Culturality, representation and self-representation

Abstract

In their research centre, the authors have elaborated a framework of reference that deals with identities and conflict. The analytical framework that has been developed distinguishes three different levels of extension: the action of the individual, the group and the community. On these three levels, identities are constructed based on three dimensions: personality, sociality and culturality. The model that they propose is deliberately non-essentialist, dynamic andmultiple; and it has been used in a series of descriptions (from Latin America to Europe: Pinxten & Verstraete, 1998; Pinxten, Verstraete & Longman, 2004). The framework of analytical reference comes necessarily before any ideological analysis, since discourses on identity (cultural identity in particular) now form an integrated part of present-day political life.

Keywords

• cultural studies
• cultural identities
• interculturality
• conflict
• community