Avoiding the pitfalls of settler decolonisation (I): John Lowe, ‘Multiculturalism and its exclusions in New Zealand: the case for cosmopolitanism and indigenous rights’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 16, 4, 2015 , pp. 496-512 | settler colonial studies blog

Avoiding the pitfalls of settler decolonisation (I): John Lowe, ‘Multiculturalism and its exclusions in New Zealand: the case for cosmopolitanism and indigenous rights’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 16, 4, 2015 , pp. 496-512

13Dec15

Abstract: In light of biculturalism’s prevalence as a power-sharing agreement between New Zealand Maori and the Crown, any attempts to establish a state-sponsored project of multiculturalism have been treated by Maori with suspicion and controversy. This article presents cosmopolitanism as an appropriate solution to citizenship and cultural diversity in New Zealand that can coexist in harmony with the country’s biculturalism that enjoys a constitutional-like status. A state-sponsored policy of liberal multiculturalism comparable to the legal species found in Western democracies, it is argued, would remain mutually exclusive and hostile towards biculturalism. This work concludes with a discussion on the theoretical applications of cosmopolitanism in New Zealand and how it could work empirically, in practice, without attenuating biculturalism.

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