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Narrative Interview #4: Cultural Diversity and The Youth

Student profile: Carla Sille, 24 years old, Electrical Engineering student

Thu: How do you define cultural diversity?

Carla: I would say cultural diversity happens when people from different nations, countries are at the same place. They learn from each other and respect each other.

Thu: Do you think cultural diversity and globalisation are the same?

Carla: No, I don’t think they are the same, but they are connected. Globalisation is a material world, regarding economics, business, import, export, etc. Also, when the universities offer exchange programs in other countries, they can exchange the experience. When there is globalisation, there is also cultural diversity.

Thu: Which benefits does cultural diversity bring you?

Carla: I would say a lot. I am an Argentinian who studies in German, so I am in touch with many people worldwide. They teach me many things, open my mind, help me see and understand other traditions, and be more empathetic.

Thu: How is your student life connected with diversity?

Carla: As I said, I am an international studying in Germany, and many things in my life connect with cultural diversity. Most of my fellows are Germans, so I learned how they live, how they communicate and how they work. I also lived in an international dormitory, so I was in touch with many people worldwide; I learned to speak English, tried to eat new things that they cook for me, or cook for them. It was like an exchange.

Thu: Do you think COVID-19 has affected cultural diversity since it restricts social contacts and creates more inequality?

Carla: I think yes, to some extent. It is difficult to get in touch with my friends, travel to my country, visit my family, and in general, it affects the social contacts we have. But I don’t think it affects cultural diversity that much because we live in a digital era where we can always use Zoom, Skype, etc. I can both meet my family there and meet my old ERASMUS friends, my friends from Argentina. During my first year in Germany, I didn’t have many contacts, but now they all have social media, so I think it doesn’t affect cultural diversity that strong.

Thu: Do you think digitalisation and technologies help us to bring more cultural diversity?

Carla: Yes, I do. Like I said before, I think this new era with Zoom, Instagram, Skype, etc., they all help us to get in touch with people living in different time zones, from other parts of the world. With digitalisation, I could always connect with my friends, my family members and even create new friendships.

Thu: Thank you so much for your time and effort!

*Note: This interview was done in the form of audio with a photo.

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Narrative Interview #3: Cultural Diversity and The Youth

Student profile: Alexandra Sulz, 21 years old, Environmental Engineering student

Thu: How do you define cultural diversity?

Alex: I would define it as the combination among cultures in society, in a group or an organization.

Thu: Do you think cultural diversity and globalisation are the same?

Alex: They connect with each other; without globalization, it is hard for cultural diversity to be created. But I think globalisation is a bigger thing.

Thu: Which benefits does cultural diversity bring you?

Alex: I love travelling a lot. I enjoy cultural exchanges, and I do a lot of volunteer work via a platform called Workaway. There you can find your host from anywhere and ask to stay with them, help them and learn about their cultures. I always feel happy to get to know new things in life, especially in terms of cultures and traditions. I learn to cook new food, eat with more than forks and knives, wear traditional clothes and more.

Thu: How is your student life connected with diversity?

Alex: I lived in an international WG before, but we felt like family. Everybody shared their culture with me, and I learned a lot from them.

Thu: Do you think COVID-19 has affected cultural diversity since it restricts social contacts and creates more inequality?

Alex: Totally. As an extrovert, I think it is sad to stop travelling and get to know other cultures. I hope that the pandemic will soon be cured so that we could move freely again.

Thu: Do you think digitalisation and technologies help us to bring more cultural diversity?

Alex: I’m not a fan of technologies and social media, but I think it does help bring people from all over the world together. It is just a different experience when you meet a person personally than digitally. However, I still recognize and acknowledge the benefits of virtual networks.

Thu: Thank you so much for your time and effort!

*Note: This interview was done in the form of audio.

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Narrative Interview #2: Cultural Diversity and The Youth

Student profile: Lara Neumann, 25 years old, General Linguistics student

Thu: How do you define cultural diversity?

Lara: Cultural diversity to me means different cultures engage with each other in one society.

Thu: Do you think cultural diversity and globalisation are the same?

Lara: Not really, but globalisation creates cultural diversity, globalisation is the cause, and cultural diversity is the effect.

Thu: Which benefits does cultural diversity bring you?

Lara: I always like to stay in an international environment. Diversity brings me many benefits, such as learning a new perspective, new cuisine, new language and finally, cultural diversity makes me more empathetic and understanding when I meet new people.

