Multiculturalism and Group Identities Revisited

Information

As part of the Humanities and Social Science inspiring research lecture series, you are invited to attend an open lecture on the 25 September from Professor Tariq Modood, University of Bristol, titled “Multiculturalism and Group Identities Revisited”.

Background

Tariq Modood is considered one of the UK’s leading scholars on racial equality and multiculturalism. He founded the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at Bristol and has (co-)authored and (co-)edited over 30 books, including his critically acclaimed "Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea (Polity Press, 2007)" and "Still not easy being British: Struggles for a Multicultural Citizenship (Trentham Books, 2010)." He has published over 150 articles or chapters in political philosophy, sociology and public policy.

Further reading

Tariq Modood, University of Bristol

At the centre of my approach to ethnicity is that it is a group identity ‘from the inside’ but in much of social science ethnicity is understood as something that is ‘constructed from the outside’, namely that it is an ascribed identity which is a target of discrimination, or stronger still, is constructed for the purposes of ‘Othering’. I think that both these aspects of ethnicity have a real world existence and political significance, and cannot be reduced to each other, but I do not know of an existing approach which satisfactorily gives each its due within a unified theory. For example, multiculturalists like me argue that Muslims should be recognised as a group; but I am aware that for many egalitarians the issue is not recognition but defeating stereotypes about Muslims, not promoting a Muslim identity but protecting Muslims from anti-Muslim prejudice, discrimination, politics, violence etc. Indeed, many Muslims do not want to valorise Muslim identity and feel oppressed by its valorisation by others.

The same point can be made about any inferiorised group or collective identity, such as ‘black’, ‘woman’ or ‘working class’. So, what is the relationship between challenging inferiorisation and promoting positive group identities? I want to explore these two understandings of group identity with a view to moving towards a unified theory and a normative basis for recognising group identities and accommodating group representation that goes beyond merely anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-Islamophobia and so on.

Post-lecture workshop

Following the lecture Tariq has kindly agreed to participate in an open workshop. The workshop will include an update on theme developments as well as presentations from:

Professor David Horrell (Theology)

Dr Thomas Morton (Social Psychology)

Dr Katharine Tyler (Social Anthropology)

Ekaterina Kolpinskaya (Politics)

Dr Fran Martin (Education)

Registration

Register now for this event or for more information contact research-events@exeter.ac.uk. Those that register early will also have the opportunity to participate in a post-lecture workshop.