RECONCILING CULTURAL DIVERSITY WITH A DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY: MESTIZAJE AS OPPOSED TO THE USUAL SUSPECTS

In: Citizenship studies, Band 3, Heft 1, S. 119-140

Abstract

A FASCINATING DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE LIBERAL-COMMUNITARIAN DEBATE IS HOW TO DEAL WITH CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN INCREASINGLY HETEROGENEOUS DEMOCRACIES. APPROACHES TO DIVERSITY IN THE FEDERAL RELATIONSHIP OF CANADA TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INSUFFICIENTLY ADDRESS HOW COMBINATIONS OF CULTURES HAVE BEEN UNDERWAY IN THE AMERICAS FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS. INSTEAD, THE AUTHOR CONTENDS THAT MESTIZAJE, THE COMBINATION OF CULTURES WHICH HAS ENSUED IN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES SOUTHWEST, ARTICULATES A "UNITY IN DIVERSITY" IN WHICH CULTURES TRANSFORM EACH OTHER WITHOUT CULMINATING IN ASSIMILATION. IN VIEW OF HOW "THE BORDER" BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO EXEMPLIFIES THE GROWING INTERSECTION OF DIVERSE CULTURES FROM THE DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING WORLD, MESTIZAJE OFFERS THAT THE INTERSECTION OF MULTIPLE CULTURES IN COLLABORATIVE - NOT HEGEMONIC - RELATIONS IS INTRINSIC TO REALIZING DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP.