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At the crossroads... One Nation

Stephen FitzGerald.

Professor Stephen Fitzgerald explains a part of multiculturalism with which he disagrees "ism".

Created:

1996

Date Added:

19 July 2002

Source:

Interview for Making Multicultural Australia, 1996.

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

37 secs

Transcript

PROFESSOR STEPHEN FITZGERALD
Chair, Asia-Australia Institute, University of New South Wales

I think that aspect of multiculturalism with which I disagree is in fact the "ism". "Ism" implies some kind of dogma, and I think in the view of many it is a dogma, and I think at its worst, it encourages division within a society. It encourages a definition of identity which is based on differentiation, one from another, rather than the identification of what we have in common.

CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW AS TEXT

It's a great richness in the society that many of us come from different cultural backgrounds. But the point, for me anyway, is that we ought, from those different cultural backgrounds, to be about the business of identifying what we have in common. And I think that there are forces which would take us in the opposite direction.

Interview for Making Multicultural Australia, 1996.