Faculty of Humanities
School of Social Sciences
Department of Philosophy
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The two faces of Multiculturalism. Criticised for producing cultural sameness in the form of MacDonaldism, the emerging global constellation paradoxically undoes the possibility of a single world culture (or single world history), because the single world market it proposes is no longer predicated upon the relation of subject to state as the point at which the (cultural) system acquires meaning. In place of uniform or 'universal' intelligibility, globalisation actually posits an ensemble of pluralities (in the realm of thought) and an ensemble of diversity in the realm of 'culture'. First introduced into our vocabulary in bilingual Canada in the late sixties, the term 'multiculturalism' defines this state of affairs. In as much as multiculturalism allows difference to undermine cultural imperialism, and to decentre taken-for-granted assumptions, it is a critical concept that makes the self become conscious of the way in which his or her consciousness has been formed by being socialised within culture. However, in as much as multiculturalism's self-reflection remains unaware of the asymmetrical relations of power in a multicultural context, the term merely turns diversity into identity politics without actually affecting interpersonal boundaries set by socialisation processes.
Contact person: Prof R Nethersole.
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