European identity through multicultural and multinational prism: Questions of Perceptions and Perspectives

It is natural that the European scholars claim an upper-hand over others in understanding the intricacies of the European identity as majority of the work on the process comes from their end. It is also welcome as the Europeans are known to be open to self-criticism and the reflections that are brought out are often genuine and objective. What they miss out however, is a view from outside the “fortress”. The present paper, therefore, intends to look at the European identity from an Indian perspective. An understanding of this identity creation process through the prism of multicultural experience of India would provide interesting insights into the idea and policies of European Union.

By virtues of diversities that they possess and portray, if both India and Europe are multicultural, why does one proudly and boldly postures it before the world as the other seems to suspiciously look at its own “web of cultural complexities” and struggles to bring in an idea of collective identity for self. The paper aims to understand, through a comparative study, the principles on which the European Union and independent India are formed and the references and emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism in the communication policies of both regions. The paper would make an attempt to analyse the factors that enabled or hindered the two regions in developing a strong „identity‟ that they set to form as their objective.