DOCSLIB.ORG

Perils of Multiculturalism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Perils of Multiculturalism PERILS OF MULTICULTURALISM: POLlCY AND THEORY RECONSIDERED BY Harjinder Kaur Deol A thesis submitted to the Oepartment of Philosophy in confonnity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September 2001 Copyright O Harjinder Kaur Deol, 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 WeUlngton Street 395. nie Wellington ôttawaON KlAON4 Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accord6 une Licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant à la National Li'brary of Canada to Bibhothèque riationale du Canada de reproduce, Ioan, distribute or seli reprochire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMrise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autaridm A bstract This thesis will argue that, contrary to Kyrnlicka's claim that rnulticulturalism promotes liberal values through the integration of immigrants into mainstream society, the philosophy of multiculturalism actually undermines those very values. Kymlicka's liberal justification for polyethnic rights hinges on the claim that they promote the integration of immigrants into mainstream institutions. However, 1 will demonstrate that if integration were a reality in Canada. multiculturalism could not be said to have caused it. Further, integration is not a reality in Canada and may not occur in the future due to new trends in immigration. Given that integration is not occurring, we will find that though the intentions of an ideology of multiculturalism are laudable. it has the unintended negative side effect of endorsing cultural preservation in attempting to preserve diversity. When the cultures of sorne immigrants who come to Canada from "non-traditional" sources are severely oppressive towards women in non-overt ways, the preservation of such cultures preserves gender-bias as well. This shouM concern the likes of Kymlicka since it undemines the project of furthering the liberal values of autonomy and equality. Multiculturalism is supposed to be a normative notion motivated by concern for the dignity of ail human beings. That is, the ideology of diversity is about respecting the backgrounds and decisions of others. But 1 will suggest that concem for the dignity, autonomy and equality of al1 human beings may require an alternative approach to deal with cultural diversity. My gratitude goes to Christine Sypnowich for providing invaluable comments and support during this project. She has been an excellent mentor and friend. I thank Will Kymlicka for taking up the position of supervisor so quickly and for providing me with subject matter for my thesis through his own work. Alastair Macleod's copy editing advice was invaluable in the late stages of the project as well; and his support over the last three years has meant a great deal to me. Further, I thank the Department of Philosophy at Queen's and the Graduate School for their patience and understanding during this lengthy process. The guidance of Sergio Sismondo is why I've finally managed to complete this project. Don Carmichael has proven yet again to be an excellent friend and mentor and I believe that much of the inspiration for this project has come from what he has taught me. I would be truly honored to be half the academic and human being that he is. My friends and family have been very patient with my temperament during the last stages in the project, so t would like to thank them for putting up wtth me. In particular, I would like to thank Guillemo Barron. Leslie Elliot, Michael Kocsis, Zameer Hakimali, Mark Smith, Thornas Tobias, Ali Owaisi, and Matthew Harnaga. Without Jane Forsey, I would not have been able to continue my studies. I ask for forgiveness if I have failed to mention anyone who has helped me in this process-my sincerest gratitude to you nonetheless. Table of Contents Chapter 1-Introduction Page I 1. The Origins of Cultural Diversity in Canada Page 2 II. Multicultural Canada Page 5 III. The Origins of Multiculturalism Page 7 IV Multiculturalism and the lntegration of Immigrants Page 10 V. The Project Page 13 Chapter 2-Kymlicka's Theory of Polyethnic Right Page 16 1. t ntroduction Page 16 II. National vs. Ethnic Groups Page 16 II1. Societal Cultures and Legitîmate Expectations Page 19 IV. Polyethnic Rights Page 23 V. Autonomy Through Polyethnic Measures Page 25 VI. Equality and Polyethnic Measures Page 28 VI 1. Conclusion Page 31 Chapter 3-Empirical Evidence for lntegration Page 32 1. Introduction Page 32 II. Measuring Successful lntegration Page 33 III. Kymlicka's Empirical Case for Multiculturalism Page 39 A. Political lntegration Page 40 1. Naturalization Page 40 2. Political Participation Page 44 B. Social lntegration Page 48 C. Cross Country Cornparison Page 52 IV. Conclusion Page 54 Chapter &The Success and Future of lntegration Page 55 1. Introduction Page 56 II. The Generational Fact of lntegration Page 57 Ill. New ImmigrationTrends Page 60 III. The Reality of lntegration Page 64 IV. The Future of lntegration Page 67 