Can culture mean redemption?

What does “culture” mean? Who produces it, who enjoys it, who destroys and who is excluded from it?

While eschewing rhetoric and proclamations of salvation, it is appropriate to ask what role culture can play in situations of social deprivation (poverty, ignorance, marginalisation and prison), by creating a different kind of awareness and offering new opportunities for people who have had none or who were unable to make the most of any chances presented to them. For instance, are schools in prison truly useful? Do they really change the life and prospects of the inmates who attend? How do prisoners’ difficulties and their ways of overcoming them help educate a class of teachers willing to accept the challenges of a “normal” school”?

Edoardo Albinati analyses the significance of “holding classes” in emergency conditions, which actually represent the current state of the entire Italian school system.