9
PA RT I C I PAT I O N –
INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENCE
Lucy Howe López, Great Britain
9.1 Introduction
The key words and concepts that I was given to mull over, to connect
and elaborate on in the context of this book on global values and virtues
for leadership are the topic ‘intercultural experience’ and the value of
‘participation’. What follows is a reflection on both these axes in the
context of patterns and experiences of international migration.
9.2 On the Move
At the heart of Bruce Chatwin’s novel ‘The Songlines’^124 , which
draws upon the Australian Aboriginal ways of navigating their remem-
bered lands is the question whether we are made to settle or whether we
are by nature restless wanderers—nomads—driven to seek out new pas-
tures, moving with the seasons. Whether we have lived in one place all
our lives or moved every few months, we have nearly all experienced
what it is to be a visitor, a stranger, a migrant, unfortunately for too
many a refugee, an asylum seeker or a person who is internally dis-
124
Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, New York: Penguin Books, 1988.