Some time ago I tackled courses called Communication 2.0 by Radislav Gandapas. The reason for this was my problem with lack of confidence while communicating. They promissed me to teach some techniques how to prepare, manage and benefit from communication, for example, in public speech, at work with management and colleagues, in unknown places (conferences, webinars, parties, etc.) and the like. And they did - I was provided many lifehackes that made my communication easier and simplier. Also they prompted me how to diversify my life. Now I want to say I changed greatly. My life is full because I started a new page: I do sport (archery), go to the gym, jog in the mornings, go skiing and skating, read books, travel, knit and sew. In the past I was completely different person, my life was borring and I myself was boring too, I guess. However, everything has changed for me, I enjoy every new experience.

• Aigul Uisinbayeva

The religious beliefs and practices are directly infused into the culture and education system in Thailand, where I work in a private school. This affects me as a Social Studies teacher to encourage liberal thinking, ideas or opinions towards the students. This also hinders me to give research projects expecting them to do it home so I just assign tasks to the students in school by getting them group work. It is not the students who have differences in mind, but we adults.

• Adrian Sengonzi

@Srilatha Alva, Being an Indian myself, I'm in complete agreement. Diversity thy be the other name of India. We humans have the same fundamental needs and have learned to negotiate for our needs and live in harmony. The if's and but's of the societal pressures shall always remain and continue to impact the harmony the common man strives from time to time. But as a nation, we have become stronger over the years and we have learned to be tolerant of such radical forces and to survive amicably.

• Wafa Niaz

India is a diverse country and has been housing various religions, languages, castes, culture for time immemorial. We Indians have been successful in bringing in unity in diversity in places of worship, work, classrooms etc. Although it seems unreal but we have been living in harmony for many years now, however miscreants with political influence and fanaticism have tried to create rift with ulterior motives now and then. It has not been a struggle for us Indians on a daily basis negotiating diversity, but we have taken it as growing up, respecting and knowing each other irrespective of our differences.

• Srilatha Alva

India is a diverse country and has been housing various religions, languages, castes, culture for time immemorial. We Indians have been successful in bringing in unity in diversity in places of worship, work, classrooms etc. Although it seems unreal but we have been living in harmony for many years now, however miscreants with political influence and fanaticism have tried to create rift with ulterior motives now and then. It has not been a struggle for us Indians on a daily basis negotiating diversity, but we have taken it as growing up, respecting and knowing each other irrespective of our differences.

• Srilatha Alva

Last year I worked as English teacher in a private school and was consistently involved with learners coming from different areas of the world. In the classroom the stereotypes were deep and hard to eradicate. For this reason different teaching activities were implemented to overcome the problems and create a common ground where to work on. On one hand, we decided to consider Diversity and Inclusion activities to make the learners cooperative with one another. On the other hand, we decided to create the opportunity to build a better environment together, step-by-step, with the aim to create a sense of community and being helpful. The main problems were related to faith differences and power groups that used to attack some of the learners. Negotiating the debate was even difficult within the teachers that used to perform exclusion forms of punishment to change the behavior in the classroom. Working in an environment where standards are not clear between stakeholders is challenging because it could create safety and security issues that must be addressed correctly. In fact, due to negligence activities I noticed that the problems didn't decrease, on the contrary they became more and more.

• Viola Banaj

I am working in a private school in India, and the difference with us is the religious beliefs and practices because of which a certain group of students belonging to a certain religion are unable to complete the task assigned by the teacher at home. This was negated by stopping to assign any tasks at home and work around the students in school by getting students involve in group work. I understood that its not the students that have differences in mind but we adults.

• Srilatha Alva

Negative Racial Stereotypes and Their Effect on Attitudes

Stereotypes are cognitive structures that contain the perceiver's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups These cognitive constructs are often created out of a kernel of truth and then distorted beyond reality.The racial stereotypes of early American history had a significant role in shaping attitudes toward other races.

Racial categorization reflects the process of placing people into distinct groups based on variation in phenotypic physical features of the face and body such as skin color, hair color and texture, eye shape, nose width, and lip fullness. Racial stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reflect the human tendencies to conceptualize and value certain configurations of phenotypic features differently, and act on these thoughts and feelings in our interactions with members of racial categories.

