Development, Sustainable Development Goals and Intercultural Mediation

Proceedings of The 5th International Conference on Research in Teaching and Education

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Development, Sustainable Development Goals and Intercultural Mediation

Assos. Prof. Khalid Adnane

 

ABSTRACT: 

Nobody will contest that the dynamics of North-South relations have always been difficult to fully grasp. Some consider that from the economic angle, the heart of this dynamic can be seen as a gap or asymmetry between the two entities in terms of development. However, another big difficulty quickly arises when we discuss this concept of development (or underdevelopment). Can we associate development with the sole and main fact of economic growth, or should we appeal in our definition to very diversified dimensions ranging from the economy but also including history, politics, culture and even religion? Ultimately, perhaps development as it is conceived today is not universal and much less an inevitable destiny for all societies. Indeed, for a long time, this concept has been approached and addressed through traditional economic definitions and patterns, including economic growth. On the other hand, the avenue of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offers us an invaluable opportunity to rethink this concept and link it to the requirement of the other concept, which has become unavoidable, that of sustainable development. Thus, in addition to revisiting and having an updated and renewed understanding of the concept of development, the aim of this paper and this conference is to show how developing a discussion about SDGs can help students better integrate the principals behind SDGs, and at the same time, show them how they can build bridges or connections between goals that may seem divergent at first glance. A constructivist exercise, which would be very stimulating and rewarding for students doing a master’s degree in intercultural mediation.

keywords: case study, diversity, intercultural relations, north south, sdgs.