Exploring Diversity

Diversity could be defined as the differences people or groups have among the world. some of these differences include culture, language, traditions, religion, manners, etc.
Diversity could be classified into three big groups, the first ones are those that could be perceptible immediately, the ones I call the external dimensions. This are the ones you could notice more or less without knowing the other, like the gender, age, religion, dress code, ethnicity, race, etc. An example could be the differece between a jamaican male guy and a Indian lady, the differences could be seen in their skin color, age, gender, the way they dress,one beleifs in Rasta Fari the other in Induhism, and so on.The second ones are the ones you know by interacting with the other and are more related to the presonal or internal dimensions, like the study level, the personal skills that person has, his political view, wor experience, etc. Finally the last Group has to do with the deep inside personal dimensions thata are figured by knowing the person for a while and being close to it, this dimension includes the 4 classifications we saw in class that are: Personal Truths, Work Style, Character or personality, and Sexual orientation.
This is a topic that must be well knwon in order to prevent misundertandings, have better communications, accept others the way they are, prevent stereotypes, and repect the differences.
If we analyze the case of the European union we could see that this is the most integrated continent in the world, eventhough they have many cultural differences. Now days the European union counts with 27 countries and they agreed to have and mantain the multiculturalism and muti ethic costumes. So far they have integrated economically and politically, but things like the traditions, language, costumes, dances, etc. remain as each country had it long time ago, as a part of their cultural identity. I personally don't believe that this integration will lead to a homogenization and by the countrary it will help to promote diversity. It is said in the union's constitution and people will defnd culture as a part of identity adn way of differensiation over the others. The european union tries its best to mantain diversity within their countries, but sometimes the differences of ways of thinking lead to problems and fight, wich slows down the dessicion making process and it has been seen some cases of xenophobia between citizens of the union.
Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMNSHONoyx8&feature=related


References:

Gabriel N. Toggenburg. 2005. Who is managing ethnic and cultural diversity in the European condominium? (Page 717 – 738)

http://www.univie.ac.at/diversity/dimensions.html

Images Taken from:

http://leaningtowardsjustice.files.wordpress.com/2006/06/diversity.jpg

Video Taken from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMNSHONoyx8&feature=related