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WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 2 3 29/09/09 12:19

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A N N E X . 2 7 5

Statistical Annex

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2 7 6 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon,

Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo,

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial

Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,

Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi,

Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,

Saint Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles,

Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic

of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Central and South Asia

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,

Georgia, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan,

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

East Asia

Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region of China and Macao Special

Administrative Region of China), Indonesia, Japan, Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s

Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar,

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam.

Europe

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar,

Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia,

Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco,

Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,

Romania, the Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

North America

Canada, United States of America

Latin America and the Caribbean

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas,

Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin

Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba,

Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,

Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,

Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama,

Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent

and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks

and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Pacifi c

Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands,

Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue,

Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau,

Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Reader ‘s guide The following symbols and groupings are used in the

Statistical Tables:

Population Unless specifi ed, all of the indicators in the statistical tables

were calculated using the population estimates produced by

the United Nations Population Division in its 2006 revision.

Trade data Data for cultural trade in goods were extracted in June 2008

from the UN Comtrade database using the Harmonized

System (HS) classifi cation, version 1996.

Data on audiovisual and related services were extracted from

the IMF Balance of Payments Statistics in current US$. The

source of other services data is from the publication OECD

Statistics on International Trade in Services.

Regional averages Calculations for regional aggregates and the world were

done where data coverage was suffi cient to do so. Regional

fi gures for literacy rates, gross enrolment ratios, school life

expectancy are weighted averages, taking into account

the relative size of the population of each country in each

region. The averages are derived from both published data

and broad estimates for countries for which no reliable

publishable data are available.

The Glossary following the statistical tables defi nes the

concepts used in the tables.

Regional groupings The regional country groupings follow the UNESCO system

detailed by country groupings by geographical regions

(continents) and by geographical sub-regions. Some changes

have been made in order to fulfi l the purpose of this report.

Arab States

Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,

Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco,

Oman, Palestinian Autonomous Territories, Qatar, Saudi

Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab

Emirates, Yemen.

WRCD_ nne e_in .indd 2 6 29/09/09 12:19

A N N E X . 2 7 7

Statistical Annex

Ratifi cationa Year of Convention per Member State

Universal Copyright Convention (1952,1971)

Convention for the Protection of

Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1954)

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting

and Preventing the Illicit Import,

Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

(1970)

Convention Concerning the

Protection of the World Cultural

and Natural Heritage

(1972)

Second Protocol to the Hague Conven-

tion of 1954 for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1999)

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater

Cultural Heritage (2001)

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage

(2003)

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the

Diversity of Cultural Expressions

(2005)

Country or Territory

Arab States

Algeria 1973 1973 … 1974 1974 … … 2004 … Bahrain … … 2008 … 1991 2008 … … … Djibouti … … … … 2007 … … 2007 2006 Egypt … … 1955 1973 1974 2005 … 2005 2007 Iraq … … 1967 1973 1974 … … … … Jordan … … 1957 1974 1975 2009 … 2006 2007 Kuwait … … 1969 1972 2002 … … … 2007 Lebanon 1959 … 1960 1992 1983 … 2007 2007 … Libyan Arab Jamahiriya … … 1957 1973 1978 2001 2005 … … Mauritania … … … 1977 1981 … … 2006 … Morocco 1972 1975 1968 2003 1975 … … 2006 … Oman … … 1977 1978 1981 … … 2005 2007 Palestinian A.T. … … … … … … … … … Qatar … … 1973 1977 1984 2000 … 2008 2009 Saudi Arabia 1994 1994 1971 1976 1978 2007 … 2008 Sudan … … 1970 … 1974 … … 2008 2008 Syrian Arab Republic … … 1958 1975 1975 … … 2005 2008 Tunisia 1969 1975 1981 1975 1975 … 2009 2006 2007 United Arab Emirates … … … … 2001 … … 2005 … Yemen … … 1970 … 1980 … … 2007 …

