I propose that the multicultural rhetoric, nowadays waxing in the field of pedagogy, can be treated in terms of the image of ourselves it produces, that is, through the construction of our own identity. Such rhetoric also works as a device to ward off whatever may worry us in the other, in the stranger. I suspect that such words as coexistence, dialog or pluralism are used with the same lack of criticism as civilizing mission used to be. They would thus feed our good consciousness and provide us a comfortable and satisfying image of ourselves. Yet, the others, strangers do not let themselves be represented. They do not allow anybody to represent them nor do they want to represent anything or anyone. What does all this imply for pedagogy?
Understanding; Stranger; Strange; Multiculturalism; Novel of Formation (Bildungsroman)