The purpose of this cluster is to look at the impact – or lack of such – of ethnic belonging for aspects of active citizenship, civic inclusion and social cohesion. We look at ethnicity in a non-essentialist perspective. We rather approach it in along the lines of social constructivism and consider how people use the term as an identity marker in order to access various (public or private) resources, social welfare or services.

We will investigate how ethnicity can be both a barrier and a means to engage in active citizenship in two regional contexts, each affected by global migration and thus an increasing level of ethnic, cultural and (potentially) social diversity. The research approach of the cluster is thus comparative.