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola … … … 1991 1991 … … … … Benin … … … … 1982 … … … 2007 Botswana … … 2002 … 1998 … … … … Burkina Faso … … 1969 1987 1987 … … 2006 2006 Burundi … … … … 1982 … … 2006 2008 Cameroon 1973 1973 1961 1972 1982 … … … 2006 Cape Verde … … … … 1988 … … … … Central African Republic … … … 1972 1980 … … 2004 … Chad … … 2008 2008 1999 … … 2008 2008 Comoros … … … … 2000 … … … … Congo … … … … 1987 … … … 2008 Congo (Dem. Rep.) … … 1961 1974 1974 … … … … Côte d'Ivoire … … 1980 1990 1981 … … 2006 2007 Equatorial Guinea … … 2003 … … 2003 … … … Eritrea … … 2004 … 2001 … … … … Ethiopia … … … … 1977 … … 2006 2008 Gabon … … 1961 2003 1986 2003 … 2004 2007 Gambia … … … … 1987 … … … … Ghana 1962 … 1960 … 1975 … … … … Guinea 1981 1981 1960 1979 1979 … … 2008 2008 Guinea-Bissau … … … … 2006 … … … … Kenya 1966 1974 … … 1991 … … 2007 2007 Lesotho … … … … 2003 … … 2008 … Liberia 1956 … … … 2002 … … … … Madagascar … … 1961 1989 1983 … … 2006 2006 Malawi 1965 … … … 1982 … … … … Mali … … 1961 1987 1977 … … 2005 2006 Mauritius 1970 … 2006 1978 1995 … … 2004 2006 Mozambique … … … … 1982 … … 2007 2007 Namibia … … … … 2000 … … 2007 2006 Niger 1989 1989 1976 1972 1974 2006 … 2007 2007 Nigeria 1961 … 1961 1972 1974 2005 2005 2005 2008 Rwanda 1989 1989 2000 2001 2000 … … … … Saint Helenac … … … … … … … … … Sao Tome and Principe … … … … 2006 … … 2006 … Senegal 1974 1974 1987 1984 1976 … … 2006 2006 Seychelles … … 2003 2004 1980 … … 2005 2008 Sierra Leone … … … … 2005 … … … … Somalia … … … … … … … … … South Africa … … 2003 2003 1997 … … … 2006

Table 1. Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO1

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2 7 8 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Table 1. Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO1

Ratifi cationa Year of Convention per Member State

Universal Copyright Convention (1952,1971)

Convention for the Protection of

Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1954)

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting

and Preventing the Illicit Import,

Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

(1970)

Convention Concerning the

Protection of the World Cultural

and Natural Heritage

(1972)

Second Protocol to the Hague Conven-

tion of 1954 for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1999)

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater

Cultural Heritage (2001)

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage

(2003)

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the

Diversity of Cultural Expressions

(2005)

Country or Territory

Swaziland … … … … 2005 … … … … Tanzania (United Rep.) … … 1971 1977 1977 … … … … Togo 2003 2003 … … 1998 … … 2009 2006 Uganda … … … … 1987 … … 2009 … Zambia 1965 … … 1985 1984 … … 2006 … Zimbabwe … … 1998 2006 1982 … … 2006 2008

Central and South Asia

Afghanistan … … … 2005 1979 … … 2009 2009 Armenia … … 1993 1993 1993 2006 … 2006 2007 Azerbaijan 1997 … 1993 1999 1993 2001 … 2007 … Bangladesh 1975 1975 2006 1987 1983 … … 2009 2007 Bhutan … … … 2002 2001 … … 2005 … Georgia … … 1992 1992 1992 … … 2008 2008 India 1957 1988 1958 1977 1977 … … 2005 2006 Iran (Islamic Rep.) … … 1959 1975 1975 2005 2009 2006 … Kazakhstan 1992 … 1997 … 1994 … … … … Kyrgyzstan … … 1995 1995 1995 … … 2006 … Maldives … … … … 1986 … … … … Nepal … … … 1976 1978 … … … … Pakistan 1954 … 1959 1981 1976 … … 2005 … Sri Lanka 1983 1983 2004 1981 1980 … … 2008 … Tajikistan 1992 … 1992 1992 1992 2006 … … 2007 Turkmenistan … … … … 1994 … … … … Uzbekistan … … 1996 1996 1993 … … 2008 …

East Asia

Brunei Darussalam … … … … … … … … … Cambodia 1953 … 1962 1972 1991 … 2007 2006 2007 China 1992 1992 2000 1989 1985 … … 2004 2007 Indonesia … … 1967 … 1989 … … 2007 … Japan 1956 1977 2007 2002 1992 2007 … 2004 … Korea (Dem. People's Rep.) … … … 1983 1998 … … 2009 … Korea (Rep.) 1987 1987 … 1983 1988 … … 2005 … Lao (People's Dem. Rep.) 1954 … … … 1987 … … … 2007 Malaysia … … 1960 … 1988 … … … … Mongolia … … 1964 1991 1990 … … 2005 2007 Myanmar … … 1956 … 1994 … … … … Philippines … … … … 1985 … … 2006 … Singapore … … … … … … … … … Thailand … … 1958 … 1987 … … … … Timor-Leste … … … … … … … … … Viet Nam … … … 2005 1987 … … 2005 2007

