Showing papers on "Multiculturalism published in 2002"

Ethnicity and the Multicultural City: Living with Diversity:

Abstract: In the wake of the race disturbances in Oldham, Burnley, and Bradford in Summer 2001, the author explores the possibilities for intercultural understanding and dialogue. He argues that, although the national frame of racial and ethnic relations remains important, much of the negotiation of difference occurs at the very local level, through everyday experiences and encounters. Against current policy emphasis on community cohesion and mixed housing, which also tends to assume fixed minority ethnic identities, the author focuses on prosaic sites of cultural exchange and transformation, plural and contested senses of place, an agonistic politics of ethnicity and identity, and the limitations of the White legacy of national belonging in Britain.

Does multiculturalism menace? Governance, cultural rights and the politics of identity in Guatemala

Abstract: This article challenges the assumption that the underlying principles of state-endorsed 'multiculturalism' stand in tension with neoliberal political- economic policies. Based on ethnographic research in Guatemala, it is argued that neoliberalism's cultural project entails pro-active recognition of a minimal package of cultural rights, and an equally vigorous rejection of the rest. The result is a dichotomy between recognised and recalcitrant indigenous subjects, which confronts the indigenous rights movement as a 'menace' even greater than the assimilationist policies of the previous era. It is suggested that the most effective response to this menace is probably not to engage in frontal opposition to neoliberal regimes, but rather to refuse the dichotomy altogether.

From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration

Abstract: 1 Creating an immigrant society: 1788-1972 2 From assimilation to a multicultural society: 1972-2002 3 The Fraser, Hawke and Keating Governments 1975-1996 4 Policy instruments and institutions: multicultural policy 5 The attack on multiculturalism 6 The impact of one nation 7 Economic rationalism 8 Sustainability and population policy 9 Refugees and asylum seekers 10 A past, present and future success

Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict: Shadows of Modernity

Abstract: Introduction Part I. Theoretical Explorations: 1. Compromise and closure: a theory of social dynamics 2. The making of modern communities Part II. State Building and Ethnic Conflict: 3. Who owns the state? Ethnic conflicts after the end of empires 4. Nationalism and ethnic mobilisation in Mexico 5. From empire to ethnocracy. Iraq since the Ottomans Part III. The Politics of Exclusion in Nationalised States: 6. Racism and xenophobia 7. Nationalising multi-ethnic Switzerland.

The model of ethnic democracy: Israel as a Jewish and democratic state

Abstract: The liberal democratic nation-state is on the decline in the West as a result of globalisation, regionalisation, universalisation of minority rights, multi- culturalism and the rise of ethno-nationalism. While Western countries are decoupling the nation-state and shifting toward multicultural civic democracy, other countries are consolidating an alternative non-civic form of a democratic state that is identified with and subservient to a single ethnic nation. This model, 'ethnic democracy', is presented; its defining features, the circumstances leading to it and the conditions for its stability are elaborated upon; and it is applied to Israel. Contrary to its self-image and inter- national reputation as a Western liberal democracy, Israel is an ethnic democracy in which the Jews appropriate the state and make it a tool for advancing their national security, demography, public space, culture and interests. At the same time, Israel is a democracy that extends various kinds of rights to 1 million Palestinian Arab citizens (16 per cent of the population) who are perceived as a threat. The criticisms against the general model and its applicability to Israel are discussed. The model has already been applied to other countries, but more applications are needed in order to develop it further.

Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity, and Globalization

Abstract: SELLING DIVERSITY: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Christina Gabriel Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002; 202 pp. How can we understand the processes that have refashioned Canadian public policy areas of immigration, multiculturalism and employment equity to seemingly serve the imperatives of the capitalist market and global competitiveness? Why now do we need to understand the recent histories of these policy areas? What are the alternatives to the assumption that globalization necessitates neo-liberal policies and practices? Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Christina Gabriel successfully answer these questions in Selling Diversity. The authors provide a clear overview of these three public policy domains. By critically addressing how these domains have been recast through discourses of globalization and the practices of neo-liberalism where the emphasis is on "markets, efficiency, competitiveness, and individualism"(p. 12), the authors draw attention to the specific ways in which these discourses and practices work in concert to situate the marketing and selling of diversity as a key practice of corporate Canada, modern governance and nationbuilding. Abu-Laban and Gabriel centre the histories of Canada's gendered and racialized social order that shapes the selling of diversity, a process which requires that the "skills, talents, and ethnic backgrounds of men and women are commodified, marketed and billed as trade-enhancing"(p. 12). This commodification of difference has very serious implications for citizenship rights, belonging, and the national imaginary in our present moment. For Abu-Laban and Gabriel, the shift towards economic rationalism allowed for the principles of justice and equity reflected in policy initiatives of the 1980s to be somewhat suppressed. Organized into six chapters, this book provides a discussion of the economy of diversity in a number of areas: there is an in-depth analysis of "Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration," a policy framework report commissioned by the Liberal government in 1998; Canada's new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; a look at Canada's comparative advantage in international trade characterized by a specialization in multiculturalism-as-commodity; and employment equity debates and the managing of diversity in the corporate sector. Specific attention is paid to the period of 1993 to 2001, for two reasons. First, this period signals the coming to power of the federal Liberals under Jean Chretien. Second, the period also "coincides with the government's commitment to gender-based analysis"(p. 28). Throughout the book it is made clear that a particular type of immigrant, or potential citizen, is promoted under the model of market-oriented diversity: one who is self-sufficient, highly skilled, and a contributing labourer. As the authors note, business-class immigrants, mainly "men from a class-advantaged background"(p. …

