Multicultural and multiracial

Here’s a bit of wibble from History Today:

According to the latest research by the University of Reading’s Department of Archaeology, published in the March issue of the journal Antiquity, 4th-century Roman York was a multicultural town where individuals of North African descent moved in the highest social circles.

That’s a description of a multiracial society. That it was not multicultural is demonstrated by the “highest social circles” bit. And we know Roman society was multiracial but not multicultural; black, brown, white, if you lived in the Empire you were Roman. Multiculturalism is the idea of separate groups living separately, alongside one another.

For an example of a multicultural society, look to Belfast in the late twentieth century, not Roman York.

Post to Twitter

This entry was posted in multiculturalism. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Multicultural and multiracial

  1. You make a very valid point about the difference between multiracial and multicultural, one that needs repeating loudly and often. The example from History Today shows how insidious the multicultural propaganda is, leading the writer of that piece to retroject a modern, and in my view unworkable, idea into the past.

  2. Weir says:

    The 4th century has citizens. The 21st has “communities.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>