Multicultural Politics Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain by Tariq Modood (USA: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. 240 pages.)

Abstract

Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain is an eloquent
analysis of empirical and theoretical observations of multiculturalism
in Britain. Modood is an expert on this topic, in particular as he writes from
a Muslim perspective. The book consists of two parts: “Racism, Disadvantage,
and Upward Mobility,” which discusses ethnic diversity in employment
and educational performance, and “The Muslim Challenge,” which comprises
chapters five to nine. The book’s main purpose is to critique the
British perception, which the author labels a “black-white dualism” (p. 5),
and the resultant ignorance surrounding the voices of Asians and other
minorities. Modood argues that the black-white division is complicated by
cultural racism, Islamphobia, and a challenge to secular modernity. In his introduction, the author sets the stage by providing a brief autobiographical
background of how he embarked on the topic of multicultural
politics from a philosophical background. These background details are not
“nostalgic self-indulgence … in fact, some of the book’s themes are rooted
in descriptions from childhood” (p. 4).
Throughout the book, Modood emphasizes the “otherness” of Asians,
particularly South Asians in Britain, as it existed before the tragedy of
September 11 and subsequent terrorist attacks. He argues that in the pluralist
nation of Britain, “South Asians were treated as [the] undesirable other”
(p. 5). Muslims, not blacks, were increasingly perceived as the most threatening
“other” to Western society. He further argues that race and racism are
intricately entangled in how British Muslims were perceived, and that their
culture was habitually stereotyped and perceived as obstructive to assimilation
and integration into British society. The author’s arguments shed light
on how British Asians are empirically subjected to double racism, as compared
to British blacks. Modood acknowledges that this complex situation
has to be considered along with such other variables as “class, gender, geography,
and [the] social arena” (p. 7) ...