

























































Education and Culture: Pluralism in the Age of Globalization


5

Elementa
Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology 
and Empirical Perspectives

3 
(2023) 

1-2

The Gift

Edited by Francesco Fistetti

Francesco Fistetti
Editorial – What Is the Gift Paradigm? A Reading Guide 7

First Section

Alain Caillé
Recent Extensions of the Gift 15

Jacques T. Godbout
The Enduring Relevance of Mauss’ Essai sur le don 43

Francesco Fistetti
The Gift Paradigm: Towards a Science of “total social facts” 59

Annalisa Caputo
Ricœur, Gift and Poetics 81

Second Section

Andreana Lavanga - Francesco Sulla
Praise as a Gift in the Relationship between Teachers 93 
and Their Students

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6

Anna Daniela Savino
The Gift of Desire: The “inner voice” between Neuroscience 105 
and Theory of Attachment

Various

Roberta Baldini - Maria Grazia Mada Logrieco
The Gifted Student: Gifts and Talents Development 125

Alessandro De Santis - Stefania Fantinelli
Digital Well-Being as a New Kind of Adaptation 135 
to the New Millennium Needs: A State-of-the-Art Analysis

Salvatore Iuso - Pia Marinaro
Education and Culture: Pluralism in the Age of Globalization 153

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153

Education and Culture: Pluralism 
in the Age of Globalization
Salvatore Iuso - Pia Marinaro
Università degli Studi di Foggia (Italy)

doi: https://doi.org/10.7358/elementa-2023-0102-iuma
 salvatore.iuso@unifg.it
 pia.marinaro@unifg.it

Abstract

In an era increasingly characterized by pluralism and globalization, intercultural peda-
gogy represents a starting point for addressing the challenges that today’s society confronts 
us with daily. Throughout history, cultures have changed through interactions, exchanges, 
and hybridization, leading to the formation of an increasingly pluralistic and multicul-
tural society. Against this background, it is crucial to develop approaches based on dia-
logue and mutual recognition. However, acceptance and willingness to encounter require 
an educational path that is promoted by schools from childhood, especially in view of the 
monocultural mentality that too often characterizes more and more people and prevents 
the opening of a path that counteracts ethnocentrism in favor of a broader perspective. 
From this point of view, intercultural pedagogy proves to be the only approach that can 
guarantee the formation of individuals ready to create a truly multicultural society.

Keywords: diversity; education; globalisation; identity; interculturality; intercul-
tural pedagogy; monocultural mind; multiculturality; plural mind; plural society. 

1. Identity and diversity

Although every culture has been modified and hybridized in its relations 
with other cultures since the earliest times (Ceruti, 2018), today, of course, 
we live in a present increasingly characterized by a web of dense relations 
between individuals and cultures. We are talking, of course, about the pro-
cess of globalization which, starting from the economic sphere, has rapidly 
spread to practically all areas of society, bringing together contexts that 

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would have had nothing to do with each other just a few years ago. The 
contact between even distant geographical areas, increasingly facilitated by 
technology, has made possible the development of a plural society made 
up of cultures that intertwine and influence each other, so that borders are 
becoming increasingly blurred. Interactions and hybridizations between 
cultures, forms of spirituality, and heterogeneous forms of knowledge now 
seem to occur with significant frequency even in the everyday experiences 
of many individuals and communities (Ceruti, 2018). 

In a society made up of diversity, i.e. something with which, will-
ingly or unwillingly, we will have to live with every day (Balslev & Rorty, 
2001), it is indeed essential to develop behaviours that respect diversity 
and thus the person, in a dialogical approach that makes it possible to 
create a relationship that can be both similar and different, recognizing 
in the other a being that is similar to us in its human essence and at the 
same time different because he or she is the bearer of new qualities, every 
human being thus carries a dual aspect of the human being – it is not rigid, 
static and fixed once and for all, but dynamic, mobile, changeable, subject 
to ups and downs depending on the external context, the needs of the 
moment, the expectations of the environment and even our state of mind 
and age (Kapuściński, 2006). It is, in this sense, a principle of recognition 
and valorisation (Ellerani, 2014) that does not stop at the cognitive level 
alone, but rather presupposes a profound change affecting the emotional 
level capable of shaping all those involved.