Thu: How is your student life connected with diversity?

Lara: During my student life, I got to know many international students because I’m studying linguistics, maybe. People are very open-minded, and whenever we work in a group with people from different backgrounds, we always come up with new and interesting ideas. I also did one internship in Brazil, and I loved it there. I grew up after that.

Thu: Do you think COVID-19 has affected cultural diversity since it restricts social contacts and creates more inequality?

Lara: Certainly. It is harder to meet up in big groups and therefore no opportunity to meet new cultures, which is a shame. 

Thu: Do you think digitalisation and technologies help us to bring more cultural diversity?

Lara: I like that I can use social media to contact my friends in Brazil, but it still doesn’t feel real to me. I would prefer having contacts in person, rather than sitting in front of the desk and looking at the laptop. However, during the pandemic, that’s the best thing we can do to maintain connections.

Thu: Thank you so much for your time and effort!

*Note: This interview was done in the form of audio.

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Narrative Interview #1: Cultural Diversity and The Youth

Student profile: Lucas Wißmann, 24 years old, Psychology student

Thu: How do you define cultural diversity?

Lucas: I would see cultural diversity in society as people from different cultural backgrounds come together and interact with each other. That could be understood as an exchange.

Thu: Do you think cultural diversity and globalisation are the same?

Lucas: No, but I think they go hand-in-hand. If we live in a globalised world, people start to go abroad, trade internationally, immigrate to other countries, etc. That is when globalisation leads to cultural diversity, but for me, globalisation also refers to economics, business and other things. For example, Germany trades with the US or Vietnam, but it doesn’t mean that we are exchange cultures directly.

Thu: Which benefits does cultural diversity bring you?

Lucas: I would refer to my experience in my dormitory where I’m living in Trier. We have nearly 150 people from over 65 countries, representing perfectly cultural diversity, especially when we had the international cooking evenings. There we benefited from each other where we learn something from other cultures, learn how to cook food from other countries and get to know different perspectives. For example, when we talk to each other, sometimes we might have different opinions because of the experience we have made from our cultures. And to me that’s interesting. 

Thu: How is your student life connected with diversity?

Lucas: I have many experiences during my student life with other cultures, especially when I lived in my dormitory. Also, I made an ERASMUS in Spain where I had the opportunity to meet different people from various cultures. I am always happy to meet people from other backgrounds, and I enjoy getting to know about different views and learning new things.

Thu: Do you think COVID-19 has affected cultural diversity since it restricts social contacts and creates more inequality?

Lucas: Definitely, it is more challenging to live and experience cultural diversity since we can not meet many people at once and have to reduce social contacts. All the meetings in the dormitories or university or even cooking together is no longer possible. We all have to restrict our social circle to very few people. It is more difficult to live among different cultures in person, but I am grateful that I’m still in touch with my friends worldwide with the help of technological development. 

Thu: Do you think digitalisation and technologies help us to bring more cultural diversity?

Lucas: I think it makes our lives easier to connect with other cultures, absolutely. I use Skype or Zoom to communicate with friends all over the globe and get in touch with other people. For example, even with the government’s restrictions, I could still write my bachelor thesis using data I collected via my digital social networks from Tanzania, for instance. So I think it makes things accessible through the digital world, especially in times of a pandemic like this. 

Thu: Thank you so much for your time and effort!

*Note: This interview was done in  the form of Zoom video.

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Intersectionality: Using Diversity to Cope With Discrimination

The term „Intersectionality“ was introduced by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw, a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School. It is the complicated, cumulative way the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially marginalised individuals or groups’ experiences. 

How do we use intersectionality to cope with discrimination?

According to the definition, there are people who belong to different victim groups at the same time. For example, a black woman who is a Muslim could belong to three different forms of discrimination: racism, sexism, Islamophobia. This person’s voice would rank higher than the voice of a black woman, and the latter person’s voice will weigh heavier than the voice of a black man. So when these groups come together and take actions, the could unify and strengthen their opinions by using diversity as a weapon.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc

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Black Lives Matter: Diversity Still Matters During The Pandemic

woman in black long sleeve shirt and white cap holding white printer paper

Black Lives Matter is a social movement that is no longer strange to us. It is in fact, the largest movement in US history. On the 25th of May 2020, a video of George Floyd being murdered by the police in Minneapolis spread across the Internet. The video has attracted the public’s attention and people began to march, demonstrate and even deliver speeches about discrimination. The movement soon became globally and people from other countries also organized marches everywhere in the world.

