PhD student, German
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Intercultural literature is closely related to migrant and migration literature, the latter often providing examples of the former. Intercultural literature is written by authors whose points of view and/or subject matter are influenced by multiple cultural spaces. Intercultural texts also circulate through, and are relevant to, more than one cultural space; they address multiple ethnicities (Rösch, 2004, 98). The term intercultural – imbued as it is with connotations of exchange and dialogue – implies that this is literature which may serve an intermediary or ambassadorial purpose, whether intentionally or not. However, there is more to intercultural literature than simply providing accounts of “other” cultural experiences; it does not simply reflect the experiences of migration, the seeking of asylum, and repatriation (Chiellino, 2007, VIII). Instead of simply mirroring, intercultural literature engages, being both located within, and active in the creation of, discourse.
Intercultural literature often portrays the formation of a synthesis between multiple cultures and cultural practices. As such, the challenges of integration are often foregrounded. Because the “foreign” and the “familiar” can only exist in opposition to one another, each making the other possible, engagement with the foreign prompts self-reflection in both reader and writer. The interculturality of literature is significant both on the level of the text and on the level of sociocultural context (von Zimmerman, 8).
By facilitating and providing a site for exchange between cultures and the examination of both the “foreign” and the “familiar”, intercultural literature often serves as a vehicle for the development of personal and group identities. Cultural differences and processes of identity formation are staged in literature and can thus be experimented with. As a result, borders shift and dissolve and cultural and gender roles change. Intercultural writing can, of course, include a mixture of more than two cultural standpoints and systems of knowledge and manifests itself on both literary and extra-literary levels. The key point is that exchange takes place on multiple levels and results in insights regarding the formation of identity.
Rösch, Heidi.
“Migrationsliteratur als neue Weltliteratur.“ Sprachkunst 35, 2004.
89–109.
von Zimmerman, Christian. “Kulturthema Migration und Interkulturelles
Schreiben”. recherces germaniques. Ed. Christine Maillard. Revue Annuelle.
Serie N˚3, 2006. 7 – 25.