BAAS 2022 Panel Review: ‘Language and Multiculturalism in Contemporary Literature’
In the last thirty-five years, there has been a good deal of study of the relationship between language and multiculturalism, and between multiculturalism and contemporary literature. In ‘Language, Multiculturalism, and Identity: A Canadian Study’, a survey conducted by John Edwards and Joan Chisholm, the authors raise the probability of a weak link between language and group identity.[1] In ‘Disciplined to Diversity: Learning the Language of Multiculturalism’, Andrea Voyer stresses the connection between multicultural vocabulary and the construction of the socially acceptable, modern identities.[2] Pilar Villar-Argaiz explores the artistic visions of the multicultural Ireland in contemporary Irish literature.[3] Moreover, Adriano Elia conducts socio-historical analysis of multiculturalism through the lenses of cultural relativism and political correctness, based on two contemporary British novels, Londonstani by Gautam Malkani and The Islamist by Ed Husain.[4] However, none of these studies blends together three important elements – language, multiculturalism, and contemporary literature. In this respect, the […]