We must ask ourselves, at this point, how personal and cultural iden-
tity is formed in relation to diversity. If it is true, in fact, that both parties 
involved are called upon to reflect on their own culture and to choose how 
to relate to the other, then it becomes sacrosanct to understand that it is 
impossible not to be contaminated by the other with whom a relationship 
is woven, but that on the contrary, it is necessary to undertake a lifelong 
learning process capable of educating individuals who live in a mestizo cul-
ture. Acceptance, welcome, and readiness to meet are not to be understood 
as automatic approaches but must be developed by accompanying the 
subject in a path that favours intercultural communication that makes dia-
logue possible, understood as speaking with others, since the intercultural 
experience is such only if the ego of each subject expands in the direction of 
the other, making room for his or her point of view (Nanni & Abbruciati, 
1999). Only by entering into a relationship with this assumption will it be 
possible to embark on the path that leads to the profound transformation 
of the individual. 

As mentioned, however, it is good to remember that, at the time of 
the encounter, everyone brings with them a cultural habitus that inevitably 

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shapes and moulds them: is the fruit of a relationship, of one or more 
relationships that the individual weaves in the course of his or her history. 
Precisely because of these characteristics, i.e. the need to consider identity 
as plural and dynamic, it would be wrong to believe that it lacks coher-
ence simply because it is characterized by being full of so many facets. 
At the same time, it would also be wrong to want to constrain it into 
static boundaries with the fear that, in crossing them, one will encounter 
some kind of threat. When the individual is reduced – or is forced to be 
reduced – to only one of its many facets of identity, then one runs into a 
fatalist conception whereby it is what it is from birth, and therefore cannot 
transform or evolve. If this were the case, then, as Amartya Sen would 
say, we would be dealing with a society based on solitary affiliation (Sen, 
2006), in which the subject is from the beginning bound to traits inherited 
from his habitus with no possibility of choice and no power to change. 
This solitarist approach is belied, however, by the faculty of rational sci-
ence, which allows the individual to decide which affiliations to attach 
greater importance to. 

It is precisely the plurality of the individual that makes this choice 
possible: giving priority to one belonging does not mean, however, totally 
erasing other identities or failing to recognize them as bearers of value. It 
means, instead, making a decision on the exact weight that identity holds 
for him/her in relation to the importance of other categories to which, at 
the same time, it belongs (Sen, 2006) in a context that protects cultural 
freedom in such a way as to make the development of diversity possible.

2. Navigating different mindsets in contemporary age

When related to culture, identity can take on an ambivalent character. 
While it is true that a strong sense of one’s own identity improves life 
within the community (Sen, 2006) and intensifies relations with one’s 
neighbour, it is also true that solidarity with members of one’s own group 
can turn into hostility towards others. Mind, this does not mean that iden-
tity should be eliminated, and it is indeed essential to preserve the sense of 
pride one feels in being part of a group, but it is necessary to bear in mind 
that this must not become a source of violence and terror (Sen, 2006) 
since a culture that is completely closed in on itself and self-sufficient is 
conceptually and historically meaningless (Nanni & Abbruciati, 1999). As 
mentioned at the outset, cultures have always been in contact with each 
other for commercial and social reasons: deciding what the boundaries are 
therefore becomes a purely political need, and consequently, the relations 

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between cultures are influenced precisely by the encounter/confrontation 
that each one has with the others, reaching degrees of success when differ-
ences have come together to address common problems, which has gener-
ated a space for innovative confrontation.

When it comes to educational processes and identity formation, the 
school becomes a protagonist as a focal centre of exchange for all the indi-
viduals who benefit from it. In recent decades, there has been an increase 
in foreign pupils in Italian schools. We are talking about individuals who 
have arrived in Italy or were born in our country of foreign parents: espe-
cially in the latter case, it is easy for them to question their own identity, 
split as it is between the environment in which they grow up and that in 
which they live. This splitting, very often, is experienced with conflict, as 
it is difficult for the person experiencing it to be adequately accompanied 
in his or her path of growth and discovery of his or her own identity: in 
these cases, a situation is created in which the person believes he or she has 
to make a transition both of growth – from childhood to adolescence to 
adulthood – and of integration within the society in which he or she lives, 
which, at least in some aspects, will necessarily be different – and often 
even distant – from the one in which the family raised him or her. 

