How do we define ourselves – our individual and collective identities – in an age of mass migration and multi-ethnic, multi-cultural territories?
I am interested in the points of contradiction between the ideals of liberalism and the practices of cultural imperialism, and how framing these through parables of “otherness” from everyday life might help to elucidate a realm for new collective national (or trans-national) identities outside of an anachronistic ethno-national paradigm.
The last thing we need are complex new constructs to mitigate contradictions between the multiple identities that we find ourselves in possession of (national, racial, religious, territorial); adding a fourth, fifth or sixth dimension of confusion and conflict. What we need are simple non-dogmatic ideas to facilitate constructive interaction and collective purpose.
This is a discussion that might need many minds. The construct of the nation-state is accepted almost universally, and is a simple and powerful means for us to comprehend our place in a shrinking world with a growing population. But its structure has become contorted under the fragility of its foundations, and there seems to be a void waiting to be filled with new ideas to supersede this old staple of collective identity.
(Finally, argument is welcomed. In fact it is essential. This discourse is not about the massaging of intellectual egos… but it is also not about petty nit-picking and point-scoring. I hope that we can rise above that.)
