Why do we insist on promoting multiculturalism when it so clearly hinders us from a unified national identity and culture?
I would say that multiculturalism should be the national identity of Australia, at least a principle component of it. From my understanding and perspective, the national Australian identity and culture has always been quite a hard element to define. For a lack of a better way to describe this, I’ve always found the Australian identity to be based in, primarily, British roots. The notable exception being the ANZAC’s, and the parts of the Australian identity wrapped up with the ANZAC’s. Growing up, how I interacted with the Australian identity never included many parts of what makes Australia, Australia, diversity. I’m sure this experience is variable from place to place and person to person, but it does not change my experience. Since Australia is made up of some many different people, multiculturalism has to be in place to actually represent that diversity. While I believe multiculturalism is a balancing act between different cultures, it can also create a richer experience for everyone when done correctly. The idea that multiculturalism hinders a national identity is an idea that I completely disagree with. Building a multicultural society takes work and care from everyone involved but it eventually can turn into the unified culture and identity of a country. Of course, when not balanced, multiculturalism can make select cultures underrepresented, as shown in the other activity for this week, and that is why the approach needs to be considered.
