The Official Community Of Nitin Sawhney

Hi I need some help I am sourcing a vocal piece (or I will create one) for some students on the theme of Multiculturalism for an upcoming concert. I am hoping anyone would be kind enough to share their thoughts about what Multiculturalism means to them on a personal level. As well I am wishing to support the piece with visuals so if you have any ideas or resource material I would be most grateful. It is for a high school kids, only six at this stage. I have been reading about Multiculturalism in Australia and there is a leaning toward assimilation? (Into what exactly)  the word tolerance pops up too. Who is being tolerant of whom?  I’d love your thoughts….

Thanks Calme

I think multi-culturalism is a highly contemporary issue. Please, anyone, feel free to expand on or challenge anything I write here. People talk about equality (also sexually) as if we are all the same. For me, equality is about recognising our differences, culturally and otherwise, and respecting them in ourselves and others.

Nowadays, with increased world travel and moving populations we are becoming more open to diversity but there's still a long way to go. Maybe, we can never understand another's culture completely but we can respect it.

Personally, the most difficult things that happened in my life were because of 'white' people. I went through a whole process of rejecting Western 'white' culture and exploring other cultures. I think, actually, I was rejecting part of myself. Though I don't like to label I am of 'white' European origin (mostly Welsh and Irish which have their own histories of cultural minoritisation anyway....) and it's something I have to accept as it's integral to who I am. I find difference fascinating and, where there's an openness to understand another culture, I find it highly stimulating.

Tolerance..... I think it's about being increasingly flexible in our aproach, our responses. It's to recognise that my ideas are inevitably bound up with my own culture and life experience. If I can recognise this I can begin to broaden my responses, be open to honouring what I don't understand...

As for images. Check out Chris Ofili. See below. He claimed back 's**t' as a label in much the same way Afro- Americans claimed back 'ni**er' as I understand it. Below left 'Captain S**t and the Legend of the Black Stars' and 'The Holy Virgin Mary.' Not sure if you can see here but both incorporate elephant s**t.

 The other artist that springs to mind is Banksy. Probably  he's more socially challenging but I found an image that links to Ofili's dung virgin (mother & child with mp3 player)

                  Hope that helps ! happy preparing, Rhian

For me, equality is about recognising our differences, culturally and otherwise, and respecting them in ourselves and others.

Hear, hear Rhian! I live in the most multicultural city in the world, in a country with an official policy on multiculturalism. And I love it. Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods, which some people look at and call segregation. But if you look closer, you'll see one of the best taquerías in the city is nestled in Koreatown. Or what about the Capoeira display at the Taste Of Little Italy Festival? The African drum shop in Chinatown?

Though the city seems divided along cultural lines, they are not closed communities. Everyone is invited to partake in one another's cultures, to celebrate alongside the originating peoples. Caribana, Afrofest, Chinese New Year, A Taste of Little Italy, Divali observances in Little India, the half-time show at the Toronto FC home opening game - all these and more are attended by all of Toronto's citizens. And I think this is the only way we can ever come to an understanding of each other, in the struggle for understanding, acceptance and respect. We must continue to foster an environment where people are free to ask questions and learn, rather than continue to live with ignorance.

I've got a few images you're free to use if they suit your purposes.

Afrofest

Capoiera

Good luck with the project!

Beverly 

For me, the greatest reward of a multicultural society is to learn through our differences that we are all inherently the same.

"For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal."
-John F. Kennedy

I know this quote, in context, does not speak directly to topic of multiculturalism but I think that it is still relevant to the subject.

I started writing this and have ended up with a mini essay, from more of a political standpoint.  However there are a few images which can be teased out of this.

In Britain, one of the leading figures in the establishment of multiculturalism, was the Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, who gave a speech defining it in 1966.  He saw it not as a flattening process of uniformity, but cultural diversity coupled with equality of opportunity in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance’

More recently, questions have been asked about the effectiveness of multiculturalism in view of the spread of Muslim fundamentalism, riots in inner city areas etc.  Community organisations have to complete for scarce funds which tends to increase competitiveness rather than co-operation.  And whereas solutions shouldn’t be imposed from above, perhaps it has been misguided to expect that each community should solely look after its own people.

However, we shouldn’t forget that many of those calling for an end to multiculturalism are largely those who would like to see the kind of uniformity that Roy Jenkins eschewed.  We need dialogue before we can have shared values. Values can’t be imposed by any group on others.  Some of the causes of segregation are caused by economic disadvantage – some groups have fared better whilst others have been left behind.  The war in Iraq has also had a negative effect on community relations – I’ve noticed this in my students.

