The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Netflix apologizes for filming 'Single's Inferno 3' in marine sanctuary

  • 3

    In-N-Out Burger pop-up store attracts record crowd

  • 5

    Calls grow for female flight attendants to ditch skirts for pants

  • 7

    Hamburger franchises having trouble in M&A market

  • 9

    Man gets five-year jail term for K-pop concert ticket fraud

  • 11

    Hallyu inspires Thailand to mull ways to export its culture

  • 13

    Small business owners urge stricter rules on migrant workers switching jobs

  • 15

    From hardcore action to heart-throbbing romance, series to hit in June

  • 17

    Pandas at Everland become tourist magnet

  • 19

    JYP to expand partnership with US music label

  • 2

    BTS' RM named honorary ambassador of war-remains excavation agency

  • 4

    'BLACKPINK the Game' showcases group's unique charm

  • 6

    EXO's Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen in dispute with SM over contract issue

  • 8

    Transgender cyclist looks to spark debate in historic appearance

  • 10

    Pyongyang seeks to portray rocket as science effort by admitting failure: experts

  • 12

    Suspect in grisly Busan murder sent to prosecutors for further probe

  • 14

    Police send girlfriend murder suspect to prosecution

  • 16

    Nexon case reignites controversy over high level of inheritance tax

  • 18

    S. Korea succeeds in L-SAM missile interception test for 3rd time

  • 20

    INTERVIEWFrench photographer highlights amazing transformations of dog meat farm survivors

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
Sat, June 3, 2023 | 13:23
Times Forum
Rapprochement of cultures
Posted : 2010-06-20 15:46
Updated : 2010-06-20 15:46
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Kyoung H. Park

This year is the year the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launches a new initiative, the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, while concluding its Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010).

The first decade of the 21st century was ridden with conflicts that had no boundaries. Terrorism, climate change, and global capital permeated through borders, deeply changing our local and national realities.

Realizing that a much larger world out there can drastically affect the world around us, the UNESCO diagnosed that if conflict prevention is not actively pursued, we could face unbridgeable incomprehension and mistrust, resulting in greater, global tensions. Thus, seeking to address this urgent, humanitarian need, UNESCO launched its new initiative ― the Rapprochement of Cultures.

Why culture? Cultures are the manifestation of our values, life-styles, ways of life, as well as the artistic and creative realization of our world views. But cultures are not static ― they change and are changed by the constant ebb and flow of knowledge, living, and history.

The dynamic processes through which our cultures evolve depend on our quicker abilities to navigate through the uncertainties globalization causes in our day to day lives. And in a multi-cultural world of interdependent nations and people, more is needed in the practice of living in peace with an ``other" and the ``otherness" of living with oneself.

According to Johan Galtung, founder and pioneer of Peace Studies, there are three levels of positive peace. The first is the absence of war and violence, which addresses direct forms of physical aggression ranging from armed conflict to domestic violence.

The second is structural peace, or the transformation of socio-economic and political oppression ― such as racism or gender discrimination ― to prevent the consistent abuse of power in societies.

Yet, according to Galtung, a third and fundamental tier of peace is cultural. Cultural violence is our normative acceptance of structural and direct violence ― in other words, our permissive allowance of violence to exist through unjust systems of oppression, or even worse, physical aggression.

In order to address cultural violence, Galtung argued that conflicts need to be addressed through non-violent methods that allow parties in opposition to transcend, or more specifically, transform conflicts in constructive ways.

Diplomacy, innovation and creativity are necessary to ensure proper, peaceful conflict transformation, and this is where the arts ― and artists ― can play a part.

During the 2009 International Conference of Centro do Teatro do Oprimido (organized by Rio de Janeiro's Theater of the Oppressed, founded by 2009 UNESCO Theater Ambassador Augusto Boal), theater artists from around the world gathered to discuss the future role of artists in their communities, countries, and as citizens of the world.

While Boal's message was clear, ``being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it," the issues tackled in roundtables seemed unwieldy ― how can theater artists address gender inequality, political oppression, or global economic injustice? And at a cultural level, how can our understanding of these change?

With these questions in mind, I began writing and directing ``The Diamond Trade," an examination of global capitalism through women's point-of-view.

By collaborating with an all-female, multi-cultural ensemble of actresses and dancers, I sought to stage the multi-polar reality behind our current global crisis, and more importantly, focus on the human reality of living under capitalist values that find themselves under ideological and political debate.

Moreover, as diamonds are valued for more aesthetic than practical reasons, my inquiry is concerned with the global trade of diamonds as a metaphor for the role of art in society.

What is the value of art when objective goods are valued monetarily? How can art contribute to the common good? And in times of global financial crises, what are the values needed to create art in a global community?

Kyoung H. Park is a dean's fellow at Columbia University's School of the Arts and writer/director of ``The Diamond Trade," a new, multi-cultural dance theater piece recipient of a 2010 UNESCO-Aschberg Award. ``The Diamond Trade" is part of La Mama Moves Dance Festival in New York City June 17 to 20 and will be developed in residency at Sanskriti Pratishtan in New Delhi, India (November 2010-January 2011).
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Roland Garros 2023 Roland Garros 2023
2Airlines fiercely compete to acquire additional aircraft Airlines fiercely compete to acquire additional aircraft
3Seoul imposes sanctions on North Korean hacking group for role in space launch Seoul imposes sanctions on North Korean hacking group for role in space launch
4More banks offer daily interest payments on deposits More banks offer daily interest payments on deposits
5Hyundai Elevator launches AI, IoT-powered maintenance service Hyundai Elevator launches AI, IoT-powered maintenance service
6POSCO, GM expand joint EV battery materials investment in North America POSCO, GM expand joint EV battery materials investment in North America
7LG Chem joins Korean firms strengthening ties with Japan LG Chem joins Korean firms strengthening ties with Japan
8HMM tasked with preventing sale of Hyundai LNG to foreign firm HMM tasked with preventing sale of Hyundai LNG to foreign firm
9KAERI distances itself from Oxford professor's claim on Fukushima water KAERI distances itself from Oxford professor's claim on Fukushima water
10Indo-Pacific region highlighted as important for Korean economy's future Indo-Pacific region highlighted as important for Korean economy's future
Top 5 Entertainment News
1'HyeMiLeeYeChaePa' producer Lee Tae-kyung hopeful of second season 'HyeMiLeeYeChaePa' producer Lee Tae-kyung hopeful of second season
2How artist Michael Rakowitz resurrects lost past of Iraq through food packaging How artist Michael Rakowitz resurrects lost past of Iraq through food packaging
3[INTERVIEW] 'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series INTERVIEW'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series
4From hardcore action to heart-throbbing romance, series to hit in June From hardcore action to heart-throbbing romance, series to hit in June
5[INTERVIEW] Lee Jun-hyuk unrecognizable in 'The Roundup: No Way Out' INTERVIEWLee Jun-hyuk unrecognizable in 'The Roundup: No Way Out'
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group