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Between Temple and Forum,
Cultural Diversity I now want to turn to my next major theme, that of the value of cultural diversity. At the heart of any civil society are two principles--self-determination and equal participation--that are fundamental but pull in opposite directions. By equal participation, I mean the principle that every citizen, irrespective of his or her membership in a minority group, ought to be able, if they choose, to participate equally in the larger society. This calls for equality of treatment and a unity in the political-legal arena of social life. By self-determination, I mean the principle that members of every minority ought to be able to participate fully, if they choose, in the distinctive enterprises that contribute to their identity. This involves the celebration of diversity, not only with the state's blessing but, when required, with the state's assistance. As responsible citizens, we are obliged to find ways of reconciling the demands of unity and diversity. Since both are equally important and desirable, neither should be secured at the expense of the other. Without unity a society cannot hold itself together or generate a spirit of common purpose. Without a sense of cohesion it cannot regulate and resolve conflicts between its constituent communities or foster a spirit of a shared nationwide identity in which members have mutual trust and goodwill and the willingness to accept compromises required by the pursuit of the greater good. |
 Photograph from Fix, a solo choreographed and performed by Akram Khan. Photograph by Chris Nash |
On the other hand we cannot escape the demands of diversity either. Professor Bhikhu Parekh explains why we cannot ignore the demands of diversity for at least three reasons: First, diversity is, by definition, an inescapable fact of life in a culturally heterogeneous society and attempts to dismantle it are either counterproductive or exact an unacceptable moral and political price. They provoke resistance, create insecurity, and deepen intercultural suspicions. And when a cultural community feels threatened, it panics and tends to become self-obsessed, suppresses internal differences, avoids contact with other cultures, and spawns a fundamentalist orthodoxy which fragments the wider society and undermines cohesion and unity. Second, since human beings are deeply shaped, though of course not wholly determined, by their culture, it is at least partly constitutive of their identities. It identifies a person both as a particular kind of individual and [with] a particular community of people. To be Panjabi, Asian, or Black British is to be a member of a specific cultural community and to feel bonded to its members by a shared way of life. The basic respect that we owe our fellow humans entails respect for their identifiable culture and cultural community. |