Pedagogical Intervention Research for Cultural Integration and Inclusion : Reflections on Mixed and Multiple Methodologies

The present paper aims to offer a new perspective trough which to study the current phenomena of decolonization and crossbreeding. It will be discussed particularly the theoretical perspective of intercultural approach (Hannoun H., 1987) [1], in order to deconstruct the historical approaches to the dynamics of immigration and meeting of different cultures (Neto F., 2002; Montreuil A., 2004) [2]. The traditional approaches were based on the analysis of the processes of “assimilation” or “acculturation” of the minority culture (Bourhis R.Y., 2007, Barry J.W., 1997) [3], but always from the point of view of the ethnocentric vision. The paper wants also to argue how to re-think intercultural pedagogical research epistemologies and methodologies according to the paradigm of complexity and of methodological pluralism, to avoid proposing the cross-cultural comparison “the West vs the Rest”(Baldacci M., 2012) [4]. The research interest is to bring to light the richness and the depth of the meeting and the exchange between participants who come from different ethnic and cultural horizons, and to grasp the social and community impact of the co-constructed knowledge thanks to the research (Mantovani G., 2008) [5]. Moreover, one of the principal guidelines for the scientific research contained in the plane of Horizon 2020, seems to be that of “Inclusive, innovative and Safe Societies” (Horizon 2020, 2013): it needs to keep in mind criteria of usefulness (Armezzani M., 2004) [6] and of usability of the products of intercultural research, also to meet international standards. It will be presented, then, an intervention-research carried out in the working realities where participants coming from other cultures and nations are employed. It is an action-research aimed to assume participants’ points of view, to capture specific learning needs, to give voice to these specific formative instances and, through which and with which, to design possible plans of intervention to answer to these educational needs.