Theories of multiculturalism and the concept of culture. From a model of homogeneity to a model of cultural interferences

The contemporary concept of "multiculturalism" in social theory is characte rized by both a suggestive force and a deep ambivalence that stems from the ambiguity of an idea of culture(s). The article analyzes the concepts of c ulture in the work of Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, two of the most imp ortant social philosophers on multiculturalism. They turn out to be represe ntatives of a multicultural model of homogeneous cultural communities. I wi ll show that this connotation is rooted in a concept of "culture as totalit y" in the tradition of Herder. A concept of "culture as symbolic orders", p resented as an alternative approach, abandons the identification of backgro und languages and whole communities. Against this background I develop an a lternative concept of multiculturalism. It is based on an idea of "cultural interferences", i.e. of the "hybride" simultaneous effects emerging from d iverse orders of knowledge in the same collectivities, and on a differentia tion between implicit background languages and explicit discourses of colle ctive self-description.