Summary
Contents
Studies is an important, interdisciplinary thread which runs through contemporary debates on globalization, citizenship, community studies, political geography and identity. It has always represented a significant component of ethnic, multicultural and racial studies but the last few years have seen a steady increase in separate / autonomous courses and modules as students, lecturers and researchers engage with the field. This proposal looks to pull together the central themes of the field; its approach is logical and the three main themes the authors identify are a useful hook upon which to hang the text. International relevance and marketability is obviously important; the inclusion of a US and a UK author with such sympathetic expertise will help to maximise the appeal of the project. The authors are aware of the need to balance the needs of different markets and their willingness to develop the proposal in response to the reviewers' comments is encouraging.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Definition: An ‘orientation’ to immigration that embraces difference and diversity; it is in certain respects the opposite of an expectation that immigrants should and will assimilate.
All countries that receive any significant number of immigrants are multicultural (though many had a significant degree of cultural variety even before the onset of mass immigration). But multiculturalism is not merely a recognition of this empirical fact; it is an ‘orientation’ and an ideology, a particular way of identifying how immigrants integrate in the destination country, and how they are expected to integrate. In countries where a multiculturalist approach prevails, there is no expectation that immigrants will abandon their ‘origin’ culture and become culturally identical to natives of the destination society. In some instances one also finds ...
