Multicultural Issues: A Comparison of India and Europe

The chapter introduces the general framework of the multicultural debate in India and Europe, highlighting the points of originality and convergence. India and Europe, despite having different historical paths, today find themselves facing similar problems regarding the possibility of developing inclusive societies, capable of integrating diversity and difference in a context of democratic participation in common social and political life. India had to face – well before the multicultural debate was consolidated in the West – the question of including cultural difference in the definition of national unity. The central point of the multicultural comparison was the effort and need to build unity, solidarity and a sense of common belonging starting from the recognition of cultural differences. In many respects Europe has had to deal with an inverse problem: how to recognize the plurality and multiplicity of cultural differences starting from a deep-rooted idea of internal homogeneity which constituted the ideological and rhetorical basis of the formation of European nation states. A narrative of homogeneity and cultural purity which has fostered both internal cohesion and competitive distinction with other European states, but which is unmasked in its claim to naturalness by migratory phenomena and globalization processes. After briefly introducing the different ways in which multiculturalism has been interpreted in the different European and Indian contexts, the chapter analyses the main criticisms advanced to the idea of multiculturalism. It highlights how, despite the theoretical and practical difficulties of multiculturalism, European and Indian societies cannot but consider cultural difference as one of their constitutive and structural elements.