Identity and multiculturalism – a new publication brings together researchers from Azerbaijan and Italy

In October 2018, the Institute of Philosophy of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences published a volume entitled Identity and Multiculturalism: Methodology, Tendencies and Perspectives, which presents the papers given at an international seminar held in Baku on November 2017 with the participation of researchers from Ca’ Foscari University and from the Academy itself. The seminar was the last of a series of meetings organized as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2013 between the Academy’s Institute of Philosophy and Ca’ Foscari’s Department of Asian and North African Studies.

The volume offers a focused yet substantial overview of the  debate in Azerbaijan regarding multiculturalism and the studies it presents come from various disciplines and employ a range of methodologies. The four contributions of Ca’ Foscari scholars to the seminar perfectly represent the scientific complexity of the topic as well as the different perspectives through which the topic of Multiculturalism can be addressed. The historic perspective is inscribed the paper on “The Multiculturalism in XIX century Transcaucasia: The case of Tiflis” authored by Prof. Aldo Ferrari, while Prof. Giampiero Bellingeri approached the topic of Multiculturalism from a literary and linguistic perspective in the paper entitled “The Colors of a Vision: Comments on Sayat Nova’s Verses in Turkish-Azerbaijani”. A philosophical approach underlies the essay authored by Luigi Vero Tarca, “Identity and Multiculturalism in the Post-Truth Era: A Philosophic Point of View in Dialogue with Emanuele Severino and Raimon Panikkar”, while the essay authored by Prof. Carlo Frappi, entitled “The Nexus between Identity and Foreign Policy: The Case of Azerbaijan”, employs an international relations–based perspective.