The Conundrum of Being a Minority: Choosing a Collective Identity in the Era of Neoliberal Globalism

Year 2023, , 813 - 832, 26.12.2023

Aret Karademir

https://doi.org/10.33630/ausbf.1190662

Abstract

This paper argues that by portraying minority concerns primarily as cultural concerns and by discussing minority existence independently of capitalism, neoliberalism, feminism, environmentalism,
globalization, and the distinction between the Right and the Left, the dominant discourse on ethno-cultural minorities, namely multiculturalism, may lead to the reduction of minority communities to cultural entities in the collective consciousness of the dominant majority. Such reductionism endangers minority existence by identifying the question of minorities with the question of culture to the point that minorities voicing their noncultural political concerns increasingly appear unintelligible, presumptuous, or even destructive to wider society. Against this background, the paper discusses why and how ethno-cultural minorities may find their collective identity in different, not necessarily ethno-cultural, political formations in the age of neoliberal globalism, such as anti-neoliberal, anti-globalist, cosmopolitan, environmentalist, anti-capitalist, feminist, radical democratic, republican, and anti-imperialist. This discussion is based on Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s understanding of hegemony and social antagonism.

Keywords

Multiculturalism, Hegemony, Neoliberalism, Globalization, Identity

Azınlık Olma Muamması: Neoliberal Küreselleşme Çağında Kolektif Kimlik Seçimi

Abstract

Etno-kültürel azınlıklar literatürüne egemen söylem, başka bir deyişle çokkültürcülük, azınlık kaygılarını öncelikli olarak kültürel kaygılar addedip; “azınlık olmak” olgusunu genellikle kapitalizmden,
neoliberalizmden, feminizmden, küreselleşmeden ve sağ ve sol ayrımından bağımsız bir şekilde kavramsallaştırır. Bu da azınlık cemaatlerinin toplumsal çoğunluğun kolektif hafızasında “sadece” kültürel varlıklar olarak kodlanmaları tehlikesini doğurur. Böylesi indirgemeci bir kodlama azınlık varoluşu için tehlikelidir; çünkü azınlık sorununun kültürel sorunlarla eşlenmesine ve dolayısıyla azınlıkların “kültür dışı” siyasi taleplerinin toplumun geri kalanınca anlamsız, küstah ve hatta tehditkâr olarak algılanmasına yol açar. Bu makalede, bahsi geçen tehlike göz önünde bulundurularak, içinde yaşadığımız neoliberal küreselleşme çağında etno-kültürel azınlıkların kolektif kimliklerini nasıl tanımlayabilecekleri ve niye kimlik tanımlarının kültürel kodlara dayanmak zorunda olmadığı inceleniyor. Daha detaylı söylenecek olursa, etno-kültürel azınlıkların neoliberalizm karşıtı, küreselleşme karşıtı, kozmopolit, çevreci, anti-kapitalist, feminist, radikal demokrat, cumhuriyetçi veya anti-emperyalist gibi kimlikleri niye ve nasıl benimseyebilecekleri tartışmaya açılıyor. Bu tartışmanın teorik altyapısını ise Ernesto Laclau ve Chantal Mouffe’un hegemonya ve sosyal antagonizma kavramları oluşturuyor

Keywords

Çokkültürcülük, Hegemonya, Neoliberalizm, Küreselleşme, Kimlik

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