Diversity in a European context: the Challenge of Creating a Shared Critical Vocabulary

This paper draws on research conducted as part of the EU-funded RADAR project (Regulating AntiDiscrimination and AntiRacism). It focuses on the need to create a common vocabulary on diversity and ‘race’ that can be shared by the 9 project partners in 6 EU countries (Italy, Greece, UK, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands), to fulfil the project’s aims.
The RADAR project deals with the complex and topical phenomena of racism and xenophobia, which involve controversial terms and expressions. These are not static, but evolve with social change and increased awareness of diversity, which makes our task even more challenging. Starting with the concept of ‘race’, which we reject as a biological category but not as a research subject, we critically examine other ‘race’-related terms of everyday use with seemingly benign, but essentially excluding and discriminatory character. Finally, we make suggestions on possible steps towards a common multilingual, multicultural approach.