Biculturalism

See also:Bicultural identity

Biculturalisminsociologydescribes the co-existence, to varying degrees, of two originally distinctcultures.

Official policy recognizing, fostering, or encouragingbiculturalismtypically emerges in countries that have emerged from a history of national or ethnic conflict in which neither side has gained complete victory. This condition usually arises fromcolonial settlement.Resulting conflicts may take place either between the colonisers andindigenous peoples(as inFiji) and/or between rival groups of colonisers (as in, for example,South Africa). A deliberate policy of biculturalism influences the structures and decisions of governments to ensure that they allocate political andeconomic powerand influence equitably between people and/or groups identified with each side of the cultural divide.

Examples include the conflicts betweenAnglophoneandFrancophone Canadians,between Anglophone WhiteSouth AfricansandBoers,and between the indigenousMāori peopleand European settlers inNew Zealand.The term biculturalism was originally adopted in Canada, most notably by theRoyal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism(1963–1969), which recommended that Canada becomeofficially bilingual.

Because the term biculturalism suggests, more or less explicitly, that only two cultures merit formal recognition, advocates ofmulticulturalism(for which biculturalism formed a precedent) may regard bicultural outlooks as an inadequate descriptor by comparison. This was the case in Canada whereUkrainian Canadiansactivists such asJaroslav Rudnyckyj,Paul Yuzykand other "third force"successfully pressured the Canadian government to adopt multiculturalism as official policy in 1971.

In the context of relations between the cultures ofdeafnessand non-deafness, people find the word "biculturalism" less controversial because the distinction between spokenlanguageandsign languagecommonly seems like a genuine binary distinction—transcending the distinctions between various spoken languages.

In the context of the United States of America, bicultural distinctions have traditionally existed between the US and Mexico, and between the White and the African-American population of the US.

Regions which formally recognize biculturalism include:

• Belgium,divided basically between speakers of French and of Dutch
• Vanuatu,formerly acondominiumwith both French and British politico-administrative traditions
• thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,retrospectively termed "The Commonwealth of Both Peoples"
• Switzerland,overwhelmingly German and French in language (though with recognition of Italian and Romansch)
• Paraguay,with a population 90% of which speaks Guaraní and 99% of which speaks Spanish
• New Zealand,where theTreaty of Waitangiforms the basis of a relationship betweenthe CrownandMāoriiwi(tribes) through whichte reo Māoriis recognised as an official language, and Māori have protected representation inParliamentthrough theMāori electorates
• Hong Kong,where both Chinese and English are official languages

Biculturalism can also refer to individuals (seebicultural identity).

See also

• Bilingualism
• Creolization
• Interracial marriage
• Canadian identity
• Bilingualism in Canada
• Melting pot
• Salad bowl (cultural idea)
• Cultural mosaic
• Plurinationalism
• One-state solution