A. Residential Segregation Page 67 B. Commercial Segregation Page 70 C. Social and Other Types of Segregation Page 72 D. Institutional Completeness and New Immigrants Page 74 VI. Conclusion Page 77 Chapter &Illiberal Minority Rights Page 79 1. lntroduction Page 79 II. The Feminist Cornplaint Page 80 III. Group Rights and the lnternallExternal Distinction Page 84 IV. The Difficulty in Detecting Women's Oppression Page 87 A. The Covert Nature of Gender Practices Page 87 B. Dangers of the Private Sphere Page 90 V. Kymlicka's Solution: Success and Failure Page 92 VI. Interrelation of Culture and Gender Page 94 VIL Wtthe~Multiculturalism Page 95 VIII. Conclusion Page 97 Conclusion Page 99 References Page 101 Appendix A Page Il5 Appendix B Page 117 Appendix C Page 118 Vita Page Harj inder Deoi Chapter l INTRODUCTION This thesis is a cry on behalf of many immigrant and first-generation Canadian women who are negatively affected by the preservation of their traditional cultures. What do we do when the sacred cow of our political culture formally endorses the subordination of women in illiberal ethnic communities? Can Canadians sanction a policy that endorses the preservation such cultures? Multiculturalism is Canada's ofkial policy for dealing with cultural diversity arising from immigration policies. I am interested in the policy in practice and in the theoretical justification behind such a policy. Will Kyrnlicka builds a liberal theory of minority rights that takes Canadian multiculturalism policy as an example of how "A comprehensive theory of justice in a multicultural state will include both universal rights. assigned to individuals regardless of group membership. and certain group-differentiated rights or 'special status' for minority cultures" (Kymlicka 1995: 6). Kymlicka presents both autonomy-based and equality-based arguments to show how multiculturalism and special rights for cultural groups can promote the liberal values of freedom and justice in liberal democratic states.' I argue that multiculturalism not only fails to fully promote the liberal values of autonomy and equality, but also that multiculturalism cannot be justified on liberal grounds due to the way it helps preserve traditional cultures and their gender inequality. I suggest that either we find an alternative means of dealing with cultural diverçity with a view to preserving our liberal values more effectively, or justify multiculturalism on grounds that do not appeal tu liberalism. 1. The Oriains of Cultural Diversitv in Canada Canada's cultural and racial diversity has greatly increased as a result of immigration polices in the latter half of the twentieth century. On an international level. migration has been one of the most important factors in global change: it has grown in both volume and significance since the 1900's. Currently, Canada. the United States and Australia are the world's leading recipients of immigrants and account for over half of the world's legal immigration (Kymlicka 1995: 14). The twentieth century has been a period of large-scale immigration to Canada from the verj start. For example, in the 43 year period from 2860 to 1900 Canada admitted less than 2 million immigrants2 This situation began to change dramatically in the pre-World War I years-so much so that total immigration between 1901 and 1931 exceeded 4.4 million. These immigration rates were later matched only by the post-World War il influx (Simmons 1990: 142). During World War II, less than 200,000 were admitted. From 1945 to 1999, well over 9 million people were welcomed to Canada under the ' I refer to "liberal valuesn in a broad sense to denote freedom and equality. I comment fully on these values in the next chapter. * See Appendix A for a list of annual immigration rates from 1860 to 1999. Ha jinder Dm1 immigration policy3 In the 1990's, annuat arrivais in Canada have generaHy remained over 220, 000 (Frideres 1992: 501.~ Yet, large-scale immigration in itself is not the sole cause of diversity in the Canadian population. High rates of immigration were accompanied by another important factor: "The increase in immigration [came] in the wake of a significant shift in the source of migrants to Canada. More than 95 percent of immigrants to Canada in the post-World War II decade came from Europe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Demise of the Nation-State: Towards a New Theory of the State Under International Law
