TRANSCULTURALITY AND BEYOND: THE CASE OF “LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2037-3597/29066Abstract
In this article, transculturality will be given due credit for drawing attention to changing conditions for culture formation in a globalized modernity. However, a less optimistic picture will be drawn by highlighting the shortcomings of early positions and by suggesting alternative concepts going beyond the confines of this approach. As regards alternative positions, references will be made to cosmopolitan, global citizenship-related, posthumanist and ecocritical perspectives. Moreover, the question will be raised whether transculturality as suggested in the 1990s still is a timely model for cultural learning in the current decade. In conceptual debates ideas often remain abstract and divorced from concrete realities. Therefore, the following reflections will be linked to Leo Lionni’s Little Blue and Little Yellow, a book for very young children, first published in 1959. The book vividly shows how a certain notion of transculturality works, and it can illustrate in simple terms a highly abstract concept.
La transculturalità e oltre: il caso di “Little Blue and Little Yellow”
In questo articolo, alla transculturalità verrà riconosciuto il merito di aver attirato l’attenzione sulle mutate condizioni di formazione della cultura in una modernità globalizzata. Tuttavia, verrà tracciato un quadro meno ottimistico, evidenziando le carenze delle prime posizioni e suggerendo concetti alternativi che superano i confini di questo approccio. Per quanto riguarda le posizioni alternative, si farà riferimento a prospettive cosmopolite, legate alla cittadinanza globale, postumaniste ed ecocritiche. Inoltre, ci si chiederà se la transculturalità, come suggerito negli anni Novanta, sia ancora un modello attuale per l’apprendimento culturale nel decennio in corso. Nei dibattiti concettuali le idee rimangono spesso astratte e avulse dalle realtà concrete. Pertanto, le riflessioni che seguono saranno collegate a Piccolo blu e piccolo giallo di Leo Lionni, un libro per bambini molto piccoli, pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1959. Il libro mostra in modo vivido come funziona una certa nozione di transculturalità e può illustrare in termini semplici un concetto altamente astratto.
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