Intercultural philosophy
Before starting to develop this issue, it is very important. Regarding the word philosophy Adela Cortina, a Spanish philosopher, tells us: “Philosophy is a necessity. Any society that wants to be cultured and build your life in a reasonable way must resort to this branch of knowledge whose task is to know what its fundamentals are and where it is directed ”. With this it can be said that this doctrine whose meaning in Greek is interpreted as "love of wisdom" focuses on the deep analysis and reasoning of different topics, mostly those related to existence, truth and ethics.
On the other hand, the intercultural adjective describes the interaction between two or more cultures in a synergistic way, which means that none of the sets is above another, a condition that favors the integration and harmonious coexistence of all individuals.
That said, now we can talk about intercultural philosophy and to understand it better below some definitions said by the most representative authors of this current.
In the Latin American context in particular, the new horizon of understanding has been promoted by an even more significant event: 1992 (Fornet Betancourt, 2004a
Intercultural philosophy is found in "nobody’s land," Raimon Panikkar (2000b) tells us in a virgin place that has not yet been occupied, since if not, it would no longer be intercultural, but it would belong to a specific culture. Interculturality is anyone’s land, no place, it is between two (or more) cultures, it is problematic. For his part, Raúl Fornet Betancourt (2004) tells us that he understands interculturality not as a theoretical position or as a dialogue between different philosophical cultures or traditions but as a ‘posture’ or ‘disposition’. An attitude of the human being who prepares to live ‘his’ identity references of him in relation to the ‘others’.
As a first approach, it can then be said that “intercultural philosophy is not a specific type of philosophy nor is it a philosophy of culture, but a movement that tends to reposition philosophy against (and within) cultural and cultural traditions Thought, which historically has been left out or on the margins of what is defined as philosophical ”. (Santos,.)
This new way of thinking does not arise spontaneously, but is generated from the rise of different social problems, as well as historical facts. In the international context, in recent decades, the phenomenon of constant and growing migratory movements has emerged, a situation that puts in contact (and sometimes in conflict) to peoples and people from linguistic, religious and cultural traditions different. Migrants arrive with their cultural roots and just as there is a need for integration, there is also the need for political, cultural, religious, linguistic self-determination.
A clear example of this problem can be explained with the very famous area of Cancun. An international tourism development awarded by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with the “The Best of the Best” award, a distinction that certifies it as a destination where best practices in tourism are applied and aims to promote improvement of the quality in the tourist service and promoting advances in the well -being of civil society, or at least that is the discourse through which this place was promoted and showed before society.
The tourist part of Cancun is called a hotel zone, a strip of white sand that runs through the entire east of the municipality of Benito Juárez, full of hotels in the coastal area, which is the main tourist attraction of the city. From north to south we find 9 public beaches from Puerto Juárez to Punta Nizuc, along 22 km.
Cancun is an integrally planned center (CIP), the result of a government project. At the end of the seventies, the Bank of Mexico studied the dynamics of tourism in the world and especially the importance it charged in the Great Caribbean, which projected strong growth (Bank of Mexico, 1968,1973,1979). This is relevant because the Cancun project then corresponds to a vision of sun and beach tourism in the massive model, which is created in the postwar period and that already expanded in the Caribbean (Hinedaux, 2006)
The plan should generate investment opportunities for the private sector, create jobs, achieve self-determination and commercialization of national tourism offer abroad, among other things. Although in the beginning it sought to be a national example in leadership of environmental policy instruments and urban planning, the violation of its ecological planning and urban development programs and the disorder with which they have been modified, have caused an altered growth and development , greatly affecting the environment and the surrounding residential areas. Even those who work in hotel enclosures are affected, mainly by the same tourists who stay in these complexes, since the employees are mostly migrants who leave their place of origin in search of establishing a better quality of life and acquiring a certain economic stability, which very few achieve since the jobs offered many times are poorly paid compared to all the tasks you are doing.
Now delving a little more on the subject, the social impacts in their generality refer to the social and cultural consequences in human populations that have any public or private action that alters the ways in which people live, work, relate, organize And, in general, they interact as members of a group (Burdge & Vanclay, 1996). Specifically in the context of tourism, social impacts can be considered as “changes in the quality of life of residents of a tourist destination that are a consequence of tourism of any kind in that destination” (Wall & Mathieson, 2006)
Thus, there are many factors involved in the type and intensity of the social changes associated with tourism, among which are the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the population, the cultural difference between tourists and premises, political and legal structures , the number of tourists and the type of tourists and their behavior exhibited (Ryan, 2003)
Now, according to the main premise, we will resume what was initially said, in a nutshell the main objective of intercultural philosophy is that all cultural groups; that is those who share some knowledge, experiences and even territory; that make up a society; Understand the group of people who relate to each other, according to certain rules of legal and customary organization, and that share the same culture or civilization in a certain space or time. have the same level of participation when making decisions, or that no group exceeds another, everyone must respect some synergy.
The position of this current is quite questionable, since the speech it gives seems to be utopian, since as well known, in a society there are always the dominant (developed) and the dominated (underdeveloped) groups (underdeveloped). It must be understood that in the intercultural system, different cultures could be seen as isolated spheres but that have a certain relationship, either in terms of language, customs, territory, etc.
Because the tourism that arrives in Cancun is mostly "spring break" and that you are people are usually foreigners, there is a very marked cultural shock, which in fact is a pattern that has been repeated for decades.
When people of different nationality arrive, many times, instead of adapting or respecting the culture of the receiving country, they try to impose their customs by not understanding or not being interested in the thinking of the group with which they interact, so they break with the scheme that Intercultural philosophy tries to raise. Even hotels workers become discriminated against by the tourists themselves. With this problem the question is: Is it really feasible to achieve tourism based on this current, and apply it in the hotel zone of Cancun?
It is very difficult for each group to be seen with another and understand the problems that it happens, unless it has experienced something similar, that is why the "correct" or most successful way of understanding is through analogies. And yet, it is still difficult.
I consider that the applicability of the premises that make up the intercultural philosophical current are utopian, at least being applied in this area. Cancun as a tourist destination began to become around the year of 1970, and classism is a problem that has dragged since those times, so it is very difficult to change the rules of a society that has worked in the same way for several years.
Tourism management, far from its limited business notion, is associated with “the processes and techniques designed to serve tourists and the development of tourism, but, at the same time, minimize its negative consequences” (Telfer & Sharpley, 2008)
In cases where tourists’ behavior turns out to be an important sociocultural change agent, management must focus on this behavior. In fact, the management of tourists and other visitors is one of the important mechanisms in the attempts to reduce the economic, environmental and sociocultural negative impacts of tourism (Mason, 2008)
Tourism management strategies and tourists are frequently applied once the environmental, social or cultural deterioration signs are apparent; However, it is important that the management actions are implemented before the affectation of the resources is achieved or that the quality of life of the residents has been touched. That said, the ideal would have been to establish the strategies based on the intercultural philosophical current from the beginning, that is, before a whole community was established in the place, so that in this way the mechanics that tourists are still in relation to residents and workers would have been closest to the ideal.
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