Multicultural Discourse Research Articles

Digital communication in the making of cosmopolitan spaces by São Paulo’s immigrants

ABSTRACT This article aims to examine the role of digital communication in the making of cosmopolitan spaces by immigrants in the city of São Paulo. Particularly, the uses of the digital social media Facebook by these individuals are analyzed, in order to reveal the specific mediations through the diverse uses of immigrants living in São Paulo of this platform. São Paulo’s migrants’ communities – established and new –, face uncertainty about their identity formation, as well as about the viability of social formation and multicultural discourses. Hence, we analyze how immigrants in São Paulo mobilize digitally to make cosmopolitan spaces in the city, from the development of local networks in support of migrants, to training into digital skills and the production of visibility within digital media. This study uses a multimethod approach, by investigating digital practices to build cosmopolitan spaces in São Paulo, and by examining the lives of individuals of different migrants’ communities in the city. This discussion aims to dialogue with the perspectives of ‘vernacular cosmopolitanism’ and ‘cosmopolitanism of liberation’ (Georgiou, M. 2013. Media and the city: cosmopolitanism and difference. Cambridge, MA: Polity), of valorization of cultural identities of migrants groups, as well as of dispositions from an ethical and political perspective to openness and recognition of the migrants within the local society.

Old and new discourses in Emerging States: communication challenges of the digital age

ABSTRACT In this paper, we introduce a collection of articles included into thematic issue on multicultural discourses in ‘Emerging States’. Along with discussing challenges all multicultural and multiethnic societies are facing under ongoing digitalization process (digital divide, challenges to ethnic and community media, etc.), we focus on several themes that deserve further investigation by scholars. Among those are current communication and media policy aimed at supporting offline and online activities of cultural, linguistic and ethnic groups in ‘Emerging States’ as well as intercultural communication; social, political, economic, technological and cultural transformations ‘Emerging States’ evolved in twenty to twenty-first centuries and the way these transformations influenced cross-cultural communication and people’s identities from a cultural discourse studies perspective; digital communication as a dimension of ‘soft power’ in ‘Emerging States’, and many other topics.

Immigration policy vis-à-vis teachers’ views regarding immigrant students: the Israeli case

ABSTRACT Over the years, perspectives in Israeli society on the integration of immigrant students into the country’s education system have moved from a melting-pot to a multiculturalist principle. We investigate whether and to what degree the official discourse on education policy endorses either of these approaches and the extent to which teachers’ views about the integration of immigrant students correspond to the mainstream education policy. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 20 interviews with teachers who work with immigrant students. Findings show that the official policy and teachers’ views alike manifest three major profiles, which we term ‘melting pot,’ ‘multiculturalist,’ and ‘dualistic.’ Data suggest that, in today’s era of globalization, marked by a prevalence of multicultural discourses, both the education policy and teachers’ views concerning social integration in Israeli society are ambivalent, and not necessarily multiculturalist.

URGENSI PENDIDIKAN MULTIKULTURAL INDONESIA DALAM MENJAGA NKRI

In some countries, multicultural education goes hand in hand with the process of democratization in people's lives. Democratization which is driven by the recognition of non-discriminatory human rights of skin color, religion, gender, and culture, makes everyone demand equal treatment of rights and responsibilities by their capacities. The study of multicultural education discourse in Indonesia with pluralistic societies is an effort to introduce the idea of ​​multiculturalism through education. Where education is a place in the learning process occurs for the transfer of knowledge and the transfer of value. For this reason, an attitude of mutual respect's identities and willingness not to impose their views of “the good one” to anyone is a condition for Indonesia's future success followed by the transformation of multiculturalism awareness into national identity, national integration, and placing religion as the foundation of national unity.

A Specter Is Haunting Poland

This essay assesses a series of art projects, festivals, and institutional spaces acknowledging Poland’s Jewish past that appeared in Poland during its first decade of EU membership. Identifying a recurring practice of making absence present and tangible, or more broadly a concern with Jewish ghosts, the essay examines how contemporary art practices peddle in nostalgia for a Jewish past as a mode of desiring a cosmopolitan European future. As “newly integrated” Europeans, Poles are caught in a double bind: on the one hand, their Jewish ghosts allow them to participate in European postimperial discourses of tolerance and multiculturalism; on the other, they remain haunted, continually eroticized and differentiated from the “real” Europe.

