Glossary

Successful collaboration begins with a shared language, hence the need for a glossary. This joint effort of contributors from several teams ensures, on the one hand, terminological and conceptual coherence across not only our theoretical approaches, but also the qualitative case studies and quantitative research conducted in OPPORTUNITIES. On the other hand, our glossary facilitates communication between the academic side of the project and the fieldwork conducted by NGOs, uniting our teams working from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Senegal.

For more information about the Structure and Objectives of the Glossary, click here...)

Diversity

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term diversity refers to “[t]he condition or quality of being diverse, different, or varied.” This is frequently associated with multicultural or multiethnic societies (see, e.g., Parekh 2006, Vertovec 2015). However, the term is not restricted to cultural or ethnic diversity, but may also involve differences related to age, class, gender, sexual identity and orientation, ideology, and other factors that influence a person’s identity. Diversity approaches in cultural studies and the social sciences construct diversity as chances or opportunities rather than risks or dangers (Gregull 2018). Adopting this point of view, the OPPORTUNITIES project envisions Europe as a union of diverse multicultural societies.

⇢ see also: Equality, Gender, Narrative identity, Othering, Diversity

References and further reading:

Gregull, Elisabeth. 2018. Dossier Migration: Migration und Diversity. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. URL: https://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/migration/dossier-migration/223777/diversity. 

Parekh, Bhikhu. 2006. Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Vertovec, Steven. 2015. Diversities Old and New: Migration and Socio-Spatial Patterns in New York, Singapore and Johannesburg. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Category: A

Work Package: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8

[CG]

 

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