От кризата на антропологичните представи до нашествието на представките
From the Crisis of the Anthropological Conceptions to the Invasion of the Prefixes

Summary/Abstract: The social organization of cultural complexity, being many-shaped and many-sided, calls for an interpretation via a contextualizing methodological approach. Consequently, this type of analysis also requires a system of representations mediated by suitable terms for the various situations that can properly express the plurality of processes and relations. Therefore, the classical notion of cultural is to be helped by the “advent” of prefixes multi-, inter-, and trans-culturalism. All three prefixes could simultaneously be useful for an analysis in several concrete situations. As the cases of Switzerland, Malaysia, and Mauritius (analyzed in this article) show, we can observe a somewhat rigid formal multiculturalism in national public institutions and in the juridical system, while detecting a pragmatic interculturality in everyday life. Moreover, Chinese and Indians in Malaysia and Mauritius maintain strong transnational relations with their respective countries of origin, mainly for business reasons. Therefore, phenomena represented via the prefixes multi, inter, and trans can successfully coexist within the same context. These three prefixes should not be considered in opposition to each other but should rather be regarded as complementary. They are needed to build concepts that do not necessarily contradict each other but rather complete one another. Within social sciences, there are different disciplines with different semantic and terminological traditions. Political philosophy, especially the North American one, assigns a different meaning to the prefix multi from the one used by Francophone sciences of education, which prefers the prefix inter instead. Such is the case of American philosopher David Hollinger who has lately coined the terms pluralistic multiculturalism and cosmopolite multiculturalism. Finally, we ought to say that we should probably gauge the soundness of prefixes even with reference to the processes or relations they are meant to represent. Multi and inter seem to be more appropriate for the conceptualization of dynamics and relations regarding groups and collectivities. Trans seems more appropriate to reconstruct personal routes.

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