Multiculturalism and (Neo)liberalism

Questions related to the politics and practice of multiculturalism remain hotly debated, even though it is unclear what generally is meant by the term “multiculturalism” and how multiculturalism fits into the politics of liberalism. To many proponents of identity politics movements, ‘normative multiculturalism’ represents an unquestioned good, and collective identities are seen as a primary subject of democratic deliberation and national policy. Liberal activists, however, may be justifiably concerned that this interpretation of multiculturalism impinges on the foundations of liberalism itself, including the core value of perfect equality between autonomous rights-bearing subjects.We respond to these concerns by interrogating the philosophical nature of liberalism and multiculturalism, respectively, and fleshing out the complex relationship that exists between these concepts. Using discourse analysis we find that the discourse of normative multiculturalism corresponds to the broader concept of liberalism – neoliberalism. We argue that the discourse of neoliberalism integrates the model and empirical sense of the classical concept of liberalism and that the goal – normative neutrality towards cultural and other identities – is more efficiently achieved..

Soft Subversion, Hard Exposition: Instrumental Sympathy and the Unattainable Multicultural Assemblage in M. Butterfly

This essay questions the possibility and validity of multiculturalism by referring to the diagnosis and exposition of instrumental sympathy – a modern affect with an orientalist inclination in disguise – brought up in David Henry Hwang’s masterpiece M. Butterfly. Multiculturalism remains frail and unachievable when the appreciation of an exotic culture is designed to fulfill a desire for appropriation. I also recognize Song’s soft strategy as an effective means to expose the racist will to dominate and subjugate – powered by the hazardous instrumental sympathy – in contemporary multicultural discourse and practice. More than a fictional attraction, the innovation in the exploration of softness makes Song an ideal philosopher that Deleuze and Guattari have sought to call forth to create new assemblages that do not prioritize racial and cultural power. The attainability of multiculturalism, therefore, depends on the degree of nearness to the state of assemblage, in which the mutual recognition of the culturally other, without pre-established prejudices, and mutual respect takes place for the sake of respect.

Multikulturalisme dalam Karya Ulama Nusantara

This study discusses form and dimensions of a text regarding multiculturalism concept in the ulama books of the 20th century, how the text was produced and consumed by the community, and the sociocultural praxis contained in it. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive method and content analysis. The results of this study show that multiculturalism discourses written by Indonesian Ulama include: appreciation of Javanese language locality, gender equality, respect for the diversity of local economic potentials, the importance of national unity and counter to the negative stigma of Indonesian archipelago. At the level of text, multiculturalism discourses are written in the form of nadham and natsar (prose), and the language variety ​​used is Arabic pegon script. In the case of social praxis, multicultural values ​​are divided into two, namely social and religious discourse. The social discourse discusses social problems, equality, the importance of respecting differences as well as loving the motherland, while the religious discourse describes some problems developed in the society. In this case, the religious proposition is used as a basis for strengthening as well as elaborating the muticulturalism values.

Making identity of multicultural space and discursive discourse: the case of two small public libraries, Damunhwa and Modoo in Wondok-dong, Danwan-gu, Kyounggi-do, South Korea.

Making identity of multicultural space and discursive discourse: the case of two small public libraries, Damunhwa and Modoo in Wondok-dong, Danwan-gu, Kyounggi-do, South Korea.

Diverse Australians on television: from nostalgic whiteness to aspirational multiculturalism

This article delivers preliminary findings from a series of interviews with Australian migrant producers, directors and writers. With the increasing calls for diversity in the media generally, and on television screens specifically from a wide range of stakeholders (institutions like Screen Australia, advocacy groups and high-profile media personnel of colour), there is ample empirical evidence that our public and commercial broadcasters have a long way to go in terms of ‘reflecting’ contemporary Australia. There is also more emphasis on institutionalised strategies, and looking towards overseas models to make this happen. Using the discourses of official and everyday multiculturalism, this article unpacks what it means to ‘reflect reality’, versus the meaning of various kinds of aspirational content, especially in drama and comedy. Such an analysis is crucial to understand the value of diversity beyond the simplistic rationale of ‘reflection’, and particularly in a changing mediascape.

Neoliberal multiculturalism and productive inclusion: beyond the politics of fulfillment in education

ABSTRACT While political theorists have elaborated on the phenomenon of neoliberal multiculturalism, many progressive educational scholars have yet to adequately theorize this nexus. Neoliberalism either remains unproblematized or, in some instances, it is imagined as a tendency that is antithetical to and incompatible with multiculturalism. This essay contributes to a critical inclusion studies of education and calls attention to the ways in which mobilizations of neoliberalism have appropriated, accommodated, and put to use the discourses of multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion. By charting the parameters of neoliberal multiculturalism, the author demonstrates how a logic of extractive schooling operates through inclusion discourses, and particularly a technology of productive inclusion that governs and manages permissible forms of subjectivity, knowledge, affect, and action. Arguing that strategies of inclusion are unable to subvert capitalism, settler colonialism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, or ableism, the author concludes with a call for the revitalization of an antagonistic politics and education of transfiguration in order to challenge the dominant reign of a politics of fulfillment in education policy, theory, and practice.

