Abstract
Multiculturalism is a contested and highly controversial topic, often discussed at the level of national politics and ideology. Mohammad Abdul Qadeer’s Multicultural Cities: Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles makes an important and creative contribution to this discourse. While sensitive to and informed by theoretical and normative debates, Qadeer moves the discussion of multiculturalism down from the philosophical clouds and onto the ground, where it can be observed in practice: cities that have more or less successfully embraced and institutionalized multiculturalism. In Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, Qadeer argues, whatever one thinks about multiculturalism, it exists in some form or another as a lived reality that is hard to imagine disappearing. The question then becomes what this reality consists in.
Qadeer answers this question in a series of clear and tightly written chapters devoted to various dimensions of multicultural cities, such as immigration, social geography, ethnic economies, community life, politics, and planning. Qadeer draws on his own research on Toronto and the research of others on all three cities. The book is a strong example of the value of creative synthesis of multiple sources.
A guiding idea animates these chapters about the practical and institutional meaning of pluralism. Multicultural cities recognize the identities and social rights of ethno-racial minorities, immigrants, and other cultural groups. At the same time they foster a “common ground” of shared norms, infrastructure, resources, services, spaces, and icons, which everyone has a responsibility to contribute to and embrace.
Yet neither private nor public is static. Ethnic cultures exist among several forms of culture, and their meanings shift in different contexts. In multicultural cities, many members of ethno-racial communities work in ethnic economies, but most do not; andethnic neighborhoods are far from totalizing—people move in and out regularly and interact with others in many diverse situations. Cultures are not only backward-looking traditions but dynamic, open-ended orientations to the future that enable change and growth. At the same time, Qadeer makes the crucial and often-neglected point that mainstream society provides the medium in which various cultures can thrive, even as it defines the scope and limits of multiculturalism. In multicultural cities, mainstream institutions such as planning and governance are being redefined in ways that permit reasonable accommodation of cultural differences. Multicultural cities create an institutional reality where neither particularistic cultures nor common norms are totalizing, and this in turn enables residents to embrace both.
Specific chapters take this somewhat abstract notion and show how it works in practice in Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles. Take, for example, Qadeer’s discussion of the social geography of multicultural cities. While the three cities differ in some ways, he finds some core commonalities. A crucial feature of multicultural cities is that they foster ethnic and cultural enclaves—dynamic, relatively prosperous areas where members of a cultural group freely choose to live near one another, produce common aesthetics and activities, and maintain internal class and national diversity, while permitting the presence of other groups. Enclaves are not cut off from the rest of the city; rather, residents and non-residents flow in and out freely and routinely. Yet in these cities, enclaves exist among a number of neighborhoods that contain two or more ethnic groups mixed together. Moreover, public space in multicultural cities adapts to and reflects this new social geography. Central streets and major plazas host festivals and parades. Stores with signs in multiple languages dot not only ethnic enclaves but also city centers, which also contain diverse smells, sounds, and aesthetic styles. To be a citizen of a multicultural city is to be comfortable moving among particular neighborhoods that give strong expression to a particular culture and shared spaces that welcome them all.
Qadeer’s discussion of ethnicity and the urban economy in multicultural cities follows a similar logic. He highlights differences among the three cities but stresses their commonalities. Ethnic minorities are in general highly entrepreneurial, showing higher rates of self-employment than city averages. Ethnic communities provide connections and trust, as well as models for successful business enterprises. Being native-born in Canada or the United States provides an earnings premium, and non-whites earn less. While distinct, ethnic economies are fully embedded in the broader urban economy, which frames the opportunities and structures of ethnic economies and niches. Finally, ethnic economies are a small part of the overall urban economy, and most ethno-cultural minorities and immigrants do not work in them but rather in mainstream firms. Once again, a multi-cultural city is one whose norms and institutions allow this duality of commonality and particularity to operate.
The reader will find in the book’s other chapters many additional valuable discussions of multicultural urban practice. I will, however, conclude with some critical comments. Overall, Qadeer is clearly an optimist about multiculturalism, concerned to show skeptical readers that it is possible to realize its values in practice. To be sure, he does not neglect its challenges and includes discussions of, for example, segregation, concentrated poverty, racism, and riots. He stresses that multiculturalism is always a work in progress and that one can recognize its victories and potentials without being a Pollyanna. Even so, the difficulties of multiculturalism are sometimes brushed aside rather abruptly. For instance, in discussing the violence in Los Angeles after Rodney King’s killing in 1992 or the firebombing of a department store in Harlem in 1995, Qadeer writes, “Still, a few days of hostilities punctuate 350 days of civility” (p.155). True, but 15 days of violence can leave scars and generate narratives that last for decades, if not longer. The more general point is that the success of even these multicultural cities cannot be taken for granted—they are fragile achievements, not easily won, born out of serious conflict. More attention to those processes of conflict and (temporary, partial, fragile) resolution would be welcome.
Similarly, one could question Qadeer’s exclusive focus on the relatively successful cases of multiculturalism represented by Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles. There is no doubt that we can learn much from these cities. But we can and also must learn from cities where multiculturalism has in some ways stalled. Examining both failures and successes seems important for understanding the conditions under which multicultural values can take hold and be sustained.
All told, Multicultural Cities is an excellentbook. I would certainly assign it in both undergraduate and graduate courses. Students of contemporary cities and neighborhoods can learn much from it, as can participants in debates about the nature and value of multiculturalism.