Multiculture and Multiculturalism: Conversation across Differences 29 November 2010 ACCEPT Pluralism Launch event 1

ACCEPT Pluralism 15 partner countries, 3 NGOs Funded by European Commission 7 th Framework Programme Conditions for tolerance, respect and social cohesion across Europe Conflicts and contestations over cultural diversity Tolerance, respect and accommodation in values, practices and institutions 2

Three classes of acceptance 1)Toleration sought but not granted: intolerance, rejection, exclusion 2) Toleration sought and granted: individual and collective, grudging or indifferent, minimalist modus vivendi 3) Toleration not enough: other, more demanding responses sought: respect, recognition, equality 3

Differences in Multicultural Britain 4

Two kinds of differences Associational IdentitiesPractices-based Identities Race + Culture / Ethnicity 1. New Ethnicities 2. Ethno-cultural Groups Race + Religion 3. Associational Ethno- religious Identities 4. Ethno-religious Communities 5

Multiculturalism/Multiculture Multiculturalism creation of public spaces that allow for, refrain from penalizing, and, ideally, respect the simultaneous assertion of claims for difference and inclusion allowing for the expression of religious beliefs and the accommodation of religious practices in the public rather than their confinement in the private realm Multiculture situations of everyday cultural and ethnic diversity, conviviality and particularly the Black-Caribbean experience the promise and hetero-cultural dynamism of contemporary metropolitan life (Gilroy) the emergence of new cultural forms, hybrid identities 6

Relating multiculture / multiculturalism How to conceive of a relationship so that… neither of the two differences is reduced to the conceptual/normative vocabulary of the other; both are allowed to specify their own conceptions of culture and politics; double accommodation is possible. 7

Muslim Council of Britain: School Guidance 2007: MCB issues guidance notes Meeting the needs of Muslim pupils in state schools Ensuing controversy What are the needs of Muslim pupils? What does it mean to be sensitive and respectful? What does tolerance and respect for ethno-religious difference imply? How is it negotiated locally? 8

Black History Month and the Bicentennial of the Abolition 2007: bicentennial celebrations of the abolition of slavery Britishness and the History and Citizenship curriculum (Michael Gove, Niall Ferguson) How can the national story be adapted? How are national stories negotiated, adapted and discussed locally, eg. at school? 9

Practical encounters of two differences Multicultural consists of two modes of difference, but not only do we not have to choose between them but mutual respect is possible. Study of encounters of two differences in practice: -What does tolerance/respect/recognition look like for the claims of multiculture and multiculturalism? -How can double accommodation be achieved? 10