Transcultural Experience and Multiple Biographies as a Research Topic

Abstract

Transculturality refers to the traditional understanding of culture as self-contained, concentrated around its own center and producing clear borders. “Trans” signifies the act of crossing; it signifies overcoming such borders. It looks at phenomena, people, and notions that are not limited to one communicational environment, but are represented in multiple locations, or contexts. Or rather—they cannot be fully ascribed to one “culture,” because they exhibit, traits of both (or more) cultures. Culture studies often describe, also, people with “trans” life stories; it is not a matter of simple crossing of borders, living a bit in one environment and a bit in another. The point is that their sense of belonging is of a mixed, ambiguous character, and their identity is blurred. It is a question of practices that they draw from two or more sources, creating a peculiar amalgam characteristic of living “in between.” Transculturality, just like multiple biographies, means both partial belonging and dual belonging, which is very well illustrated by the case studies presented in the volume: they have in a way, varied roots, which means they bear unique, hybrid fruit.