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Abstract
Intercultural cities – a joint initiative launched in 2008 by the European Commission and the Council of Europe – aims to develop a model supporting intercultural integration within diversified urban communities. This article examines, using methods of applied linguistics and discourse analysis, how intercultural urban policy is linguistically produced in the initiative. The examination indicates that the intercultural urban policy in the initiative is ‘negative politics’: the policy rhetoric commonly outlines the content of interculturalism by describing what is not included in it and what the policy is not about. The language used in the intercultural urban policy rhetoric presents the coexistence of distinct cultures as a problematic and conflicting issue. This contradicts the fundamental principle of the policy, which aims for co-operative and positive encountering between people in an urban environment.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Ph.D., DScoSci, is an Academy Research Fellow in the Department of Art and Culture Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She is specialised in critical analysis of policy discourse and practices in the EU cultural, heritage and urban initiatives. [email protected].
Priscilla C.C.A. Heynderickx, Ph.D., teaches Dutch and business communication at the Subfaculty of Language and Communication of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. She is chief editor of Ad Rem, a journal of business communication, and a member of the board of Steps into the Future. She is specialised in discourse analysis of business communications documents. [email protected].
Albin Wagener, Ph.D., is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers and is vice-director of the Research Laboratory CoDiRe (University of Nantes), France. He is specialised in critical discourse analysis, as well as intercultural communication, systemics and identity policy. [email protected].
Sylvain M.F. Dieltjens, Ph.D., teaches French and business communication at the Subfaculty of Language and Communication of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is also chairman of the board of the communication agency IBIS communications, Kortenberg, and of Steps into the Future. He is specialised in discourse analysis of business communications documents. [email protected].