MULTICULTURALISM THE RAGING DEBATE

[WE CAN BEGIN OUR DISCUSSION OF MULTICULTURALISM IN THE CONTEXT OF CHALLENGES OF DEALING CREATIVELY WITH THE INESCAPABLE REALITY OF “DIFFERENCE” AND OF FINDING GROUNDS FOR A UNITY-IN-DIVERSITY]

THE PROBLEM COMPLEX OF THE 21ST CENTURY URBAN DWELLERS IS : HOW CAN WE TAKE DIFFERENCES INTO ACCOUNT?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TAKE DIFFERENCES SERIOUSLY? {?}

{{{EX: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION {FMG} ====> DOES TAKING DIFFERENCES SERIOUSLY MEAN “ANYTHING GOES” OR “WE HAVE TO ACCEPT ALL CULTURAL EXPRESSION? ======>IN CANADA WE HAVE AND OFFICIAL COMMITMENT TO MULTICULTURALISM AND THE RESPECT FOR DIFFERENT CULTURES AS A LEGITIMATE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE --- BUT WE ALSO HAVE A COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RESPECT FOR THE HUMAN DIGNITY, AND THE COMMON HUMANITY OF ALL PERSONS.===> IN OTHER WORDS, OUR MULTICULTURAL WORLD-VIEW THAT EXPRESSES ITSELF AT THE {1} COLLECTIVE AND THE {2} INDIVIDUAL LEVEL ===> WE BELIEVE IN “CULTURAL RELATIVITY” BUT WE ALSO BELIEVE IN “INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS” ===> THIS GENERALLY TRANSLATES AS “WE WILL ACCEPT ALL CULTURES EXCEPT THOSE THAT VIOLATE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN DIGNITY.”

JOHN STUART MILL:

“THE ONLY FREEDOM WHICH DESERVES THE NAME, IS THAT OF PURSUING OUR OWN GOOD IN OUR OWN WAY, SO LONG AS WE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DEPRIVE OTHERS OF THEIRS, OR IMPEDE THEIR EFFORTS TO OBTAIN IT.”

{J.S. MILL, ON LIBERTY AND CONSIDERATIONS ON REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT (1869) (OXFORD: BASIL BLACKWELL, 1946) AT 11.}

UPSHOT: MINORITY RIGHTS IS ONE OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES

THE PROBLEM COMPLEX OF THE 21ST CENTURY IS : HOW CAN WE TAKE DIFFERENCES INTO ACCOUNT?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TAKE DIFFERENCES SERIOUSLY? {?}

{LET'S START HERE TO BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND CULTURAL PLURALISM} THE ENTIRE WORLD IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY A PLACE OF “INTERMINGLING DIVERSITY”[?] AND A PLACE OF INCREASING “INTERDEPENDENT DIVERSITY.”[?]

IN THIS INCREASING MIX AND GLOBAL DIVERSIFICATION – “ETHNICITY– CULTURE TRAITS ARE BECOMING ACCENTUATED/ UNDERSCORED/ EMPHASIZED AS THE PARAMOUNT FEATURE OF IDENTITY.

[“PLURALISM”IS VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE --- A PLURALIST SOCIETY CAN BE DEFINED AS A SOCIETY THAT ENTAILS THE CO-EXISTENCE OF CULTURALLY DIFFERENT GROUPS === THIS CULTURAL COEXISTENCE IS ACHIEVED THROUGH THE CREATION OF AN OVERARCHING SET OF VALUES OR INSTITUTIONS. A COMMITMENT TO “MULTICULTURALISM” REPRESENTS ONE VARIANT OF A PLURALIST SOCIETY

{TODAY, THERE ARE MORE THAN 5000 DIFFERENT ETHNO-RACIAL GROUPS AND SUB-GROUPS LIVING IN 189 NATION STATES. IN TWO COUNTRIES OUT OF THREE, THERE IS AT LEAST ONE SUBSTANTIAL MINORITY GROUP, REPRESENTING 10% OF THE POPULATION OR MORE. IN 150 OF THE 189 NATION STATES THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR DIFFERENT ETHNO-RACIAL GROUPS WITHIN THEIR BORDERS. AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 900 MILLION PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO FACE SOME AGGRAVATED FORM OF DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF THEIR MINORITY STATUS AND IDENTITY.}

(EX: CULTURE NOT CLASS IS HOW WE COLLECT AND DIVIDE OURSELVES)

GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD ARE UNDER A GROWING PRESSURE TO ACCOMMODATE INCREASINGLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS WITHIN A SINGLE BODY-POLITIC -- THAT IS, TO FIND SOME POLITICAL FORM OF PLURALIST ACCOMMODATION.

