Multiculturalism at work: The experiences of Ghanaians in London

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Critics of multiculturalism have argued that it is the main culprit for creating ethnic and culturalconflicts and perpetuating divisions. However, our interview material show that at this level,divisions and exclusions had little to do with multicultural policies and were the result of olderpatterns of racisms which current political discourses have tended to negate. The discourse ofpolarisation and segregation tends to indicate that separation is self-imposing, but the narrativesreveal that Ghanaians did not choose to feel excluded or separated. Many were trying to integrateby moving higher up the employment hierarchy into more professional jobs such as housingmanagement, business administration and leadership, but reported failing at the application andinterview stage. For our respondents, this failure was a product of their nationality and the racismof employers. Whereas the current political discourse of multiculturalism implies selfsegregation,our research highlighted the segmentation of the labour market and the barriers thatexist for the upward movement of migrants. In this context, it is hardly surprising that migrantsmay then cultivate their own ethnic networks to counter the effects of exclusion. The experiencesof the Ghanaians we have interviewed clearly underscores the vital need for these lessestablished migrants to be incorporated into policy agendas aimed at eradicating socialinequalities and fostering social inclusion and labour market reform. Ultimately, the evidencesuggests that perhaps it is premature to talk of the end of multiculturalism; rather, at this level,multiculturalism has yet to begin.AcknowledgementsThe research on which this paper is based was funded by the Economic and Social ResearchCouncil (Award RES00230694: Global Cities at Work), together with the Greater LondonAuthority, Oxfam, Queen Mary, University of London and UNISON who funded the preliminarysurvey research. We are very grateful to the migrants who participated in this research and whoshared their experiences with us.21
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