Los retos de las sociedades multiculturales: interculturalismo y pluralismo.

Abstract

Some challenges that confront multicultural societies are discussed with particular reference to Latin America. Brought to attention are the concepts of "globilization" and "knowledge society", which are considered to be imperative for Latin American countries aiming towards knowledge societies less unjust, plural and more democratic (in the sense of participative democracy). According to Amartya Sen?s idea of justice, it is crucial that these countries expand the capabilities and functionings of its members, in particular those that belong to groups that so far have been excluded from the possibility of generating knowledge, and from obtaining benefits from knowledge and it?s applications. It is necessary to establish policies that guarantee that members belonging to these groups: (a) play an active role in processes of decision making concerning the exploitation of natural resources within their territories, and on the distribution of the benefits gained by such exploitations; (b) have the capacity to incorporate scientific and technological knowledge into their social practices; and (c) can take part in practices and in socio-cultural innovation nets (concepts that are elucidated in the text), in which the capacity to appropriate scientific and technological knowledge is equally important to the use and protection of traditional and local knowledge.