ABSTRACT

The juxtaposition and unfortunate contrast between the two movements speaks to the state of encounters in the United States today - a society brimming with changing social values but yet with sustained structural barriers and biases. In Schuermans' account, fear of others is determined by long-held assumptions of race and social class that run deep in the consciousness and subconsciousness of Cape Town's residents, decades after Apartheid was lifted. This chapter examines the importance of informal social interactions that complement formal processes in navigating and overcoming social and cultural differences in communities, particularly between old-timers and newcomers. Facilitating and turning encounters with difference into opportunities for community building and cross-cultural learning in this way, has already been a focus of several municipal programs around the world. In urban centers from San Francisco to Shanghai, working communities have been bulldozed and/or displaced by forces of development and gentrification.