Glossary of terms

In the EU context, a third-country national or stateless person who has made an application for protection under the Geneva Refugee Convention and Protocol in respect of which a final decision has not yet been taken.

Source: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/european-migration-network-emn/emn-asylum-and-migration-glossary/glossary/asylum-seeker_en#:~:text=Definition(s)&text=In%20the%20EU%20context%2C%20a,has%20not%20yet%20been%20taken.

Cross-cultural competence is the ability to mobilise and deploy relevant psychological resources in order to respond appropriately and effectively to the demands, challenges and opportunities presented by intercultural situations. More specifically, it involves a combination of values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and critical understanding applied through action which enables one to:

• understand and respect people who are perceived to have different cultural affiliations from oneself;

• respond appropriately, effectively and respectfully when interacting and communicating with such people;

• establish positive and constructive relationships with such people.

Source:  https://www.coe.int/en/web/reference-framework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture/glossary

A cultural area, cultural province or ethno-geographic area is a  contiguous geographic area within which most societies share many traits in common.

Well-known examples of culture areas and their traditional residents are found on every continent except Antarctica and include Scandinavia, homeland of the Vikings; the North American Plains, home of the Plains Indians; and Africa’s Al-Sudd, the seasonal wetland that is home to the Nuer, Dinka, and other cattle pastoralists. Australia, home of the Australian Aborigines, is often treated as a single culture area despite its considerable cultural and geographic diversity.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/culture-area

Cultural globalization is a phenomenon involving the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people associate their individual and collective cultural identities due to the diffusion of commodities and ideas. It brings increasing interconnectedness among different populations and cultures around the world.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/science/cultural-globalization

Discover more: https://helpfulprofessor.com/global-culture-examples/ 

Culture is the shared characteristics of a group of people, which encompasses , place of birth, religion, language, cuisine, social behaviors, art, literature, and music. 

Some cultures are widespread, and have a large number of people who associate themselves with those particular values, beliefs, and origins. Others are relatively small, with only a small number of people who associate themselves with that culture. However, the value of culture cannot be defined by its size. 

No matter if a culture is widespread or kept within a small region, is young or old, or has changed over time or stayed the same, every culture can teach us about ourselves, others, and the global community.

Source: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/resource-library-cultural-identity/ 

Culture is a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group that encompasses not only art and literature but also lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs. 

A distinction may be drawn between material (physical artefacts such as food, clothing, housing, goods, tools, artistic products, etc.), social (language, religion, laws, rules, family structure, labour patterns, folklore, cultural icons, etc.) and subjective (shared knowledge, beliefs, memories, identities, attitudes, values and practices) aspects of culture. 

This set of cultural resources is distributed across the entire social group with each individual member appropriating and using only a subset of the cultural resources potentially available to them. This explains the variability within each cultural group and may result in contested or blurred group boundaries.

Under this view, any social group can have a culture and all cultures are dynamic and constantly change over time as a result of internal and external factors. All people belong to multiple groups and their cultures, and participate in different constellations of cultures. Cultural affiliations are also fluid and dynamic, having a strong subjective dimension.

Source: https://www.coe.int/en/web/reference-framework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture/glossary

Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to another type of life.

Discover more: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Culture_shock#Q268586 

Democracy is more than the sum of its institutions. A healthy democracy depends in large part on the development of a democratic civic culture.

The term “democratic culture” emphasises the fact that, while democracy cannot exist without democratic institutions and laws, such institutions and laws cannot work in practice unless they are grounded in a culture of democracy, that is, in democratic values, attitudes and practices shared by citizens and institutions. 

Among other things, these include a commitment to the rule of law and human rights, a commit-ment to the public sphere, a conviction that conflicts must be resolved peacefully, acknowledgement of and respect for diversity, a willingness to express one’s own opinions, a willingness to listen to the opinions of others, a commitment to deci-sions being made by majorities, a commitment to the protection of minorities and their rights, and a willingness to engage in dialogue across cultural divides. It also includes concern for the sustainable well-being of fellow human beings, as well as for the environment in which we live.

Source: https://www.coe.int/en/web/reference-framework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture/glossary

Discover more on Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture by the Council of Europe 

Discrimination is any differential treatment of a person or group of persons based on a prohibited ground, which has no objective and reasonable justification.

Source: ECRI (European Commission against racism and intolerance) General PolicyRecommendation no.7 §1 b.

Ethnocentrism is the view of things in which one’s own primary culture is the centre of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. Ethnocentrism is also understood as a prejudice expressed by thinking one’s own group’s ways are superior to others. Three forms of ethnocentrism may be distinguished:

• denial: the inability or refusal to cognitively understand cultural difference, which leads to ignorant or naive observations about other cultures.

• defence: recognition of cultural difference coupled to a negative evaluation of variations from one’s own culture, with the greater the difference, the more negative the evaluation, and characterised by dualistic “us versus them” thinking.

• minimisation of difference: recognition and acceptance of superficial cultural differences while holding that all human beings are essentially the same, placing an emphasis on the similarity of people and commonality of basic values but defining the basis of that commonality in ethnocentric terms (everyone is essentially like “us”).