At that time, two months have passed by from March 11, the day the WHO declared the Coronavirus as a global pandemic. People went into lockdowns, travels from countries to countries have been restricted, and social contacts were made virtually. But for the first time, Coronavirus didn’t center the news anymore, it was something else. It was described as a pandemic – a pandemic with serious and fatal consequences just like the Coronavirus – it is called DISCRIMINATION. (I don’t prefer to use the word  ‚racism‘ because I don’t recognize the existence of it). This Coronavirus pandemic revealed that discrimination has always been a serious problem and needs to be taken into consideration urgently because this not only leads to global inequality but also strengthens the concept of nationalism. According to some statistics, during the pandemic in the US in 2020, the number of African Americans who died from the pandemic is 2-3 times higher than the number of white Americans, in some places, this even goes to 4 times. 

In fact, movement #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. The event of George Floyd being murdered during the pandemic not only raised people’s awareness of discrimination as a global pandemic but also show us how diversity can inspire and form such a strong movement like Black Lives Matter. Protesters were risking their health and even lives for a future that embraces diversity, equality and no discrimination in the USA. 

In my opinion, the event was a fundamental key for the world to acknowledge there has always been a pandemic even before COVID, and this pandemic also causes psychological consequences such as depression, anxiety, traumatized experience, etc. Just like ecological destruction and climate change, we don’t realize the long term devastating effect of this pandemic. If we don’t take actions right now, it might be too late.

My one and only question has always been: How do we eradicate discrimination and bring more diversity to human lives?

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Cultural Diversity & The Youth: Project’s Background Ideas

Cultural diversity has always been a popular topic throughout history. In Germany, it all started after World War II, as more than 11 million immigrants arrived in the country. The term „cultural diversity“ has become more and more popular for several decades in Germany, and it is still on the rise at the moment, yet it is also a controversial topic.

Discrimination is not only a daily issue that many people are facing in every corner of the world, but it is also a harmful disease. It is an ongoing problem around the globe, and Germany is not an exception. While many young people are open to different social groups contacts and innovations, a lot of people turn their backs behind „learning a new culture“. What is indeed „cultural diversity“? What do young people think of „cultural diversity“? How do they benefit from it personally? What is their opinion on how cultural diversity contributes to society? Are we losing our cultural traits when we get together in a diverse world? 

Discrimination and racism are, despite cross-cultural exchanges become more and more popular in modern times, an alarming issue of the world. However, I believe every young person is the captain of a better future. With its title Cultural Diversity & The Youth: What cultural diversity means for young people and how it positively influences them, this project’s major goal is to spread the positive impact of cultural diversity on the youth to the audience and eradicate the negative stereotypes towards differences in Germany. The target group is young people, especially students from 20 – 25 years old who are currently studying in Germany, regardless of their race, genders, nationality, marital status, etc.  To help my audience attain these goals, I will bring a closer look at what cultural diversity means for them. Furthermore, the blog will focus on which positive impacts cultural diversity brings to the youth, how young people have changed by interacting with various cultures, and which ideas they have in mind about how cultural diversity positively influences society.

I plan to finish this project by the end of March, with the aim of uploading at least three articles per month, starting from the beginning of December. The articles will revolve around cultural diversity in Germany (its history, its present, its future), youth opinions about diversity and benefits that cultural diversity brings us in modern times.

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Migration in Germany: An Overview 1950s – present

Graphic 1: Number of immigrants in Germany from 1991 to 2019 (BAMF 2020)

After World War II,  Germany was divided into four occupational zones controlled by the US, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Some 8 million refugees arrived in the Western-occupied zones and some 3.6 million people in the Soviet-occupied zone.

In the mid-1950s, due to labour shortage, the Federal Republic of Germany also began to recruit workers abroad. In 1955 the first recruitment contract was signed with Italy. Then came the Spanish, the Greek, the Turkish, the Moroccan, the Portuguese, the Tunisian, and the Yugoslavian. While the Berlin Wall was being built, there was an urgent need for foreign workers, recruited by the GDR. In total, there were approximately 14 million foreign workers who came to Germany.

The recruitment of so-called „guest workers“ was terminated due to the oil crisis and the increasing number of unemployment in 1973. Only almost 4 million foreigners stayed in Germany, while 11 million returned to their home countries.

