ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME, KEY ACTION 2

CAPACITY BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Furthering International Relations Capacities and Intercultural Engagement to

Nurture Campus Diversity and to Support Internationalisation at Home
(FRIENDS)

Unit 6: Understanding Ethnic and cultural diversity –

multicultural citizenship and ethnic identity
Part 3
Dr. Cemre Erciyes

TRANSCRIPT

How does culture changes across time and space in different societies? What is the impact of
globalisation, increased migration and transnationalism, as well as life choices in cultural
change and cultural diversity? The first concept we will look at is migration.
Migration is a concept you are all familiar with. In its most simple sense, it refers to a person
or a group of people moving from one place to another. This can be within a country or
beyond a countries’ political and administrative borders.
While migration refers to the migrants’ movements in space; transnationalism refers to how
these migrants’ structures of social networks, cultural practices and economic activities are
located beyond national borders.
Cultural globalisation on the other hand focuses on the travel of ideas, meanings and values
that is everything related to culture. What has created globalisation and transnationalism is
first of all increased mobility through better and cheaper transportation. And second it is the
Internet and other mediums of communication which have developed so much that distance
has lost its traditional meaning in terms of access to cultural values and meanings.
Increased mobility and increased communication create new interactions between cultures.
In the first part of this unit we said that the media you follow and your encounters with other
cultures influences your own culture; who you are. As you come across new cultures, you
may choose to adapt some of the new things you encounter to your life style. So, beyond who
you were born and taught to be by your family and environment, your choices will define
who you are. You can marry out of your cultural group, migrate to a different country, go to

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 1
a university and take an online course on intercultural communication from various scholars
around the world. All your interactions provided through globalization help make you who
you are.
Slide: Minorities and Diasporas
Minorities:
o people in a specific country who are culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct
o usually have specific rights

Next, let’s look at the concepts of minorities and diaspora.

Minorities are groups of people in a specific country who are culturally, ethnically, or racially
distinct. Sometimes migrants who arrive in big numbers are also seen as minorities in a
country but usually migrants are accepted as diasporas if they still have a homeland
orientation, a desire to go back to the homeland and where they come from is still important
for them. So, they protect their boundaries with other cultural groups. This desire or dream
to turn back can be protected even in further generations that may have lived in the host
country for all their lives.
Slide: Minorities and Diasporas
Diasporas:
o migrants or further generations of migrants
o have a homeland orientation
o a desire or dream to return back to the homeland
o protect their boundaries with other cultural groups

If we give an example, a Greek who for generations and generations have lived in Turkey, a
predominantly Islamic country – that Greek individual is part of the Greek minority. In
Turkey, Greeks are recognized as a religious minority by law, and they have the right to have
linguistic and religious education.
If a Greek, who have for generations to come lived in Athens, migrates to Turkey for work,
that individual, on the other hand, is part of a Greek diaspora in Turkey and treated as any
other migrant by law.
The two Greeks can come together and share the same language and religion and some
cultural norms and values but having lived all the time in Turkey and the other in Greece,
they may find out the differences in their culture have influenced a lot from, with whom they
lived with and the norms and values of the society they have lived in.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 2
So, there are many minorities and diasporas around the world. What about your country,
your community; are there any minorities or diasporas? Have you yourself or your family
moved from one place to another? Think about if you migrated from one city to another in
your home country. What would have changed for you? Most likely, the language will be the
same. And you will be familiar with what is acceptable behaviour in your culture. The variety
of food choices may increase if you move from a rural area to an urban area. What about if
you moved to Europe? Most likely you would have heard about how people live their lives
there, maybe you would speak the local language or in most European countries you would
be speaking English and you can communicate through the medium of English. What about
if you came to Turkey? In the next video, you will hear from an Indian scholar, married to a
Turkish man, living and working and raising her kids in the metropolitan city of Istanbul.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views
only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein. 3