“Whenever I meet a foreigner I have always the same feeling. I am meeting another member of the human family. This attitude has deepened my affection and respect for all beings.” — Dalai Lama
ABSTRACT
…a study of the heterogeneous aspects of intercultural unions in the beginning of the 21st century.
In the traditional, monocultural societies the motif of death and rebirth regularly appears: The death of an era, a monocultural norm and, thus the homogeneous society. And rebirth of a new conception of the new human condition, this time a heterogeneous, intercultural one.
A world where travel, a globalised market and the influence of digital culture etc synergizes with the improvised daily lives of intercultural couples around the globe. Couples that deviating from ordinary forms or rules of relating, create a new reality, a new lifestyle of symbiosis !
Everything moves with lightning speed, ever changing and contributing to bring closer people from different backgrounds, from heterogeneous origins, from divers parts of the globe…
Love succeeds in overcoming the obstacles of ethnic limitations. A new energy that is not concerned by visas and has no regard for passports, circulates in this new era, inciting & bringing transformations. It flows across international borders connecting people from different origins, cultures and, languages, promoting the intercultural unions!!!
These people, especially their children, are the architects of a different world. They are the ambassadors of global peace, and the diplomats of universal love. They are the creators of a less racist, more creative, less conservative, more compassionate way of life. They follow their own paths by improvising their lives. Their lives unite different concepts, norms, values, patterns, behaviors, ideas, and philosophies…
Influenced both by the West as well as by the East they love change, transformation and mutations. ‘Synthesis’ is their motto. They approach life in a more universal, heterogeneous, non-prejudiced, eclectic, subtle and more refined way. They are the creators of a new approach of Being.
In our era, we are witness what is the beginning of a regeneration of the human race through synthesis of the East and West, the North and South, and through a union of different worlds, cultures, languages, accents, dialects.
Everything is changing, moving, flowing and nothing is what it appears to be…
Reaching new places by unknown paths
1st of October 1987, Paris, France: The birth of a beautiful soul, Felix, my beloved son. His father’s origin is French, mine is Greek, Felix is more than Franco/Greek…I feel blessed!
25th of May 1994, University of Paris VIII, in Paris, France: defense of my doctoral thesis in front of a scientific committee of Academics, researchers, psychologists, educators, psycholinguists and psychoanalysts specializing in interculturalism. At that time, my writing was more academic, the thinking more rational, the context strictly inquiring. The public was also more specialized.
12th of April 2012, Athens, Greece: “publication” of my book ‘Ωδή στη Διαφορετικότητα’ in Greek (trans.in English, ‘Ode to Alterity’). Seventeen years after the completion of my PhD Thesis the language of my work is ‘untied’, from ‘foreigner’ (French) it became maternal (Greek) and from academic more ‘intimate’ (to include the heart). The way of thinking has changed as well, from rational it became more spiritual (to include the Divine).
The “journey” lasted 25 years; the work remained in gestation from 1987 until 2012. I entrust it to you! “Shrinking”, from roughly 3000 pages to the only 300 reach now in your hands.
Departure point of this edition is the dynamics of the intercultural unions. They constitute a challenge on the intimate level by devising a new dimension that recognizes the heterogeneous, new and original ways of approaching the miscegenation. These ‘hybrid’ unions tend to evolve into a more general attitude. Within the framework of a more flexible approach, which offers a new meaning to the content of love and intimacy, communication, learning, education, the acceptance of diversity and alterity.
Throughout the pages of this study it becomes evident why a person that wishes to remain different has the right to accomplish this. Like the children of the intercultural couples who are the architects of a different world. They are the ambassadors of global peace, and the diplomats of universal love. They are the creators of a less racist, more creative, less conservative, more compassionate way of life. They follow their own paths by improvising their lives. Their lives unite different concepts, norms, values, patterns, behaviors, ideas, and philosophies…
Influenced both by the West as well as by the East they love change, transformation and mutations. ‘Synthesis’ is their motto. They approach life in a more universal, heterogeneous, non- prejudiced, eclectic, subtle and more refined way. They are the creators of a new approach of Being.
Even if you are not in an intercultural relationship, this book might hopefully inspire you, to see the mixed relationships of your children, or of your friends, or of couples that you will encounter in your life, from a new perspective. Misunderstandings and misconceptions are addressed, so that it will serve as a guidance for intercultural unions.
From homogeneity to heterogeneity, from Oneself to the Other, from the familiar to the unknown, different, complex this edition’s aim is to assist those people experiencing the intercultural union or the mixed origin not as a burden but with grace, with gratitude, as a privilege, as a Divine gift!
Will our skin change color?
Regardless of prejudice and intolerance, our planet is already a multilingual and intercultural continent. No force can stop the intermingling and intermarrying of individuals from vastly different backgrounds. In all of the great capitals of the world, we witness ‘intercultural unions, ‘intermarriage”, intercultural families in all its glory.
Walking along the streets of big major capitals, of Paris for instance, a space of incredible inspiration and imagination is unfolding in front of us that includes every shade of skin color, a multitude of different facial features, a myriad of styles and tastes in clothing. Stirred into this mix are the scents of the Chinese restaurants in Belleville and the Arabic spice shops in Menilmontant. On the next corner, the Africans dressed in their long robes are loudly talk while bargaining. Turning onto Rue Saint Honore, we arrive at the doorsteps of ultimate glamour. Those of the top name prestigious French fashion houses, French elegance and class at its peak.
Going uphill in Monmartre, one can catch an Edith Piaf refrain, or a Jacques Brell or Brassens tune. Artists are still painting portraits and landscapes in the narrow cobbled streets. The famous Sacré-Cœur Basilica, an architectural wonder built at the highest point of the city, continues to receive daily visitors from all over the world.
At this hub of Western civilization people from around the globe meet, languages coexist, worlds unite and sometimes even collide, behaviors change, loneliness is prowling and eros lurks. Is eros, love, marriage, companionship between people of different cultural origins an attempt of transcending monoculturalism, a sign of the times or simply a result of a postmodern society that urges individuals to relate beyond borders?
As a result of this shift, a different energy begins to circulate and to flow freely. An energy with no interest in passports, nationalities, visas or residence permits. An energy that overlaps international borders. The connection of individuals from different nationalities, cultures and heterogeneous languages, results in the creation of intercultural intimate unions. Their orbits are significant. Their adventures are revealing new paths of relating intimately. The lessons the mixed couples provide can be valuable for the non mixed ones to learn from.
The two companions move ahead without knowing where they are heading. They make mistakes, they fall down and they pick themselves up again. They face unforeseen obstacles and hardships that a monocultural couple would not encounter.
Forging thus their destiny and realizing that the road will not be prove easy to navigate. The obstacles and the hardships encourage them to grow, as they stimulate the expression of the inner dimension. Consequently, they become stronger, offering a new, different, complex and more enriching picture of togetherness, of intimacy.
A symbiosis is formed based on tolerance, acceptance and diversity. Heterogeneity is no longer just wishful thinking. It’s a reality, it manifests into real life. In seeking to melt and mash the beauty of this diversity so that it conforms to established previously held standards of homogeneity and uniformity, the only thing achieved is the impoverishment of this diversity’s expression.
