Inclusive Britishness: A Multiculturalist Advance

Abstract

Scholars argue that policies of multiculturalism in different countries are in retreat or in question. Britain is often used as an example of this, and leading British politicians and commentators often criticise such a policy. Yet a long-held multiculturalist goal has been to make Britishness more inclusive and this is something leading politicians were until recently uncommitted to. We use interviews with politicians who have served in this government and the last, the measures they have introduced, their media contributions, speeches and policy documents, to show that they are now committed to this goal. At a time when a British policy of multiculturalism is said to be in retreat or in question we identify a multiculturalist advance and show that this raises a range of difficult questions about government approaches to 'Britishness'.

European influence on diversity policy frames: paradoxical outcomes of Lyon's membership of the Intercultural Cities programme

“…However, engaging with issues of discrimination through 'recognition'-based (Taylor 1994) multicultural or intercultural policy frames remains significantly problematic. Both the terms 'multiculturalism' and 'interculturalism' remain multivalent, 'discursively fluid' and 'multifarious' terms and policy tools (Brahm-Levey 2012;Meer and Modood 2011;Uberoi and Modood 2013). BrahmLevey (2012) and Meer and Modood (2011) are correct to identify the similarities, and near inseparability, of 'multiculturalism' and 'interculturalism'.…”

Ideas, Institutions, and School Curricula: Explaining Variation Between England and France

“…They show that a more inclusive notion of "Britishness" became increasingly advocated by some leading British politicians in both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. Some leaders articulated concern that an extremist identity will spread among some English and some Muslim people unless a more inclusive notion of "Britishness" is forged (Uberoi & Modood, 2013). By contrast, France is often identified as a country that has upheld an approach that draws on an assimilationist tradition in other issue areas, including on some other aspects of education policy as shown by Bleich (1998).…”

“…There was support at a leadership level in England for forging an inclusive idea of "Britishness" in the mid-to late 2000s (Uberoi & Modood, 2013). Ideas at that time were conducive to the inclusion of plural histories, and they filtered into the revisions made to the national curriculum for Stage 3.…”

“…In other areas of life England has, since the 1970s, often practiced a model that has been comparatively open to diversity, and some scholars argue that it continues to do so despite the appearance of a "retreat" from multiculturalism in public discourse in the past decade (Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2009). Uberoi and Modood (2013) identify a multiculturalist advance in the past decade after the riots in the north of England in 2001 andafter September 11, 2001. They show that a more inclusive notion of "Britishness" became increasingly advocated by some leading British politicians in both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.…”

Learning Welshness: Does the Curriculum Cymreig positively affect pupils’ orientations to Wales and Welshness?

“…A number of studies have investigated relationships between educational initiatives and various social movements and interests in Wales, (Jones, 2006;Phillips, 1996), characterisations of CE in the UK (Arthur et al, 2008) and representations of national identity and diversity amongst pupils in Wales and in the UK in general (Murphy and Laugharne, 2011;Scourfield and Davies, 2005;Uberoi and Modood, 2013;Williams, 2003 ;Keating and Benton, 2013) but there is little in regard to what pupils believe the impact of schooling might have in their orientation to, and association with, cultural and national identity. Therefore, in an attempt to investigate a small area of such a large task, the purpose of this study is to determine if pupils believe schooling affects their orientations to Wales and Welshness.…”