Europe

Albania 2003 2003 1960 2002 1989 … 2009 2006 2006 Andorra 1952 … … … 1997 … … … 2007 Austria 1957 1982 1964 … 1992 2002 … 2009 2006 Belarus 1994 … 1957 1988 1988 2000 … 2005 2006 Belgium 1960 … 1960 2009 1996 … … 2006 … Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 2009 2009 2009 2009 Bulgaria 1975 1975 1956 1971 1974 2000 2003 2006 2006 Croatia 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992 2006 2004 2005 2006 Cyprus 1990 1990 1964 1979 1975 2001 … 2006 2006 Czech Republic 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 2007 … 2009 … Denmark 1961 1979 2003 2003 1979 … … … 2006 Estonia … … 1995 1995 1995 2005 … 2006 2006 Finland 1963 1986 1994 1999 1987 2004 … … 2006 France 1955 1972 1957 1997 1975 … … 2006 2006 Germany 1955 1973 1967 2007 1976 … … … 2007 Gibraltar … … … … … … … … … Greece 1963 … 1981 1981 1981 2005 … 2007 2007 Holy Seec 1955 1980 1958 1982 … … … …

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 278 29/09/09 12:45

A N N E X . 2 7 9

Statistical Annex

Table 1. Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO1

Ratifi cationa Year of Convention per Member State

Universal Copyright Convention (1952,1971)

Convention for the Protection of

Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1954)

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting

and Preventing the Illicit Import,

Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

(1970)

Convention Concerning the

Protection of the World Cultural

and Natural Heritage

(1972)

Second Protocol to the Hague Conven-

tion of 1954 for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1999)

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater

Cultural Heritage (2001)

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage

(2003)

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the

Diversity of Cultural Expressions

(2005)

Country or Territory

Hungary 1970 1972 1956 1978 1985 2005 … 2006 2008 Iceland 1956 … … 2004 1995 … … 2005 2007 Ireland 1958 … … … 1991 … … … 2006 Israel 1955 … 1957 … 1999 … … … … Italy 1956 1979 1958 1978 1978 2009 … 2007 2007 Latvia … … 2003 … 1995 … … 2005 2007 Liechtenstein 1958 1999 1960 … … … … … … Lithuania … … 1998 1998 1992 2002 2006 2005 2006 Luxembourg 1955 … 1961 … 1983 2005 … 2006 2006 Macedonia (TFYR) 1997 1997 1997 1997 1997 2002 … 2006 2007 Malta 1968 … … … 1978 … … … 2006 Moldova (Rep.) 1997 … 1999 2007 2002 … … 2006 2006 Monaco 1955 1974 1957 … 1978 … … 2007 2006 Montenegro 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006 2007 2008 … 2008 Netherlands 1967 1985 1958 2009 1992 2007 … … … Norway 1962 1974 1961 2007 1977 … … 2007 2007 Poland 1976 1976 1956 1974 1976 … … … 2007 Portugal 1956 1981 2000 1985 1980 … 2006 2008 2007 Romania … … 1958 1993 1990 2006 2007 2006 2006 Russian Federation 1973 1994 1957 1988 1988 … … … … San Marino … … 1956 … 1991 … … … … Serbia 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2002 … … 2009 Slovakia 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 2004 2009 2006 2006 Slovenia 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992 2004 2008 2008 2006 Spain 1954 1974 1960 1986 1982 2001 2005 2006 2006 Sweden 1961 1973 1985 2003 1985 … … … 2006 Switzerland 1955 1993 1962 2003 1975 2004 … 2008 2008 Turkey … … 1965 1981 1983 … … 2006 … Ukraine 1994 … 1957 1988 1988 … 2006 2008 … United Kingdom 1957 1972 … 2002 1984 … … … 2007

North America

Canada 1962 … 1998 1978 1976 2005 … … 2005 United States of America 1954 1972 2009 1983 1973 … … … …

Latin America and the Caribbean

Anguillac … … … … … … … … … Antigua and Barbuda … … … … 1983 … … … … Argentina 1957 … 1989 1973 1978 2002 … 2006 2008 Aruba … … … … … … … … … Bahamas 1976 1976 … 1997 … … … … … Barbados 1983 1983 2002 2002 2002 2008 2008 2008 2008 Belize 1982 … … 1990 1990 … … 2007 … Bermudac … … … … … … … … … Bolivia 1989 1989 2004 1976 1976 … … 2006 2006 Brazil 1959 1975 1958 1973 1977 2005 … 2006 2007 British Virgin Islands … … … … … … … … … Cayman Islands … … … … … … … … … Chile … … 2008 … 1980 2008 … 2008 2007 Colombia 1976 1976 1998 1988 1983 … … 2008 … Costa Rica 1954 1979 1998 1996 1977 2003 … 2007 … Cuba 1957 … 1957 1980 1981 … 2008 2007 2007 Dominica … … … … 1995 … … 2005 … Dominican Republic 1983 1983 1960 1973 1985 2009 … 2006 … Ecuador 1957 1991 1956 1971 1975 2004 2006 2008 2006 El Salvador 1978 1978 2001 1978 1991 2002 … … … Grenada … … … 1992 1998 … 2009 2009 2009 Guatemala 1964 … 1985 1985 1979 2005 … 2006 2006 Guyana … … … … 1977 … … … … Haiti 1954 … … 1980 … … … … Honduras … … 2002 1979 1979 2003 … 2006 … Jamaica … … … … 1983 … … … 2007 Mexico 1957 1975 1956 1972 1984 2003 2006 2005 2006

