Composite Culture in a Multicultural Society

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Multiculturalism in Twentieth-Century India: Ambiguity and Ambivalence

T.K. Oommen

This essay is divided into four parts. Beginning with a discussion of conceptual issues in Part I, it goes on to analyse conceptualizations of the Indian subcontinent in the first half of twentieth century in the Part II. Part III details out the policy and practice of multiculturalism with special reference to independent India, while Part IV identifies the major approaches to multiculturalism and situates the Indian case in the broader context.

I

It is necessary to differentiate between multinational and multi-ethnic situations, both of which are multicultural but distinct. Historically viewed, four multinational situations evolved gradually: pre-modern empires, ...