Us and Them, the foreigners

The “other” exists only in our subconsciousness and the faster we can perceive it, the closer we will be to perceiving ourselves as well.

Are different. They draw attention because they have another color of hair, eyes, skin, another height, posture and even sometimes another way of being. They speak another language that at first builds an invisible barrier between us and them.

Sometimes they try to speak ours, but as it sounds strange, the barrier does not disappear, and remains firm because not only the voice and appearance build it. They eat at other times, irritate restaurant owners by asking if they can have lunch at our snack time, at breakfast they eat tomato and before lunch they drink coffee. Foreigners, because we talk about them, have a chaotic, curious look but also a somewhat lost air.

Does it scare you or arouse curiosity? Definitely a little of both. Being different has two aspects: scary and attractive. Human beings have always had the tendency to fear the “other”. It is understandable because even in primates, the unknown meant danger, which forced them to maintain a suspicious posture. But… the centuries passed and the human being, in addition to maintaining his instinct of distrust, realized that knowing the “other” is the first step towards his own development. From there came the concept that revolutionized our era: Interculturality.

What does the word Interculturality mean? They are the different cultures and social, ethnic, religious groups that live in the same territory and lead life in common, entering into open, regular and constant interactions accompanied by exchange and mutual respect, understanding of life styles, acceptance of norms and values. of others who allow a harmonious formation to be built through differences. Diversity is considered an important factor in social, political and economic development.

Contemporary Reality is undoubtedly intercultural, as everything around us is changing at the speed of light. Today's world is developing with every passing second and it craves to achieve much more. New technologies allow us to go beyond borders in every sense of the word. People have to know how to live in the intercultural world. And where should we, people, learn to deal with the rules of this reality if not interacting with the other.

If we look at Portuguese gastronomy, what would our cuisine be if the navigators hadn't brought spices from the various corners of the world. The same happened in the arts, music, literature, technology, among others. The world has become a global village, university and business exchanges have promoted intercultural education and technologies have facilitated communication between communities. This made us realize that actually “the other” exists only in our subconsciousness and the faster we can perceive it, the closer we will be to perceiving ourselves as well.

“Your God is Jewish, your music is black, your car is Japanese, your pizza is Italian, your gas is Algerian, your coffee is Brazilian, your democracy is Greek, your numbers are Arab, the your lyrics are latin. I am your neighbor. And you still call me a foreigner?” – Eduardo Galeano, The Story Hunter.

 

Author: Anna Kosmider Leal is an anthropologist and linguist, founder of the foreign language teaching platform speakingParrot.net.
In 2004, he graduated in Ethnolinguistics, specializing in English/Portuguese languages ​​at the department of Neophilology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.
In 2005, he completed a Postgraduate Degree in European Administration at the same University.
In 2014, he completed his PhD in Social Sciences – Specialty in Anthropology – at the Fernando Pessoa University, in Porto, Portugal.
Since 2000, she has worked as a foreign language reader, since 2005 as a university lecturer and translator. Teaching at ISCE since 2015.

 

 

 



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