Read about Professor Fethi Mansouri’s new edited book

“While multiculturalism as a project and a concept is critiqued, challenged, contested, reshaped and even reclaimed; its continued presence at least as demographic fait accompli  is guaranteed given the globalising processes at play in the modern world”, said the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation’s director, Professor Fethi Mansouri, on the publication of his newest edited book Cultural, Religious and Political Contestations: The Multicultural Challenge.

“As a result, we must continue to examine its premises, promises and much publicised problems. This new book was conceptualised as a way to achieving that – to draw attention to the on-going and evolving polarised nature of contemporary multicultural debates. It facilitates a renewed critical assessment of the myriad of ethical and policy challenges that culturally and religiously diverse societies face, ranging from migration settlement to nurturing cultural diversity and pursuing inclusive citizenship”, he said.

Through a series of carefully selected empirical case studies, the book examines the foundations of multiculturalism in the context of émigré societies from a multi-dimensional international perspective. It considers the politics of multiculturalism and focuses on how the discourse of cultural rights and intercultural relations in Western societies can and should be accounted for at a philosophical, as well as performative level.

“The book is concerned with how people living in increasingly diverse, globalised societies are able to develop a multitude of attachments simultaneously to their own cultural heritage, to national political communities as well as to universal ethics and values. It is this multi-faceted aspect of this complex debate which often results in the tension we witness at local, national, transnational and global levels”, he said.

The book is organised into three thematically connected  parts (Histories and Politics of Multiculturalism; Justice and Education as Key Dimensions of Multiculturalism; and Performing Multicultural Belongings) allowing for the exploration of the Multicultural Challenge from a comparative, historical and philosophical perspective. More significantly, and in addition to  providing a fresh re-examination of prominent multicultural settings, such as Canada and Australia, readers will discover thoughtful considerations of less examined examples, such as with New Zealand and Italy.

Read more: www.springer.com/us/book/9783319160023

Contact: Rebecca Buys

Phone: 61 3 9244 6658