Through conferences and workshops,the goal is to provide legal professionals and social role-players with the tools they need to understand and adapt legal institutions to different cultural realities. On the basis of the usual distinction between multiculturalism and interculturalism, this activity assumes an intercultural approach to social and, particularly, legal relations. 

In this respect, it is accepted as a methodological assumption that any theoretical or practical approach to social relations is conditioned by one’s specific ethnic, religious or cultural experience and that, precisely for this reason, its epistemological and semiotic review is needed in order to coordinate social analysis and preparatory legal study with the pluralism and interculturalism that characterizes the societies of our era. 

In this respect, the Islamic category Al-Ghaib (الغيب, the imperceptible) can serve as a metaphor in a two-fold sense: on the one hand, it reflects our inability to understand or see in a clear way the unique features which characterize “the other,” meaning those who do not form part of our cultural or ethnic identity; and, on the other hand, it impels us to unveil that mystery or ignorance through an honest inquiry about their particular axiological order and idiosyncrasy. Once we have delved deep into what is not visible or what is not externalized (Al-Ghaib), it becomes possible for the social role-player to participate in solidarity with other cultural experiences and, as a result, to understand the need to adapt the meta-legal foundations of various institutions and public and private legal relations, so that they may serve as an effective instrument of integration and coexistence for those who are strangers to the social, political and cultural conventions upon which they were built. 

Schedule 

- Mario Ricca (Università Roma Tre): Translation, Law and the Invisible/Al-Ghaib. 

- Federica Sona (Max Planck): A legal-transactional approach to intercultural experience. 

- Adolfo Sánchez Hidalgo (University of Cordoba): Otherness and an element comprising Law. 

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

- Simona Fabiola Girneata (Università Sapienza): Report from the sociological-intercultural study in Cordoba. 

- Workshop: Intercultural mediation and legal translation in Private Law. 

- Debate and final conclusions. 

- Official meeting closure. 

Objectives 

- To promote an intercultural perspective in Law and social relations. - To overcome a dogmatic, nomocentric vision of Law. 

- To raise awareness about the invisible barriers which hinder the understanding of those who are alien to our social practices. 

- To identify how positive Law can affect people’s freedom and equality. 

- To provide tools to adapt legal institutions to different cultural models. 

The approach of the activity is based on the distinction between multiculturalism and interculturalism, assuming that every legal and social approach is conditioned by ethnic, religious and cultural experiences. The Islamic category Al-Ghaib (الغيب, the non-perceivable) is used as a metaphor to explore the challenges in understanding otherness and the need to adapt the foundations of Law to pluralistic contexts. 

- Social agents (NGOs, civil society associations, religious faiths). 

- Educators and social workers. 

- Legal role-players (lawyers, notaries, civil servants). 

- Scientific community in social and legal sciences. 

 - Mario Ricca (Università Roma Tre) 

- Adolfo Sánchez Hidalgo (University of Cordoba) 

- Javier Rosón (Casa Árabe) 

We hope to see you for this reflection on Law from a multicultural perspective!