It is the school, at this juncture, that is called to the front line to 
provide concrete support to the student who never feels completely at his 
or her place. Since confrontation with otherness, in fact, makes it possible 
to understand how one’s own point of view is not unique and inescap-
able, the school and its pedagogical project are indispensable in a learning 
process aimed at elaborating an idea of plural identity and multiple selves, 
for which a multidimensional, plurilingual and pluricultural educational 
itinerary can be outlined; on the other, it is aimed at elaborating an idea 
of interculture, for which to hypothesize and construct a network of insti-
tutional collaborations with a view to a system of competent and appro-
priately integrated social, cultural and educational offers (Pinto Minerva, 
2002). The pedagogical project we are talking about, in this case, is one 
that enables the search for new forms, tools, and opportunities capable of 
forming the basis of a constructive and creative dialogue for the creation 
of a society that can truly call itself multicultural. To form such a context, 
however, we must start from the grassroots. 

When we speak of interculturality, we must necessarily first define 
the concept of pluralism, since the cognitive matrix of intercultural educa-
tion is plurality and its natural enemy is single thinking, homologation as 
a process of wiping out differences and the triumph of monoculturalism 
(Pinto Minerva, 2002). In short, we are talking about a complex system 
that repudiates in every way monocultural categories, which are unsuit-

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able for understanding reality and interacting with other individuals. The 
mind must be educated to a complex system that must, however, also be 
intercultural, that is, able to cope with the problems that reality poses 
every day. When we speak of complex thinking, however, we mean above 
all a thinking that binds, on the one hand contextualizing, i.e. linking to 
the context, and on the other hand trying to understand what a system is 
(Morin, 1999).

A monocultural mindset indicates a deep involvement in one’s own 
culture, leading one to believe that the world is limited to this one perspec-
tive. This is, as we have said, a problematic approach to say the least, since it 
tends to cause limited thinking about one’s own culture and that of others. 
The monocultural mentality, in short, causes the individual to think of 
his own as a superior culture, homogenizing all others and consequently 
ignoring the peculiarities that make each society unique and worthy of 
being placed on the same level. This type of approach, moreover, very often 
leads to the loss of a vast heritage of knowledge and traditions that, not 
being properly preserved and handed down, risk falling into oblivion and 
disappearing from common knowledge.

3. Pedagogical approaches for an intercultural mind

Today, unfortunately, we are witnessing the entrenchment of this type 
of mentality: even though tradition has been handing down continuous 
exchanges since the dawn of humanity, it is also true that societies have 
always had discriminatory and closed attitudes towards cultures that might 
appear different or distant from their own. This closure leads individuals to 
remain imprisoned in a static state that does not allow meaningful dialogue 
between cultures, preventing the full development of globality. The multi-
cultural mindset, from this perspective, proves to be advantageous in that 
it profoundly transforms the mental structure. It is a mindset that is open, 
flexible, and ready to face multiple situations, which can offer degrees of 
freedom and flexibility unimaginable by those who are locked in a mono-
cultural mindset (Anolli, 2006). It is a mindset that knows how to interact 
with other cultures precisely because it is able to recognize the partiality of 
its own point of view, placing itself in an attitude of curiosity and openness 
towards cultures. The confrontation between different models of thought 
offers a wide range of possibilities and freedom in exploring the potential 
of existence. The openness of the multicultural mindset also implies the 
acquisition of different systems of meaning, allowing the construction of 
additional paths of meaning.

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Intercultural communication requires first and foremost mutual 
acceptance and should be seen both as a response to the social challenges of 
contemporary society and as an ethical and cognitive task. The first aspect 
is practical and relates to current issues in the world, including the accept-
ance of migrants, dialogue, and cooperation in learning. 