(AND TO DATE, OF COURSE, IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT ONLY CANADA HAS EVEN COME UP WITH A RUDIMENTARY MULTICULTURAL FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING ETHNO-RACIAL DIVERSITY === CANADA INITIATED THE PUBLIC “DISCOURSE ON DIVERSITY”)

THE COMMITMENT TO MULTICULTUALISM REPRESENTS ONE VARIANT OF A PLURALIST SOCIETY

{DEF'N FLERAS} CONTEMPORARY MULTICULTUALISM IS A STRATEGY FOR ENGAGING DIVERSITY AS DIFFERENT YET EQUAL AS A BASIS FOR “LIVING TOGETHER WITH DIFFERENCES.”

[[THE SEARCH FOR THE HARMONY OF DIFFERENCES – THIS REQUIRES A LEGITIMATION OF MULTIPLE PUBLICS]]

[[IMPORTANT SOCIOLOGICAL NOTE: CANADIAN MULTICULTURALISM HAS BEEN APTLY CALLED “CONSENSUS MULTICULTURALISM” OR “CONSENSUAL PLURALISM” IN THAT IT FOCUSES ON INCLUSIVENESS WITHIN A PREEXISTING FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIETY ==== “CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM,” FOR INSTANCE, IS A MORE “SUBVERSIVE” FORM THAT SEEKS TO CHALLENGE SOCIAL AUTHORITY, RESIST WHITE HEGEMONY, AND TRANSFORM SOCIETY BY CREATING SPACE FOR OTHER CULTURES.]] {SEE CHAPTER 9 FLERAS}

[[SOCIOLOGICAL ASIDE: “POSTMODERNISM” AND “CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM” ARE OFTEN IDENTIFIED BY SOCIOLOGISTS AS “COUNTER-HEGEMONIC PROJECTS” (COMMITMENT TO THE BELIEF THAT NO CULTURE IS INHERENTLY SUPERIOR TO ANY OTHER MORALLY OR INTELLECTUALLY, THEREFORE, NO CULTURE SHOULD DOMINATE OTHERS) --- INVOLVING CRITIQUES OF DOMINATION AND NETWORKS OF ACTIVISM]]

THE BEDROCK OF ALL AND ANY MULTICULTURALISM” IS PREDICATED ON THE PRINCIPLE THAT CULTURE IS THE KEY VARIABLE IN INFLUENCING PEOPLES’ BEHAVIOR AND EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES FROM ONE CONTEXT TO ANOTHER

PROBLEM COMPLEX HERE: A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FRAMEWORK MUST BE ESTABLISHED THAT CAN ENGAGE DIFFERENCES AS DIFFERENT YET EQUAL, BUT WITHOUT ERODING NATIONAL UNITY AND SOCIAL COHERENCE IN THE PROCESS.

MAJORITY/MINORITY PERSPECTIVES ON MULTICULTURALISM

[[[WHITE SETTLER DOMINIONS LIKE CANADA HAVE ENDORSED MULTICULTURAL PRINCIPLES AS A FRAMEWORK FOR “ACCOMMODATING” IMMIGRANT MINORITIES == WHY? == IT ADDRESSES THE MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEM OF “PLURAL SOCIETIES” {THE “PROBLEM OF COHESIVENESS” — OR HOLDING SOCIETY TOGETHER THROUGH “COMMON CONSENSUS” RATHER THAN THE THREAT OF FORCE OR HEAVY-HANDED IDEOLOGICAL INDOCTRINATION}]]]

FOR MINORITIES MULTICULTURALISM {ACCOMMODATION RATHER THAN ASSIMILATION} HAS ALLOWED THEM TO PRESERVE THEIR DISTINCTIVENESS {AND NOT BE ABSORBED INTO THE DOMINANT CULTURE == AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY == IT PROVIDES A CONTEMPORARY PLATFORM FROM WHICH MINORITIES HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CRITICIZE, NEGOTIATE, AND ADVOCATE

...

