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Call for Papers "Defending Cultural Diversity" 5th International Congress on Culture and Development Cuban Ministry of Culture Havana International Conference Center Havana (Cuba) 11-14 June 2007 __________________________________________________ In a planet diminished by mundialization, the voices of the excluded people begin to be listened to. The participative will in the recognition of the diverse identities is opposed to the passive cultural consumerism. It seems that the corporate transnacionalization imposes, without any other alternative, the unidirectional message by controlling the information and the powerful cultural industries with the establishment of life styles and the manipulation of the fertile creation of the popular imagination. As a new expression of violence, the homogenizing trend threatens to kill cultural diversity and disappear the raison d être of all nations and the different sectors coexisting in all of them. However, the resistance begins to take shape. The autochthonous peoples claim for their rights to preserve their languages and life styles. The Afro-Descendants claim their identity profile and their place in society. Women and homosexuals fight for the elimination of discriminatory barriers. The effects of neoliberalism lead to the recovery of a solidary neighboring spirit , while the South is becoming part of the North with the uncontrollable power of migrations. In those circumstances, culture becomes a reason for resistance and participative will. This emerging reality requires study, debate, analysis and reflection to set a diagnosis adjusted to the contemporaneous needs. It is not a question of making another unique speech, but to discover the real dynamics in the multiplicity of our voices from different ambits, of contrasting and complementary practices: from academic practice and experience of our precarious cultural industries, from speeches of those excluded people, of those who carry the autochthonous cultures and from the base organizations of popular education. Today, defending cultural diversity is equivalent to preserving the future of humankind. The International Congress on Culture and Development to be held from June 11 to 14, 2007 will offer the opportunity for this ineluctable debate that will take place at the Havana International Conference Center, Cuba. Starting from the recognition of the authentic value of the relation between Culture and Development and having as main topic: Defending cultural diversity, this Congress is aimed at: - Favoring reflection, debate and exchange of ideas on the recognition of the cultural plurality and the diversity of its expressions, the culture of resistance, the cultural processes and development in a globalized world that urgently needs to preserve its cultures. - Favoring the analysis of the role of cultural industries, technological changes and cultural services and products commercialization. - Encouraging the exchange of ideas and projects to foster human creativity facing current challenges. - Promoting the search for common tendencies and the coordination of strategies and projects to foster cultural development by means of cooperation. The deadline for the submission of papers and abstracts will be on March 20, 2007. Contact: Enrique Gutiérrez Menéndez Yamile Deriche Redondo Centro Nacional de Superación para la Cultura Calle 15 No. 754 e/ Paseo y 2 Vedado La Habana, C.P. 10400 Cuba Tel: +53 (7) 8302336 Fax: +53 (7) 552301 / 662283 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.cultydes.cult.cu/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
