Multiculturalism is worldwide

Multiculturalism is something everyone should know about today. Every day we meet people from different backgrounds, either it is at school, work or even at home. The multicultural society is getting greater each day.

As of my own experience I clearly saw a huge difference in multiculturalism from Norway to Australia. In my class at school in Norway there were only ‘white’ peoples, everyone from Norway, same background, same language and same beliefs. Multiculturalism back then was something more or less unknown. Like Korea Times wrote in September, “Until a decade ago, many Koreans were not familiar with the term “multicultural.”” It was the same way in Norway. Here in Australia though, multiculturalism seems to me that it has always existed. According to an article in ‘The Australian’, Australia is built on immigration from every continent, and therefore is multiculturalism embedded in Australia’s own identity.

 Figure 1 - Multiculturalism

Many older people in my home country still have problems to deal with the fact that the number of people from a different country is increasing. In Norway we have a huge problem with the immigrants and the crime rate. Latest yesterday there was an article stating that the number of foreign prisoners in Norway has tripled in ten years. By this said, the Norwegian prison is a good place to be for someone that do not have anything. They get food, internet, a bed on their own cell, TV and they get education. They get it all, free of charge.

Figure 2 - A typical Norwegian Prison Cell

I think this may be one of the reasons why people have problems welcoming our ‘new citizens’. Like Christina Ho points out in her article, “in contrast to the public anxieties about multiculturalism, in all of these everyday examples, cultural difference is accepted as normal and unremarkable”. (Ho, C. 2011) We got to live with these cultural differences either we want to or not, but I want to ask the question what are we afraid of? Is it the fact that we have to learn about other cultures? Are we afraid that our own culture and identity will change? How about the language? Can we keep our Norwegian language with classes with a large number of students with different ethnicity?  

~~~

References:

Ho, C. (2011). Respecting the presence of others: School micropublics and everyday multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32(6), 603-619.

The Australian (2012). Multiculturalism must unite us, not divide us. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/multiculturalism-must-unite-us-not-divide-us/story-e6frg71x-1226479146740

Helge Carlsen (2012). Kraftig økning av utlendinger i norske fengsler(Norwegian article about the huge rate of foreigners in norwegian prisons)http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.8351092

Korea Times (2012). Multicultural students.http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/09/137_120234.html