Rik Pinxten

Rik Pinxten (born 12 March 1947 in Antwerp) is a professor and researcher in cultural anthropology at Ghent University. Between 2003 and 2010 he was chairman of the Liberal Humanist Association of Flanders, the Flemish section of The Humanist Association (Belgium). He is chairman of the Center for Intercultural Communication and Interaction (CICI) of the University of Ghent. Together with Gerard Mortier, he was an advocate for the creation of the progressive Music Forum "The Krook" in Ghent. In 2004, he received the Ark Prize of the Free Word for his book The Artistic Society.

Pinxten conducted his fieldwork with the Navajo people. He is an advocate for interculturalism over multiculturalism, arguing for dialogue and interaction between different communities based on a strong identity.