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2 8 0 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Ratifi cationa Year of Convention per Member State

Universal Copyright Convention (1952,1971)

Convention for the Protection of

Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1954)

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting

and Preventing the Illicit Import,

Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

(1970)

Convention Concerning the

Protection of the World Cultural

and Natural Heritage

(1972)

Second Protocol to the Hague Conven-

tion of 1954 for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confl ict

(1999)

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater

Cultural Heritage (2001)

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage

(2003)

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the

Diversity of Cultural Expressions

(2005)

Country or Territory

Montserratc … … … … … … … … … Netherlands Antilles … … … … … … … … … Nicaragua 1961 … 1959 1977 1979 2001 … 2006 2009 Panama 1962 1980 1962 1973 1978 2001 2003 2004 2007 Paraguay 1961 … 2004 2004 1988 2004 2006 2006 2007 Peru 1963 1985 1989 1979 1982 2005 … 2005 2006 Saint Kitts and Nevis … … … … 1986 … … … … Saint Lucia … … … … 1991 … 2007 2007 2007 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

1985 1985 … … 2003 … … … …

Suriname … … … … 1997 … … … … Trinidad and Tobago 1988 1988 … … 2005 … … … … Turks and Caicos Islandsc … … … … … … … … … Uruguay 1993 1993 1999 1977 1989 2007 … 2007 2007 Venezuela 1966 1996 2005 2005 1990 … … 2007 …

Pacifi c

Australia 1969 1977 1984 1989 1974 … … … … Cook Islands … … … … 2009 … … … … Fiji 1971 … … … 1990 … … … … Kiribati … … … … 2000 … … … … Marshall Islands … … … … 2002 … … … … Micronesia (Fed. States) … … … … 2002 … … … … Nauru … … … … … … … … … New Zealand 1964 … 2008 2007 1984 … … … 2007 Niue … … … … 2001 … … … … Palau … … … … 2002 … … … … Papua New Guinea … … … … 1997 … … 2008 … Samoa … … … … 2001 … … … … Solomon Islands … … … … 1992 … … … … Tokelau … … … … … … … … … Tonga … … … … 2004 … … … … Tuvalu … … … … … … … … … Vanuatu … … … … 2002 … … … …

Total number of State Parties 99 65 123 117 186 53 26 114 98

% per regionb % of members or associate members having ratified the designated convention WORLD 50 33 62 59 93 26 13 56 49

Arab States 26 21 79 74 100 26 16 79 47 Sub-Saharan Africa 29 16 49 47 96 9 2 51 51 Central and South Asia 41 18 71 82 100 24 … 65 35 East Asia 31 19 50 44 81 6 6 56 31 Europe 89 56 91 76 100 46 26 65 78 North America 100 50 100 100 100 50 … … 50 Latin America and the Caribbean

62 43 54 59 86 43 22 62 46

Pacific 18 6 12 12 82 … … 6 6

Table 1. Ratifi cations of the seven cultural conventions of UNESCO1

Source: 1. Data extracted from UNESCO, Standard-Setting Instruments, as of 3 August 2009. For details, see

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12024&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Notes: a. Year of deposit of either ratifi cation, acceptance, accession or notifi cation of succession.

b. Calculated using the sum of UNESCO Member States per region.

c. Not a Member State of UNESCO.

… Data not available

. Not applicable

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 280 29/09/09 12:45

A N N E X . 2 8 1

Statistical Annex

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity1

World Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage

Properties included in the World Heritage Lista Tentative List (Properties

submitted for consideration)

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent

Safeguarding

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityg

Cultural Natural Mixed Total Endangered site

Before 1995

1995 and after

Country or Territory

Arab States

Algeria 6 . 1 7 . 7 . 6 The Ahellil of Gouara Bahrain 1 . . 1 . . 1 6 . Djibouti . . . . . . . . . Egypt 6 1 . 7 1 5 2 31 The Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah Epic Iraq 3 . . 3 2 1 2 7 The Iraqi Maqam Jordan 3 . . 3 . 2 1 16 The Cultural Space of the Bedu in Petra and Wadi Rum Kuwait . . . . . . . . . Lebanon 5 . . 5 . 4 1 9 . Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 5 . . 5 . 5 . . . Mauritania 1 1 . 2 . 1 1 3 .