Multiculturalism in Latin America: Indigenous Rights, Diversity and Democracy

Abstract: Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors List of Tables Introduction R.Sieder Indigenous Peoples and the State in Latin America: An Opening Debate R.Stavenhagen Constitutional Reform in the Andes: Redefining Indigenous-State Relations D.L.Van Cott Bolivia: From Indian and Campesino Leaders to Councillors and Parliamentary Deputies X.Albo Educational Reform in Guatemala: Lessons from Negotiations between Indigenous Civil Society and the State D.Cojti Cuxil Social Citizenship, Ethnic Minority Demands, Human Rights and Neoliberal Paradoxes: A Case Study in Western Mexico G.de la Pena Peru: Pluralist Constitution, Monist Judiciary: A Post-Reform Assessment R.Yrigoyen Fajardo Recognizing Indigenous Law and the Politics of State Formation in Mesoamerica R.Sieder Latin America's Multiculturalism: Economic and Agrarian Dimensions R.Plant Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Participatory Development: The Experience of the World Bank in Latin America S.H.Davis The Excluded 'Indigenous'? The Implications of Multi-Ethnic Policies for Water Reform in Bolivia N.Laurie, R.Andolina & S.Radcliffe Bibliography Index

Challenge to the Nation-State : immigration in Western Europe and the United States

Abstract: This volume presents the latest research by some of the world's leading figures in the fast growing area of immigration studies. Relating the study of immigration to wider processes of social change, the book focuses on two key areas in which nation-states are being challenged by this phenomenon: sovereignty and citizenship. Bringing together the separate clusters of scholarship which have evolved around both of these areas, Challenge to the Nation-State disentangles the many contrasting views on the impact of immigration on the authority and integrity of the state. Some scholars have stressed the stubborn resistance of states to relinquish territorial control, the continued relevance of national citizenship traditions, and the 'balkanizing' risks of ethnically divided societies. Others have argued that migrations are fostering a post-national world. In their view, states' immigration policies are increasingly constrained by global markets and an international human rights regime, membership as citizenship is devalued by new forms of postnational membership for migrants, and national monocultures are giving way to multicultural diversity. Focusing on the issue of sovereignty in the first section, and citizenship in the second, this compelling new study seeks to clarify the central stakes and opposing positions in this important and complex debate.

Are There Ethnic Enclaves/Ghettos in English Cities?.

Abstract: The residential segregation of ethnic groups in urban areas remains an issue of importance for policy-making in multicultural societies, such as England's, with levels of segregation frequently lin...

When Tribal Sovereignty Challenges Democracy: American Indian Education and the Democratic Ideal:

Abstract: The lessons of American Indian education—a grand experiment in standardization—can lead to a more equitable educational system for all U.S. citizens. While masquerading as a tool for equal opportunity, standardization has marginalized Native peoples. We argue for diversity—not standardization—as a foundational value for a just multicultural democracy, but diversity is feared by some as a threat to the nation’s integrity. Critical historical analysis of the apparently contradictory policies and practices within American Indian education reveals a patterned response to cultural and linguistic diversity, as the federal government has attempted to distinguish “safe” from “dangerous” Native practices. Examples of the contest between Indigenous self-determination (rooted in internal sovereignty) and federal control illustrate the profound national ambivalence toward diversity but also the potential to nourish “places of difference” within a healthy democracy.

