3.3. Critical Engagement with Societal and Global Issues. Readings

Obviously, this competence is valuable for lecturers who need to be able to advocate their ideas and opinions and use them in their lectures.

What Is ethnocentrism? Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to view one’s own cultural group - whether local, regional, national, or transnational - as superior or more "normal" than others. It involves interpreting and judging other cultures through the lens of one’s own values, beliefs, and norms. This overvaluation of one's own cultural background can lead to misunderstandings, prejudice, and exclusion of those who are perceived as "different." In higher education, recognizing and challenging ethnocentric attitudes is essential for promoting intercultural understanding, equity, and respectful engagement with diversity.

The very concept of development - and the classification of countries along a scale from “underdeveloped” to “developed” - is highly reductive and reveals ethnocentric assumptions. This concept reflects a Western worldview that claims universal ambition, often imposing its own values, economic models, and social norms as benchmarks for all societies. Such a perspective overlooks the diversity of historical trajectories, cultural values, and alternative forms of well-being present around the world. Recognizing this ethnocentrism is essential for educators seeking to foster critical thinking and a more pluralistic understanding of global realities.

Although it inevitably oversimplifies the complex reality of the world, the division between the Global North and Global South has proven to be less ethnocentric. This framework moves away from hierarchical and value-laden categorizations, instead highlighting geopolitical, economic, and historical dynamics without necessarily imposing a universal standard. There is the need to embrace critical framework of social transformation by breaking away from the normative assumptions and biases embedded in the concept of development—which is often viewed as a ‘Western’ rhetoric of progress that reinforces hierarchical and reductionist views of the world. The proposal is to develop and highlight multiple, interconnected ways of understanding the world - called “pluriversal” and “interversal” paths - that challenge the idea of a single, all-encompassing perspective from which concepts like “universal” and “global” are usually seen.