FOR THE MAJORITY OR DOMINANT CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM HAS BEEN AN HISTORICALLY USEFUL INSTRUMENT FOR EITHER CONTAINING MINORITIES AND FITTING THEM INTO SOCIETY'S FRAMEWORK === FOR MINORITIES, MULTICULTURALISM HAS BEEN AN ADDITIONAL STRATEGY OF RESISTANCE TO DOMINATION (IN AN “EXTREMELY PRECARIOUS” POSITION{?})

HAS CANADA ACHIEVED EQUALITARIAN PLURALISM?

THE CANADIAN MULTICULTURAL ACT OF 1988 -- STATED THAT “ALL CANADIANS ARE FULL AND EQUAL PARTNERS IN CANADIAN SOCIETY.”

THE DEPARTMENT OF MULTICULTUALISM AND CITIZENSHIP -- WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1991 WITH THE GOAL OF ENCOURAGING ETHNIC MINORITIES TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN ALL ASPECTS OF CANADIAN LIFE AND AT THE SAME TIME MAINTAIN THEIR DISTINCT ETHNIC IDENTITIES AND CULTURAL PRACTICES.

THE OBJECT OF MULTICULTURALISM IS TO "PROMOTE UNITY THROUGH DIVERSITY".

CENTRAL THEMES OF THE PUBLIC DEBATE RAGING IN CANADA

THERE ARE A CORE OF CENTRAL THEMES BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE. ON THE POSITIVE SIDE MULTICULTUALISM WAS EMPHASIZED AS A:

(1) (POLICY CONSTRUCT IN) ADVANCING NATIONAL AND MINORITY INTERESTS

(2) COLLECTIVE PROCESS IN RESHAPING CANADA'S NATIONAL AND MINORITY INTERESTS

(3) COLLECTIVE PROCESS IN RESHAPING CANADA'S SYMBOLIC AND SOCIAL ORDER

(4) DISTRIBUTIVE IDEAL IN ALLOCATING REWARDS AND RESOURCES

(5) POLITICAL INSTRUMENT FOR MANAGING RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY****

(6) [BOLD][SOCIAL EXPERIMENT FOR PROMOTING DIVERSITY AS A UNIFYING FORCE *****

(7) KEY METAPHOR IN SHAPING CANADIAN IDENTITY (TEACHING THE VALUE OF "CONSTRUCTIVE CO-EXISTENCE").

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE, THE PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS IN THE OPERATION, FUNCTION, PROGRESS OF MULTICULTURALISM POLICY CONSIST OF:

(1) MANY CANADIANS ARE UNSURE ABOUT WHAT MULTICULTURALISM IS, WHAT IT IS TRYING TO DO AND WHY, HOW IT CAN BE PUT INTO PRACTICE, WHERE AND WHEN IT IS EFFECTIVE, AND WHAT IT CAN REALISTICALLY ACCOMPLISH IN A LIBERAL-DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY

(2) CONFUSION ARISES FROM THE FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE THE DIVERSE LEVELS OF MEANING IMPLICIT IN THE MULTICULTURAL CONCEPT.

(A) IT IS AN "IDEOLOGICAL THEORY" AND A "DESCRIPTIVE REALITY".

(B) HENCE, IT RECOMMENDS A "BELIEF STRUCTURE" DIVERSITY AND RESPECT) AND A "STRUCTURE OF ACTION" (EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION).*****

(3) MANY SUPPORT MULTICULTURALISM AS CULTURE (SMALL C -FOLKLORE AND FESTIVALS), BUT BALK WHEN THEY PERCEIVE THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC COSTS AS EXCESSIVE.

(4) INTERGROUP RELATIONS ARE FRAUGHT WITH AMBIGUITY AND STRESS, AS THE GROUND RULES UNDERLYING THE OLD ORDER REFUSE TO GIVE WAY TO NEW REALITIES.

(5) CONCEPT CONTINUES TO BE REJECTED AS IRRELEVANT BY QUEBECCOUS, AND CONTERPRODUCTIVE FOR ABORIGINAL ASPRIATIONS. AND CONSIDERED DANGEROUS BY THOSE WHO ARE WARY OF GOVERNMENT INTRUSION (ESPECIALLY IN AREAS RELATED TO THE FUNDING OF WHAT ESSENTIALLY SHOULD BE PRIVATE MATTERS). *****

(6) MULTICULTURALISM HAS POLITICAL OVERTONES (THE IMPLICATION IS ONLY WHEN ETHNIC COMPETITION IS REPLACED WITH A DUAL COMMITTMENT TO CULTURE AND EQUALITY WILL HAVE THE REMOTE POSSIBLITY OF MANAGING DIVERSITY PROPERLY).

