Page 103 - Cultural Studies Volume 11

EXPERIENCE, EMPATHY AND STRATEGIC ESSENTIALISM 97

patronizing overtones—is replaced by an emphasis on multivocality no real
curricular transformation is possible.
At the core of the debate over identity is a struggle over, and fascination with,
representation. It is the triad of race, identity and representation which dominates
and characterizes the debates over national identity, particularly in countries with
a majority population of European ancestry. Sociologists Michael Omi and
Howard Winant emphasize that whiteness is becoming less transparent and more
a matter of anxiety, as Pat Buchanan and his constituency effectively
demonstrate (1986). In the United States, this phenomenon necessitates
educators to specifically think about their own racial positions in the classroom
on the one hand and the experiences and personal narratives of their students on
the other. Let me immediately stress that race is not the only standpoint position
6
which calls for critical self-consciousness; others, such as gender, religion and
religiosity, should definitely not be neglected and, of course, one individual may
have several standpoint positions.
There is little question that it is crucial to expose students to a more global
perspective within which to situate and understand the complexity of their own
personal, community and national identities. The interdisciplinary approach
within the framework of general education is the best means for accomplishing
this. No doubt the devolution of strict disciplinary boundaries is slowly but
surely taking place although, as cultural anthropologist Ulf Hannerz reminds us,
‘career paths, socialization patterns, and administrative decisions all contribute to
keeping boundaries neat, and areas of incoherence safe’ (1992).
Learning about local, regional and global diversity, as well as the structures
and organization of social meaning within and between a diverse range of
publics, may sensitize students to the heterogeneity of any given social group,
including their own. In addition, precisely because this global orientation
encompasses an integrated reading of different types of social formations and their
meaning systems, an intercultural approach introduces most students, for the first
time, to the permeability of group boundaries which are the points for interaction,
change and struggle. 7
I want to underscore that this is ‘an introduction’ for most but not all students.
This is therefore an opportunity for educators and students to think in terms of
microdiversity or microuniverses. In other words, the kinds of personal
narratives, experiences and previous knowledge which individual students of any
colour have before they enter the lecture hall or seminar will impact on the way
texts are encountered, read and digested. For instance, students from families
whose immediate histories mirror many of the patterns of cultural pluralism that
an intercultural programme highlights will have very different responses from
those from more homogeneous backgrounds. Educators have to anticipate the
nuances that this implies for teaching all students the skills of interrogating
knowledges they have previously taken for granted.
Although it is open to debate, I do believe that the United States should be the
centralizing grid around which intercultural studies in an American university