European University Institute Library

Cultural diversity in Europe, a story of mutual benefit, Ulrike Hanna Meinhof

eng

The paper highlights the considerable positive impact of cultural diversity and the mutual benefit accrued for migrants and non-migrants alike. Against the background of growing hostility against, and increasing politicisation of the presence of migrants in European societies it sets a different vision of mutual respect, collaboration and benefit. So as to show the way in which contemporary migration is not a 'one-way' street of movements from poorer to richer countries where the rich offer all and receive nothing in return, the paper develops a four-tiered 'hub' structure that highlights complex multidirectional connections and mutual support of people in transnational networks. Central to the argument is the understanding that migrants do not come empty-handed but possess substantial 'transcultural capital 'that forms the basis for enriching reciprocal encounters between the global North and the global South. The paper offers much-needed empirical data from these encounters based on the author's field work in Madagascar and across different European countries

Includes bibliographical references

no index present

non fiction

Cultural diversity in Europe

881359893

Ulrike Hanna Meinhof

EUI working papers. RSC, 2013/71EUI papersGlobal Governance Programme, 67

a story of mutual benefit