IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH (IJSSMR )

E-ISSN 2545-5303
P-ISSN 2695-2203
VOL. 11 NO. 4 2025
DOI: 10.56201/ijssmr.vol.11no4.2025.pg389.398

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Harnessing Cultural Diversity: An Approach for Solving Divergence for Unity and Development

Felix Tersoo Gbaeren PhD, John Iorlumun Dankaro

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Abstract

Harnessing cultural diversity for unity involves recognizing and celebrating the differences between various cultural groups, while also finding common ground and shared values to bring people together. It is about embracing and leveraging diversity to build bridges, foster understanding and create a sense of community. In that context, we must make the most of the world’s cultural diversity, as it fosters development and social cohesion. Culture is more than the arts and literature. In its widest sense, culture embraces everything from your choice of what to wear each day to the traditions, beliefs, and values of your family and community. Suffice to say that, it includes all forms of artistic expressions and creativity. It is also the language one speaks, place of worship, the things that move one emotionally and the sources of meaning in one’s life. Cultural diversity plays an important role in sustainable development because it fosters economic growth, helps individuals and communities to expand the life choices, therefore, it is important to adopt to change and raising the resilience of social- ecological systems. It creates a rich and varied world, which increase the range of choices and nurtures human capacities and values and therefore, it is a mainspring for development. The paper is qualitative and has utilized secondary sources of data and has anchored its argument on multiculturalism theory as a framework of analysis. The paper therefore attempts to establish a dialectic link that, cultural diversity and cultural participation strengthen, tolerance, social cohesion and principles of inclusivity, it is an average and driving force of development. The paper recommended that, by harnessing cultural diversity, we can break stereotypes and prejudices, enhance creativity and innovation, enrich our understanding of the world, build stronger, more resilient communities.

keywords:

Culture, Diversity, Unity, Development

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