Multiculturalism - Igcollege.org

Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, Nandeddifferences between various cultural communitiesincluding minorities.It is observed that in certain WesternEnglish speaking nations since 1970 onwards,multiculturalism has been government programme.It is said that the Government of Canada is the firstnation which initiated the ideology ofmulticulturalism because of peoples’ compulsionon the social importance of immigration. It is alsoadopted by Australia where it has been displacedby assimilation. This has become the officialpolicy and followed by certain European countries.Argentina’s preamble of constitution encouragesimmigration and acknowledges the importance ofthe individual’s citizenship when compared toother countries. The British Government underTony Blair’s administration multicultural policieswere adopted. There was flow of immigration intoEngland from Republic of Ireland, the Indiansubcontinent and the Caribbean.Europe has bean treated as poly culturalcontinent because it has been a mixture of Latin,Slavic, Germanic, Uralic, Celtic, Hellenic, Illyrian,Thracian, Hebraic, Christian, Muslim and othercultures and belief systemsPoly Culturalism is the study of a groupthat comprises many cultures. In multiculturalismthere is a diversity, it is a cluster that deliberatesnumerous cultures discretely, but never a group ofpeople that contains more than single culture. Forthe last thousand years of history, Bulgaria hostedseveral religions, and ethnic groups includingJews. It is said that Netherlands is a tolerant, ratherthan multicultural community. There are morethan 150 different ethnic groups in Russia. It hasbeen opined that multiculturalism has beenunsuccessful in German. Across the Globe, Indiahas been regarded as the most diverse countryracially, culturally, linguistically, ethnically andreligiously too. In India ‘Multiculturalism’ has notbeen much used , but ‘diversity’ is often applied.Malaysia is a multiethnic country whichcomprises Malays, Malaysians,’ Chinese andIndian descent. Multiculturalism is predominantlyfound in Mauritius which consists of variousethnic and religious groups.Multiculturalism enables social andpolitical factions to permit the expression ofdifferent cultures without punishing them. InDenmark, social issues amalgamated withmulticulturalism. The Philippines consists of tendiscrete major native ethnic groups besidesextensive communities of American, Arabic,Chinese, Indian and other ethnicities from othernations. For this reason, the Philippines has beentreated as the 8 th multiethnic country across the459 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1Globe. The word ‘Multiculturalism’ is popular inSouth Korea. As far as transformation of societyis concerned, there are no clear cut constructiveand analytical concepts in South Korea.Literature in English is a globalphenomenon. It has become usual that literature inEnglish always emerge all over the World, thusliterature in English is becoming increasinglymulticultural. The International writers useEnglish as a channel for poetry, fiction and othergenres. Thus literature in English has becomemulticultural concept since the global writers havebeen writing about given culture. In the presentglobal scenario, English literature commands therealm of multicultural literature. Sir Walter Scott,one of the multicultural writers wrote aboutScotland for English readers as well as for hisfellow citizens. Multicultural literature explicitlyreflects the works of multicultural societies andalso it is implicitly multicultural. During the lastfifteen years, multicultural texts were found inthe writings of R.K . Narayan’s The Painter ofSigns , Maxine Hong Kingston’s The WomanWarrior, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me ,Ultima andWiti Ihimaera’s Tangi. Though these texts havebeen received well, certain critics do notcompromise with the multicultural aspects becauseof moments of difficulty in four such multiculturalnarratives. Thus multiculturalism of contemporaryworld literature in English pose complex problemsthat have not been sorted out by critics whostudied the multicultural phenomenon. It isobserved that all the written texts of multiculturalliterature were not completely understood by thereaders of same language. Such texts are fullyexplicit. Such problem frequently occurs betweenthe speakers of same language. “ Thus, themulticultural writer and his or her audience mayindeed be divided by a common language , andthe greater the gap between the two, the more opento misconstrual the multicultural work of literaturebecomes.”. 5Multiculturalism in America hastremendous impact in many spheres of Americanlife because the continuous flow of migration hasbeen an unending process. America is a landwhich conceits itself on freedom of thought,religion and the right of equal opportunities for allethnic and racial groups. Multiculturalism hasirresistible impact in many fields of American lifesuch as economic policies, media, art andliterature. The supporters of multi culturalismconcede that the pluralistic nature of Americansociety continues because America regarded as acountry of immigrants. Thus the ethnic differencescontinuously transformed educationalexpectations, political ideals and the popular