Ethnicity, multiculturalism and transnationalism

The concepts “ethnicity,” “multiculturalism,” and “transnationalism” refer to different manifestations and the growing acknowledgment of cultural diversity as one of the constituent features of societies in a globalized world. Thus, the first term refers to the awareness of belonging to a group with particular characteristics (e.g., territorial, cultural, religious, linguistic, customary) and the consciousness of us in relationship to them. “Multiculturalism” refers to a philosophy or social thinking reactive to cultural uniformity or assimilation and to a model of public policy in which the state plays an active part in the defense of minority rights and cultural diversity. Finally, the term “transnationalism” points out the existence of a continuum of stable personal relationships between migrants across borders that affects simultaneously a wide range of phenomena (including the sense of belonging) in more than one single country.