Dialogue, in particular, is a fundamental tool to combat racism and 
fear of diversity, provided it is guided by rationality and reasoning. It is a 
challenging task that requires one to move forward toward one’s neighbour 
in order to understand and approach him, but at the same time, it also 
requires one to take a step back by reflecting on one’s beliefs without aban-
doning them or considering them relativistically equivalent to all others. 
This balance is essential to appreciate diversity without homologising it 
with other differences, because not all differences are equal. It is therefore 
a challenge for a new model of culture, radically different from the tradi-
tional one – Western or Greek-Christian-bourgeois – and able to review 
the foundations of this model and propose new ones (Cambi, 2001), in 
order to overcome ethnocentrism through a positive approach that pro-
motes tolerance and rational choices, replacing the emphasis on belonging 
and place. From a theoretical point of view, interculturalism challenges the 
ever-changing mindset of Western man, which constantly tests the prac-
tices he is confronted with and his resistance. This challenge requires con-
stant adaptation in order not to fall into the closed paradigms from which 
one wants to distance oneself. It is a matter of challenging tradition and the 
cultural habitus based on primary identity in order to foster new cognitive 
and ethical attitudes, which is a challenging thing to do and meets with 
deep resistance that seeks to preserve old models.

The pedagogical frontier is dynamic, in a complex process stretching 
between the present and the future. Interculture contributes to developing 
an ecological, inclusive, and dialogical pedagogical approach, based on the 
principles of equality, emancipation, non-violence, and difference. Peda-
gogy recognizes its importance but knows it cannot meet this challenge 
alone; therefore, it draws on other disciplines such as anthropology, sociol-
ogy, psychology, and philosophy, promoting their interaction. Pedagogy 
focuses not only on how to deal with different cultures but also on how 
to facilitate encounters between them, regulating and orienting dialogue 
towards listening. Pedagogy stands as the core of the ever-evolving ration-
alization of interculture, aiming at constructive communication. This chal-
lenge embraces the uncertainty of outcomes, which is intrinsic to the very 
nature of pedagogy, both as pedagogical action and as “project knowledge”.

The individual must rethink himself, redefine himself without fixed 
boundaries, embracing complexity, pluralism, and a new, decentralized per-

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spective. His approach to the world must be flexible, adaptable, free, and ori-
ented towards dynamic experiences. Likewise, culture must evolve towards 
a pluralistic and decentralized perspective, breaking away from the rigidity 
of simplification and systematization. It must open itself to hybridization 
and creativity and manifest itself in different forms, moments, and ways. 
Furthermore, society must reorganize itself as a pluralistic society without 
a central point of reference that values individuality in its many possibili-
ties. Intercultural pedagogy starts from the complexity that characterizes 
each culture and each individual. It recognizes the plural and multicultural 
nature of each of us and values and supports not only the diversity between 
individuals but also the diversity within individuals (Ceruti, 2018). 

In this age of pluralism and complexity, it is essential to outline the 
fundamentals of pedagogy, because schools are facing new challenges and 
cannot improvise educational paths or take routes whose outcomes they 
do not know. The significant changes initiated in the third millennium 
require adequate preparation to cope with the increasing mobility of people 
and languages. Interculturality represents a paradigm shift that abandons 
the monocultural pedagogical approach in favour of a recognition-based 
thinking that opens up different pedagogical perspectives. Intercultural 
pedagogy is a way of thinking that starts from cultural specificity but inte-
grates a dimension of universality through sharing common elements. This 
pedagogy is open to exploring the possible and does not follow a prede-
fined approach. It is primarily a relational pedagogy that focuses on the 
relationships between people from different cultures in order to develop a 
formative practice. 

4. Conclusions

Intercultural education should be seen as an integral and structural part 
of the educational process, not limited to the context, but fundamental 
for dealing with the complexity of contemporary reality on a conceptual 
and educational level. This type of pedagogy should integrate complex-
ity, overcome seemingly irreconcilable differences, and serve as a space to 
explore intercultural dynamics in the relationship with meanings and in 
the creation of codes and symbolic heritages of reference.