Nitin talks about crossing boundaries, which I think is really important.  I also like to think that we can establish “a place between” where we can meet and retain elements of our identities, but also change each other by the nature of the encounter, not by force.  I’ve been trying to write a poem on this for a while, but have struggled to get more than a few lines out.

As for Australia, I am not an expert.  I heard a talk last summer – given by an activist for the rights of Aborigines, asylum seekers, and refugees.  I was appalled to learn that Australia is seceding some of its territory on the coast so that when asylum seekers arrive, they cannot claim to have landed in Australia.

 Best of luck, Calme.

Rosemary

Came across this in my perusals and it struck a chord so I thought I would share it, it was written by Shanti Gowans from her book "Reflections" and is from a larger musing entitled "The Grand Perspective".

"...We are one soul, one people

The planetary group soul,

The planet in me, not-there-state.

There is no place where the God-Force stops and you start.

There is no place where you stop and I start.

We are like spokes on a wheel,

All radiating out from the same centre.

If you define us according to our position on the rim,

We seem separate and distinct from one another;

But if you define us according to our starting point,

Our source, the centre of the wheel,

we are a shared identity,

Not just identical, but actually the same being,

Our separation is an illusion

The ego’s creation.

We are free."

Hey, great quotes Nuwanda and Calme.  Spiritually, we're all the same but we relate on so many levels. I think diversity and sameness are two sides of the same coin. I found a quote that expresses this for me:

 "Each body is born, will die, and on the way will move through many emotions and needs.... There is nothing to do about our samenes, except to acknowledge it. Of course, acknowledging it has always been difficult for many of us; all our warlike, racist, sexist, and intolerant behavior throughout history illustrates our constant denial of the simple truth of our essential sameness.

However our differences are fascinating. They need to be celebrated, explored, expressed. No one else has precisely what we have to give."

by Gabrielle Roth, from 'Maps to Ecstasy.' I know what it sounds like but it's mostly not about sexual ecstasy

Phew ... I thought for a minute that I had put everyone off   Yes, it would be good to have some more postings.  I read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6653119.stm - which apart from other interesting stuff, suggests that only a fraction off people registered on forums actually post.  We have 1187 or thereabouts - and only 1% are regular, which means there should be 11.87 people regularly contributing to this site.  About 9% post sometimes which is around 106.83 (assuming my maths is correct).  Fractional people? - I work with them all the time - don't get me started!  But it would be good if more people posted.

Anyway back to the topic.  I wondered if my thoughts re images were too nuanced.  When I was writing about assimilation, integration and multiculturalism, I had in my mind something like the charts for detecting colour blindness, known as Ishihara tests (pun not originally intended). There are some examples at    www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html.  You can see that there are various shades of dots and it is possible if you have normal colour vision to detect patterns, in this case numbers, on each of them. Calme, I wonder if this idea would be any good to you, although of course it leaves open the question of what pictures you want to convey.  I'll give it some thought over the next few days, though I shall be offline for a few days next week when I visit my parents.

Rosemary

I've had some ideas regarding the pictures.  A possibility is to do a human figure, possibly similar to those used to road crossing signals.  Well actually 2 circles with a figure each, one facing left to right and the other right to left, so that they appear to be meeting one another.  The other idea is inspired by the U2 song "One", in particular the words "We are one, but we are not the same, we have to carry each other ....".  This would comprise of one circle with the figure "one".  It actually appears twice, but there is a second "one" behind the first "one", almost in a shadow effect.

I hope this makes sense, I'm just eating my tea ( vegetable Biryani, yum) before dashing off to see the drama students' final major production.

Rosemary

Thankyou team so very much. Assimilating  the ideas and images you so generously gave we composed the piece and did the piece within a larger concert framework. It was received very quietly, bit eerie actually. Kids don't give back much feedback so to be honest I was unsure as to how it went down for both audience and participants. I was more disappointed on my technical mistake with the visuals on the night. The topic was multiculturalism and we used a backdrop of images of kids around the world at play. The music was spoken word, drone and chants with a groove underneath. Time passed then a research team came by and questioned the kids on their participation and what it meant to them. I was amazed at the feedback, so was the researcher, it was very positive but more importantly the process of growing that they had engaged in by doing the piece and performing it went far beyond what I'd hoped for and they were so eloquent, to the camera!. So I just wanted to thank you for your support and ideas and knowing that there is a like-minded community out there is such a relief. It makes me feel very supported in continuing to explore new terrain.

So once again thanks for your generosity and this forum.

Calme

I'm really glad it went well, Calme.  You often never know how it is going to go until the day.

Rosemary