Between nationalism and transnationalism : multiculturalism in a globalising world

This paper addresses varying modes of ‘multiculturalism’ as a mode of governmentality in the contemporary globalising world. It juxtaposes the case of the non-Western, postcolonial state of Malaysia and that of the Western, immigration-driven settler society of Australia to describe the convergence of two opposing historical trajectories in the national management of ethnically diverse populations: the former (Malaysian) case guided by the idea of pluralist segregation, the latter (Australian) case by that of assimilation. The juxtaposition highlights the ambivalence inherent in multicultural governmentality. While multiculturalism provides nation-states with the discursive means to square ethno-cultural diversity with national unity by embracing a more open cosmopolitanism and hybrid identity, this is an unstable settlement which, if left unchecked, may threaten to destabilise and transcend the very boundaries of the nation in an increasingly transnational world