Encounters  and  relations  between  people  with  different  cultural  backgrounds  tend  to  be  primarily  discussed  in  terms  of  exclusio,  prejudice  and  conflict.  This  thesis  focuses  on  the  creative  aspects  of  intercultural  encounters.  The  starting  point  is  that  the  parties  involved  sometimes  succeed  in  avoiding  the  latent  conflicts  between  cultures  by  acting  trategically.  The  aim  of  this  thesis  is  to  increase  understanding  of  the  possibilities  represented  by  intercultural  encounters  and  to  identiy  the  strategies  employed  by  the  actors  who  try  to  deal  with  the  contrasts  and  dilemmas  involved  in  encounters  with  other  peopl  with  different  cultural  experiences,  identities  and  methods.  The  empirical  part  of  the  thesis  is  based  on  four  qualitative  case  studies  that  are  characterised  by  rather  positive  co‐operation  between  the  actors  in  the  intercultural  encounter,  i.e.  "immigrants"  and  the  majority  society  in  Sweden.  The  empirical  data  are  based  on  45  individual  interviews,  two  focus  group  discussions  and  a  number  of  minor  observations  made  in  the  inland  part  of  northern  Sweden,  where  the  case  studies  were  carried  out.  The  principal  result  of  this  research  is  that  the  actors  begin  to  see  culture  as  a  possibility  when  they  find  themselves  in  a  osition  where  they  feel  obliged  to  change  their  established  patterns  of  behaviour,  due  to  some  sort  of  crisis  situation.  The  strategies  used  by  the  actors  to  deal  with  culture  conflicts  can  be  divided  into  intra‐group  strategies  and  inter‐group  strategies.  The  former  attempt  to  achieve  relative  homogeneity  between  the  competing  groups  in  the  field  of  the  intercultural  encounter,  while  the  latter  illustrate  how  the  participants  deal  with  what  they  experience  as  differences.  Four  inter‐group  strategies  have  been  identified:  1)  the  status  quo  strategy,  2)  the  loose  coupling  strategy,  3)  the  selective  strategy  and  4)  a  culture  mixing  strategy.  The  latter  three  are  characterised  by  innovative  combinations  that  organise  the  existing  cultural  elements  in  a  meaningful  way  These  strategies  result  in  new  cognitive  structures,  whose  limits  maintain  the  balance  between  different  cultural  elements. / Möten och  relationer  bland  människor  med  olika  kulturell  bakgrund  diskuteras  idag  övervägande  i  termer  av  social  och  kulturell  exkludering,  fördomar  och  motsättningar.  I  denna  avhandling  har  jag  valt  att  fokusera  på  kulturmötens  kreativa  aspekter.  Min  utgångspunkt  är  att  deltagande  parter  i  vissa  fall  lyckas  att  kringgå  kulturmötenas  inneboende  motsättningar  och  överbrygg  det  kulturella  avståndet  genom  att  handla  strategiskt.  Syftet  med  avhandlingen  har  varit  att  öka  förståelsen  av  kulturmötens  möjligheter  och  att  identifiera  aktörernas  handlingsmönser  när  de  försöker  hantera  kontraster  och  dilemman  i  möten  med  människor  som  skiljer  sig  i  fråga  om  kulturella  erfarenheter,  identiteter  och  metoder.  Hur  handlingarna  organiseras  för  att  förmå  människor  att  gemensamt  fungera  under  kulturmötenas  villkor,  är  frågan  vars  svar  förväntas  förtydliga  hur  den  kreativa  potentialen  i  kulturmöten  kan  tillvaratas.  Utformning  av  aktuella  handlingsstrategier  och  deras  effekter  analyseras  i  termer  av  motsvarande  kognitiva  strukturer.  Dessa  ställs  mot  varandra  och  analyseras  i  ett  kognitivt  sociologiskt  perspektiv.  Avhandlingens  empiriska  del  grundas  på  fyra  kvalitativa  fallstudier.  Bedömningsgrunder  för  urvalet  av  dessa  fall  har  varit  att  det  skulle  röra  sig  om  händelser  eller  projekt  som  äger  rum  i  glesbyden  och  som  inkluderar  en  någorlunda  affirmativ  bild  av  samverkan  mellan  aktörer  från  olika  kulturell  bakgrund.  Ett  av  de  studerade  fallen  har  exemplifierat  en  icke‐affirmativ  bild  av  samverkan  för  att  kontrastera  de  övriga  fallen.  Empiriska  data  har  insamlats  genom  totalt  45  individuella  intervjuer,  två  fokusgruppsdiskussioner  samt  några  mindre  observationer.  Avhandlingens  huvudresultat  är  att  aktörerna  uppfattar  kultur  som  en  möjlighet  först  när  behovet  att  förändra  etablerade  beteenemönster  upplevs  som  nödvändigt  på  grund  av  krisförhållanden.  I  den  meningen  kan  kris  och  instabilitet  ses  som  en  förutsättning  för  att  kulturmötens  kreativa  möjligheter  ska  kunna  tillvaraas.  Handlingsstrategier  som  aktörerna  använt  för  att  hantera  kulturella  motsättningar  kan  uppdelas  i  inomgruppsstrategier  och  mellngruppsstrategier.  De  förstnämnda  syftar  till  att  uppnå  en  relativ  homogenisering  bland  de  konkurrerande  grupperna  inom  de  fält  som  ingår  i  kultumöten,  medan  de  sistnämnda  åskådliggör  hur  deltagarna  går  tillväga  för  att  hantera  uppfattade  olikheter.  Jag  har  identifierat  fyra  mellangruppstrategier:  1)  status  quo‐strategi,  2)  frikopplingsstrategi,  3)  selektiv  strategi  och  4)  kulturblandningsstrategi.  De  tre  sistnämnda  kännetecknas  av  innovativa  sammanställningar  som  organiserar  befintliga  kulturella  element  på  ett  meningsfult  sätt.  Effekter  av  dessa  strategier  resulterar  i  nya  kognitiva  strukturer,  vars  gränsdragningar  bevarar  en  balansgång  mellan  olika  kulturella  element.

