Enhancing Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Challenging Times Requires Broader Concepts

Introducing a special report from Indian Voices and Democracy Watch News.

As human exploitation continues to reap consequences on formerly-privileged majorities, our combined news outlets initiate a series on terms and concepts to enhance cross-cultural communications.

Among these are “Indigenous Soverance,” “Braiding,” and MENA—a new census category.

This correspondent discovered that the Biden administration resolved some historical and legal issues regarding Mediterranean peoples by recognizing Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as a new category for U.S. federal use and the next census. This includes Arabs, various peoples of North Africa, Western Asia, and the Caucuses. This also means Caucasians and peoples of the Caucuses region are no longer white. In the second decade of the last century Armenian refugees entered the United States, but were not considered white. Lebanese and Syrian Arabs were sometimes white, sometimes not. Court cases in the 1920s began clarifying the confusion.

Recent events have challenged the trend of expanding who may be white, and who not. Danny And Marlo Thomas, along with computer innovator Steve Jobs, would today face challenges under the second Trump administration. As more cultural groups gain recognition, the effects may expand institutional inclusion or perhaps marginalize others.

Among recent concepts are indigenous soverance. Soverance, an otherwise obsolete Middle English word, enjoys currency among contemporary indigenous researchers and advocates. An easy way to understand it is as a combination of sovereignty and resistance, with added emphasis on cultural empowerment and self determination. We will delve more into indigenous soverance in our Jan 2026 report.

Another term gathering expanded meaning is braiding. When different perspectives, including cross-cultural use, bring together ideas, braiding becomes a natural metaphor. Its use continues to evolve, in particular with Native Americans and African Americans.

In addition to the Oxford English Dictionary, readers will find the following references useful:

• Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora (American Crossroads) by Sarah M.A. Gualtieri. University of California Press, 2009.
• Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing. One World, 2025.
• White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg. Viking, 2016.
• Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture by Chip Colwell. University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses. Catapult Books and Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2021.