File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1998/postcolonial.9811, message 20


Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1998 18:19:40
From: pons <pons-AT-univ-tlse2.fr>
Subject: Re: Multiculturalism/Postcolonial



Both  terms may be relevant in certain contexts (Australia is both
postcolonial and multicultural), but not in others. Spain is multicultural
(what with the Catalans, Basques and other ethnic groups) but not
postcolonial. Nauru is postcolonial but not multicultural.
'Postcolonial' refers to those societies which were once (usually fairly
recently) the colonies of another power (though I'd argue for a wider
definition, one applicable to such countries as the US or France, which are
or were imperialistic powers, but colonialism works both ways and affects
both colonisers and colonised, if only through the mergence of diasporas),
while 'multicultural' applies to ethnically diverse societies - in
practice, most societies (though in a more limited sense it means those
countries such as Canada which grant official recognition to this
diversity). There are clear practical connections between the two concepts,
as colonialism often brought together, under the aegis of the colonising
power, a variety of ethnic groups which after independence found themselves
citizens of the one state (e.g. Nigeria). Colonialism led to transfers of
populations, either from the metropolis to the colony (South Africa, New
Caledonia, etc.) or from one colony to another (the Indian communities in
Fiji or the West Indies). In both cases, this resulted in the emergence of
multicultural societies.
Conceptually, the connection is harder to grasp. To the extent that
colonialism is the imposition of an alien culture on a given society, it
does tend to produce culturally diverse or hybrid societies. But if this
hybridity is the same for the whole society, I'm not sure this warrants the
'multicultural' label. Thus, I'd say India is multicultural because it is
home to a variety of ethnic groups, rather than because the culture of most
Indians reflects both their traditional heritage and the British heritage.
In fact, the experience of colonisation has made a number of countries
ill-disposed towards cultural pluralism, as they try to restore their
traditional culture in all its original (and mythical) purity (cf. Hindu
and Muslim fundamentalism in the Indian subcontinent).
I'd like to hear more on this question.
Prof. Xavier Pons
Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail (France)
pons-AT-univ-tlse2.fr


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