Beware of culture. Culture and immigrants as presented in the media and by the politicians

Description of the tool

Split the participants into 4 groups. Each group will be given a case they have to discuss and then present in plenary. They will get a sheet with 1) a case & 2) some questions to discuss.

Part one (30 minutes)
The participants discuss the cases.

Part two (30 minutes)
In plenary each group is asked to present their case shortly

Part three: (20 minutes)
Debriefing:
What can culture explain in connection to behaviour?
What can it not explain?
Which other explanations of the behaviour did you come up with?
What happens when we try to explain delinquency, unemployment etc. with the concept of culture?
When arguing that we should respect culture no matter what, what do we miss out on?

Part four: (10 minutes)
Sum up the debriefing with a presentation of stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination and exclusion. Be aware of cultural differences as a first best guess, but beware of the use of culture to explain or excuse negative behaviour. Otherwise culture turns into a new concept for “race”.