Papers
John
Rex and Yunas Samad
Multiculturalism and Political Integration in
Birmingham and Bradford
Abstract
The
article discusses multiculturalism and political integration
in Birmingham and Bradford, two cities that are amongst the
main urban areas of immigrant settlement in England outside
London. The article focuses especially on the subject of
ethnic mobilization, and describes for each ethnic community
in each of the two cities the type and character of their
organizations and their role in multiculturalist politics. On
the basis of the evidence presented for each city it is
concluded that despite some negative indications about the
success of multiculturalism, there are also very many positive
signs which speak in favour of a limited claim for
multiculturalism, as delineating the creation of a political
situation in which relatively new ethnic minorities are able
to have the protection of a cultural home and the resource of
ethnic culture to provide solidarity as they fight for their
rights. This limited claim for multiculturalism is far from
being incompatible with democracy. It may even serve to
strengthen it.
George
Muskens
Multiculturalism and Political Integration in the
Netherlands: Rotterdam, Enschede
Abstract
The
article discusses the situation of minorities in Rotterdam and
Enschede, both declined industrial cities with decreasing
employment opportunities and with significant ratios of
migrant populations: 40 per cent in Rotterdam, 22.6 per cent
in Enschede. The study delineates how ‘relavant practices’
of multiculturalism have emerged in the two cities and their
relation to national policies of migration and integration
with particular emphasis on the comparative advantages and
disadvantages of each city and with reference to the role
played by ethnic mobilization.
Jan
Blommaert and Marco Martiniello
Ethnic Mobilization, Multiculturalism and the Political
Process in Two Belgian Cities: Antwerp and Liège
Abstract
Next
to discussing aspects of the political and social situation of
migrant ethnic communities in two Belgian cities, this article
provides interesting insight into identity politics in
contemporary Belgium divided between the Flemish emphasis on
cultural and linguistic homogenization and hegemonization and
the Walloon focus on citizenship. This fundamental ideological
split influences also how multiculturalism is discussed and
practiced in the two parts of Belgium in general and in
Antwerp and Liege in particular.
Michael
Bommes and Frank-Olaf Radtke
Migration into Big Cities and Small Towns - An Uneven
Process with Limited Need for Multiculturalism
Abstract
The
following paper is based on preliminary research on the
consequences of recent migration in Germany for the different
administrative levels and especially for local governments. In
the same way as there is no uniform immigration process on the
one side, there is no single society or a single nation state
in the sense of single actors on the other side who could
relate to immigration as an integrated whole. Migration itself
consists of heterogeneous migration strands moving on
different lines into different cities and towns. And local
governments are part of an internally highly differentiated
political system. Modern welfare state organizations handle
migration in the logic of their own processing. In order to
understand the consequences of migration and the meaning of
multiculturalism on the local level further research will have
to take into account the position of local governments in this
differentiated system.
Catherine
Delcroix
Stepping Forward to Help Communication: The 'Médiatrices
Interculturelles' in Underprivileged Areas in France
Abstract
The
article reports on the findings of a large study carried out
in France on the role and activities of women working with
migrants in underprivileged areas in (mostly) French suburban
cities and how they have come to mediate between migrants, but
also, underprivileged individuals in general, and local
authorities. The work of these ‘médiatrices
interculturelles’ exemplifies in various ways the urban
policy of the French State instituted by the former socialist
government whilst still maintaining the ‘universalist’
profile that characterizes French multiculturalism.
Anne-Marie
Sancar-Flückinger
Integration of Migrants - An Extraordinary Undertaking?
An Analysis of Swiss Policy and Handling of Resident
Immigrants; A Municipal Example - Bern
Abstract
Migration
and multiculturalism are key topics in politics, in the media,
in education and in the social sciences. It is a phenomenon
that has been discussed again and again during the last
fifteen years with the aim to find solutions. A theoretical
set of points of consideration is established in the first
chapter in order to understand how migration is running
counter to the ‘normal’ condition and development of
society, and tends to cause problems in various contexts. Case
histories in the second chapter show how communities are
handling the consequences of immigration in practice and in
the framework of the specific prevailing national and welfare
state structures, and especially how communities are meeting
the challenge politically and with their system of social
services. In the final chapter the most important findings are
summarized.
Fritz
Betz
Cultural Production and the Politics of Identity: On
the Strategic Use of 'Multiculturalism' in Two Austrian Cities
Abstract
This
article is a résumé of the findings of an empirical study
carried out by the ICCR Vienna between July 1993 and July
1994. The study investigated the images of ‘foreigners’ as
members of immigrant minorities that emerge out of the
interaction between the cultural administration, organizers of
cultural events, cultural agents and ‘ethnic minority’
artists, and how these images and the discourse on
‘foreigners’ relates to practices of inclusion and
exclusion. Specifically examined were artistic productions and
initiatives of the low-profit and non-profit sector of
theatrical and musical performances in Vienna and Graz.
Qualitative interviews with the main actors were supported and
enriched through non-standardized participant observation and
a modest social experiment.The article argues that the
Austrian variant of the discourse on ‘multiculturalism’
serves as a tool to formulate social order, whereby social
inequality is transformed into cultural difference. The
emancipatory dimension of culture as a way of life is used to
construct homogeneous cultural (=’ethnic’) collectives. In
this construction immigrant artists serve as the
representatives of the collective culture of the ‘others’.