Morocco 8 . . 8 . 3 5 14 The Cultural Space of Jemaa el Fna Square

The Moussem of Tan-Tan Oman 4 1b . 4 . 2 2 2 . Palestinian A. T. 1 . . 1 1 1 . . The Palestinian Hikaye Qatar . . . . . . . 2 . Saudi Arabia 1 . . 1 . . 1 2 . Sudan 1 . . 1 . . 1 7 . Syrian Arab Republic 5 . . 5 . 4 1 15 . Tunisia 7 1 . 8 . 7 1 4 . United Arab Emirates . . . . . . . 1 . Yemen 3 1 . 4 1 3 1 10 The Song of Sana'a

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola . . . . . . . 11 . Benin 1 . . 1 . 1 . 6 The Oral Heritage of Geledef (w/ Nigeria, Togo) Botswana 1 . . 1 . . 1 4 . Burkina Faso 1 . . 1 . . 1 5 . Burundi . . . . . . . 10 . Cameroon . 1 . 1 . 1 . 13 . Cape Verde 1 . . 1 . . 1 5 . Central African Republic . 1 . 1 1 1 . 10 The Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies of Central Africa Chad . . . . . . . 9 . Comoros . . . . . . . 4 . Congo . . . . . . . 5 . Congo (Dem. Rep.) . 5 . 5 5 4 1 3 .

Côte d'Ivoire . 3 . 3 2 3 . 4 The Gbofe of Afounkaha — the Music of the Transverse Trumps of

the Tagbana Community Equatorial Guinea . . . . . . . . . Eritrea . . . . . . . 1 . Ethiopia 7 1 . 8 1 7 1 2 . Gabon . . 1 1 . . 1 7 . Gambia 2 . . 2 . . 2 2 The Kankurang, Manding Initiatory Ritef (w/ Senegal) Ghana 2 . . 2 . 2 . 6 . Guinea . 1 . 1 1 1 . 3 The Cultural Space of Sosso-Bala Guinea-Bissau . . . . . . . 1 . Kenya 2 2 . 4 . . 4 6 . Lesotho . . . . . . . 2 . Liberia . . . . . . . . . Madagascar 1 2 . 3 . 1 2 7 The Woodcrafting Knowledge of the Zafimaniry

Malawi 1 1 . 2 . 1 1 3 The Vimbuza Healing Dance

The Gule Wamkuluf (w/ Mozambique, Zambia) Mali 3 . 1 4 . 3 1 9 The Cultural Space of the Yaaral and Degal Mauritius 2 . . 2 . . 2 1 .

Mozambique 1 . . 1 . 1 . 4 The Chopi Timbila

The Gule Wamkuluf (w/ Malawi, Zambia) Namibia 1 . . 1 . . 1 4 . Niger . 2 . 2 1 1 1 19 .

Nigeria 2 . . 2 . . 2 12 The Oral Heritage of Geledef (w/ Benin, Togo)

The Ifa Divination System Rwanda . . . . . . . . . Saint Helena . . . . . . . . . Sao Tome and Principe . . . . . . . . . Senegal 3 2 . 5 1 3 2 10 The Kankurang, Manding Initiatory Ritef (w/ Gambia) Seychelles . 2 . 2 . 2 . . .

The first elem ents included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding w

ill only be know n follow

ing the Fourth Session of the Intergovernm

ental Com m

ittee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to be held in Abu Dhabi from 28 Septem

ber to 2 O ctober 2009,

i.e. im m

ediately after the com pletion of this report. For updated inform

ation, please refer to http://w w

w .unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=hom

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 281 29/09/09 12:45

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=home

2 8 2 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity1

World Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage

Properties included in the World Heritage Lista Tentative List (Properties

submitted for consideration)

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent

Safeguarding

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityg

Cultural Natural Mixed Total Endangered site

Before 1995

1995 and after

Country or Territory

Sierra Leone . . . . . . . . . Somalia . . . . . . . . . South Africa 4 3 1 8 . . 8 10 . Swaziland . . . . . . . 1 . Tanzania (United Rep.) 3 4 . 7 1 5 2 7 . Togo 1 . . 1 . . 1 7 The Oral Heritage of Geledef (w/ Benin, Nigeria) Uganda 1 2 . 3 . 2 1 5 Barkcloth Making in Uganda

Zambia . 1 . 1 . 1 . 7 The Makishi Masquerade

The Gule Wamkuluf (w/ Malawi, Mozambique) Zimbabwe 3 2 . 5 . 4 1 1 The Mbende Jerusarema Dance