(7) MULTICULTUALISM IS "MOSAIC MADNESS" -- (COUNTER ARGUMENT, CHAMPIONED BY NEIL BISSOONDATH, THE CULT OF MULTICULTURALISM IN CANADA") -- ARGUES THAT MULTICULTURALISM IS DIVISIVE, AND SAYS IT GHETTOIZES VISIBLE MINORITIES, FOSTERS RACIAL ANIMOSITY, AND DETRACTS FROM NATIONAL UNITY. *****

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF MULTICULTURALISM

...

THE DIVERSE LEVELS OF MEANING IMPLICIT IN THE MULTICULTURAL CONCEPT.

(A) IT IS AN "IDEOLOGICAL THEORY" AND A "DESCRIPTIVE REALITY".

(B) HENCE, IT RECOMMENDS A "BELIEF STRUCTURE" (DIVERSITY AND RESPECT) AND A "STRUCTURE OF ACTION" (EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION).

...

LEVELS OF MEANING OF MULTICULTURALISM

As Fact	As Ideology	As Policy	As Practice	As Critical Discourse
Descriptive and empirical statement of what is [descriptive reality]	Prescriptive and projective statement of what ought to be in terms of ideas and ideals	Explicit government initiatives to foster social equality, cultural diversity, and national interests	Putting multicultural-ism into practice at two levels: 1) political 2) minority women and men	Challenge, resist, and transform the distribution of cultural power in society [institutional power-sharing between ethnoracial groups]

As Fact

As Ideology

As Policy

As Practice

As Critical Discourse

Descriptive and empirical statement of what is [descriptive reality]

Prescriptive and projective statement of what ought to be in terms of ideas and ideals

Explicit government initiatives to foster social equality, cultural diversity, and national interests

Putting multicultural-ism into practice at two levels:

1) political

2) minority women and men

Challenge, resist, and transform the distribution of cultural power in society [institutional power-sharing between ethnoracial groups]

{UNREQUITED GOAL == MULTICULTURALISM IS ULTIMATELY BASED ON THE “BELIEF” IN INSTITUTIONAL POWER-SHARING.}

CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM

CANADIAN MULTICULTURALISM HAS BEEN CALLED “CONSENSUS MULTICULTURALISM” IN THAT IT FOCUSES ON INCLUSIVENESS WITHIN A PREEXISTING FRAMEWORK

[ON THE OTHER HAND --- “CRITICAL MULTICULTUALISM” IS AN COUNTER-HEGEMONIC PROJECT (LIKE POSTMODERNISM) THAT SEEK A COMPREHENSIVE CRITQUE OF DOMINATION AND COMPREHENSIVE NETWORKS OF ACTIVISM.]

CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM IS A DISCOURSE[S] THAT CHALLENGES, RESISTS, AND TRANSFORMS OTHER FORMS === IT CHALLENGES AUTHORITY, RESISTS WHITE HEGEMONY, AND TRANSFORMS SOCIETY BY CREATING SPACE FOR OTHER CULTURES. IT REFUSES TO TREAT EUROPEAN CULTURE (I.E., WHITE, CAPITALIST, MALE-CENTRED, EXCLUSIONIST CULTURE) AS “NORMAL” CULTURE [GIROUX, 1994, EISENSTEIN, 1996; STAM, 1997] .

IT QUESTIONS THE RIGHT OF EUROCENTRIC CULTURE TO DOMINATE OTHER CULTURES IN A WAY THAT FLATTENS DIVERSITY, WHILE PRIVILEGING EUROPEAN NORMS AS NECESSARY AND SUPERIOR [STAM, 1997]. AND IT QUESTIONS CULTURAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS THAT ELEVATE “WHITE” STANDARDS AND VALUES OVER THOSE OF OTHER CULTURES {D'SOUZA, 1995].

