Intercultural and international understandings: Non-centric knowledge and curriculum in Asia

Abstract

The experiences of many Asian countries indicate that culture has been a force for coexistence and for conflict. It has acted as a bridge making intercultural understandings possible as well as embodying a potential for dissonance. In many polities the majority cultures have tended to control resources in areas where minority communities reside and isolate them from social development of their communities and the markers of identity and cultural differences within Asian nation states.