Methodological interculturalism: breaking down epistemological barriers around diversity management

Abstract

As part of the post-multicultural era, transnationalism, super-diversity, cosmopolitanism and solidarity develop a sense of awareness to live in a complex society. This requests us to identify the epistemological barriers preventing us to produce new knowledge, since there is a raising consciousness that these new frameworks cannot be addressed with old policy maps. All share the need to go beyond methodological nationalism, and one of its by-products: multiculturalism. Methodological interculturalism is a promising epistemological lens through which to cluster this new diversity geography. It is a direct answer to the key question, what happens when the unit of analysis from which we argue about “how to live together” is diversity itself rather than a supposed us/we/unity/ majority/state/nation lens. The outcome is the recognition that super-diversity and transnationalism is a fact that we need to incorporate into our public culture, together with new normative claims of justice related to cosmopolitanism and solidarity.