Transculturality

The term transculturality is a social concept of culture studies that – originally used in Latin and Anglo-American areas – is increasingly finding its way into European discourse (cf. Lüsebrink 2012, 19). Coming from the Latin trans „over, beyond“ and cultus „cared for, worked on,“ transculturalism describes phenomena and processes of cultural boundary crossing that can lead to the softening or dissolution of cultural boundaries (cf. Richter 2011, 27).

Transculturality according to Welsch.

„The concept of transculturality denotes this changed condition of cultures and attempts to draw the necessary conceptual and normative consequences from it“ (Welsch 1995, 42). The philosopher Wolfgang Welsch defined and coined the term transculturality for the German-speaking world for the first time in the 1990s: „Our cultures have de facto long since ceased to take the form of homogeneity and separateness, but are characterized by mixture and interpenetration right down to their core. I call this new form of cultures transcultural, because it goes beyond the traditional concept of culture and crosses traditional cultural boundaries as a matter of course. The concept of transculturality seeks to bring this changed cultural constitution into the light“ (Welsch 1997, 4). Thus, for the first time, he established a concept of culture with a network character in contrast to earlier, monolithic approaches.

Internal pluralization and external border crossing

In distinction to multiculturalism and interculturalism, the term transculturality describes neither ‚living side by side‘ nor ‚living together‘. Rather, transcultural processes generate new qualities of culture through mutual influence, which manifest themselves in the individual in the form of plural cultural identities (cf. Otiz 1947, 97 f.). Often, but not necessarily, transcultural processes develop an intercultural to integrative dynamic (cf. Lüsebrink 2012, 20).

Transculturality understands cultures more as diffuse, mutually influencing and changing systems of rules than as static, geopolitically delimited orders.

Literature

Otiz, Fernando (1947): The social phenomenon of „Transculturation“ and its Importance. In: ders. (ed.): Cuban Counterpoint. Tobacco and Sugar. Durham/ London: Duke University Press, 97-103.

Lüsebrink, Hans-Jürgen (2012): Intercultural Communication. Interaction, foreign perception, cultural transfer. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler.

Richter, Nina (2011): Third Culture Kids. Transcultural childhood and youth experiences. Marburg: Tetum.

Welsch, Wolfgang (1995): Transculturality. On the changing constitution of contemporary cultures. In: Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ed.): Migration and Cultural Change. Focus of the Journal for Cultural Exchange. Vol. 1/45, Stuttgart, 39-44. http:// www.forum-interkultur.net/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf (2006).

Welsch, Wolfgang (1997): The changing constitution of contemporary cultures.