Sociology of Intercultural Relations

Globalization processes, international migration and the challenges of nationalisms, racisms and xenophobia makes particularly important acquiring the capacity to read the complexity of contemporary intercultural relationships. Aim of the course is to provide the theoretical and methodological tools to understand the social, cultural and institutional dynamics shaping intercultural relationships in various context. Attention will be devoted, in particular, on practices and relationships taking place in the everyday life.
Starting from the definition of some key concepts such as those of culture, cultural difference, membership, ethnicity, race and racism, the course aim at providing practical and conceptual competences to overcome an essentialist vision of culture.
The first part of the course will introduce the theme of intercultural relationships in general terms by showing ho the symbolic construction of the Other is always conditioned by power dynamics which contribute to (re)produce inequalities, together with social class and gender. The theme of racism will be analysed on the basis of post-colonial reflections and interrogating the role of media and of the political use of 'cultural difference'.
The second part of the course will use concepts and theories explored previously to examine the way through which intercultural relationships take place within educational contexts. Intersectionality perspective will be used to examine they way through which ethnicity and race intersect class and gender lines of social divisions to shape students school and university experiences; research on intercultural relationships in the school context will be analysed; a reflection on institutional settings will be developed; and an analysis of the socio-emotional aspects of racialization within educational context will be explored.
In this part of the course students will be called to develop team works and a flipped classed didactic model will be used together with traditional frontal lessons.

The main themes of the first part will be the following:
1. introduction to the sociology of intercultural relationships: basic concepts
2. National identity, ethnic identity and imagined communities
3. globalization and cultural processes
4. cosmopolitanism and transnationalism
5. racism
6. the role of the media in the tautology of fear
7. meanings of multiculturalism
8. Intersectionality perspective

Main themes of the second part:
1. Introduction to social research methods
2. Culture, power and educational system
3. Inequalities in education
4. Research on school segregation
5. Bourdieu and the concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and field
6. Intercultural relationships at school and at university
7. Family-school relationships
8. The school and university experiences through the lens of Bourdieu and of the Intersectionality perspective