From all corners of the world: Ethnic identity of Erasmus students

The main topic of this work is forming of an ethnic identity in multicultural interaction. The key source of information besides the literature is data acquired by own research work. Studied literature enables the author to discuss the main theoretical approaches and specify the essential terminology. The presented concept is examined owing to the research work. The research is designed as a case study of a specific group: Erasmus students in French Lyon. This group was examined by way of analysis of interviews with some of its members. In quest of achieving reliable data, the research is focused on five nationalities: Bulgarians, Czechs, Germans, Italians and Spanish. The conclusions of this work clarify how the examined individuals construct their ethnic identities but also how they comprehend the term culture. The analytical part of this work concentrates on how they perceive their own culture and how they observe the foreign culture in which they are temporarily staying. In this context ethnic and social dichotomies are discussed as a means of self-identification and self-determination. The work also deals with the idea of imaginary boundaries that individuals build between their group and other groups. The penetrability and movability of these constructed bounds is investigated through..