Multiculturalism beyond citizenship: The inclusion of non-citizens

Abstract

This article questions multiculturalism’s reliance on citizenship as a default condition of inclusion. While agreeing with multiculturalists that there are groups within the citizenry who are excluded from citizenship rights on the basis of their cultural background, this article highlights the misrecognition of non-citizens that is yet unaccounted for by Anglophone theories of multiculturalism where eligibility to multicultural rights-claiming hinges on the condition of formal citizenship. The status of non-citizenship affects conceptions of ‘difference’ where representations of cultural ‘otherness’ are compounded by the ‘foreignness’ of non-citizens. Frameworks of multicultural citizenship entail recognition through group-specific rights, but only for citizens, in so doing excluding the needs and rights of non-citizens. The assumption made by multiculturalists is that citizenship is a condition of multicultural rights and/or recognition despite scenarios where non-citizens may not desire the citizenship of their host country, or the idea of ‘belonging’ it is attached to. Appealing to multiculturalist principles and the neo-republican notion of non-domination, I argue that multiculturalism as a theory can challenge the limitations of citizenship by expanding its compass to include non-citizens as multicultural subjects.