Lecture 4 - Ethnicity and Multiculturalism

ETHNICITY AND MULTICULTURALISM


What is ETHNICITY? (britannica online)
• Ethnicity refers to the identification of a group based on a perceived cultural distinctiveness that makes the group into a “people.”
• A descriptive label for a group, implicitly defined in terms of racial or national characteristics, where the main emphasis falls on cultural practices and beliefs
• Can be usefully applied to minorities which either have been set apart or have desired separation according to distinct cultural attitudes and traditions
• The concept can only be applied to nation groups when located abroad and do not constitute a part of the ruling elite
• Do not refer to ethnic majorities


• Language
• Music
• Values
• Art
• Styles
• Literature
• Family Life
• Religion
• Ritual
• Food
• Naming
• Public Life
• Material Culture

What is RACE? (britannica online)
• Race refers to the perceived unique common physical and biogenetic characteristics of a population.

What is MINORITY GROUP? (britannica online)
• Minority Group is a group whose unique cultural characteristics are perceived to be different from those characterizing the dominant groups in society.

CATEGORIES OF M.G (britannica online)
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation

Note:
Ethnicity, Race, and Minority Groups are social and cultural constructs


What is MULTICULTURALISM? (wikipedia)

- Multiculturalism generally refers to a defacto state of racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity within the demographics of a specified place.

- Advocates a society that extends equitable status to groups.

- Cultural Pluralism or Plural Society

- Is best understood as a perspective or a way of viewing human life

• 3 central insights of multiculturalism

1) Human beings are culturally embedded in the sense that they grow up and live within a culturally structured world
• Deeply shaped by the culture and belief systems surrounding us

2) Different cultures represent different systems of meanings and visions of the good life
• Need other cultures to help you understand your culture even better
• No cultures are worthless

3) Every culture is internally plural and reflects a continuing conversation between its different traditions and strands of thought
• Every culture’s identity is fluid and open


- From a multiculturalist perspective:
• Nothing can represent the full truth of human life
• Any political doctrine or ideology represent a particular vision of the good life, and is necessarily narrow and practical
• Political doctrines are ways of structuring political life, not offering a comprehensive philosophy of life
• The good society cherishes the diversity and encourages a creative dialogue between its different cultures and their moral visions
• Society must respect its members rights so long as they meet the consensually derived conditions of the good life
• A multicultural society cannot be stable and long lasting without developing a common sense belonging among its citizens
• The sense of belonging cannot be ethnic – must be based on shared values


Societal Trends and Individual Effects (Portrayal of Culture in Films)

- Distortions of Reality – mislead audiences about historic facts.
• It is extended even to non-fictional movies
• D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915)- it glorified Ku Klux Klan

- Violence – viewers imitate what they see in movies
• Scorsese’s Taxi Driver accordingly inspired the attack on Pres. Reagan.
• Disney’s The Program recalled all prints to delete scenes.

- Stereotyping – has treated a large number of female characters as bubble-headed. However, these films accorded their heroines more respect than films made in the supposedly liberated 1960s and 1970s.