    The Demise of the Nation-State: Towards a New Theory of the State Under International Law By James D. Wilets* I. INTRODUCTION It may seem premature to speak of the demise of the nation-state' when the last decade has seen the proliferation of ever-smaller nation-states throughout Eastern Europe and Asia and the demand for secession from national move- ments in countries as diverse as Canada, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Rus- sia, Spain and India. Nevertheless, the seemingly contradictory centrifugal forces of nationalism and the centripetal forces of confederation and federation are simply different stages of the same historical process that have been occur- ring since before the 17th century. 2 This historical process has consisted of * Assistant Professor of International Law, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center; Executive Director, Inter-American Center for Human Rights. J.D., Columbia Univer- sity School of Law, 1987; M.A., Yale University, 1994. Consultant to the National Democratic Institute, 1994; the International Human Rights Law Group, 1992; and the United Nations in its Second Half Century, a project proposed by UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali and funded by the Ford Foundation. I would like to thank Sir Michael Howard and Michael Reisman for their valuable comments on the first drafts. I would also like to thank Johnny Burris, Tony Chase, Douglas Donoho, Kevin Brady, Carlo Corsetti, Luis Font, Marietta Galindez, Rhonda Gold, Elizabeth Iglesias, Jose Rodriguez, Stephen Schnably and the entire library staff at the NSU Law Center for their enormously valuable comments, input, assistance and support. Any and all errors in fact are entirely mine.
    [Show full text]
  • Discrimination in America: Final Summary
    DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICA: FINAL SUMMARY January 2018 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICA Survey Background This report is part of a series titled “Discrimination in America.” The series is based on a survey conducted for National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The survey was conducted January 26 – April 9, 2017, among a nationally representative, probability-based telephone (cell and landline) sample of 3,453 adults age 18 or older. The survey included nationally representative samples of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, as well as white Americans; men and women, and LGBTQ adults. This report presents the results specifically for a nationally representative probability sample of 3,453 U.S. adults. Previous reports in the series analyze each group individually, while this final report discusses major highlights from the series. Discrimination is a prominent and critically important matter in American life and throughout American history, with significant and harmful effects on health and well-being. While many surveys have explored Americans’ beliefs about discrimination, this survey asks people about their own personal experiences with discrimination. The results show the widespread experiences of discrimination for many groups in America, across many areas of life. The findings also illustrate the significantly different manifestations and experiences of discrimination across different groups. Table of Contents Survey Overview
    [Show full text]
  • Racial Equity Resource Guide
    RACIAL EQUITY RESOURCE GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Foreword 5 Introduction 7 An Essay by Michael R. Wenger 17 Racial Equity/Racial Healing Tools Dialogue Guides and Resources Selected Papers, Booklets and Magazines Racial Equity Toolkits and Guides to Action Workshops, Convenings and Training Curricula 61 Anchor Organizations 67 Institutions Involved in Research on Structural Racism 83 National Organizing and Advocacy Organizations 123 Media Outreach Traditional Media Social Media 129 Recommended Articles, Books, Films, Videos and More Recommended Articles: Structural/Institutional Racism/Racial Healing Recommended Books Recommended Sources for Documentaries, Videos and Other Materials Recommended Racial Equity Videos, Narratives and Films New Orleans Focused Videos Justice/Incarceration Videos 149 Materials from WKKF Convenings 159 Feedback Form 161 Glossary of Terms for Racial Equity Work About the Preparer 174 Index of Organizations FOREWORD TO THE AMERICA HEALING COMMUNITY, When the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched America Healing, we set for ourselves the task of building a community of practice for racial healing and equity. Based upon our firm belief that our greatest asset as a foundation is our network of grantees, we wanted to link together the many different organizations whose work we are now supporting as part of a broad collective to remove the racial barriers that limit opportunities for vulnerable children. Our intention is to ensure that our grantees and the broader community can connect with peers, expand their perceptions about possibilities for their work and deepen their understanding of key strategies and tactics in support of those efforts. In 2011, we worked to build this community We believe in a different path forward.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Ethnic
