multiculturalism: translating difference

What does multiculturalism mean? We encounter difference every day, from big ideas to our choice of socks. The Strange career of multiculturalism charts the evolution, use and abuse of multiculturalism in theory, culture and politics. At the border takes encounters with difference close-up, with stories of the difficult and unexpected, and Untranslatable words explores worlds within words that do not translate into English.

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This debate is a co-production between openDemocracy and Counterpoint, the cultural relations think-tank of the British Council.
Sunday 12th August

Becoming Pakistani

Maruf Khwaja, 12 August 2007
"Friends and neighbours became enemies." As Pakistan celebrates, Maruf Khwaja recalls the pain of birth (archive)
Thursday 15th June

Multiculturalism at work

Ruben Andersson, 15 June 2006
London is often hailed as a true multicultural city, where global citizens thrive, travel and work side by side. But in the shadows of this multi-coloured carnival lurks a cast-iron ethnic division of labour.
Tuesday 20th December

Diversity in question

Sarah Lindon, 20 December 2005
2005 has been a bad year for multiculturalism. Does it need to be reformed or replaced? Reena Bhavnani, Max Farrar, Judith Squires, and Sami Zubaida joined an openDemocracy / Open University panel to discuss living with difference. Sarah Lindon summarises a rich discussion which you can watch by webcast.
Tuesday 22nd February

'They do not vilify our ideas, they vilify us' : a reply to Salman Rushdie

Shakira Hussein, 22 February 2005
The right to blasphemy is not the right to religious hate. Shakira Hussein draws on her own multi-religious background to challenge her childhood hero, Salman Rushdie.
Wednesday 16th February

The many cities of Buenos Aires

Mariano Aguirre, 16 February 2005
Mariano Aguirre, revisiting his native Argentina after thirty years' absence, discovers a capital city trapped in the contradictions of globalisation.  
Thursday 16th December

Turkey and Shakespeare

Gönül Bakay, 16 December 2004
From the late Ottoman era to the modern republic, Turks have found their passions, longings and even their politics mirrored in the work of England’s greatest playwright. Gönül Bakay tracks an enduring friendship.
Monday 13th December

Multiculturalism in medieval Islam

Nushin Arbabzadah, 13 December 2004
Islam, so often seen as the west’s “other” and depicted as a monocultural and intolerant religion, itself has centuries of experience of hosting and regulating a diverse cultural mosaic. Nushin Arbabzadah gazes through history’s mirror.
Monday 29th November

Selecta at the door

Kira Kosnick, 29 November 2004
On the door of SO36 in Berlin, the intricacies of managing diversity and creating spaces of freedom are all in a night’s work. Kira Kosnick explores getting the mix right at Gayhane HomOriental Clubnights.
Thursday 25th November

Tubli

Ülle Allsalu, 25 November 2004
Being “tubli” in a “tubli” country is not as easy as it sounds. Ülle Allsalu on small beginnings and high expectations in Estonia.
Wednesday 24th November

After tolerance

Theo Veenkamp, 24 November 2004
The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh has left the Netherlands in turmoil and its reputation for tolerance in tatters. What does the second political murder in thirty months mean for the Dutch multiculturalist model? The strategist and author Theo Veenkamp looks back and thinks forward.
Thursday 18th November

America underneath New York

Mariano Aguirre, 18 November 2004
In the New York subway, Mariano Aguirre sees into the divided, lonely heart of America – but glimpses fertile seeds in the post-election landscape.

Inat

Aleksandra Kovac, 18 November 2004
Serbs’ history has taught them stubbornness in the face of the world – and even of their own best interests.
Wednesday 3rd November

India's model: faith, secularism and democracy

Rajeev Bhargava, 3 November 2004
Western variants of multiculturalism and secularism are being challenged by religious demands for public recognition of faith. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the world should learn from India, says Rajeev Bhargava.
Wednesday 27th October

Divided city: the crisis of London

Stuart Hall, 27 October 2004
The contemporary city, London especially, was supposed to be the model for the workable, cosmopolitan multicultural future. But neo–liberal globalisation and its disastrous consequences are reproducing in the city the growing inequalities of the world, argues the foremost analyst of multiculture.

Polari

Tom Wicker, 27 October 2004
The clandestine culture of illegal homosexuality in Britain generated a creative linguistic response. Tom Wicker traces a hidden history.
Monday 25th October

Mapping London's multiculture

Sarah Lindon, 25 October 2004
Sarah Lindon reports on openDemocracy’s event in September, exploring how London's diversity can contribute to an understanding of multiculture
Wednesday 13th October

Canada: multiculturalism's broken home

Lydia Perovic, 13 October 2004
An immigrant to Canada traces official multiculturalism’s origins and finds an idea that is dead from the roots.
Tuesday 12th October

Kombinowanie

Anna Barcikowska, 12 October 2004
The Poles perfected the art of survival under communism, and reinvented their language in the process; but at what cost to their soul?
Wednesday 6th October

Krengjai

Ratchada Chitrada, 6 October 2004
Ratchada Chitrada considers being considerate in Thai

New Labour, new assimilationism

Ali Rattansi, 6 October 2004
The current of anxiety among Britain’s centre–left establishment about race, diversity and national unity reflects a shift away from the post–1960s multicultural model. But is the recent demand for members of minority communities to “assimilate” based on reason or prejudice? And is the most visible signifier of diversity, Islam, the new black?
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