Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity is about having many different cultures instead of just one. It can mean many things, like looking at different kinds of art in museums or enjoying different kinds of entertainment from around the world. It can also mean the many ways people live and their traditions in one place or all over the planet.

Cultural diversity can change because of things like government rules that control what art people can see, or laws that help protect artists' rights. It can also be influenced by money-related choices, like letting products move freely between countries or protecting local products.

Since the middle of the 1900s, many countries have worked together through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help keep cultural diversity alive. This work happens on big scales, like between countries, and on smaller scales, like in towns and cities. Everyone can also help support cultural diversity just by choosing how they experience and show culture in their own lives.

Characteristics

Cultural diversity means having many different cultures instead of just one. It can talk about things like art, traditions, and the way people live. There are five main ways people think about cultural diversity:

• Economic: Having many different kinds of cultural products, like books, music, and movies, available to enjoy.
• Artistic: Seeing many different styles of art and music together.
• Participatory: Many different groups of people taking part in a country’s culture.
• Heritage: Keeping many traditions alive in places like museums.
• Multicultural: Having many different ethnic groups and their traditions in a country.

Lately, when countries talk about cultural diversity together, they often focus on helping their own cultural products, like movies and music, succeed in the world market. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, helps countries work on cultural diversity around the world. They also talk about how cultures interact and share ideas with each other.

Quantification

It can be hard to measure cultural diversity. One way is to count how many different cultures exist. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that small groups known as indigenous peoples represent around 5,000 different cultures, showing just how much variety there is in the world.

We can also look at the number of languages spoken. Sadly, many languages are being lost. Studies from the 1990s by David Crystal found that, on average, a language stopped being used every two weeks. If this kept happening, most of today’s languages might disappear by the year 2100. James Fearon from Stanford University made a list in 2003 of countries with many different ethnicities, languages, and religions.

International legal context

Since 1945, UNESCO has supported the idea of cultural diversity through many important agreements and laws. At first, these agreements focused on protecting things like art and buildings that can be bought or sold. But later, people realized it was also important to protect traditions, skills, and ways of living that can't be bought or sold.

In 2001, UNESCO made a big statement about cultural diversity, saying it includes all the different ways people live, think, and believe. This helped create a special day each year on May 21 to celebrate cultural diversity. In 2005, UNESCO created a special agreement to protect cultural diversity, which many countries agreed to follow. This agreement also started a special fund to help countries develop their own cultures and traditions.

Main article: UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

Main articles: Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

Factors

Cultural diversity, like the variety of life in nature, faces threats from many directions. These threats can come from other cultures, such as when entertainment from one country makes people less interested in their own traditions. Other factors include changes in religion and modern education systems. Things that help protect cultural diversity include migration and when a country welcomes and celebrates different cultures.

Governments, international groups, and non-governmental organizations can either support or limit cultural diversity. To help protect it, the 2005 Convention set up ways to track progress, including global reports every four years and reports from individual countries.

Main article: Cultural imperialism

Colonialism often tried to destroy cultural diversity by replacing the languages, religions, and traditions of colonized people with those of the colonizers. This happened through forced assimilation, such as making people change their religion, taking away community lands, and changing how work was done. Protecting the rights of indigenous peoples to keep their languages, religions, and cultures is important and is supported by treaties like the 1965 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Artistic freedom lets artists create without government interference and lets people access many different kinds of cultural content. Governments can limit these freedoms through censorship or watching artists too closely, or they can choose to protect artists and their free expression. Recent reports show that attacks on artists, like being put in jail, have increased. Musicians, especially those who perform rap, often face threats because their lyrics can challenge leaders. While the internet has made it easier for artists to share their work, it has also brought new problems like censorship, watching artists, and harmful comments online.

Travel can be hard for artists and cultural workers, especially those from the Global South. They need to travel to perform, attend programs, or meet others. But getting a visa can be difficult, and some countries make it much easier to travel than others. Even when invited to important events, artists from some countries still struggle to get there. Reports show that while more attention is being paid to this problem, real improvements are still needed.

Governments can help protect cultural diversity by supporting the rights of artists. This includes making sure artists can form groups, have safe working conditions, and have support when they aren’t earning money. These rights are recognized by international agreements.

There is still a gap between men and women in the arts world. Women are often paid less, get less money to create their work, and are not chosen as leaders as often as men. In 2018, women made up only 34% of Ministers for Culture and 31% of directors of national arts programs. While women are better represented in some areas like teaching arts and publishing books, they are still underrepresented in leadership roles, receive less public money, and get less recognition for their work. Recent reports show that while making gender equality a priority, real progress is still slow.

Between 2015 and 2017, some trade agreements included parts that support cultural diversity. Even though big trade deals sometimes don’t include these parts, some countries have made sure to protect their cultures. The internet has made it easier to access many cultures, but it has also allowed a few big companies to control what people see.

Organizations like Google Arts and Culture and Europeana try to share many different cultures. Google Arts and Culture works with groups that have been left out of mainstream stories, and Europeana aims to share stories from underrepresented communities.

People can help cultural diversity through their own choices. The "Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion" campaign, started in 2011 by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), encourages people to learn about and share different cultures. It helps people explore music, books, art, and traditions from places they are not familiar with and to share their own cultures with others.

National and local initiatives

In September 2002, the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil held a big meeting about culture. Mayors and culture experts from many cities around the world came together, along with people from civil society. The cities of Porto Alegre and Barcelona wanted to create a guide to help cities develop their own culture plans, similar to something called Agenda 21 that was made in 1992 for the environment. This new guide, called Culture 21, aimed to support different cultures in local areas. The guide was officially approved on May 8, 2004, during the first Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona.