Series

The world is living one of the worst migration crisis in history. This topic is constantly on the political agenda, with national governments and international organizations addressing it in their speeches and policies. While prejudice against immigrants was somewhat hidden in the arguments for the exit of the United...

In 2016, a 24-year-old Portuguese filmmaker named Leonor Teles won the Golden Bear of the Berlin Film Festival for best short film, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the award. This in and of itself should have been news in Portugal. The real reason was the topic of...

Brazil is well known for its mix of cultures, religions, colors and races. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), there are 305 officially recognized indigenous ethnicities, in addition to those brought in by historical, regular migratory waves from Europe, Asia, Africa and, more recently, from...

This article is the first in a 4-part series about racial discrimination in Portugal and Brazil. On 13 April 2017, Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, travelled to Senegal. He visited the House of Slaves in Gorée Island and took advantage of the opportunity to condemn slavery. He stated...

When most people hear of the Bridge of Sighs, they automatically think of the bridge in Venice, Italy that stretches out across the Rio di Palazzo or Palace River. While their assumption is true, there is another bridge that goes by the same name located in Yemen’s ‘Amran governorate,...

The name Socotra derives from a Sanskrit name, meaning “The Island of Bliss”; these Islands are known as the most alien place on earth. The island is situated in the Indian Ocean between Somalia and Yemen, two countries torn by war, and it is filled with the most beautifully illogical...

Yemen ’s Hadhramaut Valley or Wadi Hadhramaut, is situated in the southeastern part of Yemen and characterised by mountains, valleys, and deserts. It is known to have been inhabited since the Stone Age. The Hadhramaut Valley is mentioned in the Quran, the Islamic holy book, as the place where...

Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, is the oldest inhabited place in the world, and according to popular legends, the city was founded by Shem, the son of Noah. Sana’a is home to the ancient Ghumdan Palace, a 20 storey building, sometimes acknowledged as the world’s first skyscraper. Today, only a few...

Preserving Yemen’s Cultural Heritage Yemen is one of the most isolated countries in the world. At one point, it hardly made international news except when it came to the United States’ war on terror against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, otherwise known as AQAP. But, much has changed over...

Language is a vessel of culture and its loss can prove to be detrimental to the survival and continuation of cultural heritage. When European traders first arrived in Hindustan, what is now India, there were thousands of indigenous languages spoken by a vast number of Indians. After ruling the...

Tribal Languages in India –  Part III Reasons for Decline of Indian Tribal Languages India, as we all know is a multicultural nation where we can find indisputable links between culture and  language. In all obvious sense, it is a multilingual society. However, the contours of being a multi-linguist...

  “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela Cultural Diversity, we all have heard this term before but have we actually given a thought to...

Tribal Languages in India – Part I Introduction India, as we all know is a land full of diversity – different cultures, faiths, lifestyle, traditions, rituals etc. are all interwoven, that makes it a vibrant nation. As you traverse the region, you will meet an entirely different set of...