MULTICULTURAL EUROPE?*

Yıl 2008, Cilt: 16 Sayı: 1&2, 59 - 77, 25.12.2008

Ebru Oğurlu

https://doi.org/10.29228/mjes.164

Öz

Starting from the first years of the 21'1 century, multiculturalism has
emerged as one of the major research areas in the European political
agenda as a result of the challenges to the modernist approach of nation
building processes. Considering its various implications, this study shows
the two sides of the same coin by focusing on the positive and negative
connotations of this concept and tries to answer whether multiculturalism -
in a positive sense - is a viable policy in Europe. In this framework, the
specific country examples prove the fact that recent multicultural discourses
are only used as justifications for the elimination or assimilation ofvarious
sub-cultures in Europe by preserving the primacy of the dominant ones.
This tendency, however, can easily impose an inward-oriented nature both
on Europe as a continent and the EU as a political entity. In order to
eliminate this risk, Europe of the 2rr century should be open to other
cultural amalgamations and influences as the sources of its own strength
and richness.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Multiculturalism, Europe, minorities, integration, cultural pluralism

MULTICULTURAL EUROPE?*

Öz

Starting from the first years of the 21'1 century, multiculturalism has
emerged as one of the major research areas in the European political
agenda as a result of the challenges to the modernist approach of nation
building processes. Considering its various implications, this study shows
the two sides of the same coin by focusing on the positive and negative
connotations of this concept and tries to answer whether multiculturalism -
in a positive sense - is a viable policy in Europe. In this framework, the
specific country examples prove the fact that recent multicultural discourses
are only used as justifications for the elimination or assimilation ofvarious
sub-cultures in Europe by preserving the primacy of the dominant ones.
This tendency, however, can easily impose an inward-oriented nature both
on Europe as a continent and the EU as a political entity. In order to
eliminate this risk, Europe of the 2rr century should be open to other
cultural amalgamations and influences as the sources of its own strength
and richness

Anahtar Kelimeler

Çokkültürlülük, Avrupa, azınlıklar, entegrasyon, kültürel çoğulculuk

Kaynakça

• Wallace, C. and Shaw, J. (2002). Education, Multiculturalism and the EU Charter of Rights. Constitutionalism Web-Papers, ConWEB, 5, 1-18. Retrieved: October 31,2008, from http://lesl.man.ac.uk/conweb.
• Watson, C. W. (2000). Multiculturalism. Buckingham: Open University Press.