Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

Assimilation, isolation and multiculturalism

The multicultural society formed as a result of the aforementioned factors should be governed by the state. To be more specific, the ethnocultural diversity has to be managed. If the state does not manage this diversity properly, serious problems and even conflicts in the development of society may arise. Therefore, the appropriate management of this diversity is an issue of great practical importance for each multicultural state.

As has been noted, multiculturalism is one of the possible policy models to resolve the problems facing the state in connection with ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity. Multiculturalism as a

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    policy model emerged in Canada in the 1960s. Before the advent of
    

the policy of multiculturalism states with ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity sought to manage this diversity mainly via two policy models – the models of assimilation and isolation:

The policy of assimilation envisages the elimination of the ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity of national minorities in society by their absorption into the culture of the titular (main) ethnos.*

The policy of isolation opposes contact between the ethnocultural values of national minorities and the ethnocultural values of the titular (main) ethnos, thereby preventing the integration of the national minorities into society.

The policy of isolation is manifest in two forms: 1. It hinders the entry of national minorities into the country and their settlement there. 2. It isolates a group of people, who have already settled in the country, in order to prevent their assimilation in society. In the latter case this policy is known as apartheid.

Apartheid in translation from the Afrikaans language means ‘isolation’, ‘separation’, and ‘living in isolation’. It was a policy pursued by the ruling National Party in the Republic of South Africa from 1948 to 1994. The policy was based on racial discrimination, dividing the population of the country into four groups: the Blacks, the Whites, the Coloured and the Indians. During the period 1960-94 three and a half million of the non-white population were moved from the territories they inhabited to special zones (reservations). In 1970 the ‘non-white’ population was deprived of political representation and their civil rights were considerably restricted. The racists in power applied racial discrimination to all spheres of life: education, healthcare and other spheres functioned separately for the non-white population. The apartheid system was abolished in the Republic of South Africa after the general election victory of democratic forces under the leadership of the country’s first black president, Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela.

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  ‘Titular ethnos’ refers to the main ethnos that dominates the political, economic and cultural life of the country, and in the majority of cases constitutes the majority population. As a rule, the state education system is founded on the language and culture of this ethnos.
  

Section I

Chapter 1

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Azerbaijani Multiculturalism

The course of history has proved the ineffectiveness of these two policy models in managing ethnocultural diversity. It became obvious that the policy of assimilation is wrong when culture plays a leading role in contemporary­ social development, while it also became clear that the policy of isolation is mistaken in conditions of globalization, when cultures mix and merge. The failure of the policies of assimilation and isolation to manage ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity is one of the main reasons for the emergence of the policy of multiculturalism in the 1960s and 70s first in Canada, then in a number of multicultural countries in Europe.

Unlike the policy of isolation, multiculturalism as a policy that seeks to manage ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity opposes the extinction of the ethnocultural values of national minorities and instead protects those values, while unlike the policy of isolation it creates favourable conditions for the interaction of the ethnocultural values of national minorities and those of the titular ethnos, providing favourable opportunities for the integration of national minorities into the society in which they live. In other words, multiculturalism neither assimilates the ethnocultural values of national minorities, nor isolates the development of these values from the development of society. By creating equal conditions for the development of the ethnocultural values of the titular ethnos and those of national minorities multiculturalism creates favourable conditions for their interaction.