Multicultural is a Twentieth Century term originally coined in Canada to denote
the phenomenon of people from a range of backgrounds and cultures living side
by side, and respecting each other’s differences. From the 1980s when it became
more apparent that more needed to be done to support and facilitate cultural
activity across the whole spectrum of the UK’s population, multiculturalism is one
of the ideas that was adopted by policy makers to frame thinking about the place
of cultural products that were thought to be outside of an indigenous British (or
sometimes European) tradition. Unlike diversity, multiculturalism never addressed
the full equalities agenda. It did not pursue representation on the basis of gender,
sexuality, ability or economic inequality; it only addressed race, faith, language and
ethnicity.
One of the challenges of multiculturalism as an idea is that it tacitly encourages
people to think of cultures as discrete and clearly defined entities that – even when
they mix – remain somehow identifiably separate. On one level, for multiculturalism
to work, you need to believe that there is such a thing as “British Culture”, “Black
Culture” or “Asian Culture” per se. The problem is that each of these cultures is
in itself a multi-culture, rather than a monologic narrative or homogenous set of
products.
Over the years, the policies of multiculturalism were viewed with suspicion. Some
feel that the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent polarisation of cultural discourse
sealed the fate of multiculturalism which was aligned with social division and a
kind of relativism that fostered ghetto like pockets where extremism could flourish.
It is notable that “multiculturalism” and “multicultural” are now almost absent from
policy discussions of culture, except where they are criticised or used as synonyms
for diversity (often the two things happen at the same time).
