http://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/ethnic-diversity/ Dear Colleagues, In the 18th – 19th centuries, social sciences and especially Anthropology were born on the axiomatic conjecture that the human condition balanced between the unity of mankind (or “culture”) and the diversity of humanities (or “cultures”). One century and a half later, the knowledge on human “universal” features has overall expanded in conjunction with the awareness of the plurality of social and cultural forms in history. “Pluralism”, however, is possibly one of the major political matters and scholarly topics. Modernity and Globalization are indeed supposed to have increased the fragmentation of cultures on one side and increased the number of ethnic claims on the other side. Theoretically speaking, “culture” and “ethnicity” are far to be conceptual equivalents, although both are, to a certain extent, identity markers, shaped by political issues, historical conditions, ideological frameworks. This issue aims at bringing together a collection of research papers or conceptual essays exploring the vast array of theoretical and methodological questions addressed to the relationships between “cultural pluralism” and “ethnic diversity”, such as theoretical problems, political programs aiming at the recognition or on the contrary, the overlooking of human differences, national or regional perspectives on the characterization of the “ethnic”, qualitative and quantitative approaches of diversity (techniques, limits, prospects), contextualized strategic stances beneath ethnicity assignations and/or claims, (in) adequations between cultural and ethnic forms. Prof. Dr. Lionel Obadia Guest Editor {snippet name="submission_info"} http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/9/1097/ This article re-examines recent studies that link different forms of social diversity—ethnic polarization and fractionalization—to underdevelopment and an increased risk of civil war. We review theoretical arguments in favor of a connection between diversity and these social outcomes and discuss the inter-linkage between economic growth and internal conflict in situations of extreme diversity. Our analysis confirms that the relationship between ethnic polarization and civil war is ambiguous and depends on the use of civil war incidence or civil war onset as an outcome variable. Furthermore, fractionalization rather than polarization seems to be negatively related to economic growth. http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/9/1097/ Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 CEST Diversity 2010-08-31 2 9 Article 1097 1117 1424-2818 Diversity, Conflict and Growth: Theory and Evidence 2010-08-31 doi: 10.3390/d2091097 Gerald Schneider Nina Wiesehomeier http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/8/1059/ “Cultural diversity” has become one of the latest buzzwords on the international policymaking scene. It is employed in various contexts—sometimes as a term close to “biological diversity”, at other times as correlated to the “exception culturelle” and most often, as a generic concept that is mobilised to counter the perceived negative effects of economic globalisation. While no one has yet provided a precise definition of what cultural diversity is, what we can observe is the emergence of the notion of cultural diversity as incorporating a distinct set of policy objectives and choices at the global level. These decisions are not confined, as one might have expected, to cultural policymaking, but rather spill over to multiple governance domains because of the complex linkages inherent to the simultaneous pursuit of economic and other societal goals that cultural diversity encompasses and has effects on. Accounting for these intricate interdependencies, the present article clarifies the origins of the concept of cultural diversity as understood in global law and traces its evolution over time. Observing the dynamics of the concept and the surrounding political and legal developments in particular in the context of trade and culture, the article explores its justification and overall impact on the global legal regime, as well as its discrete effects on different domains of policymaking, such as media and intellectual property. While the analysis is legal in essence, the article is also meant to speak to a broader transdisciplinary public. http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/8/1059/ Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 CEST Diversity 2010-08-05 2 8 Article 1059 1084 1424-2818 Cultural Diversity as a Concept of Global Law: Origins, Evolution and Prospects 2010-08-05 doi: 10.3390/d2081059 Mira Burri http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/8/1048/ In western countries, one of the challenges facing ageing populations is an absence of social roles. One response to this is to volunteer, with evidence suggesting that this assigns meaning to the lives of older people and enhances health and well-being. This holds potential significance for older people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and particularly those from Asian cultures, where there is evidence that cultural erosion is diminishing older people’s traditional roles. However, while volunteering can create role identities for older people, it may also further challenge existing cultural values. This paper debates these issues, drawing on a growing body of evidence relating to volunteering within Asian cultures. http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/8/1048/ Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CEST Diversity 2010-07-29 2 8 Article 1048 1058 1424-2818 The Role of Volunteering in an Era of Cultural Transition: Can It Provide a Role Identity for Older People from Asian Cultures? 2010-07-29 doi: 10.3390/d2081048 Jeni Warburton Rachel Winterton http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/7/959/ The starting point is the principle that there is no immigrant culture, but rather, different ways of living, coexisting and identifying oneself within the cultural worlds that each subject crosses on his or her social path. Here we study Brazilian immigrants in Portugal, working with the first wave (starting at the end of the 1980s) and the second wave (at the turn of the 20th to 21st century). We intend, firstly, to show how identity is reconstructed between two banks: the departure culture and the arrival culture. Secondly, we intend to give a voice to the most silent in the understanding of immigrants: the process of identity reconstruction of Brazilian immigrants is presented, resulting from ethno-biographic interviews. We will consider the cultural transfusion theory and observe the heterogeneous ways of living between cultures, whether by rejecting the departure culture (the Oblato‘s case), refusing the arrival one at a given moment (the mono-cultural subject according to the source culture), living in an ambivalent manner between the two (the multicultural self), or, finally, inventing a third bank, as the poets say, which corresponds to an attitude of including the cultural differences through which one crosses during his or her life history in an intercultural self (the Intercultural Transfuga). http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/7/959/ Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 CEST Diversity 2010-07-01 2 7 Article 959 972 1424-2818 Identity Reconfiguration of Immigrants in Portugal 2010-07-01 doi: 10.3390/d2070959 Vieira Mendes http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/6/897/ One of the key discussions emerging from within the centre and centre-left of British politics is the means of combining a commitment to diversity with the aim of achieving social solidarity. While there has been a populist strand to this debate recently with the contribution of writers such as Goodhart who has argued that diversity specifically undermines the willingness of the majority (white Anglo-Saxons) to pay for collective welfare provision, there has also been recognition of the difficulty of promoting difference and unity from within even the more sympathetic elements of the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to consider the nature of this dilemma and to propose a tentative solution. In essence we suggest that the problem lies not in creating a fit between the two elements for the sake of making the ‘new’ social democracy work but in rebuilding traditional social democracy. http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/2/6/897/ Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 CEST Diversity 2010-06-07 2 6 Article 897 909 1424-2818 Diversity or Solidarity? Making Sense of the “New” Social Democracy 2010-06-07 doi: 10.3390/d2060897 Nick Johns Mark Hyde Adrian Barton