ancient cities

Mandarin translation services for council meetings.
To acquire these services, the Los Angeles
Council and Public Services must be contacted at
least 72 hours in advance.
Dress Codes
There are two strategies of dealing with codes
of attire. The first is a strategy that adopts acceptance
of a diversity of appearances. The second
strategy demands a condition of neutrality. Sikh
men, for example, have been confronted with this
problem and have fought to be able to wear a turban
and carry a kirpan (a ceremonial sword)—
symbols of their Sikh faith—in schools and in the
workplace. In Canada and England, this attire is
permitted. Employers and schools must align their
dress codes to accommodate the religious freedom
of their workers. Thus, Canadian Mounted Police
of the Sikh faith may wear a turban in place of the
traditional broad-rimmed cap, and Sikh school
boys may carry a kirpan to school despite the
regulations of some schools to ban weapons. In the
United States, Sikhs have been fighting for this
right on a case by case basis. Between 2001 and
2007, there were more than 20 successful court
cases—including one in Los Angeles and four in
New York City—in which Sikh men won the right
to wear their religious symbols.
In Germany, dress codes are governed at the
state level. Berlin, a city-state, has taken the route
of the second strategy. Wearing religious symbols
in workplaces where neutral clothing is demanded,
such as in civil services and schools, is not permitted.
This applies to Christian crosses, Jewish yarmulkes,
Muslim tschadors or hijabs, or Sikh
turbans and kirpans—all of which are prohibited.
Models of political discourse are perhaps one of
the hottest topics facing multicultural cities today.
They are discussed widely in twentieth-century
political theory. A famous debate between Jürgen
Habermas and Nancy Fraser illustrates two essential
poles to the discussion. Habermas argued that
one open public sphere in which all members participate
on equal footing was the ideal political
forum. Fraser, in response, argued that this was
impossible. For a variety of reasons, women—or
others in general—could not expect to compete on
an equal basis. The outcome would be that alternative
discourse would inevitably be drowned out by
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so-called common interest topics. To account for
difference, then, Fraser argued for alternative public
spheres. These were forums targeted for specific
groups, who could then meet in an exclusive sphere
to discuss their ideas and develop their counterdiscourse,
which could later be brought back to a
common wider forum. Habermas and Fraser then
represent two models of participation: the meltingpot
public forum and the plurality of forums.
In practical terms, the Province of Ontario in
Canada in 2006 overturned the use of shari`ah law
as a form of family arbitration. It was decided that
it would not be acceptable because the code of ethics
existing under shari`ah law would undermine
Canadian Muslim women. Muslim women who
did not have the means to hire a lawyer would
have little choice but to turn to a Muslim-based
tribunal, which would disadvantage them. Their
access to the equal treatment of individuals guaranteed
under the Canadian constitution was
thereby severely hindered. This decision immediately
called into the question the legitimacy of
Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Aboriginal arbitration,
which too were rendered legally unbinding.
The openness to, and recognition of, diversity
and self-proclaimed difference is most certainly a
positive response to increased urbanization and
international migration. It is more, however, than
the self-image of a city as spatial agglomeration of
articulated social segments, as suggested by demographic
multiculturalism. On a conceptual level,
careful thought needs to be given to the consequences
of classification and essentialization of
individuals and social groups into mythical categories
of otherness, and to the risk of getting caught in
the liberal–pluralist trap that the commodification
of culture ensures. Multiculturalism addresses a
nonstatic, dynamic interplay of differences through
time. On a practical level, integration as a mechanism
of building multicultural spaces is a very complex
process. Measures must carefully address
social, political, and economic needs of residents, as
well as compensate for, and respond to, social spatial
and temporal urban transformations. It will remain
a constant project for residents of multicultural cities,
therefore, to keep up with social changes and to
promote and encourage social diversity, inclusion,
and equality.
Constance Carr