Central and South Asia

Afghanistan 2 . . 2 2 . 2 3 . Armenia 3 . . 3 . . 3 4 The Dukuk and its Music Azerbaijan 2 . . 2 . . 2 10 The Azerbaijani Mugham Bangladesh 2 1 . 3 . 2 1 5 Baul Songs Bhutan . . . . . . . . The Mask Dance of the Drums from Drametse Georgia 3 . . 3 1 2 1 15 Georgian Polyphonic Singing

India 22 5 . 27 1 21 6 27 Kutiyattam, Sanskrit Theatre

The Tradition of Vedic Chanting Ramlila — the Traditional Performance of the Ramayana

Iran (Islamic Rep.) 10 . . 10 1 3 7 59 . Kazakhstan 2 1 . 3 . . 3 11 . Kyrgyzstan 1 . . 1 . . 1 6 The Art of Akyns, Kyrgyz Epic Tellers Maldives . . . . . . . 1 . Nepal 2 2 . 4 . 3 1 15 . Pakistan 6 . . 6 1 5 1 18 . Sri Lanka 6 1 . 7 . 7 . 2 . Tajikistan . . . . . . . 17 Shashmaqom Musicf (w/ Uzbekistan) Turkmenistan 3 . . 3 . . 3 7 .

Uzbekistan 4 . . 4 . 2 2 30 The Cultural Space of the Boysun District

Shashmaqom Musicf (w/ Tajikistan)

East Asia

Brunei Darussalam . . . . . . . . .

Cambodia 2 . . 2 . 1 1 9 The Royal Ballet of Cambodia

Sbek Thom, Khmer Shadow Theatre

China 27 7 4 38 . 14 24 51

Kun Qu Opera The Guqin and its Music

The Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang Urtiin Duu — Traditional Folk Long Songf (w/ Mongolia)

Indonesia 3 4 . 7 . 4 3 24 The Wayang Puppet Theatre

The Indonesian Kris

Japan 11 3 . 14 . 5 9 12 Nôgaku Theatre

Ningyo Johruri Bunraku Puppet Theatre Kabuki Theatre

Korea (Dem. People's Rep.) 1 . . 1 . . 1 6 .

Korea (Rep.) 8 1 . 9 . . 9 7 The Royal Ancestral Ritual in the Jongmyo Shrine and its Music

The Pansori Epic Chant The Gangneung Danoje Festival

Lao (People's Dem. Rep.) 2 . . 2 . . 2 2 . Malaysia 1 2 . 3 . . 3 2 Mak Yong Theatre

Mongolia 1 1 . 2 . . 2 7 The Traditional Music of the Morin Khuur

Urtiin Duu — Traditional Folk Long Songf (w/ China) Myanmar . . . . . . . 8 .

Philippines 3 2 . 5 1 2 3 28 The Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao

The Darangen Epic of the Maranao People of Lake Lanao Singapore . . . . . . . . . Thailand 3 2 . 5 . 4 1 2 . Timor-Leste . . . . . . . . .

Viet Nam 3 2 . 5 . 2 3 7 Nha Nhac, Vietnamese Court Music

The Space of Gong Culture

Europe

Albania 2 . . 2 . 1 1 2 Albanian Folk Iso-polyphony

The first elem ents included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding w

ill only be know n follow

ing the Fourth Session of the Intergovernm

ental Com m

ittee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to be held in Abu Dhabi from 28 Septem

ber to 2 O ctober 2009,

i.e. im m

ediately after the com pletion of this report. For updated inform

ation, please refer to http://w w

w .unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=hom

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 282 29/09/09 12:45

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=home

A N N E X . 2 8 3

Statistical Annex

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity1

World Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage

Properties included in the World Heritage Lista Tentative List (Properties

submitted for consideration)

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent

Safeguarding

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityg

Cultural Natural Mixed Total Endangered site

Before 1995

1995 and after

Country or Territory

Andorra 1 . . 1 . . 1 2 . Austria 8 . . 8 . . 8 11 . Belarus 3 1 . 4 . 1 3 10 .

Belgium 10 . . 10 . . 10 16 The Carnival of Binche

Processional Giants and Dragons in Belgium and Francef (w/ France) Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 . . 2 . . 2 8 .

Bulgaria 7 2 . 9 . 9 . 14 The Bistritsa Babi — Archaic Polyphony, Dances and Rituals from

the Shoplouk Region Croatia 6 1 . 7 . 3 4 15 . Cyprus 3 . . 3 . 2 1 12 . Czech Republic 12 . . 12 . 4 8 15 Slovácko Verbŭnk, Recruit Dances Denmark 3 1 . 4 . 1 3 5 .

