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What Happened to Multiculturalism Without Culture?

Citizenship
Integration
Feminism
Immigration
Sawitri Saharso
Universiteit Twente
Sawitri Saharso
Universiteit Twente

Abstract

In this paper we investigate what happened to the ideas developed by Anne Phillips in her book Multiculturalism without culture (2007). We will first lay out what motivated her to write this particular book, in which debates it sought to intervene and the main arguments with which she attempts to defend a multiculturalism that dispenses with (reified notions of) culture, yet ‘retains enough robustness to address inequalities between cultural groups’. Secondly, we reconstruct the book’s impact on the theoretical debate on the relationship between multiculturalism and feminism. Which ideas were picked out as particularly helpful in better understanding which problem? Were there also specific ideas that elicited criticism and if so, what made these ideas so controversial? Thirdly, we want to establish if and how Phillips’ thoughts influenced empirical research on issues such as the position of Muslim women in Western societies, debates and policies on the headscarf, or the media discourse on integration and immigration. Did they serve as an inspiration for such research and if so, in what way and what kind of empirical questions did it generate? Or did some ideas prove untenable in practice and had to be reformulated or given up? Lastly, we want to draw up the balance. What has been the overall impact of Multiculturalism without culture on the theory and research on multiculturalism and feminism? To what extent has its reception led to a revision of current ideas and opened up new perspectives for theorizing and researching multiculturalism and feminism?