ABSTRACT

This article explores young people’s experiences and meaning-making at a multicultural festival. Multicultural festivals aim to promote inclusion and challenge problem-oriented discourses in current debates on diversity and migration. Listening to youth voices from such a festival gives a sense of how young participants perceive representations of cultural difference, and how they relate these representations to their own identity and sense of belonging. The participants in our study are 86 young people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds between the ages of 12 and 20. They recorded answers to our questions about what they did at the festival as well as the memories that participation evokes using a specially developed app. Interpreting the broad spectrum of their reflections in the light of theories about intercultural learning and citizenship, we found that the young people were eager to learn about the Other by experiencing cultural differences and engaging with traditions different to their own. In addition, they experienced the festival as an inclusive space, open for transnational identities, and evoking a sense of safety and belonging. We conclude by arguing that the young participants take with them experiences and memories of diversity as the norm rather than the exception.

摘要

本文探讨了年轻人在多元文化节日中的经历和意义的构建。多元文化节旨在促进包容并挑战当前关于多样性和移民的辩论中以问题为导向的话语。聆听来自这样一个节日的青年声音，可以了解青年参与者如何看待文化差异的表现，以及他们如何将这些表现与自己的身份和归属感联系起来。我们研究的参与者是 86 名年龄在 12 至 20 岁之间、来自不同文化和语言背景的年轻人。他们使用专门开发的应用程序记录了我们关于他们在节日期间做了什么以及参与唤起回忆的问题的答案。根据有关跨文化学习和公民身份的理论解释他们的广泛思考，我们发现年轻人渴望通过体验文化差异和参与与他们自己不同的传统来了解他者。此外，他们将节日体验为一个包容的空间，对跨国身份开放，唤起安全感和归属感。最后，我们认为年轻参与者将多样性的经历和记忆视为常态而不是例外。并唤起安全感和归属感。最后，我们认为年轻参与者将多样性的经历和记忆视为常态而不是例外。并唤起安全感和归属感。最后，我们认为年轻参与者将多样性的经历和记忆视为常态而不是例外。