Cosmopolitan culture for peace

Cultures are hybrid, they have always been like streams, flowing to form rivers, embedding elements of one another, riddling the surface of the earth with gracious flows. Similarly, cultures are not fixed, they follow mixed logics, drawing their strength precisely from those differences and accidents of their paths around the globe.

What makes the reality of our shared and interconnected experiences of the world, both practical and symbolic, is always the result of different encounters, contributions and mindsets. Thus, every cultural identity is influenced by various elements, resulting in a rich tapestry of traditions, beliefs, and practices that evolve over time through interactions and exchanges.

As Min-Sun Kim has put it: “One’s relationship with the Other is better as difference than as sameness. The very possibility of love arises from the existence of an other that cannot be reduced to oneself or digested into sameness” (Min-Sun Kim, Elsevier online, 2012.) She further explained that perspectives which tried to reduce the other to an assimilated identity had de facto chosen perspectives that hid an ethnocentrism anxious to annihilate the different ways of elaborating identities.

In her call for a mindful acknowledgment of differences, Min-Sun Kim appeals for “adopting the perspective of Thou Shalt not Kill in our intercultural research, welcoming the Other rather than trying to manage or dissolve it”.

In this perspective the new Pope Leo’s call to media professionals to choose words for a world in peace rather than one at war echoes this call for an intercultural identity. The new pope has urged reporters to choose coverages “that do not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it”. 

Combining these perspectives could mark an interesting perspective to grow out of the conundrums of our complex identities, shaken and well stirred like perfects cosmopolitans.

Melissa Pignatelli

Cited work:

Min-Sun Kim, World peace through intercultural research: From a research culture of war to a research culture of peace,  published by Elsevier in International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 3-1, link here

Recipe for a perfect cosmopolitan drink