This key volume explores the relationship between cultural justice and sexual justice in multicultural societies in a new light. The authors challenge the framing of 'feminism and multiculturalism' as one of inevitable conflict, as well as the portrayal of liberal sexual equality and cultural rights as irreconcilable, moving the debate beyond the culture/gender impasse.

Focusing on three theoretical themes from a feminist perspective:

• the meaning and role of culture and identity in politics
• the problem of autonomy in relation to culture and identity
• the crucial role of democracy in addressing the theoretical and practical problems raised by this set of issues.

The diverse contributors break new theoretical ground by providing detailed engagement with the concrete experiences of women and minorities who are caught in the dilemmas of gender and cultural justice. The collected chapters address sexual/cultural justice in a range of different countries, offering illuminating case studies on Britain, South Africa, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Mexico, and the United States.

Sexual Justice / Cultural Justice will be of strong interest to students and researchers working in the areas of gender and feminist theory, politics, law, philosophy and sociology.

This key text explores the relationship between cultural justice and sexual justice in multicultural societies in a new light. The authors challenge the framing of the 'feminism and multiculturalism' as one of inevitable conflict, as well as the portrayal of liberal sexual equality and cultural rights as irreconcilable, moving the debate beyond the culture/gender impasse.
The book focuses on three theoretical themes from a feminist perspective: the meaning and role of culture and identity in politics; the problem of autonomy in relation to culture and identity; and the crucial role of democracy in addressing the theoretical and practical problems raised by this set of issues. The diverse contributors break new theoretical ground by providing detailed engagement with the concrete experiences of women and minorities who are caught in the dilemmas of gender and cultural justice. The collected chapters address sexual/cultural justice in a range of different countries, offering illuminating case studies on Britain, South Africa, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Mexico, and the United States.
Students and researchers working in the areas of gender and feminist theory, politics, law, philosophy and sociology, will find this book to be of strong interest.

The current legal and political context is perhaps more congenial than ever before to considering claims made by minorities for the protection of some aspect of their identity. Reasons of Identity argues that diverse societies depend for their success on having courts and legislatures which are capable of assessing these identity claims in a fair and transparent manner. Despite the ubiquity of these claims today, how public decision makers assess minority identity claims in the course of decision making is only vaguely understood and mostly ignored in normative political theory and public policy analysis.
This book examines several key approaches used by national and international institutions to assess the identity claims of religious, cultural, and Indigenous minorities today. It takes up the central challenges to the public assessment of identity claims which raise concerns about the incommensurability and questionable authenticity of such claims, and about the risks of essentializing and domesticating the identities of the people who advance identity claims. It develops a guide to aid in the fair assessment of identity claims which is grounded on the requirements that public institutions must respect what people claim is deeply important to their self understandings and ways of life without merely accepting such claims at face value or deferring to claimants in every case, and public institutions must have the capacity to reflect on their own unfair biases. The guide developed in Reasons of Identity aims at interrogating the strength of any identity claim on bases that are respectful of differences without being blinded by them.

The political concept of recognition has introduced new ways of thinking about the relationship between minorities and justice in plural societies. But is a politics informed by recognition valuable to minorities today? Critics contend that relations of recognition allow dominant groups to distort and essentialize the cultures of minorities, and to co-opt them through promises for modest reforms rather than deeper structural changes to political systems which are unjust. In contrast, struggles for self-determination promise freedom from the constraints one group imposes on another. But what does this kind of freedom amount to in a globalized world? Can a politics of self-determination avoid the risks of recognition? What factors help avoid these risks? What role do political actors play in helping groups negotiate relations of recognition and self-determination successfully?
Contributors to this volume examine the successes and failures of struggles for recognition and self-determination in relation to claims of religious groups, cultural minorities, and indigenous peoples on territories associated with Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, New Zealand, and Australia. The cases look at cultural recognition in the context of public policy about both intellectual and physical property, membership practices, and independence movements, while probing debates about toleration, democratic citizenship, and colonialism.
Together the contributions point to a distinctive set of challenges posed by a politics of recognition and self-determination to peoples seeking emancipation from unjust relations.