British Colonialism in the Discourse of Multiculturalism: The White Plague

Sosyal bilimlerin ilgi alanına giren neredeyse tüm disiplinler ve konular varlıklarını coğrafi keşiflere, onu takip eden kolonyalizme, Aydınlanma felsefesine ve bunu takip eden devrimlerle birlikte modernleşme sürecine borçludur. Sosyolojinin arka planında da coğrafi keşifler, sömürgecilik, hümanizm, Aydınlanma düşüncesi, Fransız Devrimi, kentleşme, göç ve Sanayi Devrimi vardır. Sosyoloji bütün bunların beraberinde getirdiği “insan sorunu”ndan doğmuştur. Kolonyalizm modern çağda “insan sorunu”nu başta Avrupa’nın, daha sonrasında bütün dünyanın gündemine taşıyan gelişmelerden biridir. Batı başlangıçta kolonyalizmi homojenleştirme politikalarıyla sürdürmüştür. Önce Amerikan kolonilerinin, daha sonrasında Hindistan ve Güney Asya kolonilerinin bağımsızlığını kazanmasıyla birlikte kolonyalizm tartışmalarında bir çokkültürlülük söylemi gelişmeye başlamıştır. Çok kültürlülük Batı kolonyalizminin bir ürünüdür. Bu çalışmada şu iddia temellendirilmeye çalışılacaktır: Homojenleştirme politikaları problemlidir, ancak çokkültürlülük söyleminin de bir takım açmazları vardır. Yine de toplumların ve dünyanın homojenleştirilmesi karşısında çokkültürlülük söylemi daha anlamlı ve tercih edilebilir bir söylem olarak görülebilir.

다문화연구의 현황과 과제

다문화연구의 현황과 과제

PHILOSOPHICAL AND GENOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH POST-POSTOMODERNISTIC NOVEL: TYPOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The philosophical parameters of English post-postmodernistic novel have been determined. The influence of non-literary factors on the features of the novelistic chronotope and the worldview of characters has been described. The genre nature of the post-modernistic novel has been outlined. For the first time in Ukrainian literary studies, an array of features that makes it possible to determine the affiliation of the novel to post-posmodernism has been proposed. The experience of Dutch theoretical school in understanding the metamodernistic art has been generalized and the theory of metamodernism has been supplemented. Characterized by the peculiarities of world perception, post-postmodernistic thinking, which at the same time unites such features as irony and sincerity, has been explored. Besides, the specificity of autistic thinking has been spotlighted, which makes it possible to visualize the nature of the post-postmodernistic world outlook grounded on the principles of science, the pursuit of objectivity and emotional sincerity. From the psychological point of view, the concept of the multifaceted reality as one that denotes the perception of the characters of the contemporary novel has been explained. The genre and narrative features of English novel of 2000-20100s have been determined by the influence of the results of astrophysical and biological discoveries that have an impact on the structure of the narrative and actualize the spectrum of philosophical problems inspired by the views of F. Nietzsche, the discourse of multiculturalism in the thematic field of contemporary English novel.

Power relations in global knowledge production. A cultural/critical approach

ABSTRACT This study has bifold aims: first it tries to place cultural discourse studies (CDS) in the context of de-Westernization approaches in the field of international science in general, and in communication studies in particular. Second, the study empirically tests whether CDS, through its flagship Journal of Multicultural Discourses, is able to implement its policies towards a more inclusive, diverse and culturally balanced academic field that investigates the role of discourse and communication in an international context. Findings indicate that CDS is an academic subfield which is much more diverse and inclusive in terms of both editorial diversity and publication output, while intercultural collaboration should be further developed.

From here

Abstract This article considers the sonic construction of place in English folk music recordings. Recent shifts in the political context have stimulated renewed interest in English identity within folk music culture. Symbolic struggles over folk’s political significance highlight both the contested nature of English identity and music’s semantic ambiguity, with texts being interpolated into discourses of both ethnic purity and multiculturalism. Following research in popular music, sound studies and multimodal communication this article explores the use of field recording to explore questions of place and Englishness in the work of contemporary folk artists. A multimodal analysis of Stick in the Wheel’s From Here: English Folk Field Recordings (2017) suggests that a multimodal approach to musical texts that attends to the semantic affordances of sound recording can provide insight into folk music’s role in debates over the nature of English identity.

