Autobiography of intercultural encounters

Book excerpt: A tool for developing intercultural competence and facilitating the emergence of intercultural citizenship in those who use it. In the contemporary world, encounters with people from other cultural backgrounds have become part of our everyday lives. These intercultural encounters may be used as an opportunity to learn about other cultures, to develop our capacities for effective and respectful communication, to think about our own cultural affiliations and to reflect on ways in which we might take action for the common good. The Autobiography of intercultural encounters (AIE) is an educational resource that can be used by learners to achieve all of these outcomes. It supports learners in thinking about and learning from intercultural encounters that they have experienced either face to face, through visual media (such as television, films, magazines) or through the internet. Revised and updated editions of the various versions of the AIE that have been developed can be found in three separate volumes which accompany the present volume. The present volume contains two accompanying papers, “Context, concepts and theories” and “Concepts for discussion”. The former discusses the policy context and conceptual and theoretical issues relating to intercultural encounters and is intended for readers who wish to understand the ideas that underlie the design of the AIE. The latter provides less technical discussions of key concepts related to culture, identity and intercultural encounters and can be used with learners in upper secondary education or the early years of higher education and in non-formal and informal education.