Recognition Politics and Mosques

Following the 9/11 attacks in the US, the world saw the unleashing of xenophobia towards all men and women of the Islamic faith with the now controversial phrasing of the "Axis of evil". With that one incident all Muslims are terrorist and everything about the religion of Islam has to be curbed in order to save guard the security of the population of the country and ultimately the world. The latest form of attacks come in the wake of plans to rebuild ground zero with the presence of a mosque and an Islamic center "a few blocks from the World Trade Center site".

Should the minority Muslims in America be allowed to have their place of worship (in a predominantly non-Muslim country) in close vicinity of a place that was destroyed by a fellow group of Muslims? Or should the collective Muslim minority in the country be punished for the transgression that saw the death of 2,752 people and the continued impact on the psyche of the Americans collectively?

Difference-friendly towards the Burqa

At the end of the 20th century in her 1996 public lecture for The Tanner Lectures on Human Values Series, titled Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: Redistribution, Recognition, and Participation Professor Nancy Fraser said among others, "Today, however, we increasingly encounter a second type of social-justice claim in the “politics of recognition.” Here the goal, in its most plausible form, is a difference-friendly world, where assimilation to majority or dominant cultural norms is no longer the price of equal respect."

Today, nearly 15 years later, we are confronted with the treat to a 'difference-friendly world' in the guise of the Muslim women's attire.

A preamble.

This blog sets out to bring together issues and concerns within the discourse of multiculturalism and social texts which i define as texts that generate public interest including news, editorial, popular literature and other popular texts in the media such as songs, advertisements, videos and movies.  What aspects of multiculturalism can be used to facilitate the examination of these social texts? And more importantly, how does the social text that we read/watch/listen to colour our perception of the diverse world we live in? The coming weeks and month will present opportunities for me to draw on the discussion of multiculturalism from various parameters including ethnic studies, gender studies and cultural studies to facilitate how multiculturalism can be a useful tool to study social texts, and what these texts inform us of the state of our diverse world.