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Ethnic Visibility, Context, and Xenophobia: A European Perspective A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Shabnam Shenasi Azari 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Ethnic Visibility, Context, and Xenophobia: A European Perspective by Shabnam Shenasi Azari Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Min Zhou, Co-chair Professor Jennie Brand, Co-chair The purpose of this study is to answer the following overarching question: how does ethnic diversity among immigrant and native populations impact xenophobia? Many studies answer this question by examining the effects of relative immigrant group size. Instead, I argue that group size increases xenophobia when immigrants are ethnically visible, crossing salient linguistic, religious, or racial boundaries. In three investigations I look at the effects of the following factors on xenophobia: ethnic diversity in the immigrant population, ethnic diversity in the broader society, and being cultural marginal. Analyzing multilevel models using cross- national data from the European Social Survey (ESS), I examine the effects of regional and national contexts of immigrant visibility on xenophobia. I define xenophobia as the perception of immigrant threat. I also test the hypothesis that average xenophobia is higher among individuals living in more ethnically diverse countries. In the second investigation, I reexamine ii immigrant visibility, this time using Swiss ESS data to compare across municipalities. I also consider the effects of living adjacent to rather than in an immigrant-rich community. In a final investigation, I again analyze cross-national ESS data to determine the effects of being different from the cultural majority on xenophobia.
    [Show full text]
  • Nation-Building and Ethnicity1
    Nation-Building and Ethnicity1 There are many terms for defining human groups: they emerged in various societies with different histories and cultural traditions at different times. The meanings of these terms became more confused when they were translated into different languages. In English, there are terms to describe human groups such as “race,” “tribe,” “clan,” “nation,” “people,” “country,” “state,” etc2. Compared with these terms, “ethnic group” and “ethnicity” only appeared recently in the 20th century (Glazer and Moynihan, 1975: 1). These terms emerged in west Europe, the countries initiating the industrial revolution, then were introduced into other parts of the world accompanied by the western merchants, priests, and armies. These Europeans introduced their political and social systems as well as their ideology and values to other people by cultural influence or military force. “Nation-state” was the form of political entity first appearing in Western Europe, then adopted by colonies when they sought independence. “Nation” became an important term in international politics. “Nation-building” became a widespread political process among Asian, African and American countries, together with the powerful “nationalist” movement. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were about 200 independent countries around the world that were recognized by the international society (the United Nations). An important phenomenon is that political boundaries have not always been drawn according to human group inhabitance but often, oppositely, have been affected by wars, treaties, and international powers. Therefore, there are many different human groups living in the same countries; populations originally from the same group now living on both sides of a boundary.
    [Show full text]
  • Multicultural Citizenship a Liberal Theory of Minority Rights
    627 Multicultural Citizenship A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (by Will Kymlicka, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995) Introduction A traditional criticism of liberalism is that it is based on a conception of human beings as atomistic individuals, unconnected in any deep way with their fellows. On this picture, individuals are the primary thing, and associations of humans occur only as a secondary phenomenon when these individuals judge that it is in their rational self-interest to join together. Hence a social contract is involved in some way when individuals form themselves into a society, and within that society private contracts are what continue to join rational, self-interested, utility­ maximisers together outside the limited sphere of kith and kin. Socialists, communitarians and conservatives have argued that this picture fails to acknowledge the social nature of humans. One of the points typically being made here is that humans are and always have been creatures who lived in groups, not as isolated individuals. As social animals, they need connection and community with others to achieve fulfilment and happiness. But a deeper point is that the communities in which individual humans are embedded are not just secondary phenomena which the ontologically prior individuals created, rather they are preconditions for individuals being formed in the first place. Steven Lukes describes this position in his book Individualism: "In contrast to the individualist picture of individuals as like onions which, once their outer, culturally-relative skins are peeled off, are 'much the same in all times and places', the sociological apperception reveals society as irreducibly constitutive of or built into the individual in crucial and profound ways.
