A Case Study on Intercultural Education in an Italian Public Library

Abstract

  This paper aims to draw a theoretical picture of the intercultural education practices observed in an Italian public library that was opened in 2007 in a suburb of Bologna city. Ethnography was adopted as the research method. It was carried out by the author alone from October 2011 till the end of 2013.

  Since the 1990s, the Italian Ministry of Public Education has approved interculturalism in its public education policy for immigrant children, and in 2007, the ministry published guidelines in which it declared its intention to open schools to intercultural dialogue and effect relevant changes.

  Some well-respected Italian researchers have pointed out that since the concept of intercultural education had been broadly introduced into schools over a 10-year timespan, the challenges experienced by schools during the introductory phase have already been overcome. Therefore, the next step should be to introduce society to this intercultural dialogue, which would mean advancing this dialogue both outside and after school hours.

  This, therefore, suggests that the after-school lives of immigrant children in Italy—a subject that is not well-researched—should be given special attention. Consequently, this study attempts to identify a public place to engage in intercultural education and theorize its concepts based on intercultural practices.

  The Casa di Khaoula (K-library), a public library with a multicultural mission, was found in a public report on “Cultural Consumptions of Foreign Citizens: Demand and Supply in Bologna Commune and Province” and chosen as the research subject of this study after several preliminary visits.

  The person responsible for the library explained that the mutual visibility among the community members is the basis on which an intercultural relationship is expected to develop. These statements are instrumental in ascertaining the principal framework of their practice.

  In this paper, the K-library’s objective of promoting mutual visibility is depicted by a cyclic model composed of three critical dimensions (i.e., inclusion, expression, and display) that have been observed in their practice.

  The three theoretical frameworks discussed below offer the main threads for an intercultural conceptual model. First, Hannah Arendt’s (1958; 1961) thoughts on adults’ responsibility toward their children, which are based on her theoretical division of public/private places, contribute to the model’s main plot. Arendt requires adults to introduce children to the world and protect children’s uniqueness and the world from any form of destruction.

  The K-library’s practices correspond with Arendt’s requirements—that is, it has implemented inclusive practices that allow children to access private spaces where they can satisfy their primal and common needs and expressive practices that allow children to express their uniqueness. In addition, the librarians display the children’s works while taking care not to cause harm to the children or the outside world.

  Second, expressive practices can be interpreted using the theory presented by Keiichi Noe (2005) on narrative action. Noe focuses on formality, which is intrinsic to narrative action, making it different from other types of linguistic actions such as saying and speaking. Throughout the K-library’s expressive practices, such characteristics of narrative action seem to support children who use the library to weave their own unique narratives. (View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)