Being in-between and nowhere: a Hermeneutic approach to negotiating transcultural and third space identities
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Transcultural hybrid identities; New cultural experience; Hermeneutic pedagogy.
ENEmerging global trends show that identity is becoming a multiple, fluid and changing complex construct. Diversity of social groups and their lifestyles reveals heterogeneity of cultural practices and identities. Under conditions of geographical and social mobility, insufficiency of traditional cultural concepts underlining homogeneity (concepts of single and homogenous culture) appears; it becomes important to find new conceptualisation of culture, reflect and address these changes by applying new concepts of identity and providing new guidelines for identity policy; on the other hand, to find proper educational approaches and strategies.The chapter reveals and describes practices how participants with different transcultural hybrid identities (student-migrants) create the "third space" through their interaction, where the fusion of different cultural horizons takes place and new cultural experience is gained by all participants (both students and teachers), all participants "enter a new cultural territory" and cross limits of own heterogeneous culture. When analysing diversity in the school classroom, the high potential of hermeneutic pedagogy has been revealed. Hermeneutic pedagogy encompasses understanding and interpretation practices when fusion of cultural horizons of students and teachers occurs through appropriate educational practices. Funding of the qualitative research presented in the article emphasize the need for negotiation and re-conceptualisation of the educational goals (what concept and type identity will be developed) at various levels - macro, mezzo and micro. [From the publication]
