Philosophy of Culture and Intercultural Dialogue

Teacher(s)

Maesschalck Marc;

Language

French
> English-friendly

Content

Course taught by Prof. Marc Maesschalck,
Q2 2026-2027


The philosophy of interculturality begins with a change of landscape. Thinkers of the diaspora play the role of smuggler. Their concepts take on a hegemonic language and culture, they express themselves from a non-place concerning realities they have displaced far from themselves and their certainties. But through insistence and metamorphoses, through exorcism and fidelity emerges a kind of philosopher that creates a passage between the traumatic density of the real and the desire of relation with the other. Saying, writing, caring and teaching become so many acts that create ways of “de-identification” and that invite one to revisit the question of method through which thought opens itself up to situations that orient feeling. From Antillean writers, particularly Fanon and Glissant, to the Canadian-Burundian author Mbonimpa or the Cameroonian Eboussi Boulaga, a methodical and lived out passage is drawn up toward a resolutely intercultural thought, not only by what it says, but by its own act of self-creation.
These thinkers share the diasporic reference to historic communities that serve as archetypes throughout the narrative of struggle and the interpretation of cultural symbols. The course will strive to determine the common points and issues in a philosophy of interculturality that emanates from these trajectories, with specific recourse to the theoretical frameworks of Rita Segato and Catherine Walsh. The guiding idea of this reinterpretation is that the narratives that diasporic authors refer to create a kind of third space in which a counter-pedagogy to the traumatic narrative becomes possible, initially through a passage to a meta-narrative that allows for the unlearning of cultural presuppositions, then for the engagement in counter-narrative experimentation, of which the aesthetic manifestations can vary and which ultimately signal a post-traumatic revival of the relation to others.

Teaching methods

The sessions will alternate between thematic lectures and text discussions. 
Specific sessions analysing more significant works will also be offered.

Evaluation methods

Continuous assessment consisting of a series of intermediate exercises set during the semester and a final summary exercise, used to produce a self-assessment of the proposed course. 

Other information

Lecture notes and supplementary articles are provided on the Moodle website as the sessions progress.

Bibliography

Bibliographie


Alvarez Villarreal L. M. et Marc Maesschalck (eds) (2023), Pluraliser les lieux : Séminaire « Penser les décolonisations », EuroPhilosophie Éditions, Toulouse.
Chamoiseau P. (1997), Écrire en pays dominé, Gallimard, Paris.
Chamoiseau P. (ed.) (1994), Écrire la parole de nuit. La nouvelle littérature antillaise, Gallimard, Paris.
Eboussi Boulaga F. (2014), Kisukidi N. Y., « Poursuivre le dialogue des lieux », in Rue Descartes, Vol. 81, n°2, pp. 84-101,
Fanon, Fr. (2011), Œuvres, Peau noire, masques blancs / L'An V de la révolution algérienne / Les damnés de la terre / Pour la révolution africaine, La Découverte, Paris
Fanon, Fr. (2015), Écrits sur l’aliénation et la liberté, La Découverte, Paris.
Glissant Ed. (1997), Le Discours antillais, Paris, Gallimard, Paris.
Glissant Ed. (2009), Philosophie de la Relation. Poésie en étendue, Gallimard, Paris.
Glissant Ed. (1997), Traité du Tout-Monde. Poétique IV, Paris, Gallimard.
Lindberg, Y. (2018), « L’(im)mobilité de l’oeuvre de Melchior Mbonimpa et l’esquive de la world literature », in Nordic Journal of Francophone Studies/Revue nordique des études francophones, 1(1), pp. 62–76, DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/rnef.6
Maesschalck, M. (2021), Maesschalck M., « La interculturalidad frente a la opción decolonial: subjetivación y desobediencia », in Utopía Y Praxis Latinoamericana, vol. 26, n°93, pp. 278-299.
Matthieu R. (2011), Frantz Fanon. De l'anticolonialisme à la critique postcoloniale, Amsterdam.
Mbonimpa, M. (2001), Le Totem des Baranda, Prise de parole, Sudbury.
Mbonimpa, M. (2003), Le Dernier roi faiseur de pluie, Prise de parole, Sudbury.
Mbonimpa, M. (2006), Les Morts ne sont pas morts, Prise de parole, Sudbury.
Walsh C. (2009), Interculturalidad, Estado, Sociedad : Luchas (de)coloniales de nuestra época, Abya-Yala, Quito.
Segato R. (2018), Contra-pedagogías de la crueldad, Prometeo Libros, Buenos Aires.
Segato R. (2022), The Critique of Coloniality, Eight Essays, Routledge, London.
Walsh C. (2015),« Decolonial pedagogies walking and asking. Notes to Paulo Freire from AbyaYala », in International Journal of Lifelong Education, vol. 34, n°1, pp. 9-21.
Walsh C.(2017), Entretejiendo lo pedagógico y lo decolonial: luchas, caminos y siembras de reflexión-acción para resistir, (re)existir y (re)vivir, alter/nativas, Columbus.

Faculty or entity

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