The workshop "The policy of cultural rights: socio-legal perspectives on
cultural diversity" aims to open a place of interaction for socio-legal
scholars who wish to share work that deals with how the state and law
influence the possibilities of development for different cultures in
diverse societies.
Due to its social and economic contribution the
cultural production is a relevant matter for governments. On the one
hand, cultural goods play a core role in social cohesion, strengthening
commonly held values and territorial identity as well as being able to
spread out knowledge through the community. So, in the first place,
culture constitutes a source of unity and identification enabling
citizens the sense of belonging to their own nation.
However, even if
the cultural production is an expression of meanings from local content
and point of view, it is also connected and influenced by the current
global context. On the other hand, creativity depends on the value of
use; on the level of its demand and industrial activity where money
becomes the exchange value. Considering that there are evidences of the
sectors' positive impact to the local economy, this contribution of
culture should also be measured. Given its centrality, it is not
surprising that culture is also present in the language of rights.
Cultural rights refer to the rights of production, consumption and
access that people have to the world's creative industry (UNESCO, 2005).
For that reason, it is important to not understand individuals simply
as consumers of cultural goods but rather as producers and participants
of the cultural system; while distribution companies as means of
carrying cultural goods to the audience. In this context, the state and
public institutions become the main regulation bodies for the whole
production, distribution and exhibition process of culture.
This would
involve accomplishing the principle of diversity and establishing spaces
for its visibility, promotion as well as access to it through specific
means of distribution. However, decision-making in this field also falls
to education providers, regional and local authorities, employers''
organizations, trade unions and the media. Therefore, at is the role
of law, particularly of public policies and cultural regulation, in
guaranteeing cultural diversity? In the context of diverse societies,
this becomes a central issue to the concerns of democratic states. The
notion of cultural unity inside a single state has often led to attempts
of constructing a homogeneous cultural landscape while erasing internal
cultural differences. However, many cultures have coped with attempts
of eradication and now the paradigm in several states has turned into a
view which formally aims for "rescuing" and promoting cultural
diversity.
Thereby, it is necessary to stress here that the cultural
production strongly depends on a particular socio-political context and
regulation. While the development of cultures is not entirely dependent
on state sponsorship, the processes carried through the state are
central to understand the interactions of different cultures. State
promotion or limitation of certain cultural expressions can indeed make
for an environment where some cultures are deemed more legitimate than
others. This has also been recognized internationa lly by the 2005
UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural expressions. Cultural policy is now to be judged as it is able
to overcome discrimination of minority cultures in democratic states.
The workshop proposed is structured in two wide sections, one each day,
with a general link: one on conflicts arising in diverse societies; and
another one on different strategies that are implemented in those
societies to potentiate and guarantee the right to cultural diversity.
Following this arrangement, we have decided to begin the workshop with
two papers which set the tone for the discussion of culture within the
realms of the law, followed by papers that present different cases in
which diversity enters into conflict within social processes and
regulation.
This section places cultural struggles within political
action and in the discussion over the meaning and permissibility of
diversity in different institutional settings. The following day and
section explores the field of possibility through the analysis of
strategies that have been used by different actors to give a space to
diversity. This section offers reflections regarding heritage and the
media, but also on less suspe cted influences such as the environment;
and it portrays the different ways in which state institutions and
actors negotiate collaborations in the context of diverse societies. The
day and workshop end with a visit to the ELTZIA building, where a
project of cultural promotion in Oñati, which will be presented in the
context of the workshop, is carried.
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