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Cultural Identity Politics <strong>in</strong> the (Post-)Transitional Societies<br />
“multiculture”, which stands for universality that has already accepted and implanted<br />
cultural diversity and multiple mean<strong>in</strong>gs of particular, specifi c cultures.<br />
It could be said that the concept of “multiculture” has been <strong>in</strong>spired by the previously<br />
developed concept of “world culture”. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ulf Hannerz (1996: 106) world<br />
culture would be “…an organization of diversity, an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terconnectedness of<br />
varied local cultures, as well as development of cultures without a clear anchorage <strong>in</strong> any<br />
one territory. And to this <strong>in</strong>terconnected diversity people can relate <strong>in</strong> diff erent ways”.<br />
Notwithstand<strong>in</strong>g the obvious stress on diversity that Hannerz clearly puts forward, there<br />
are still openly expressed doubts about the term “world culture”, particularly when it comes<br />
to the homogeneity and universality of its mean<strong>in</strong>g. Th e universality and homogeneity of<br />
the notion of world culture would be tested through cultural practices and cultural life<br />
which are carried on <strong>in</strong> diff erent places and at diff erent cultural times, notwithstand<strong>in</strong>g<br />
their possible <strong>in</strong>terconnections or the possible multiplicity of their mean<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />
It has been accepted now that cultural phenomena are transgress<strong>in</strong>g all cultural<br />
borders, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those of virtual cultures that are said to belong to all cultures (Castells,<br />
1996) and to refl ect cultural creativity <strong>in</strong> the virtual space. We cannot be sure yet that<br />
the (mediated) cultural values and cultural creativity will not lead to the establishment<br />
of some <strong>in</strong>tegrated “European culture”. At the moment it is clearly visible that such<br />
cultural phenomena are diversify<strong>in</strong>g the European (and global) cultural horizon.<br />
When perceived as global culture (Hannerz) they are embedded <strong>in</strong> the development of<br />
new technologies and may follow a universal concept of culture rather than of global<br />
multicultural diversity.<br />
Th e tendency to stress the transnational character of contemporary cultures and<br />
cultural identities is also very much present <strong>in</strong> the analyses of particular cultures and<br />
world culture. Th us Nederveen Pieterse states that: “Transnational culture exists <strong>in</strong><br />
global technology, <strong>in</strong>dustrial standards (ISOs ), world products, global brands, and<br />
forms of popular culture as a broad, but th<strong>in</strong> slice of global multiculture” (Nederveen<br />
Pieterse, 2007: 198). Th e transnational (or global) culture is a “cultural layer of widest<br />
generality” (ibid: 200), and “… it blurs the boundaries among units; the compartments<br />
separat<strong>in</strong>g them (i.e. cultures) become <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly porous because transnational culture<br />
borrows from them <strong>in</strong>discrim<strong>in</strong>ately and produces novel and irregular comb<strong>in</strong>ations”<br />
(ibid: 201). Th e keynotes of global multiculture are “<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g glocalization and<br />
<strong>in</strong>terplay across cultural strata”. S<strong>in</strong>ce the transnational (or global) culture is not an even<br />
fi eld, multiculture best expresses the global nature of cultures.<br />
Th e transnational character of cultures and cultural identities is particularly analysed<br />
<strong>in</strong> the European Union where the migration trends suggest that a number of national<br />
cultures (for example Turkish, Macedonian, Croatian, etc.) exist and function<br />
surrounded by a “majority” culture, that is, the national culture of the host country.<br />
Th e “emergent reality of transnational spaces” gradually elim<strong>in</strong>ates “the old and assumed<br />
isomorphism between culture, polity and territory” (Rob<strong>in</strong>s, 2006: 30). Th us a k<strong>in</strong>d<br />
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