1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910791308303321

Titolo

The democratic predicament : cultural diversity in Europe and India / / editors, Jyotirmaya Tripathy, Sudarsan Padmanabhan

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 2013

ISBN

1-138-66025-6

1-315-81603-2

1-317-80941-6

1-317-80942-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (367 pages)

Altri autori (Persone)

PadmanabhanSudarsan

TripathyJyotirmaya

Disciplina

305.80094

Soggetti

Cultural pluralism - Europe

Cultural pluralism - India

Democracy - India

Europe Cultural policy

India Cultural policy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Contestation -- pt. 2. Consensus.

Sommario/riassunto

Both India and Europe have been undergoing a difficult process of negotiating cultural, religious and ethnic diversity within their democratic frameworks. In fact, recent incidents of xenophobic backlash against multiculturalism and minority communities in Europe, as well as myriad movements for constitutional recognition of castes, tribes and languages and the emergence of Islamophobic terror in India, question the conventional idea of democracy as the idyllic preserver of diversity. This volume contests the simplistic connection between democracy and diversity by proposing that democracy, in fact, produces, sediments and reinforces cultural heterogeneity. It argues that in democratic polities, disparate cultural practices are often converted into identity categories, with disturbing implications for national identity, constitutionalism, political governance and



citizenship. While mobilizations on the plank of cultural differences are typically viewed as being born in undemocratic spaces with little toleration for diversity, they also find fertile soil in democracy insofar as democracy celebrates diversity and allows cultural dissent to thrive. Such dissent, while essential for democracy, has difficult consequences. Examining the fundamental conflict between constructions of particular cultural identities and mandates of a unifying democratic ethos, the book brings forth the complexities underlying the politics of identity recognition and national integration. In making a radical intervention in the discourse, this volume offers a critique of existing paradigms of multiculturalism. It will interest scholars and students of political science, sociology, and postcolonial and comparative studies -- Page 4 of cover.