Minority cultural claims and political voice

Abstract

Speaker: Patti Tamara Lenard, University of Ottawa | This online seminar will discuss a workshop paper by Patti Tamara Lenard of University of Ottawa. In this paper, the author argues that a focus on political inclusion directs us to accommodate multicultural claims, even those that aim at preserving culture. In particular, in what follows, the author shares two brief chapters from the “pro” side of a manuscript under preparation with Peter Balint (UNSW), entitled Debating Multiculturalism, for OUP’s Debating Ethics series. In these, the author first tackles the trickiest of multicultural claims – those that demand state resources to preserve cultures. The focus falls on three cases – public support for ethnically-exclusive organisations, culturally separate schools, and Indigenous self-determination – to argue that cultural preservation claims are generally defensible from within a political inclusion framework. The author then considers claims made by cultural groups that aim to separate rather than integrate, and which demand non-interference coupled with morally complex exemption requests. Here, the author suggests that although the groups in question are focused on segregation and isolation from the larger community, a focus on the spirit of political inclusion can nevertheless guide us in responding to their claims. Even in these cases, political inclusion has specific recommendations which are outlined.