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If it is true that within the past two decades we have experienced what Thomas Kuhn would call a "paradigm shift," then multiculturalism is probably the best umbrella term for the kind of re-conceptualizing that has occurred. Certainly, multiculturalism seems to be the index term that appears most frequently in various forms of discourse and which most recommends/demands that a respective study be given a hearing.
Yet it could also be said that what makes multiculturalism such a fascinating topic is the extent to which it is still a nebulous concept-virtually, an idea in the making. As much as multiculturalism seems to have shaped the questions that we ask in our various pursuits, so does it also seem to pose the question of its own nature: what is multiculturalism, and how should it be conceptualized? In this sense, then, before becoming the appropriate subject for political studies or cultural studies, and even prior to lending itself to colonialist/imperialist psychologizing, multiculturalism would seem to call for the kind of basic or preliminary mode of inquiry that is associated with epistemology, and especially the recent "cognitive" branch concerned with the mechanisms of definition.
By way of providing a general context for the specific discussions of multicultural issues that follow, therefore, I would like to begin by looking briefly at some of the ways in which multiculturalism has been conceptualized. In particular, I want to focus on the analogies-the implicit as well as the explicit, the assumed as well as the challenged-that tend to recur in multicultural discourse. Attending to these metaphors, and especially the categories of experience on which they draw and the implications these entail, should serve not only to explain the title of this collection but also encourage speculation about an issue that is fundamental to the multicultural project: that is, to what degree do various individuals or groups conceptualize differently and to what extent should this be a factor in planning a multicultural society? A related question-particularly crucial in the light of current strictures against binarisms and my own frequent violation of this taboo-is whether such "dualistic" thinking is peculiar to a particular mindset or whether the diversity element of multiculturalism makes binary thinking unavoidable: is it at all possible to conceive of "otherness"...