Being in the World: Dialogue and Cosmopolis

Appendix A: Beyond Multiculturalism? For Bhikhu Parekh

195 Appendix A Beyond Multiculturalism? For Bhikhu Parekh One of the delights of intellectual life is to pay tribute to teachers, mentors, and friends who have had a formative influence on one’s own maturation. For me, Bhikhu Parekh has been such a mentor and longtime friend. We come from different backgrounds: I from a Continental European background modulated by North American experiences; he from an Indian background modulated by British experiences . But at one point our paths crossed—in ways that became decisive for my development. It happened in 1984. Bhikhu at that time was vice-chancellor at the University of Baroda and, in this capacity , organized a conference assembling a great number of political theorists from both India and the West. The meeting was a “eureka” event for me. I suddenly discovered, in a stark and dramatic way, my Eurocentric parochialism, evident in my utter ignorance of Indian culture and intellectual traditions. Thus, in organizing the meeting, Bhikhu opened a new world for me and set me on the path of crosscultural and cosmopolitan inquiry. Both then and on later occasions, he also alerted me to the importance of Mahatma Gandhi for contemporary politics and political thinking. In this respect, too, my life was channeled in a new and fruitful direction. In subsequent decades, I followed Parekh’s writings and activities with a keen interest. I noticed that he was not only a theorist but managed to combine theory and practice. To give just some examples: he served as acting chair of the Commission for Racial Equality in the United Kingdom and as chair of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. Thus, when in 2000 his book Rethinking Multi- 196 Appendix A. Beyond Multiculturalism? culturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory was published, I knew that it was not just another academic treatise on the topic, but a work sustained by vast erudition and concrete multicultural experiences . I wrote an extensive review of the book under the title “Multiculturalism and the Good Life” (which first appeared in 2003).1 In my review, I highlighted a number of aspects that still seem to me salient today. One aspect has to do with the distinction between a purely empirical or descriptive and a normative or evaluative approach to the topic. While the former simply acknowledges the factual existence of cultural diversity without evaluative engagement, the second perspective involves (in Parekh’s words) a “normative response” to such diversity , that is, the manner and character of the evaluative assessment of multiculturalism. Another, closely related aspect concerns the angle from which evaluative assessments are undertaken. Here Parekh adopted a sensible position between universalism and particularism (or relativism), by arguing that cultural diversity can be understood neither from an abstract “view from nowhere,” treating all cultures as the same, nor from the angle of incommensurability and cultural self-enclosure. This insight led him in the direction of a “dialogical” (or hermeneutical) perspective, which stresses mutual ethical engagement and “the centrality of a dialogue between cultures and ethical norms, principles, and institutional structures.”2 In recent times, the political climate in many Western countries has changed. The relative optimism and openness to cultural diversity that attended the demise of the Cold War has tended to give way to distrust, retrenchment, and “identity politics.” Several factors account for this change. One prominent factor is September 11 and its pervasive impact on all aspects of social and political life. In lieu of the celebration of open borders, September 11 fomented fear of strangers (seen as potential enemies); seemingly endless “terror wars”; and the strengthening of the “national security state,” manifest in steadily tightened surveillance and public control. Closely connected with this factor is the worsening of economic conditions, culminating in the financial meltdown of 2008—a worsening that triggered massive unemployment in many places, which in turn pitted domestic workers against immigrants and migrant workers. An additional factor in some countries was the renewed upsurge of organized religion—a process often producing interreligious and sectarian rivalries (in lieu of inter- For Bhikhu Parekh 197 faith understanding). As a result of these and other factors, multiculturalism became increasingly suspect and a target of critique. What had earlier been heralded as promising horizons of democratic equality and cross-cultural symbiosis was tendentially cast in the somber colors of intergroup rivalry, enmity, and distrust. Actually, at a closer look, some measure of critique had accompanied...