Beyond feminism and multiculturalism

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the problems and the potential in bringing together the analysis of the different forms of oppression, particularly in the light of the debate on how feminism can be reconciled with multiculturalist democracies. In order to avoid the Scylla of feminist fundamentalism and the Charybdis of cultural relativism, the paper argues that there are two issues we need to keep hold of simultaneously. Firstly, there is the issue of the relationship between dominant and subordinate ethnic or cultural groups and to attack this unequal relationship at national and global levels (i.e., both within and between nations and states). Secondly, we need to look at the dominant and subordinate groupings or categories within these groups and to attack this relationship also. In order to develop the argument the concept of translocational positionality is introduced. The paper also examines the limitations of dialogic politics and the potential in rethinking the concept of equality.

Multiculturalism in a Global Society

Abstract: List of Figures, Maps, and Tables. Acknowledgements. Introduction: Multicultural Societies and Globalization. 1. Ethnic Theory in a Global Age. 2. The United States as a Melting Pot: Myth and Reality. 3. Canada and Australia: Ethnic Mosaics and State--Sponsored Multiculturalism. 4. John Bulla s Island: Britain in a Post--Colonial World. 5. Germany, France, and Shifting Conceptions of Citizenship. 6. Multicultural Prospects and Twenty--first Century Realities. References.

Gender Justice, Development, and Rights

Abstract: This text examines contemporary issues such as neoliberal policies, democracy and multiculturalism, analyzing them from a gender perspective.

Multicultural Content and Class Participation: Do Students Self-Censor?

Abstract: This article presents data from an exploratory study on class participation and student self-censorship. The impetus for this research is concern that content on multiculturalism and oppression inh...

Interrogating the Hyphen-Nation: Canadian Multicultural Policy and 'Mixed Race' Identities

Abstract: This paper examines the ways 'mixed race' women in Canada contemplate their relationship to national identity. Through qualitative, open-ended interviews, the research demonstrates how some women of 'mixed race' contest ideas of the nation as constituted through the policy of multiculturalism in Canada. To challenge the tropes of the national narrative, some women of 'mixed race' develop nuanced models of cultural citizenship, illustrating that national identities are formed and transformed in relation to representation. Refusing to be positioned outside the nation, they effectively produce their own meanings of identity by working through their own personally identified 'mixed race' bodies to the national body politic, where some of them see their own bodies as intrinsically 'multicultural'. The paper ends by addressing the paradoxes of multiculturalism, emphasising through narratives that the policy produces hierarchical spaces against which some 'mixed race' women imaginatively negotiate, contest and c...

Ethnic Preferences and Ethnic Perceptions in Multi-Ethnic Settings

Abstract: Racism is a still a central topic in current debates about multiculturalism, but there is increasing evidence that appeals to racism—as the explanation for urban behaviors and the current patterns of residential separation—are overly simplistic. In a multi-ethnic/racial context in which groups have different agendas, it is no longer useful to cast societal divisions as issues of Black versus White. This is especially true for the residential mosaic. Survey responses from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality about racial attitudes reveal strongly held own-race preferences across quite different mixes of ethnic and racial groups. The evidence from the analysis reported in this paper suggests that these strongly held ethnocentric positions will continue to have important influences on the patterns of residential separation in urban areas. To argue that White preferences and White discrimination alone are the major forces in creating behaviors and patterns of separation in the urban fabric ignores the for...

The Nerve to Break Taboos: New Realism in the Dutch Discourse on Multiculturalism

Abstract: This article traces the emergence of one particular genre of discourse, the genre of "new realism" in the Dutch public debates on multicultural society from the early 1990s till Spring 2002. The focus upon different "genres" implies an interest in the performative power of discourse, i.e. the way in which any discourse, in or by its descriptions of reality, (co)produces that reality. Four distinctive characteristics of "new realism" are detected in three subsequent public debates, culminating in the genre of "hyper-realism", of which the immensely successful and recently murdered politician Pim Fortuyn proved to be the consummate champion. Cet article explique le developpement d'un genre particulier de discours, le "nouveau realisme", au sein du debat public sur la societe multiculturelle aux Pays Bas. La periode etudidee s'etale du debut des annees 1990 jusqu'au printemps 2002. L'importance attribuee aux differents "genres" reflete un interet pour le pouvoir performatif du discours, notamment la facon dont le discours (co)produit la realite qu'il decrit. On decele quatre traits distinctifs du "nouveau realisme" dans trois debats publics qui debouchent sur le "hyper-realisme" genre dont Pim Fortuyn, homme politique ayant connu un grand succes et victime recente d'un meurtre,s'etait fait le champion attitre.