    [Show full text]
  • Kaiser Family Foundation/CNN: Survey of Americans on Race
    REPORT November 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation/CNN Survey of Americans on Race Prepared by: Bianca DiJulio, Mira Norton, Symone Jackson, and Mollyann Brodie Kaiser Family Foundation In the last couple of years, several incidents in which African Americans were mistreated or in some cases killed by police have sparked renewed public attention to the issue of race relations in America. To better understand the current status of the issue, the Kaiser Family Foundation and CNN surveyed the U.S. public to gauge their views of race in America and personal experiences with discrimination or racism, with a focus on the views and experiences of Black and Hispanic people in America. Racism continues to be a reality for Blacks and Hispanics who report being denied jobs and housing because of their race, or being the victim of unfair treatment in public places like while shopping, dining out, or in dealings with police. Nearly half of Blacks report fearing for their life at some time because of their race. In light of these experiences, there are stark differences in how Blacks, Hispanics and Whites perceive the problem, as well as their attitudes about who is responsible for improving race relations, and views of the criminal justice system’s treatment of Blacks and Hispanics. Recent events have set inequities in the criminal justice system on this national stage and the survey explores views on the underlying reasons for recent protests and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. A third of Black Americans say they have been victims of racial discrimination at some point in their lives, denying them opportunities in housing or employment, and more than 4 in 10 (45 percent) say they have at some point been afraid their life was in danger because of their race.
    [Show full text]
  • Democratisation and Minority Rights in the Post-Communist Balkan States
    PERCEPTIONS JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS June - July 2001 Volume VI - Number 2 DEMOCRATISATION AND MINORITY RIGHTS IN THE POST-COMMUNIST BALKAN STATES BİROL AKGÜN Dr Birol Akgün is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Selçuk University, Konya. INTRODUCTION With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new independent states, scholars have turned their attention to developments in Eastern Europe. The expectation that a liberal democracy would soon replace ex-totalitarian regimes in the region is only partly realised. While some states (mostly in Central Europe) achieved a working democracy and were able to maintain domestic peace and security, some others (mostly in the Balkans) witnessed bloody wars and civil conflicts in the last decade. Readjustment of the borders in the Balkans reawakened old hatreds and ethnic hostilities causing unprecedented human suffering, which were quelled only by the intervention of the international community such as in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars. As Attila Agh points out, Balkan countries differ from East Central Europe in terms of political and economic development.1 None of them had previous experience with democratic government. Most of the Balkan countries are "late-comers to democratization" (Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria), or "semi-protectorates" (for example, Bosnia) of international organisations and great powers.2 Economically, they are the poorest nations of the Europe. In 1996, for instance, while six East Central Europe states had incomes
    [Show full text]
  • The Commission for Racial Equality
    BOX 1 - INTRODUCTION The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is a publicly funded, non-departmental public body, established under the Race Relations Act 1976, with a remit for Great Britain (GB). It has a statutory duty to work towards the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of equality of opportunity and good relations between people from different racial groups, and to keep the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 under review. Further information about the CRE can be found at www.cre.gov.uk. The CRE sees significant benefit in the regular, reliable and accurate collection of comparable data outlining demographic changes and developments on an EU level. Such data would make an important contribution to the informed planning of national measures to meet the challenges of an ageing society, and as such would be of relevance to governments across the EU and beyond. The planning of a sustainable response to the demographic challenge cannot only be considered in terms of an increased immigration approach, nor can immigration policies only be considered in terms of meeting the demographic challenge. The CRE agrees that immigration from outside the EU will inevitably play an important role in reducing dependence on less popular measures to adapt to demographic change, such as the arbitrary enforcement of later retirement, or politically unacceptable increases in income tax. Nonetheless, an intensified immigration strategy has important implications for other policy areas and has some limitations, not least that the length of time for which a migrant is economically active is also limited by age. The talent and entrepreneurship present in immigrant populations make significant contributions to creating economic and cultural dynamism and strength.