Estonia 2 . . 2 . . 2 4 The Kihnu Cultural Space

The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrationsf (w/ Latvia, Lithuania) Finland 6 1 . 7 . 3 4 6 . France 30 2 1 33 . 19 14 35 Processional Giants and Dragons in Belgium and Francef (w/ Belgium) Germany 32c 2 . 33 . 16 18 13 . Gibraltar . . . . . . . . . Greece 15 . 2 17 . 13 4 8 . Holy See 2 . . 2 . 2 . . . Hungary 7 1 . 8 . 2 6 11 . Iceland 1 1 . 2 . . 2 9 . Ireland 2 . . 2 . 1 1 8 . Israeld 6 . . 6 1 1 5 19 .

Italy 42 2 . 43 . 9 35 40 Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian Puppet Theatre Canto tenore, Sardinian Pastoral Songs

Latvia 2 . . 2 . . 2 5 The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrationsf (w/ Estonia, Lithuania) Liechtenstein . . . . . . . . .

Lithuania 4 . . 4 . 1 3 1 Cross-crafting and its Symbolism

The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrationsf (w/ Estonia, Latvia) Luxembourg 1 . . 1 . 1 . 2 . Macedonia (TFYR) . . 1 1 . 1 . 3 . Malta 3 . . 3 . 3 . 7 . Moldova (Rep.) 1 . . 1 . . 1 1 . Monaco . . . . . . . . . Montenegro 1 1 . 2 . 2 . . . Netherlands 7 1 . 8 . . 8 12 . Norway 6 1 . 7 . 4 3 5 . Poland 12 1 . 13 . 6 7 4 . Portugal 12 1 . 13 . 6 7 13 . Romania 6 1 . 7 . 4 3 14 Căluş Ritual

Russian Federation 15 8 . 23 . 8 15 25 The Cultural Space and Oral Culture of the Semeiskie

The Olonkho, Yakut Heroic Epos San Marino 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . Serbia 4 . . 4 1 2 2 5 . Slovakia 5 2 . 7 . 3 4 14 The Fujara and its Music Slovenia . 1 . 1 . 1 . 4 .

Spain 36 3 2 41 . 21 20 25 The Mystery Play of Elche

The Patum of Berga Sweden 12 1 1 14 . 5 9 2 . Switzerland 7 3 . 10 . 3 7 2 .

Turkey 7 . 2 9 . 8 1 23 The Arts of the Meddah, Public Storytellers

The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony Ukraine 3 1 . 4 . 1 3 14 . United Kingdom 23 4 1 28 . 14 14 16 .

. North America

Canada 6 9 . 15 . 10 5 9 . United States of America 8 12 . 20 . 18 2 14 .

. Latin America and the Caribbean

Anguilla . . . . . . . . . Antigua and Barbuda . . . . . . . . . Argentina 4 4 . 8 . 3 5 7 . Aruba . . . . . . . . .

The first elem ents included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding w

ill only be know n follow

ing the Fourth Session of the Intergovernm

ental Com m

ittee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to be held in Abu Dhabi from 28 Septem

ber to 2 O ctober 2009,

i.e. im m

ediately after the com pletion of this report. For updated inform

ation, please refer to http://w w

w .unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=hom

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 283 29/09/09 12:45

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=home

2 8 4 . I N V E S T I N G I N C U L T U R A L D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N T E R C U L T U R A L D I A L O G U E

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity1

World Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage

Properties included in the World Heritage Lista Tentative List (Properties

submitted for consideration)

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent

Safeguarding

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityg

Cultural Natural Mixed Total Endangered site

Before 1995

1995 and after

Country or Territory

Bahamas . . . . . . . . . Barbados . . . . . . . 3 .

Belize . 1 . 1 1 . 1 . Language, Dance and Music of the Garifunaf

(w/ Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) Bermuda . . . . . . . . .

Bolivia 5 1 . 6 . 3 3 6 The Carnival of Oruro

The Andean Cosmovision of the Kallawaya

Brazil 10 7 . 17 . 8 9 17 Oral and Graphic Expressions of the Wajapi The Samba de Roda of Recôncavo of Bahia

British Virgin Islands . . . . . . . . . Cayman Islands . . . . . . . . . Chile 5 . . 5 1 . 5 18 .

Colombia 4 2 . 6 1 2 4 6 The Carnival of Barranquilla

The Cultural Space of Palenque de San Basilio Costa Rica . 3 . 3 . 1 2 2 Oxherding and Oxcart Traditions in Costa Rica Cuba 7 2 . 9 . 2 7 3 La Tumba Francesa Dominica . 1 . 1 . . 1 . .