At the beginning of the 1990s immigration had risen again due to the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the recruitment ban in 1973 and the low immigrant in the early and mid-1980s. Immigration reached its first climax in reunified Germany in 1992 with more than 1.5 million people immigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2008 and 2009, Germany was considered an emigration country.

In 2015, a total of 2.14 million people immigrated to Germany, and Syria was the main country of origin of new immigrants, whose number rose more than Romania and Poland. According to „Statistisches Bundesamt“ (2020), in 2019, there were 1.55 million arrivals to Germany.

References:

1. Seifert, Wolfgang. “Geschichte der Zuwanderung nach Deutschland nach 1950 | bpb.” bpb.de, https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/deutsche-verhaeltnisse-eine-sozialkunde/138012/geschichte-der-zuwanderung-nach-deutschland-nach-1950. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

2. Graphic 1: BAMF. (June 29, 2020). Number of immigrants in Germany from 1991 to 2019 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/894223/immigrant-numbers-germany/

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Diversity as My Core Value

Have you ever asked yourself what your top three values are? Along with self-development and independence, my most important value is diversity. 

Diversity brings colors to life. 

I expressed my core value on a piece of cloth with watercolour.

In Vietnamese, we have a saying: “Go outside one day, learn a bunch of wisdom”. The meaning of this proverb is if you avoid getting out of your comfort zone to see the world, you will never know how much potential it can give you by meeting new people, exploring differences, and facing challenges. 

Diversity broadens my knowledge as well as mindset. As I get the opportunity to know different people from mixed backgrounds by stepping out of my country and going abroad, my knowledge bag gets heavier and more qualified day by day. The simple daily fact that not everyone knows how to use chopsticks, not all people wear sandals with socks, in some countries people drive on the left, makes me accept that I can’t expect everyone to have the same opinions as me. So I taste new food, learn new languages, observe and adopt new behaviours, listen to new points of view every time I get to know a foreign person. Every person contributes something to my life, regardless of the impact they create. 

Diversity helps me to understand that differences are crucial. The world to me would turn colorless and monotonous if there wasn’t diversity. Creativity comes along with diversity. The difference becomes the theme of lots of my daily discussions, entries, and ideas. Diversity forces me to adapt to other cultures. Being your true self is the best feeling people can have while adapting to other cultures when being out of the country plays an inevitable role if a person wants to integrate and develop in another society. 

Diversity makes me a respectful and tolerant person. Now, as I am used to facing different cultures, I accept the differences and try to put myself in other perspectives. Some behaviours that we might consider insulting are just normal for another culture. The multicultural environment got me to understand and show respect to what other cultures believe and follow without judgment. When an unpleasant situation happens, I avoid judging immediately and try to put myself in another’s position and ask such questions: “What would I have done if I were the person in that situation?”, “Would I also react that way?”. 

Diversity drives my creativity. I’m working voluntarily for a youth organization, where I spend a lot of my time working with an international team. Interacting with different cultures brings me lots of ideas when it comes to brainstorming, discussing, or working together. The amount of inspiration is endless since each individual experiences various things and analyses one matter from their perspectives.

And with diversity as one of my core values, I become a world citizen. Acknowledged that I am also a small particle contributing to a big colorful picture, apart from encouraging other people to show their cultures, I actively and confidently represent my culture to the world. Diversity gives me the chance to become an ambassador for my country.

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The Research Process

1. The Research Theme:

The term „cultural diversity“ has become more and more popular for several decades in Germany, yet it is also a controversial topic. The topic fascinates me as an international student who belongs to the target group (20-27, a student in Germany). What is indeed „cultural diversity“? What do young people think of „cultural diversity“? How do they benefit from it personally? What is their opinion on how cultural diversity contributes to society? Are we losing our own cultural traits when we get together in a diverse world?

2. References:

Books from the library, newspapers and internet sources (statistics, graphics, images…). A list of references will be fully uploaded on page „REFERENCES“.

3. Research Field:

Students in Germany who are between 20-27 years old.

4. Working Devices:

Laptop, smartphone, camera, pen, notebook.

5. Methods:

A combination of narrative interviews (recordings) and visual anthropology (in the form of a video) will be represented in every article throughout the project.

6. Field Trip:

Due to the current lockdown situation in Germany, I would not be able to travel to the South and do face-to-face interviews with chosen people. Therefore, I will be using WhatsApp and Skype as two means of communication.