    [Show full text]
  • Peace and Conflict in Inter-Group Relations
    Peace and Conflict in Inter-Group Relations by Agnes Katalin Koos M.A., University of New Orleans, 2004 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Agnes K. Koos 2013 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2013 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Agnes Katalin Koos Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) Title of Thesis: Peace and Conflict in Inter-Group Relations Examining Committee: Chair: James Busumtwi-Sam, Associate Professor Michael Howard Senior Supervisor Professor David Laycock Supervisor Professor Paul Warwick Supervisor Professor Cindy Patton Internal Examiner Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology Antje Ellermann External Examiner Associate Professor, Department of Political Science University of British Columbia Date Defended/Approved: April 8, 2013 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Abstract The dissertation aims to contribute to the explanation of internal inter-group conflict, more narrowly of the conflict between majority and minority communal groups. It develops arguments that suggest the importance of inter-group economic inequality in bringing about inter-group hostility, and works toward providing empirical support for this causal connection by primarily relying on a large-N cross-national research design. This design culminates in multivariate regression models. Because of data availability issues, the task of addressing multiple potential determinants of the inter-group conflict advocated in the literature has been implemented by involving three datasets, of which two serve group-level analyses and one confines itself to the country level.
    [Show full text]
  • Minority Rights: a Guide to United Nations Procedures and Institutions
    guide Minority Rights: A Guide to United Nations Procedures and Institutions By Gudmundur Alfredsson and Erika Ferrer, as updated and revised by Kathryn Ramsay Acknowledgements The Authors Minority Rights Group International gratefully acknowledges Professor Gudmundur Alfredsson is director of the Raoul the support of all the organizations and individuals who gave Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, financial and other assistance for this publication, in Sweden. Erika Ferrer works with the Swedish Ministry for particular the European Commission (this edition, 2004) and Foreign Affairs. Kathryn Ramsay works in the international the Human Rights Fund of the UK Foreign and advocacy department of Minority Rights Group International. Commonwealth Office (first edition, 1998). Editor: Katrina Payne. Minority Rights Group International Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non- Humanitarian Law governmental organization (NGO) working to secure the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and Humanitarian Law (RWI) is an independent academic indigenous peoples worldwide, and to promote cooperation institution dedicated to the promotion of human rights and understanding between communities. Our activities are through research, training and education. Established in 1984 focused on international advocacy, training, publishing and at the University of Lund, Sweden, the Institute is currently outreach. We are guided by the needs expressed by our involved in organizing two Masters Programmes and an worldwide partner network of organizations which represent interdisciplinary human rights programme at undergraduate minority and indigenous peoples. level. It is also host to an extensive human rights library, and engaged in various research and publishing activities.
    [Show full text]
  • 7 Cultural Diversity and Minorities
    2 177 7 Cultural diversity and minorities Figure 7 A single flower does not make a garden, nor does a single bird bring spring. The Arab Human Development Report, 2003 7.1 Introduction1 Sitting in Egypt, eating Italian food, listening to French songs with a group of friends from Jordan, Lebanon, Spain or Sweden is becoming more and more commonplace for some young people. The traditional nation state, a territorial unit covering people who share a common national identity (historically, culturally or ethnically),2 faces new challenges – especially with people’s increasing mobility and globalisation, two factors which have helped to blur territorial boundaries and transform nation states, making them co-operate with each other. But still, the majority or dominant national cultures around the world are, in one way or another, imposing their identity on other groups at the nation state and global levels. Multi-ethnic environments are often faced with an official mono-culturalism that frequently comes at the expense of minority rights. According to the World directory Themes 178 of minorities, it is hard to pinpoint accurately the proportion of the world’s population that identifies themselves as minorities or as belonging to minority communities. However, this proportion is estimated to be above 10% and statistics suggest that more than 20% of the world’s population belongs to 6 000 different minority com- munities.3 As is the case all over the world, countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea contain diverse cultural, ethnic and religious groups.4 Berbers, Baha’is, Copts, Kurds, Saharawis, Roma, Jews, Indian, Alawites, Finns, Hungarians, Turks, Arabs, Catalans, Buddhists, Druze, Swedes, Italians and many more groups exist as minorities in some countries and regions, while they may belong to the “majority” in others.
    [Show full text]