Entgrenzung durch Grenzen: zur Pluralisierung von Kultur

Abstract

In an age characterised by globalisation, there is an inherent contradiction between, on the one hand, the theory-driven deconstruction of cultural boundaries and, on the other, the perpetuation of cultural classifications that are founded in patterns shaped by real-life practice - and this is a contradiction that creates conflicts between some of the fundamental concepts used in cultural studies disciplines. Culture is in this sense often described in the distinctive borders of nations or as a dynamical entity, where differences and intercultural comparisons are unworkable. In an attempt to overcome this discrepancy, we will present a new approach to defining what constitutes culture, an approach that comprehends culture as something intimately related to a specific spatial context and area of research interest. This enables us to undertake a variable regionalisation of cultural characteristics, with the aid of which archetypal paradigms and modes of action rooted in prevailing spatial concepts can be investigated. The pluralisation of such cultural regions helps us to break out of a way of thinking that is shaped by pre-defined cultural areas and provides us with a conceptional alternative with which the nation-state approach to Intercultural Communication can be supplemented.

Jörg Scheffer beschreibt kulturelle Kategorisierungen als Praxis der Grenzziehung. Da sich diese auf ein vorgegebenes Arsenal räumlich-semantischer Vorkategorisierungen bezieht, ist sie für eine Kulturwirklichkeit außerhalb dieser Einteilungen strukturell blind. Sein "selektives Kulturkonzept" sieht stattdessen eine Verortung von Kollektiven vor, die interessenabhängig den aktuellen kulturellen Gegebenheiten Konturen verleihen. Kultur folgt dabei nicht mehr räumlichen Einteilungen sondern umgekehrt.