Metaphorical codes in structuring national economic discourse

ABSTRACTWithin the framework of Lakoff and Johnson cognitive theory (2003. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press), we explore the use of metaphor in the English and Russian economic discourses as the means to create a metaphorical field, comprising culture-specific and universally shared cognitive blends. We apply the cognitive and comparative analyses to metaphor, which shapes the Economy concept as a cultural code in a corpus of economic texts from English and Russian press. The approach helps to reveal the associative links between source and target domains within metaphorical mappings. Thus, metaphors ECONOMY IS A ROAD, ECONOMY IS AN ANIMAL, ECONOMY IS A DISEASE, ECONOMY IS FOOD, and ECONOMY IS A MECHANISM are common for both languages. For the English language, unique, culturally determined metaphors are ECONOMY IS FIRE and ECONOMY IS STORM, whereas for the Russian language, they are ECONOMY IS THE BOTTOM and ECONOMY IS CLIMATE. Therefore, metaphorical codes in a given language account for risks, opportunities and uncertainties of systematically different economies through multicultural discourse interpretation.

Cooking love in Asia: Food, belonging and the making of a multicultural family on Korean film and television

For the last decade, South Korea – a nation that has called itself danil minjok, a phrase that means ethnically homogenous and racially distinctive – has been transitioning from a homogenous country to a multicultural one. This article focuses on the depiction of ‘the ethnic female other’ in Korean media, more specifically on that of marriage migrants from Southeast Asia. It analyses two Korean media texts, the film Punch (Lee, 2011) and the television programme Love in Asia (2005–15), specifically around scenes depicting food: marriage migrants preparing food, cooking food, eating food, sharing food, etc. How does food function as sociocultural practices in the exploration of migration and the formation of identities for female marriage migrants? This article argues that Korean film and television articulates a rather limited multicultural discourse as part of its national identity, most notably in the depiction of marriage migrants as mothers who are required to actively produce and consume Korean food. In doing so, the article demonstrates that while media depictions of marriage migrants provide a window onto the transitional process of questioning what a ‘Korean’ family is, it currently remains very limited and ambivalent.

School principals’ diversity ideologies in fostering the inclusion of Muslims in Finnish and Swedish schools

ABSTRACT Mainstream scholarly approaches to improving equity in education, including culturally responsive education, promote multicultural recognition of diversity and abandon color-blindness as an ineffective strategy. The social psychological literature affords a more nuanced understanding of the merits of different diversity ideologies. However, these research strands rarely address religion. It is vital to study the actualization and influences of different diversity ideologies with respect to different forms of diversity and different contexts. This study analyzes Finnish and Swedish principals’ diversity ideologies in fostering Muslim inclusion. The principals rely mainly on color-blind ideology, but assimilation into the secular normativity of the school is also commonly pursued. Multicultural ideology commonly applies to linguistic diversity, while Islam is excluded from the multiculturalist discourse. Reflexivity regarding the complex dynamics of recognizing individual vs. group identities in education as well as understanding of the implications of religion-blindness is called for.

Speaking welcome: A discursive analysis of an immigrant mentorship event in Atlantic Canada

This article offers an analysis of a business mentorship event in Fredericton, NB, which targeted immigrants sponsored through the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP)—an economic revitalization program designed to attract foreign business people and skilled workers to settle in the province. Applying Derrida’s concept of hospitality as a technology of whiteness, we examine the stated and implicitly understood expectations for the NBPNP, including the mechanisms at play for regulating newcomer’s behavior and comportment. We locate our analysis in the context of a regionally expressed Canadian multiculturalism, extending the relevance of our findings beyond Fredericton to Atlantic Canada. We ask: how do associated discourses of whiteness, multiculturalism and hospitality come into play to shape dynamics of power existing between hosts (settlement workers, various shadow state actors and mentor volunteers) and racialized newcomer guests? As a racialized threshold event, the Sip, Greet and Meet facilitated an exchange of hospitality such that the New Brunswick native hosts marked newcomers as perpetual arrivants, while holding the immigrants responsible for the success of their settlement in the Fredericton region. We show how the discourses regarding newcomers’ duties cleared nativist inhabitants of any accountability for the success of immigrant settlement. We also show how the process of welcoming conveyed a message that the future success of the local community, the province and even Atlantic Canada depended on the business class immigrants’ ability to serve as dutiful and grateful guests.