Framing Intercultural Dialogue Through Affectively ‘Sticky Concepts’ in European Education Policy Documents

Author & presenter: Aino-Kaisa Koistinen, University of Jyväskylä Co-authors: Tuuli Lähdesmäki, University of Jyväskylä & Susanne C. Ylönen, University of Jyväskylä Concepts carry with them meanings and cultural connotations as well as affective associations and attachments. This paper discusses the use of the concept ‘intercultural dialogue’ in educational policy documents by the European Union and the Council of Europe, respectively. The paper examines the webs of meaning attached to intercultural dialogue as policy in these European educational policy documents, with a special focus on the affective rhetoric used to construct these webs. Our analysis establishes that in the policy documents, intercultural dialogue is framed through the use of various related concepts, including ‘multilingualism’, ‘human rights’ and ‘freedom’, that each carry with them meanings, associations, and affective attachments. We thus introduce concept analysis as method and approach the concept of intercultural dialogue from a constructivist perspective. In our approach, concepts are therefore seen as actants that convey meanings, affects and associations. We focus especially on the ‘conceptual densities’ where several concepts and value-statements are brought together to discuss intercultural dialogue. We argue that many of these densities form affective peaks aimed at transmitting the idea of intercultural dialogue, and the values attached to it, more effectively than definitions of the concept alone are able to do. Drawing on theories that consider affect as socially constructed, we trace the affective transmission of meanings, ideals and values in the policy documents at hand. Following Sara Ahmed, we examine what kind of affects and affective connotations ‘stick’ to the concept of intercultural dialogue in the conceptual densities. We argue that value-statements and affective rhetoric are used in European educational policy documents to legitimize the commissioning bodies’ attempts to advance intercultural dialogue, and suggest that policy-makers should pay more attention to the rhetoric used in policy documentation. The presentation is based on the book European Education Policies: A Conceptual Approach by Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen, and Susanne C. Ylönen (forthcoming in 2020 in Palgrave MacMillan’s Pivot series). Key words: European Union, Council of Europe, educational policies, affective rhetoric, sticky concepts