Individuals must also learn to deal with both external influences and 
their own potential and to explore independently the risks and opportuni-
ties associated with their choices. Education should be seen as a continu-
ous learning path. The educational goal for each individual should be the 
realization of their best form in life by reaching the maximum of their 

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potential. Education aims at autonomy, and an example for that could be 
the ability to self-regulate, and it is based on the surrounding culture and 
environment while taking into account individual characteristics and dif-
ferences, adapts the educational method to the needs and learning styles of 
each learner in order to make it effective and meaningful in a context of 
lifelong learning, and is able to accompany individuals throughout their 
lives and support them through any obstacles they may face.

References

Anolli, L. (2006). La mente multiculturale. Roma - Bari: Laterza.
Balslev, A. N. (1991). Cultural otherness: Correspondence with Richard Rorty. New 

Delhi: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, in collaboration with Munshi-
ram Manohar Lal. Trad. it. e Introd. di S. Di Morini, Noi e loro. Milano: 
il Saggiatore.

Cambi, F. (2001). Intercultura: fondamenti pedagogici. Roma: Carocci.
Ceruti, M. (2018). Il tempo della complessità. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
Ellerani, P. (A cura di). (2014). Intercultura come progetto pedagogico. Lecce: Pensa 

MultiMedia.
Iotti, D. (2004). Le competenze interculturali per la formazione. Milano: Franco-

Angeli.
Kapuściński, R. (2006). Ten inny. Kraków: Spoleczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak.
Lupoli, N. (A cura di). (2010). Patrimoni identitari e dialogo interculturale. Milano: 

FrancoAngeli.
Milano, M. (2017). A scuola di competenze interculturali. Metodi e pratiche pedago-

giche per l’inclusione scolastica. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Morin, E. (1999). La tête bien faite. Paris: Seuil.
Nanni, A., & Abbruciati, S. (1999). Per capire l’interculturalità. Parole-chiave. Bo -

logna: Editrice Missionaria Italiana.
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& Company.

Riassunto

In un’era sempre più caratterizzata dal pluralismo e dalla globalizzazione, la pedagogia 
interculturale si pone quale punto di partenza per affrontare le sfide a cui la società 
odierna ci mette davanti ogni giorno. Le culture, nel corso della storia, si sono modificate 

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grazie a interazioni, scambi e ibridazioni, che hanno portato alla formazione di una 
società sempre più pluralistica e multiculturale. Risulta quindi fondamentale, dato il 
contesto, sviluppare approcci basati sul dialogo e sul riconoscimento reciproco. L’accetta-
zione, l’accoglienza e la disponibilità all’incontro richiedono però un percorso educativo 
promosso dalla scuola sin dall’infanzia, soprattutto considerando la mentalità monocul-
turale che troppo spesso caratterizza sempre più individui, precludendo l’apertura di una 
strada che contrasti l’etnocentrismo a favore di una prospettiva più ampia. La pedagogia 
interculturale, in quest’ottica, si dimostra l’unico approccio in grado di garantire la for-
mazione di individui disponibili alla creazione di una vera società multiculturale. 

Copyright (©) 2023 Salvatore Iuso, Pia Marinaro 
Editorial format and graphical layout: copyright (©) LED Edizioni Universitarie

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 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite this paper:
Iuso, S., & Marinaro, P. (2023). Education and culture: Pluralism in the age of globalization. 
Elementa. Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology and Empirical Perspectives, 3(1-2), 
153-161. doi: https://doi.org/10.7358/elementa-2023-0102-iuma

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	Elementa_3-2023-1-2_00b_Sommario.pdf
	Editorial
	What Is the Gift Paradigm?
A Reading Guide

	First Section
	Recent Extensions of the Gift
	The Enduring Relevance
of Mauss’ Essai sur le don
	The Gift Paradigm: Towards a Science of “total social facts”
	Ricœur, Gift and Poetics

	Second Section
	Praise as a Gift in the Relationship between Teachers and Their Students
	The Gift of Desire: The “inner voice” between Neuroscience and Theory
of Attachment

	Various
	The Gifted Student: Gifts and Talents Development
	Digital Well-Being as a New Kind
of Adaptation to the New Millennium Needs: A State-of-the-Art Analysis
	Education and Culture: Pluralism
in the Age of Globalization



