Photos: Sergio Betancort
The island councilor of Education and Culture, Emma Cabrera, was the representative of the Cabildo of Lanzarote in the official opening ceremony of the 2014-2015 academic year of the National University of Distance Education (UNED) at its center in Lanzarote, which took place last Friday afternoon in the Assembly Hall of the Cabildo.
An event that was attended by the Vice-Rector of Associated Centers of the UNED, Tomás Fernández; by Irene Betancort, director of the Associated Center of the UNED in Lanzarote, whose board is chaired by the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés; the secretary of this center, Andrés Fajardo; and the mayor of Arrecife, Manuel Fajardo Feo. However, this year the protagonist was the French philosopher and sociologist of Algerian origin Sami Naïr, director of the Andalusian Mediterranean Center of the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville. Naïr is a professor, writer and columnist, defender of the rights of immigrants.
In his inaugural lecture, entitled 'The concept of dialogue and the thematic application of the dialogue of cultures', Naïry delved into the concept of 'interculturality': "The dialogue between cultures, the confronted identity, are the center of our lives for the first time in the history of humanity. We live in a world that has changed enormously and that is very conflicting, to the point that nothing seems to make sense." "We do not know - the professor pointed out - if we are facing a new globalized civilization because we are in the middle of the process. Historians will tell us in 50 years..."
"This society - Naïry continued - has lost its references. Those that served previous generations no longer serve us. Perhaps that is why, in this search for answers, for ideologies, for the way to live our own specificities, religions are resurging with force. But not as such, but rather as identity links."
The French philosopher and sociologist also emphasized the concepts of 'dialogue' and 'culture': "Dialogue, in its spontaneous version, is a search for rapprochement, with empathy and intention of friendship. The constructed dialogue, on the other hand, is based on the exchange of arguments, deliberation, and seeks consensus based on the acceptance by both parties of the conclusions reached." "On the other hand, -he concluded- culture is one of the most complex concepts of humanity. There is nothing more closed in anthropology than culture, because it generates internal borders. In fact, culture is the great problem for interculturality."
After the inaugural conference, the director of the Associated Center of the UNED in Lanzarote, Irene Betancort, spoke; diplomas were presented to the new graduates, including the Councilor for Culture of Arrecife, Eva de Anta. The mayor of Arrecife and the Councilor for Education and Culture, Emma Cabrera, closed the event.