ABSTRACT
The relationship between multiculturalism and postcolonialism is an uneasy one. Multiculturalism deals with theories of difference but unlike post-colonialism, which to a great extent is perceived to be defined retroactively by specific historic legacies, multiculturalism deals with the often compromised management of contemporary geopolitical diversity in former imperial centres as well as in their ex-colonies. It is also increasingly a global discourse since it takes into account the dynamics of diasporas and their relations with nation states and other entities (such as transnational corporations), and the flow of migrants and refugees. The reason for continuing to focus on critical multiculturalism is precisely because multiculturalism is so intimately bound up in many parts of the world with those practices and discourses which manage (often in the sense of police and control) ‘diversity’. Within critical theory it was an embarrassing term to invoke partly because it was perceived as automatically aligned with and hopelessly co-opted by the state in its role of certain types of exclusionary nation building. As a result, for example, it was consistently rejected by anti-racist groups in Great Britain (Hall 1995). In theoretical debates it was often associated with an identity politics based on essentialism and claims for authenticity which automatically reinstate a version of the sovereign subject and a concern with reified notions of origins. Thus it became difficult to mention multiculturalism and socially progressive critical theory in the same breath. But because it is a contested term it is crucial to continue to scrutinize the discourses and practices mobilized in the name of multiculturalism. This chapter will briefly consider some of the different interpretations of multiculturalism in various parts of the world and will then consider the ambiguous function of the key terms ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ within its deployment. Consideration for the most part will be given to debates within Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