An idea of community and its discontents: towards a more reflexive sense of belonging in multicultural Britain

Abstract: The paper poses the question: what are the epistemological consequences of an unreflexive use of the concept of community as the privileged container of cultural difference? The argument is made that contemporary notions of ethnic minority communities as deployed in official and demotic discourse have a complex history which may usefully be traced through classical sociological and anthropological thinking on the idea of community as connoting the premodern and non-Western. This is supplemented by a discussion of the contribution of ideas from these disciplines to contemporary imaginings of ethnic difference in 'multicultural' Britain.

Unequal relations : an introduction to race and ethnic dynamics in Canada

Abstract: I. CONCEPTUALIZING RACE, ETHNIC, AND ABORIGINAL RELATIONS. 1. Relations, Patterns, Policies, and Perspectives. 2. The Politics of Race. 3. Unmasking Racism. 4. The Ethnicity Experience. 5. Racialised Inequality. 6. Gendered Diversity. II. CANADA'S MULTI-LAYERED DIVERSITY: PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND MINORITIES. 7. Aboriginal Peoples: Rethinking the Relationship. 8. The Quebec Question: The Politics of Language, Ethnicity, and Nationalism. 9. Canada Building: Multicultural Minorities, Immigration, and Settlement. III. MULTICULTURALISM AND CANADA BUILDING. 10. Multiculturalism in Canada: Living together with Differences. 11. Institutional Inclusiveness: Putting Multiculturalism to Work. 12. This Adventure Called Canada Building. References. Glossary. Index.

Religion, planning and the city: The spatial politics of ethnic minority expression in British cities and towns

Abstract: This article examines the debates that have arisen in relation to the establishment of sites of worship by Britain's minority religious groups. Frequently, the buildings of non-Christian religious communities have been portrayed as `alien' and incommensurate with surrounding urban landscapes, and there are numerous cases in which such opposition has had a decisive bearing on the success or failure of plans to develop such sites of worship. However, beyond this geography of exclusion, we have begun to detect a changing attitude in the ways such buildings are positioned in relation to their local urban landscapes. In several cases, new sites of worship have been represented as welcome contributions to the production of multicultural, ethnically diverse cities. In these instances, public bodies and institutions have co-opted such buildings into broader urban policy agendas. Local religious communities have themselves played a defining role in this shift, having become astute actors in the political sphere, adapting to the processes involved in gaining planning permission and financial support. Evidence of this changing geography is provided through case study material from the town of Preston in Lancashire and the city of Leicester in the East Midlands, both in England.

Multiculturalism and minority rights: West and East

Abstract: IntroductionCountries in post-communist Europe have been pressured to adopt Western standards or models of multiculturalism and minority rights. Indeed, respect for minority rights is one of the accession criteria that candidate countries must meet to enter the European Union (EU) and NATO. Candidate countries are evaluated and ranked in terms of how well they are living up to these standards (see EU Accession Monitoring Program OSI 2001).There are two interlinked processes at work here. First, we see the 'internationalizing' of minority rights issues. How states treat their minorities is now seen as a matter of legitimate international concern, monitoring and intervention. Second, this international framework is deployed to export Western models to newly-democratizing countries in Eastern Europe.This trend implicitly rests on four premises: (i) that there are certain common standards or models in the Western democracies; (ii) that they are working well in the West; (iii) that they are applicable to Eastern and Central Europe (hereafter ECE), and would work well there if adopted; (iv) that there is a legitimate role for the international community to play in promoting or imposing these standards.All four of these assumptions are controversial. Western countries differ amongst themselves in their approach to ethnic relations, and attempts to codify a common set of minimum standards or best practices have proven difficult. Moreover, the success of these approaches is often deeply contested within Western countries. Many citizens of Western democracies view their domestic policies towards ethnic relations as ineffective, if not actually harmful. The wisdom of 'exporting' these policies to ECE countries is even more controversial, both in the West and the East. Countries in post-Communist Europe differ significantly from Western countries (and from each other) in terms of history, demography, geopolitical stability, economic development and democratic consolidation. Given these differences, Western approaches may simply not be relevant or helpful, and attempts to impose them against the wishes or traditions of the local population can be counterproductive in terms of ethnic relations. So the decision to make minority rights one of the criteria for 'rejoining Europe' rests on a number of controversial assumptions. This decision was taken by Western leaders in the early 1990s, almost in panic, as a response to fears that ethnic conflict would spiral out of control across the post-Communist world. There was relatively little public debate or scholarly analysis about the wisdom of this decision, and it seems clear in retrospect that it was taken without a full consideration of its implications, or of the difficulties it raised.In my view, the time has come to have a vigorous and public debate about these four assumptions. Now that the initial panic about ethnic violence has subsided, and with relative peace throughout the region, we can afford to sit back and think more carefully about the potential and pitfalls of 'exporting' and 'internationalizing' minority rights.In a recent volume (Kymlicka and Opalski 2001), I attempted to explore these four basic assumptions in some depth. In this short article, I can only give a brief sketch of my conclusions.I. Western Trends Regarding Ethnocultural DiversityFirst, then, what do we mean by Western standards or models of multiculturalism and minority rights? Efforts have been made by various international organizations to formally codify a set of minority rights or multicultural practices, including the 1992 Declaration of the United Nations, the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Charter and the 1995 Framework Convention of the Council of Europe, and various Recommendations of the OSCE's High Commissioner on National Minorities (1996, 1998, 1999). In theory, theseembodythestandardsthat ECEcountriesareexpectedtomeet. …

