Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Cultural Studies - Basics and Definitions, grade: 1,3, University of Heidelberg (Philosophische Fakultät), course: Urbanism; Place-Making, language: English, abstract: The times when a politician could rely on references to a stable, homogenized notions of his place and hope to reach his citizens have long been over. Nowadays, the idea of a culture or identity of a place as unchanging, homogenous to the inside and clearly delimited to the outside, has not only been overcome, but also considered as invalid for any moment in time. This paper tries to outline a possible version of transcultural notions of space. The main point is to raise different perspectives and possibly find a solution for conflicts which concepts such as multiculturalism were not able to solve. First, this paper intends to define transcultural space as it might and would be interpreted in this work. This involves the characteristics, the areas where a transcultural perspective could be particularly useful and the attempt at a working definition. The second section copes with transcultural space in itself, the opportunities it offers, where it might contribute to place-making and urban research and also its limits which have to be mentioned. The third section applies transcultural space perceptions to place, namely Macau. A very short case study investigates if, where and in how far a place can be considered transcultural. The conclusion then summarizes and finalizes the paper.

Of 'Contact Zones' and 'Liminal Spaces' introduces the publication series 'Diversity / Diversité / Diversität' of the International Research Training Group (IRTG) Diversity (Trier/Montreal/Saarbrücken). The contributions to this volume address core concepts and research perspectives of our interdisciplinary research group. The IRTG Diversity focuses on a comparative and historically situated analysis of discourses and representations of diversity and cultural pluralism in North America and Europe. The empirical research published in this volume demonstrates how these discourses and representations of diversity create overlapping zones of geographical and chronological reach. These overlapping and highly dynamic zones bear the characteristics of 'contact zones' and 'liminal spaces'. However, they receive their social and cultural dynamism from everyday practices of cultural translation. Contributors: Ursula Lehmkuhl (Trier), Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Saarbrücken), Laurence McFalls (Montreal), Ludger Pries (Bochum), Régine Robin (Montreal/Paris), Philipp Rousseau (Montreal), Werner Schiffauer (Frankfurt/O.), Bertrand Westphal (Limoges).

Globalisation trends have increased the transnational flows of cultural goods, media products and information, as well as human transnational migration. This publication considers how these developments are leading to greater and more complex patterns of diversity which are transnational and transcultural in nature, functioning across national frontiers and therefore creating new challenges for national policy frameworks, as well as for the role of the Council of Europe in this new transnational policy landscape.

Communicating in the Third Space aims to clarify Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of the third space of enunciation by reconstructing its philosophical, sociological, geographical, and political meaning with attention to the special advantages and ambiguities that arise as it is applied in practical--as well as theoretical--contexts. The idea of "third space" conceives the encounter of two distinct and unequal social groups as taking place in a special third space of enunciation where culture is disseminated and displaced from the interacting groups, making way for the invention of a hybrid identity, whereby these two groups conceive themselves to partake in a common identity relating to shared space and common dialogue. The essays collected in Communicating in the Third Space--including a preface by Bhabha himself--brilliantly introduce readers to this exciting topic in Cultural and Post-Colonial theory and offers insightful elaboration and critique of the meaning and relevance of life in the "third space." With a preface by Homi K. Bhabha.

In Spaces of Culture an international group of scholars examines the implications of questions such as: What is culture? What is the relationship between social structure and culture in a globalized and networked world? Do critical perspectives still apply, or does the speed and complexity of cultural production demand new forms of analysis? They explore the key themes in social theory: the nation state; the city; modernity and reflexivity; post-Fordism and the spatial logic of the informational city. The contributors go on to analyze the public sphere, questioning the reductive representation of technology as a form of instrumentality, and demonstrating how new technologies can offer new spaces of culture. This analysis of public space is essential to an understanding of issues like global citizenship and multicultural human rights.

Public opinion in recent years has soured on multiculturalism, due in large part to fears of radical Islam. In Multiculturalism without Culture, Anne Phillips contends that critics misrepresent culture as the explanation of everything individuals from minority and non-Western groups do. She puts forward a defense of multiculturalism that dispenses with notions of culture, instead placing individuals themselves at its core. Multiculturalism has been blamed for encouraging the oppression of women--forced marriages, female genital cutting, school girls wearing the hijab. Many critics opportunistically deploy gender equality to justify the retreat from multiculturalism, hijacking the equality agenda to perpetuate cultural stereotypes. Phillips informs her argument with the feminist insistence on recognizing women as agents, and defends her position using an unusually broad range of literature, including political theory, philosophy, feminist theory, law, and anthropology. She argues that critics and proponents alike exaggerate the unity, distinctness, and intractability of cultures, thereby encouraging a perception of men and women as dupes constrained by cultural dictates. Opponents of multiculturalism may think the argument against accommodating cultural difference is over and won, but they are wrong. Phillips believes multiculturalism still has an important role to play in achieving greater social equality. In this book, she offers a new way of addressing dilemmas of justice and equality in multiethnic, multicultural societies, intervening at this critical moment when so many Western countries are poised to abandon multiculturalism.

The rapid changes currently taking place in our urban, political and institutional environments have shifted spatial practice to centre stage both in civic life and academic research. Social networking, political projects, cross-border movements, artistic interventions, urban and environmental initiatives, self-organized educational practices - all articulate the challenges involved in organizing the spaces we share. In this volume, visual culture scholars from around the world discuss the »practical turn« in different fields of critical engagement, proposing fresh ways to assert an interpenetrated space of research and intervention.

1. 2 Culture and Identity in a Postmodern World Michel Foucault’s statement that: “The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space. We are in the epoch of simultaneity; we are in the epoch of juxtaposition” (M. Foucault 1986: 22) heralded a new approach to identity in the contemporary world by suggesting that one’s identity is formed not as a result of the cultural and national values and history one has inherited, but rather as a result of the different spaces through which one travels. In other words, one’s identity is no longer perceived as an inherited construct but rather as something flexible that changes as one moves through the more fluid spaces of the contemporary, globalized world and internalizes a mixture of the different cultures and ideas that one encounters. The idealized contemporary traveller will thus effortlessly cross national and cultural borders and negotiate a constantly changing and flexible identity for himself. Andy Bennett argues that it is no longer even possible to conceive of identity as a static entity, forged from a communal history and value system, because all of the traditional certainties on which identity formation were based in the past have been fatally undermined by a postmodernist flux and fluidity: “Once clearly demarcated by relatively static and ethnically homogenous communities, the ‘spaces’ and ‘places’ of everyday life are now highly pluralistic and contested, and are constantly being defined and redefined through processes of relocation and cultural hybridisation” (A.

Since the late 1970s, there has been an increase in the study of diversity, inclusion, race, and ethnicity within the field of counseling. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Multicultural Counseling, Social Justice, and Advocacy will comprehensively synthesize a wide range of terms, concepts, ideologies, groups, and organizations through a diverse lens. This encyclopedia will include entries on a wide range of topics relative to multicultural counseling, social justice and advocacy, and the experiences of diverse groups. The encyclopedia will consist of approximately 600 signed entries, arranged alphabetically within four volumes.