Today there was a discussion evening organised at the University of Eastern Finland, which became a platform for discussion of multiculturalism from academic and daily-life point of views.
I have never thought about the content and meaning of multiculturalism, but today after the long discussions it occured to me that it is just a synthetic term mainly designed for advocating certain policies, research projects and state aims. Basically, an ideal umbrella word for a vague preambula.
I am not a sociologist or anthropologist, so I see the culture as purely a set of values and principles which guide our behaviour in the certain society or a situation. Each person encompasses a number of cultures and approaches in developing social relations, making work assignments and progressing with studies. Globalisation and emergence of new communication means has influenced us and granted us a right to choose among different standards and ethics of behaving. Culture has so many subcultures - political, legal, ethic. Each person has a set of cultures, being a multicultural being.
Therefore, I see multiculturalism not as a process of integrating cultures as ethnicities or nations, I see it as building open dialogue between all of us regardless of how we identify ourselves in terms of nationality or membership in social groups. Legal documents and political charters may contain the term of multiculturalism but what we need is the willing for mutual understanding and open dialogue with people surrounding us - may it be a person who you have grown with together in the same house or international student coming to study from the other continent.
Today we discussed multiculturalism as a concept, but the discussion itself brings us closer towards it.
I have never thought about the content and meaning of multiculturalism, but today after the long discussions it occured to me that it is just a synthetic term mainly designed for advocating certain policies, research projects and state aims. Basically, an ideal umbrella word for a vague preambula.
I am not a sociologist or anthropologist, so I see the culture as purely a set of values and principles which guide our behaviour in the certain society or a situation. Each person encompasses a number of cultures and approaches in developing social relations, making work assignments and progressing with studies. Globalisation and emergence of new communication means has influenced us and granted us a right to choose among different standards and ethics of behaving. Culture has so many subcultures - political, legal, ethic. Each person has a set of cultures, being a multicultural being.
Therefore, I see multiculturalism not as a process of integrating cultures as ethnicities or nations, I see it as building open dialogue between all of us regardless of how we identify ourselves in terms of nationality or membership in social groups. Legal documents and political charters may contain the term of multiculturalism but what we need is the willing for mutual understanding and open dialogue with people surrounding us - may it be a person who you have grown with together in the same house or international student coming to study from the other continent.
Today we discussed multiculturalism as a concept, but the discussion itself brings us closer towards it.
No comments:
Post a Comment