Globalisation, Nation-Building, and Cultural Identity: The Role of Intercultural Dialogue*

Abstract

Recent global events depicting violence, conflicts, and war demonstrate the need for a more visible paradigm of intercultural dialogue in comparative education research [1]. Such a paradigm needs to focus more on emerging significant issues in intercultural and cross-cultural understanding globally, affecting identity politics, liberty, and democracy. Informed and balanced intercultural dialogue can help us to define, explain, and critique what is achievable, especially within the current imperatives of globalisation, the politics of change, and education reforms (Bourdieu & Passeron 1990). The chapter explores the problematic relationship surrounding globalisation, intercultural dialogue, and the State against the background of comparative education research and a clash of civilizations (Appadurai, 1990, Robertson, 1992, Huntington, 1996, Arnove & Torres, 1999, Carnoy 1999, Stiglitz, 2002, Zajda, 2005, 2007). The chapter is an attempt to answer the following question: How can we contribute to the creation of a more peaceful, equitable, and just society for everyone?