Mapping the Limits of Multiculturalism in the Context of Globalization

Abstract

This article explores the limits of multiculturalism as a concept and logic for addressing cultural inequalities. It argues that engagements with multiculturalism in Anglo-American national cultures in the West tend to be nation-bound. Thus, multiculturalism remains inadequate to map and address relations of cultural otherness that are produced by the complexities of transnationalism that exceed the nation. As well, in its grounding in Westphalian liberal assumptions of democracy, the concept and practice of multiculturalism remain insufficient as a lens through which to comprehend logics of cultural inequalities in non-Western modernities. The goal of the paper is to map the limits of our engagement with multiculturalism in the face of both globalization and the logics of non-Western modernities.