2nd Global Conference
Wednesday 3rd September - Saturday 6th September
2008
Mansfield College, Oxford
Conference Programme, Abstracts and Papers
Session 7: Minorities and Reasonable Accommodation
Chair: Ifeoma Obauasi
The Politics of Toleration in Contemporary Liberal Societies: Assessing the Validity of Minority Cultural Rights
Masakazu Matsumoto
Keio Advanced Research Centers, Keio University, Japan
As John Rawls states that “the historical origin of political liberalism (and of liberalism more generally) is the Reformation and its aftermath, with the long controversies over religious toleration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,” the history of liberalism and that of toleration have for centuries been inextricably bound up with each other. This paper is an attempt to reexamine the relation between liberalism and toleration under the conditions of contemporary cultural diversity.
Since the 1990s, there has been a big controversy in liberal political theories over the rights and wrongs of supporting minority cultural rights. Will Kymlicka is the guiding figure who affirms the validity of supporting minority cultural rights, under the discussion that the stability and prosperity of a minority culture constitute a necessary condition to fulfill the members’ personal autonomy. Thus, he argues, supporting minority cultural rights can reasonably be justified under the liberal ideal of autonomy.
Chandran Kukathas criticizes Kymlicka’s case for minority cultural rights, arguing that they are incompatible with another modern liberal ideal of toleration. His main points are summarized as follows: 1) toleration, not autonomy, should be considered the theoretical core of modern liberalism. 2) The liberal ideal of toleration supports not group but individual rights. 3) Minority cultures should be regarded as private associations. 4) It is not valid to insist on minority cultural rights as a basis of the members’ personal autonomy. 5) illiberal cultural practices should be tolerated if they are part of the exercise of personal freedom of association.
After reviewing the debate between Kymlicka and Kukathas, this paper turns to discuss two objections raised against Kukathas’ “liberalism of toleration”: the toleration-less-than-recognition problem and the realistic-right-of-exit problem. Finally, this paper explores Peter Jones’ recent argument on “indirect recognition” and suggests its possible use as a politics of cultural toleration in contemporary liberal societies.
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The Winter of Our Discontent: ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ and the 2007 Quebec Election
Alan Wong
Concordia University, Canada
This paper addresses the “reasonable accommodation” controversy in Quebec, Canada. The "accommodation" of different cultures, traditions, and practices has touched off a firestorm of debate in Quebec in recent years. While originating as a legal principle devised to address issues of inequality within the workplace, this concept has now moved beyond the courtrooms and into the culture at-large, becoming what Monika Kin Gagnon terms a “social discourse.” From banning of headscarves on the soccer pitch during matches to establishing new rules of conduct for immigrants in one rural township, Quebec has attracted a flurry of attention from all over the world with respect to this topic. Indeed, many Western countries, in particular, have claimed to identify with this fear that the expansion of rights for newcomers has reached such an extreme that it has stretched the limits of reason, leading to the erosion of Quebecois values and identity. Dubbed the “reasonable accommodation” debate by the news media, this dispute has seen responses ranging from accusations of racism to outright support for the assimilation of non-Westerners into Quebecois culture. Much of the blame for the fervency of this discussion lies with those involved in the Quebec election and the campaigns leading up to it during the winter of 2006-2007, when reasonable was adopted as a key issue. This paper provides an analysis of that period, revealing how the news media and the leaders of the major political parties were complicit in transforming a few minor incidents and events into a larger threat endangering the very fabric of Quebec society. By constructing an idealized citizen that I call “the reasonable Quebecois,” these interlocutors in the debate managed to foster intolerance in the region for parochial purposes. I end by promoting the concept of “sustainable citizenship” as a possible solution to this problem.
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New Forms of Inclusion in the Multilingual World: Translating for the Minorities
Reine Meylaerts
Faculty of Arts,
Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, Leuven,
Belgium
If we accept that people’s (social, political, cultural, economic…) rights are to a certain extent linked to their linguistic rights, then the implementation of translation rights constitutes an integral and fundamental part of minorities’ rights debates and, more in general, of political and ideological debates in multilingual societies. Whoever wants to understand the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in multilingual societies (and till further notice all societies are multilingual), has to understand the history and dynamics of their language and translation policies, which are allied to each other like Siamese twins.
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Female Circumcision: Universal Principles versus Relative Traditions
Marion J. Kiprop
Conflict Analysis and Resolution,
Nova Southeastern University, Florida, USA
Different cultures embrace distinct cultural practices consistent with intricately connected social arrangements and deep-rooted codes of behavior. While certain practices have been abandoned in contemporary society, some remain deeply ingrained in the cultural system. Still culturally entrenched in some societies, female circumcision has become one of the most debated discourses on women’s health issues. Seen as a normal cultural practice on one hand and a violation of women’s rights on the other, the practice has sparked a major debate on issues of gender equality, human rights, and cultural autonomy.
With a specific case of Kenya, the paper will analyze the cultural conflict surrounding female circumcision in contemporary Kenyan society. Using feminist theory, Universalist versus Relativist paradigms, ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ approaches, the paper will assess the different cultural frameworks and ideologies that create and fuel a conflict of cultures. The paper will focus on the contention between communities that practice female circumcision; anti-female circumcision activists; and African scholars who call into question the westernized approach to the issue. The analysis will introduce “emic” explanations to the practice and the justifications given for it by the communities that practice it.
The analysis of the conflict will focus in the period beginning in early 1980s to date. With a reference to history, the paper will assess the impact of colonialism in setting the pace for a battle that would continue for decades long after colonialism. The paper will describe the social context that has permeated in the heat of the debate and describe the contributing factors in perpetuating the conflict.
The paper will evaluate the positive strides made and the challenges that lie ahead for human rights activists. Conclusively, recommendations will be put forth for social change agents with regard to societies with historically rooted traditional customs and practices.