Many of us, particularly students of prejudice, can recruit from memory vivid examples of racial bias and its consequences. In both overt and subtle forms, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination exhibited among individuals belonging to different racial categories has long been a significant source of social strife.

A relatively small but growing literature produced by historical, sociological, medical, anthropological and psychological researchers confirms that racially-motivated biases exist not only between members of different racial groups, but also among individuals who belong to the same racial group.These outcomes are, in part, due to interpersonal processes that were not generally recognized in social psychological theory. Dominant theories in social psychology have emphasized the role of racial categories.

• Ammara Akhtar

Reflection on assimilation and generations of emigrants: i am currently living in Sweden, a very diverse country if we consider that in last decades more than 100,000 emigrants were received each year. This diversity is visible everywhere on the street, in the offices, probably more in the big cities than in the rural side. There is an expectation that new comers are learning Swedish, and learn the culture and adopt Swedish habits and kids are mostly attending local schools - an emigrant could ask for her kids to have classes to learn still maternal language and this can be granted depending on how many request are in the same school/ administrative area. And due to the school, and the friends and social network these kids will be assimilated in my view, and they will be more identify themselves as ‘swedes’ than Ethiopians, or Sudanese or Polish. They are some who will also change their family name (simple administrative procedure) to ensure they are blended completely in the society - some studies few years back showed that CVs where disregarded based on candidate names (it happens in many countries probably). Shall we see this easiness to change one’s name as positive (ease the access to jobs, higher belonging to the group) or negative (society is not accepting emigrants)?

• Irina Mitrea

About surname change in Sweden https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/6729922

• Irina Mitrea

I am currently teaching at an international school in Japan, and while the school aims to provide an English-speaking environment, without giving specifics to the English language/accent used (American English, Australian English, etc). The teachers are also of multicultural background, which makes the school diverse. However, the reality of a homogenous nation comes to life soon as you step out of school. In a country where people are predominantly Japanese with strong Japanese culture, it raises an eyebrow when people see foreigners, especially when they speak foreign language or loudly in public. You can easily see the culture of xenophobia in Japanese elementary schools, when students and even teachers treat Foreign English teachers differently among others. Even students of different races get a special treatment in the classroom. There is an apparent exclusion/separation happening in the society, and people are more comfortable talking to race that are more or less the same as them. After many years of living in the country, the culture of assimilation is very much encouraged, with a danger of forgetting or even shying away from sharing your own country's culture to others. The government has made several efforts to encourage foreign students to come and study in university

reference https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/01/87f3374bafe0-japan-to-allow-in-some-foreign-students-making-exception-to-ban.html

even trainees, and skilled workers have become more welcomed, to help ease the increasing need of workforce
reference https://picks.goandup.jp/en/background-of-increasing-vietnamese-trainees

moreover, high skilled professionals have also been encoraged to stay longer or given easier path to obtain a permanent residence
https://jopus.net/en/news/soumu-evaluation-20190625.html

Is this the shift that Japan is doing to promote multicutluralism and invite more foreigners to create dynamics in the society? I hope so.

• Marichu Lim

Indian context attempt to shift from unity in diversity to unity in homogeneity my experience

Indian secularism follows the respect all positive cooperation principal distance model where both the majority and minority groups are treated equal by the state. All the citizens have equal rights by birth and celebrate the concept of unity in diversity. But overtime there is shift in this ideology to unity in homogeneity, as certain fundamental groups are attempting to shift to developing a more homogeneous nation with a single religious identity. The minorities and marginalized sections are under constant threat regarding their everyday survival and have experienced numerous cases of human rights violation etc.I belong to Muslim minority community and since my childhood studied in a missionary school, lived in a mixed colony, have friends from all religious communities and groups and celebrated each other’s festivals together. The diversity was celebrated never did I realise about my religious identity, but in the past 5-6 years have witnessed various instances of discrimination and exclusion based on my identity. In my university hostel few students with certain ideology had issues with my dietary habit, to my fasting during Ramzan etc. It was quite shocking for me that how all of a sudden why my identity was so much highlighted and from a personal practice became more of a public concern. There are good and bad experiences of diversity but yes, this a relatively new change for me still trying to come to terms with it, each day is a new experience.

• Nida Khan