Uprooting and replacing positivism, the melting pot, multiculturalism, and other impotent notions in educational leadership through an African American perspective

Abstract: This article plumbs the depths of the fundamental grounding upon which educational leadership has been founded. It critically examines the traditional notions of positivism and rational-linear thinking that have served to guide practice in American schools. The article further interrogates modernist concepts of the melting pot and multiculturalism through an African American and critical theoretical voice. Finally, this article offers a postmodernist perspective grounded in spirituality that welcomes the bringing of the whole self to the work of school leadership and offers the most hope in constructing schools in the future that celebrate and exercise democracy, equity, and social justice.

Blood Narrative: Indigenous Identity in American Indian and Maori Literary and Activist Texts

Abstract: Blood Narrative is a comparative literary and cultural study of post-World War II literary and activist texts by New Zealand Maori and American Indians—groups who share much in their responses to European settler colonialism. Chadwick Allen reveals the complex narrative tactics employed by writers and activists in these societies that enabled them to realize unprecedented practical power in making both their voices and their own sense of indigeneity heard. Allen shows how both Maori and Native Americans resisted the assimilationist tide rising out of World War II and how, in the 1960s and 1970s, they each experienced a renaissance of political and cultural activism and literary production that culminated in the formation of the first general assembly of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. He focuses his comparison on two fronts: first, the blood/land/memory complex that refers to these groups' struggles to define indigeneity and to be freed from the definitions of authenticity imposed by dominant settler cultures. Allen's second focus is on the discourse of treaties between American Indians and the U.S. government and between Maori and Great Britain, which he contends offers strong legal and moral bases from which these indigenous minorities can argue land and resource rights as well as cultural and identity politics. With its implicit critique of multiculturalism and of postcolonial studies that have tended to neglect the colonized status of indigenous First World minorities, Blood Narrative will appeal to students and scholars of literature, American and European history, multiculturalism, postcolonialism, and comparative cultural studies.

The politics of multiculturalism : pluralism and citizenship in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia

Abstract: Few challenges to the modern dream of democratic citizenship appear greater than the presence of severe ethnic, religious, and linguistic divisions in society. With their diverse religions and ethnic communities, the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have grappled with this problem since achieving independence after World War II. Each country has on occasion been torn by violence over the proper terms for accommodating pluralism. Until the Asian economic crisis of 1997, however, these nations also enjoyed one of the most sustained economic expansions the non-Western world has ever seen. This volume brings together 15 leading specialists of the region to consider the impact of two generations of nation-building and market-making on pluralism and citizenship in these deeply divided Asian societies. Examining the new face of pluralism from the perspective of markets, politics, gender, and religion, the studies show that each country has developed a strikingly different response to the challenges of citizenship and diversity. The contributors, most of whom come Southeast Asia, pay particular attention to the tension between state and societal approaches to citizenship. They suggest that the achievement of an effectively participatory public sphere in these countries will depend not only on the presence of an independent "civil society," but on a synergy of state and society that nurtures a public culture capable of mediating ethnic, religious, and gender divides. "The Politics of Multiculturalism" should be of special interest to students of Southeast Asian history and society, anthropologists grappling with questions of citizenship and culture, political scientists studying democracy across cultures, and all readers concerned with the prospects for civility and tolerance in a multicultural world.

‘The Return of Assimilationism: Race, Multiculturalism and New Labour’:

Abstract: This paper develops a critique of the politics of race and multiculturalism under New Labour. It argues that as a political formation New Labour is fraught with incommensurable impulses and commitment with regard to issues of multiculturalism, nationalism, racial justice and racism. While there have been palpable shifts and important new legislative initiatives, one of the consequences is that the project of assimilation has been reinvigorated under New Labour. This in turn leaves the normative whiteness that colonises British institutions and political life intact.