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Multicultural Citizenship: deconstructing a stereotypical paradigm
| Termin |
Dienstag, 28. Mai 2013, 16.15 - 18.00 Uhr
|
| Veranstaltungsart |
Vorlesung/Vortrag |
| Einrichtung |
Philosophische Fakultät I |
| Veranstaltungsort |
Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung |
| Straße |
Advokatenweg 36 |
| PLZ/Ort |
06114 Halle (Saale) |
Beschreibung
Vortragende: Pnina Werbner, Keele University
The debates on multiculturalism in Europe today, including the UK, often focus either explicitly or implicitly on Muslims and Islam, with Islam conceived of as a dangerous ‘culture’, incompatible with modern and/or western values. This leads to the view that multicultural citizenship has ‘failed’ and should be ‘abolished’. In the light of this political discourse, I start my argument from the intriguing fact that critics of multiculturalism come from both the socialist Left and the liberal Centre and Right. They include postmodern anthropologists, feminists and human rights activists. They also, of course, include right-wing racists, traditionalists and nationalists. Anthropological critiques of multiculturalism start from its presumed false theorisation of culture. Multiculturalism, anthropologists argue, reifies and essentialises cultures as rigid, homogeneous and unchanging wholes with fixed boundaries (Friedman 1997, Baumann 1999). It assumes a fixed connection between culture and territory (Caglar 1997). Its political correctness glosses over internal social problems within ethnic groups (Wikan 2002). Current theories in anthropology are based on the idea that cultures are creative and changing, internally contested and heterogeneous. In order to develop a theory of multicultural citizenship my talk will challenge these various assumptions about multiculturalism by arguing that multiculturalism is above all a public discourse rather than a descriptive truth. The discourse of multiculturalism often fails to distinguish between multiculturalism from ‘above’ and from ‘below’, and between multiculturalism ‘as usual’ or ‘everyday multiculturalism’ versus multiculturalism ‘in history’. These conflations lead to endless confusions and miscommunications, I propose. My presentation will draw upon my research on the Muslim diaspora the main target of the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ discourse in the UK.
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