Multicultaralism - Essay Example

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams” – Jimmy Carter.

Thesis Statement

Multiculturalism is one of the most vital means of warranting the, almost biological need, of human beings for cultural attachment, the need for one’s identity that reassures them of their origin and yet often invariably leads to a global phenomenon called racism and loss of identity.

Introduction

It is good to be different - might be the most treasured and cherished ideology of the people in the twenty-first century who rejoice in pluralism, and take pride in multifariousness whereas the concept of multiculturalism is more of a celebration of a progressive society that embraces diversity. But the self-confessed belief in this liberated ideology that embraces pluralism and encourages multifariousness which is so intricately woven into the cultural fabric of our multi-ethnic society, today, there exist certainly muted deliberations that seek to question the near idealistic view of multiculturalism. One such need is the urge to associate one’s identity with a more known and familiar culture or origin fuelled by the urgency to protect and validate one’s culture and ethnic beliefs and traditions. Thus on one hand multiculturalism tends to harbor ideas of asserting freedom to pursue one’s thoughts and beliefs and on the other lead to a global phenomenon called racism and tyranny leading to a grave loss of identity for people belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds.

The various literary works analyzed in the later sections of this essay discuss the socio-political concept of multiculturalism as described by Samuel Selvon in The Lonely Londoners, and Hanif Kureishi in The Rainbow Sign and The Beautiful Launderette wherein the concept of racism, identity loss, and discrimination are gently probed and analyzed from a nonconformist perspective.

This substantiates the fact that individuals from multicultural backgrounds, including the author himself, desperately crave secure roots that secures them a place, a notion, or a cultural identity of their own. The author’s narratives which take him back to a country of his origin, is an attempt to forge a relationship with a land although alien to him, secures him a root of his cultural origins thus giving him a sense of belonging and identity which is somehow lost in the multicultural milieu of his migrant country.

The Lonely Londoners

The book ‘The Lonely Londoners’ by Sam Selvon, is based on the lives and journeys of colored immigrants who migrated to the British Isles from the West Indies in search of wealth and prosperity.  It goes on to describe how the various characters in the story were exposed to racist remarks and discriminatory behavior at the hands of the locals. The story is told in creolized English to give an immigrant flavor to it. The apparent references to the color of these migrants who belong to a host of countries including Jamaica, Nigeria, and Trinidad suggest the discrimination of people belonging to alien origins whereby the ‘blacks’ were often paid lower wages on account of their color – an obvious form of racial discrimination. This issue is addressed by one of the characters Gallahad who has been looking for employment in the land and voices his beliefs:

“Why the hell you can’t be blue, or red, or green if you can’t be white? You know is you that causes a lot of misery in the world. Is not me, you know, is you! I ain’t do anything to infuriate the people and them is you! Look at you, you so black and innocent, and this time you causing misery all over the world (Elizabeth, 2002, Pp.156)”

The Rainbow Sign

In the essay, The Rainbow Sign, the author Hanif Kureishi, describes the pain of a migrant and his view of the world which is blurred, confused and hybrid, and, rarely pure and complete. It describes the loss of being detached from one’s roots and the feeling of being tucked away in an alien land but at the same time describes the joys of living in a land of immense possibilities. The quest for exploring one’s identity is apparent from one of the incidences in the book where Kureishi describes his feelings on seeing a photograph of his young father in his uncle’s house in Pakistan, which becomes a vital means of putting together the jumbled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to help him view his own identity and ultimately his own place in the world. His uncle’s house as described by Kureishi, is a “house full of stories, of Bombay, Delhi, China; of feuds, wrestling matches, adulteries, windows broken with hands, card games, impossible loves, and magic spells. Stories to help me see my place in the world and give me a sense of the past which could go into making a life in the present and the future (Kureishi, Pp.35)”

My Beautiful Launderette

My Beautiful Launderette by Hanif Kureishi, is one of the several works by the author which exemplify the feeling of loss of identity and culture as experienced by the immigrant population. In My Beautiful Launderette, Kureishi narrates the story of Uncle Nasser, who immigrates to London from Pakistan with his brother. The story is told from the point of view of immigrants and their grievances regarding lost identities with Omar, Nasser’s London-born racially mixed brother, and Nasser as the central characters. The story describes how Nasser gives up his Eastern traditions to adopt British values with great enthusiasm but at the same time he inwardly laments the loss of identity, the comfort of his home life back in Pakistan, and his relationship with his brother, and yet he feels torn between the longing for an identity and achieving his dreams. In one such incident, Nasser tells his brother “But we are professional businessmen, not professional Pakistanis. There’s no question of race in the new enterprise culture (Kaleta, 1998, Pp.196)”

Conclusion

The issues of racism, identity or the lack of it, and discrimination raised by the post-colonial ‘hybrid’ authors in the literary works described above, offer new and exciting manner in which the lives of migrants and individuals with ethnic and cultural differences are affected and dominated to a great extent by a longing desire for knowing more about one’s roots and culture in a bid to avoid being lost in an alien culture and hence lose one’s identity and sense of belonging in the process. Multiculturalism may offer liberty, progress,d a world of exciting ideas for self-development and success but at the same time it also leads to increased feelings of discrimination and being rootless generated due to displacement and discontinuity.  

The most dominant themes addressed in all these literary works imply of loss of identity and racism that immigrants experience in a highly multicultural environment. It is apparent from the discussion presented through the writings of these great authors as well as through a general observation of the society around us that living in a society devoid of cultural belonging is almost impossible since individuals as social beings will always crave to have a firm identity and a quest for their roots. In the words of Isaiah Berlin, “Life may be seen through many windows, none of them necessarily clear or opaque, less or more distorting than any of the others” (Isiah Berlin, 2008)