Dominican Republic 1 . . 1 . 1 . 14 The Cultural Space of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos

of Villa Mella The Cocolo Dance Drama Tradition Ecuador 2 2 . 4 1 3 1 6 The Oral Heritage and Cultural Manifestations of the Zápara Peoplef (w/ Peru) El Salvador 1 . . 1 . 1 . 6 . Grenada . . . . . . . 3 .

Guatemala 2 . 1 3 . 3 . 18 Language, Dance and Music of the Garifuna f (w/ Belize, Honduras,

Nicaragua) The Rabinal Achí Dance Drama Tradition Guyana . . . . . . . 5 . Haiti 1 . . 1 . 1 . 1 .

Honduras 1 1 . 2 . 2 . . Language, Dance and Music of the Garifuna f

(w/ Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua) Jamaica . . . . . . . 3 The Maroon Heritage of Moore Town Mexico 25 4 . 29 . 14 15 39 The Indigenous Festivity dedicated to the Dead Montserrat . . . . . . . . . Netherlands Antilles . . . . . . . . .

Nicaragua 1 . . 1 . . 1 6 Language, Dance and Music of the Garifunaf

(w/ Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) El Güegüense Panama 2 3 . 5 . 3 2 . . Paraguay 1 . . 1 . 1 . 4 .

Peru 7 2 2 11 1 9 2 5 The Oral Heritage and Cultural Manifestations of the Zápara Peoplef

(w/ Ecuador) Taquile and its Textile Art Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 . . 1 . . 1 2 . Saint Lucia . 1 . 1 . . 1 . . Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

. . . . . . . . .

Suriname 1 1 . 2 . . 2 1 . Trinidad and Tobago . . . . . . . . . Turks and Caicos Islands . . . . . . . . . Uruguay 1 . . 1 . . 1 3 . Venezuela 2 1 . 3 1 2 1 3 .

Pacifi c

Australia 2 11 4 17 . 11 6 2 . Cook Islands . . . . . . . . . Fiji . . . . . . . 4 . Kiribati . . . . . . . 1 . Marshall Islands . . . . . . . 4 . Micronesia (Fed. States) . . . . . . . 1 . Nauru . . . . . . . . . New Zealand . 2 1 3 . 2 1 8 . Niue . . . . . . . . . Palau . . . . . . . 5 . Papua New Guinea 1 . . 1 . . 1 7 . Samoa . . . . . . . 2 . Solomon Islands . 1 . 1 . . 1 2 . Tokelau . . . . . . . . . Tonga . . . . . . . 2 The Lakalaka, Dances and Sung Speeches of Tonga

The first elem ents included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding w

ill only be know n follow

ing the Fourth Session of the Intergovernm

ental Com m

ittee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to be held in Abu Dhabi from 28 Septem

ber to 2 O ctober 2009,

i.e. im m

ediately after the com pletion of this report. For updated inform

ation, please refer to http://w w

w .unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=hom

WRCD_ nne es2.indd 284 29/09/09 12:45

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=home

A N N E X . 2 8 5

Statistical Annex

Table 2. World Heritage sites and Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity1

World Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage

Properties included in the World Heritage Lista Tentative List (Properties

submitted for consideration)

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent

Safeguarding

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanityg

Cultural Natural Mixed Total Endangered site

Before 1995

1995 and after

Country or Territory

Tuvalu . . . . . . . . . Vanuatu 1 . . 1 . . 1 5 Vanuatu Sand Drawings

Regions

WORLDe 689 176 25 890 31 438 453 1,463

Arab States 60 4 1 65 5 45 20 135 Sub-Saharan Africa 43 35 3 81 12 44 37 226 Central and South Asia 68 10 0 78 6 45 33 230 East Asia 65 24 4 93 1 32 61 165 Europe 370 43 10 422 2 181 241 460 North America 14 21 0 35 0 28 7 23 Latin America and the Caribbean

84 36 3 123 6 59 64 181

Pacific 4 14 5 23 0 13 10 43

Source: 1. UNESCO, World Heritage Center, Intangible Cultural Heritage section, 2009. The table was generated

following the 33rd Session of the World Heritage Committee meeting of 22–30 June 2009 in Seville,

Spain.

Notes: a. The complete list of properties with description is available online at the UNESCO World Heritage

Center, http://whc.unesco.org.

b. Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman was delisted in 2007.

c. Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany was delisted in 2009.

d. Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls (listed in 1981) is included in both Israel and

Palestinian Autonomous Territories, but only within the Arab States region.

e. Transboundary properties counting for only one site.

f. Multinational masterpiece.

g. New elements will be incorporated in the Representative List on the occasion of the Fourth Session

of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to

be held in Abu Dhabi from 28 September to 2 October 2009 i.e. immediately after the completion

of this report. For updated information, please refer to http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.

php?pg=home.

… Data not available

. Not applicable

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