CULTURE AND IDENTITY, COMMUNITY AND SURVIVAL - WHAT IS THE CULTURAL IN MULTICULTURALISM

What are the characteristics of diversity in our emerging world cultur e? What is the cultural in multi-culturalism? The so-called culture de bates may well be one of the central intellectual arguments of ou time s, but there is wide discrepancy between rhetoric (unsupported discour se) and reality about this subject. More and more people in the modem world, using the language of culture, seem to be trying to achieve soc ial equalities through identity politics. How do we recognise the need of minorities who have felt less than fully a part of the larger cult ure to have separate identities without falling into the rhetorical tr ap of assuming that, where you find identifies, you also find correspo nding cultures? Reaching beyond culture, what type of identity will be best suited for our evolving community of the future.