Abstract
Is it possible to handle multiculturalism without handling conflict? Which problems can emerge in everyday experience of a bilingual country; is multiculturalism always experienced as a resource or can it be seen as the major problem concerning identity, social life, culture in general? When more than one cultures cohabitate in the same area, is one destined to prevail on the other? And, how diverse are the underlying values, are they compatible? Should such values be considered apart in order to protect identity or should they mix together in order to give way to a new, mixed, third culture? Can this issue become a serious obstacle to the development of the entire community in terms of mutual understanding beyond apathetic indifference? This paper will present the results of a field research carried out in Brixen, in South Tyrol: the social experience of multiculturalism. This is a pilot research, carried out with the method of qualitative interviews and ethnographic observa- tion (32 interviews in German and Italian), in order to investigate emerging problems of a bi-cultur- al community as directly experienced and expressed by the community members