It’s confusing. There’s this college in Dundee, called the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education. Its
aim is the promotion of intelligent debate and understanding of Islam and the role of Muslims in the contemporary world. We are a place of knowledge and reflection on the issues facing a diverse and multicultural world in the twenty-first century.
Ok. But then you look at its Multiculturalism Course.
The programme aims to explore in depth the concept of multiculturalism, with specific reference to the development of the concept in academic studies (particularly the past 15 years). The main understanding of the term ‘multiculturalism’ for this programme is as a means to describe contemporary contexts of cultural and religious diversity, and the processes by which such diversity are experienced (by individuals, societies and countries) and managed (by nation states).
You begin to wonder. You keep reading.
Optional Course 1
Choose one course, subject to availability, from:
- The Theoretical Framework of Bayt al-Maqdis
- Islam & Muslims in History & Society
- Educational Studies: An Introduction
Islam & Muslims in Multicultural Britain
This course examines the historical and demographic developments of the Muslim presence in the UK. It places them in the context of the emergence of a politics of multiculturalism in the past 50 years, along with the processes of settlement and integration of diverse ethnic, religious and cultural minority communities, and their relations with wider society. A major theme of the course is the diversity of British Muslim identities, and communities and the social, cultural and political contexts in which they have developed.
Optional Course 2
Choose one course, subject to availability, from:
- Globalisation & Political Islam
- Islam & Muslims & International Relations
- Islamic Education: Theory & Practice
- History of Bayt al-Maqdis 2: From the Late Crusades to the Contemporary Era
- Women in Islam
And now you feel thoroughly confused. The course as a whole is about multiculturalism, but the choices on offer are about exactly one “culture.” Why is that?
And is “Islam” the best “culture” (or religion) to focus on if you’re trying to understand multiculturalism? I ask because Islam itself is firmly opposed to multiculturalism and pluralism; Islam makes it a crime deserving the death sentence to leave Islam for a different “culture” or religion.
So it’s confusing.