Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity

by David Bennett (Editor)

The idea of the nation is globally in crisis, but multiculturalism has often seemed to name a specifically national debate. Multicultural States challenges the national focus of these debates by investigating theories, policies and practices of cultural pluralism across eight countries with historical links in British the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Ireland and Britain.
This important book combines discussions of the principles of multiculturalism with studies of specific local histories and political conflicts. The contributors
* communalism and colonialism in India
* Irish sectarianism and postmodern identity politics
* ethnic nationalism in post-apartheid South Africa
* British multiculturalism as part of the heritage industry
* feminism and Australian republicanism.
Ien Ang, David Attwell, Homi K. Bhabha, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Abena P. A. Busia, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Terry Eagleton, John Frow, Henry A. Giroux, Ihab Hassan, Smaro Kamboureli, Maria Koundoura, Beryl Langer, Anne Maxwell, Meaghan Morris, Susan Mathieson and Jon Stratton

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David Bennett is a Reader and Associate Professor in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of the London Consortium and Birkbeck, University of London.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ang and Stratton's essay was without question one of the book's highlights. The third portion, concerned with essays of a more autobiographical nature, really surprised me. It brought forth questions that are rarely dealt with within more theoretical ways of writing about multiculturalism.
Good source.