In the past 30 years there has been a rapid and exponential growth in the numbers of people electing to complete all or part of their studies outside of their country of origin. This phenomenon has attracted considerable research attention, not least from those who are interested to describe the benefits seen to accrue from the opportunity this provides for an extended encounter with linguistic and cultural diversity. Notably, the widespread assumption that this can generate a new form of learning, commonly referred to as intercultural learning, which is understood to comprise increased tolerance, empathy and openness to the linguistic and cultural other. Despite the limited research data to substantiate these claims, among those interested to develop educational responses to globalization, the potential of intercultural contact to generate intercultural learning has considerable appeal and has been co-opted in the development of policy and practice to promote global citizenship at all levels of education. This has contributed to the emergence of a particular discourse about intercultural learning and is further fuelling the development of both short and long-stay study abroad programmes. This discourse is, however, increasingly called into question on account of the perceived overly-simplistic constructions of interculturality and learning on which it is premised. In particular, there is a growing recognition of the need to develop situated accounts of people’s everyday encounters with linguistic and cultural others which acknowledge the exigencies of the setting, as well as the impact of wider political economic and historical discourses on their positioning in intercultural encounters. The generation of ‘thick’ descriptions of people’s lived experiences of interculturality in global educational contact zones, it is argued, can lead to a more nuanced account of the intercultural learning these can afford. This was the aim of the study reported in this thesis. The study undertaken explores the relationship between an experience of interculturality and learning among 14 international students during their year-long sojourn at a university in the UK. Drawing upon a socially constructed relational understanding of learning informed by the transactional and dialogic conceptualization of learning developed by Dewey and Bakhtin among others, the study sought to generate a narrative account of participants’ experiences and learning generated from periodic individual and group interviews over the year as well as reflective accounts in participants portfolios and other opportunistic conversations recorded in the researcher log. Primary analysis of the data revealed that participants’ experiences generated a number of forms of learning. One of these, ‘learning about self in relation to linguistic and cultural other’ was identified as a form of intercultural learning, comprising learning to be more open to the other and learning about linguistic and cultural positioning. This was subsequently explored in more depth, revealing a complex interplay between these two elements and the strategic actions taken by participants to manage their encounters with linguistic and cultural others. These results revealed considerable differences in the learning trajectories and outcomes resulting from their intercultural encounter. The findings also point to the importance of sustained commitment to intercultural dialogue on the part of individuals and the perception of their ethical treatment by others as important to the direction their learning trajectories take. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that while an encounter with linguistic and cultural other may lead to increased tolerance, empathy and openness to other associated with the way intercultural learning is employed in much of the research literature, the strategic actions learners take to negotiate their linguistic and cultural positioning will critically inform the extent to which they develop these qualities. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the ways in which a situated and relational conceptualization of interculturality and learning is seen to contribute to a more informed and deeper understanding of the sorts of intercultural learning that are made possible by an intercultural encounter. I also identify a number of research agendas which can build upon the insights provided by the study.

Les projets d’échanges scolaires, dont le projet Comenius, sont accueillis avec un grand enthousiasme par les enseignants comme une promesse d’ouverture, à travers la mobilité dans d’autres pays et à travers la rencontre entre des enfants locuteurs de langues différentes. Dans notre étude, nous souhaitons problématiser cette idée d’ouverture, souvent donnée pour acquise, et le ferons à travers la notion de « négociation identitaire ». A travers deux séries d’entretiens qui ont eu lieu avant et après l’échange et la rédaction des Autobiographies des rencontres interculturelles nous avons essayé de comprendre quelles identités linguistiques et culturelles sont valorisées et trouvent un espace de négociation dans le cadre d’un échange qui implique trois écoles primaires situées en France (Bretagne), en Italie (Sardaigne) et en Grand Bretagne (Gloucestershire). / School partnerships, as Comenius project, are welcomed by European teachers who see in them an opportunity for their pupils to broaden their horizons through motilities inside Europe, thank to which they can meet other children from different countries. In this study I’d like to review the idea of “broaden horizons” in the context of a school exchange program and I’ll try to do it by turning to the notion of “identity negotiation”. Through the analysis of two series of interviews taken before and after the exchange and the redaction the of Autobiographies of intercultural encounters we’ll try to understand which identities find a place of negotiation in a Comenius project which involves three primary schools situated in France (Bretagne), Italie (Sardaigne) e England (Gloucerstershire). / I progetti di scambio scolastici, tra cui il progetto Comenius, sono accolti con ungrande entusiasmo iniziale da parte degli insegnanti che vedono in essi una promessa diapertura attraverso una mobilità verso altri paesi europei e attraverso l’incontro tra bambinilocutori di lingue diverse. Ciò che desideriamo fare attraverso il presente studio èproblematizzare l’idea di apertura che è spesso data come un risultato scontato di questiprogetti. Per fare questo ricorreremo alla nozione di « negoziazione identitaria ». Attraversodue serie di interviste realizzate prima e dopo gli incontri e la redazione delle Autobiografiedegli incontri interculturali cercheremo di capire quali identità possono essere valorizzate etrovano uno spazio di negoziazione nella realizzazione di uno scambio scolastico checoinvolge tre scuole primarie appartenenti alla Francia (Bretagna), Italia (Sardegna) eInghilterra (Gloucerstershire).