IT SEES OLD-STYLE, CONSENSUS MULTICULTUALISM AS A FORM OF PLURALISM THAT DENIES THE HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF POWER RELATIONS; IN CONTRAST, CRITIAL MULTICULTUALISM SETS OUT TO PROMOTE HISTORICAL MEMORY, NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE [GIROUX. 1994:336].

CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM CALLS FOR A PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION OF POWER RELATIONS. ITSEEKSTOMOBILIZE MARGINALIZED GROUPS, TRANSFORM INSTITUTIONS TO CREATE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SPACE, AND DISMANTLE DOMINANT INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES. CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM DOES NOT CALL FOR MINORITIES TO BE INCORPORATED INTO THE EXISTING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK, WHERE THEY WOULD FACE CONTAINMENT ANDCONTROL. INSTEAD, IT ENDORSES THE CONCEPT OF CULTURALLY SAFE SPACES WHERE MINORITIES WILL NOT HAVE TO JUSTIFY THEIR EXISTENCE, ANDWHERE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO CHALLENGE THE SYSTEM FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH.

CRITICAL MULTICULTUALISM EMPHASIZES THE PRINCIPLE THAT PEOPLE ARE FUNDAMENTALLY EQUAL, AND MAKES THIS THE BASIS FOR CHALLENGING HOW POWER AND PRIVILEGE ARE DISTRIBUTED AND HOW HISTORY AND LITERATURE ARE TAUGHT.

THE EUROCENTRIC NOTIONS THAT FORM THE CORE OF NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL LIFE ARE CHALLENGED, MULTICULTURAL ALTERNATIVES ARE PROMOTED, AND THE SUPERIORITY AND NEUTRALITY OF MAINSTREAM VALUES ARE QUESTIONED [STAM, 1997].

MULTICULTURALISM AS A CRITICAL DISCOURSE (ACCORDING TO FLERAS) PIVOTS AROUND FOUR THEMES: POSTMODERNISM, CULTURAL RELATIVISM, IDENTITY POLITICS, AND COLLECTIVE RIGHTS (PP. 308 – UNEQUAL RELATIONS)

...

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT CANADA IS BASED ON “CONSENSUS MULTICULTURALISM” WHICH TRIES TO MAKE SOCIETY SAFE BOTH FROM DIVERSITY AND FOR DIVERSITY; IN CONTRAST “CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM” SEEKS TO MAKE DIVESITY SAFE BOTH FROM SOCIETY AND FOR SOCIETY [FLERAS AND ELLIOTT, 2002].

{{{FOSTER ASIDE: FOR ME, I BELIEVE THAT IT ULTIMATELY MEANS è SHARING OWNERSHIP OF REALITY [?]}}}

THE MULTICULTUALIST SEEKS TO EMPOWER THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED, EXPLOITED AND DENIED -- “THE OTHER” – WHO REMAIN(S) AT THE MARGINS OF SOCIAL LIFE è FRAMING INJUSTICE AND PROMOTING INCLUSION

SO WHAT IS A “MULTICULTURALIST?”

SOMEONE WHO CAN SEE THE WORLD FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE “OTHER” è (1) SOMEONE WHO SEES DIVERSITY AS A WAY OF LEARNING ABOUT OURSELVES AND THE WORLD AT LARGE; (2) SOMEONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN TRANSFORMING THE WORLD TO MAKE A PLACE FOR THE “OTHER” AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE WHOLE; (3) SOMEONE ONE WHO BELIEVES THAT ACTUALIZING OUR MIXED ENDOWMENTS STRENGTHENS ALL OF US AND CAN HAVE CASCADING POSITIVE EFFECTS FOR HUMANITY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES

EISENSTEIN, Z. (1996) HATREDS: RACIALIZED AND SEXUALIZED CONFLICTS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE.

GIROUX. H. E. (1994) “INSURGENT MULTICULTURALISM AS THE PROMISE OF PEDAGOGY.” IN D. T. GOLDBERG (ED.). MULTICULTURALISM A CRITICAL READER (PP.325-43) OXFORD, U.K. BLACKWELL PUBLISHERS.

STAM, R (1997). “MULTICUTURALISM AND NEOCONSERVATIVES.” IN A. McCLINTOCK, A. MUFTI, & E. SHOHAT (EDS.), DANGEROUS LIAISONS: GENDER, NATION, AND POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES (PP. 173-87). MINNEAPOLIS, MN: U OF MINNESOTA PRESS,