Lectures 19-20 Flashcards
Multicultural Citizenship
Written by Will Kymlicka in 1995, the book recognizes multiculturalism as well as classical liberalism and reconciles the two concepts through a combination of individual human rights and group rights. Kymlicka recognizes two different types of minorities, national and polyethnic. He also recognizes three types of group rights: polyethnic, self-government, and special representation.
National Minorities vs. Polyethnic Minorities
Kymlicka’s distinction between national groups within a border (such as indigenous first nations) and polyethnic minorities such as immigrants. Kymlicka believed that national minorites deserved self-government rights while polyethnic minorites did not.
Politics of Recognition
Written by Charles Taylor in 1992, this book is a foundation of liberal multiculturalism. It recognizes that an individual is formed within community and dialogically (we understand ourselves in relation to others). Taylor argues that active citizenship is recognizing others’ cultural differences within liberal states.
Canadian Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
A commission with the goal of increasing recognition of biculturalism in Canada. The commission found that Francophones were second-class citizens, Anglophones had little opportunity to learn French, and Canada was actually multicultural, not bicultural. The outcomes of these findings included the Offical Languages Act (1969), the Official Multiculturalism Policy (1969), parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988).
1988 Canadian Multiculturalism Act
Created to recognize that multiculturalism fundamental characteristic of Canadian society and requires all federal legislation be responsive to that fact. It sets the two goals of preserving culture and reducing racial/religious/cultural discrimination.
Civic Integration
The theory that immigrants must integrate more fully into mainstream society through employment; liberal democratic values; knowledge of language, history, and institutions; and anti discrimination laws.
Critical/Radical Multiculturalism
A more radical form of multiculturalism that critiques traditional liberal multiculturalism in favor of recognizing that there is a link between heterogeneity and power (power is given to specific ethnic groups), the importance of identity, and the idea of a universal viewpoint is influenced by power. It calls for us to question our understanding of history and the terms we think are simple (east, west, orient, Indian, etc.) by understanding that our current political thought is Eurocentric.
Link between colonialism and Classical Liberalism
Classical liberalism has been used to justify colonialism by figures such as J.S. Mill and John Locke who reconciled their beliefs of liberty and individual rights by serperating the “civilized” from the “barbaric”. To them, colonialism could be justified as a civilization mission who would bring liberalism to
Orientalism
Written by Edward Said in 1978 and is the foundation of post-colonial studies. Said argues that all texts are political (even literature and art) and that history is a stuggle for meaning. He recognizes the construction of cultural identity, and that those identities are fluid, hybrid, and not binary. He argues that the concept of the other is inherent in cultural identity. The case he focuses on is the area known as the Orient, which has been constructed by literature, art, scholarship, and other cultural factors. He hopes that recognizing this will lead to the continued gaining a voice.
