1. IDENTITY AND DISCRIMINATION
THE NEED TO BELONG
IDENTITY AND DISCRIMINATION
A workshop to reflect on collective identities

2. “A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words
“A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words. Those that seem clearest are often the most treacherous. ‘Identity’ is one of those false friends. We all think we know what the word means and go on trusting it, even when it’s slyly starting to say the opposite.”
Amin Maalouf أمين معلوف

3. Amin Maalouf was born in 1949 in Lebanon but he has lived in France since Although his mother tongue is Arabic he writes in French, and his works have been translated into over 40 languages.
 His parents had different cultural backgrounds. His mother was born in Egypt, where her father, a Maronite Christian married to a woman born in Turkey, had gone for work. His Lebanese father was from the Melkite Greek Catholic community. Maalouf's mother was a staunch Catholic who insisted on sending him to Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour, a French Jesuit school. He studied sociology at the Francophone Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut.
In 2011 he was elected a member of the Académie Française. He lives in Paris.

5. 5

6. “The fact of simultaneously being Christian and having as my mother tongue Arabic, the holy language of Islam, is one of the basic paradoxes that have shaped my own identity. Speaking Arabic creates bonds between me and all those who use it every day in their prayers […] If you are in central Asia and
meet an elderly scholar outside a Timuride medersa, you need only address him in Arabic for him to feel at ease. Then he will speak to you from the heart, as he'd never risk doing in Russian or English.
This language is common to us all - to him, to me and to more than a billion others. On the other hand, my being a Christian - regardless of whether I am so out of deep religious conviction or merely for sociological reasons – also creates a significant link between me and the two billion or so other Christians in the world.” Amin Maalouf

7. Collective identity refers to the shared definition of a group that derives from their members’ common interests, experiences, and solidarities. Collective identity is neither fixed nor innate, but rather emerges through struggle as different social actors interact and react to each other.
Collective identity represents how people are similar to each other based on the multidimensional psychological connection between the self and social group.

8. To what extent are the following aspects important in the building of your collective identity?
- Form a group with the people of your nationality (there should be 4 groups: Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish)
- You must rate the items from 0 to 5, 5 being the most important and 0 the least.
- Each group will have a spokesperson as representative who must add up the total points obtained in the group for each category. You must add the results for each item.
- When you finish, please hand it in to one of us
IMPORTANT: Remember you must take into account your collective identity.

9. Daily routine timetable Education Tolerance
Mark from 0 to 5 the importance between these themes that would define the identity of a country 1 2 3 4 5
Language
Religion
Religious tradition
Citizenship
Daily routine timetable
Education
Tolerance
History and cultural aspects
Food
Folklore and traditions
Leisure activities
Political system
Sociocultural referents
Race
Location / Geography
Social status

10. Total points
Language 40
Religion 25
Religious tradition 35
Citizenship 24
Daily routine timetable
Etc.
Education
Tolerance
History and cultural aspects
Food
Folklore and traditions
Leisure activities
Political system
Sociocultural referents
Race
Location / Geography
Social status

11. Who would you choose if you had to select someone to…
a Dutch- a German – an Italian - a Spaniard
Work efficiently
Go partying
Make a recycling project
Represent Europe abroad
Open a popular restaurant
Please write a nationality next to each of the following
(you can choose your own nationality)

12. GERMANY
SPAIN
NETHERLANDS
ITALY
Language
95%
90%
100%
Religion
20%
80%
15%
Religious tradition
Citizenship
Daily routine timetable
Education
Tolerance
History and cultural aspects
Food
Folklore and traditions
Leisure activities
Political system
Sociocultural referents
Race
Social status

13. These were the most voted countries to do the following…
ITALY
NETHERLANDS
SPAIN
GERMANY
Work efficiently
Germany
Go partying
Italy
Make a recycling project
Netherlands
Represent Europe abroad
Open a popular restaurant
Italy/Spain

14. HOW WE SEE OURSELVES
HOW WE ARE SEEN BY OTHERS
DUTCH PEOPLE *
GERMANS
ITALIANS
SPANIARDS
Food is important
Cheerful
We like partying
Strong family bonds

15. I know it is not realistic to expect all our contemporaries
to change overnight the way they express themselves. But I think it is important for each of us to become aware that our words are not innocent and without consequence: they may help to perpetuate prejudices which history has shown to be perverse and deadly.
For it is often the way we look at other people that imprisons them within their own narrowest allegiances. And it is also the way we look at them that may set them free.
Amin Maalouf أمين معلوف

16. This activity was carried out the 13th march 2017 in Trani
This activity was carried out the 13th march 2017 in Trani. As we have imagined before its staying we obtained the expected answers. In other words and disregarding the obtained figures, that in fact are not very relevant in a non scientific proposal as this one is, we could see how stereotypes are still anchored in the mind of ordinary citizens.
We achieved our aim: send to the European youth the message that they should overtake these prejudices and keep on fighting against discrimination.