The political concept of recognition has introduced new ways of thinking about the relationship between minorities and justice in plural societies. But is a politics informed by recognition valuable to minorities today? Contributors to this volume examine the successes and failures of struggles for recognition and self-determination in relation to claims of religious groups, cultural minorities, and Indigenous peoples on territories associated with Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, New Zealand, and Australia. They point to a distinctive set of challenges posed by a politics of recognition and self-determination to peoples seeking emancipation from unjust relations.

The current legal and political context is perhaps more congenial than ever before to considering claims made by minorities for the protection of some aspect of their identity. Reasons of Identity argues that diverse societies depend for their success on having courts and legislatures which are capable of assessing these identity claims in a fair and transparent manner. Despite the ubiquity of these claims today, how public decision makers assess minority identity claims in the course of decision making is only vaguely understood and mostly ignored in normative political theory and public policy analysis.
This book examines several key approaches used by national and international institutions to assess the identity claims of religious, cultural, and Indigenous minorities today. It takes up the central challenges to the public assessment of identity claims which raise concerns about the incommensurability and questionable authenticity of such claims, and about the risks of essentializing and domesticating the identities of the people who advance identity claims. It develops a guide to aid in the fair assessment of identity claims which is grounded on the requirements that public institutions must respect what people claim is deeply important to their self understandings and ways of life without merely accepting such claims at face value or deferring to claimants in every case, and public institutions must have the capacity to reflect on their own unfair biases. The guide developed in Reasons of Identity aims at interrogating the strength of any identity claim on bases that are respectful of differences without being blinded by them.

Most discussions of multiculturalism and group rights focus on the relationship between the minority and the majority. This volume advances our understanding of minority rights by focusing on conflicts that arise within minority groups and by examining the different sorts of responses that the liberal state might have to these conflicts. Groups around the world are increasingly successful in maintaining or winning autonomy. In light of this trend, a crucial question emerges: what happens to individuals within groups who find that their group discriminates against them? This volume brings together distinguished scholars who examine this question by weaving together normative political theory with case studies drawn from South Africa, the United States, India, Canada, and Britain. Classical liberalism, deliberative democracy, feminism, and associative democracy are among the theoretical frameworks used to offer solutions to the complex set of issues raised by minorities within minorities.

The tension between diversity and equality is central to debates about multiculturalism, self-determination, identity, and pluralism. How, for example, can the claims of ethnic and religious groups be respected when they conflict with individual rights and liberal equality? Diversity and Equality critically examines the challenge of protecting rights in diverse societies such as Canada. It develops new approaches in philosophy, law, politics, and anthropology to address the goals and problems associated with cultural, religious, and national minority rights. The contributors to this volume explore the conflicts between group demands for cultural autonomy and individual assertions of basic interests. At stake in these debates about rights and autonomy in multicultural and multinational democracies is the very meaning of freedom.

Most discussions of multiculturalism and group rights focus on the relationship between the minority and the majority. This volume advances our understanding of minority rights by focusing on conflicts that arise within minority groups and by examining the different sorts of responses that the liberal state might have to these conflicts. Groups around the world are increasingly successful in maintaining or winning autonomy. In light of this trend, a crucial question emerges: what happens to individuals within groups who find that their group discriminates against them? This volume brings together distinguished scholars who examine this question by weaving together normative political theory with case studies drawn from South Africa, the United States, India, Canada, and Britain. Classical liberalism, deliberative democracy, feminism, and associative democracy are among the theoretical frameworks used to offer solutions to the complex set of issues raised by minorities within minorities.

Painting the Maple explores the critical interplay of raceand gender in shaping Canadian culture, history, politics and healthcare. These interdisciplinary essays draw on feminist, postcolonial,and critical theory in a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses bothhigh and popular forms of culture, the deliberation of policy and itsexecution, and social movements as well as individual authors andtexts. The contributors establish connections among discourses of race,gender, and nation-building that have conditioned the formation ofCanada for more than one hundred years. At times provocative,Painting the Maple illuminates the challenges that lie aheadfor all Canadians who aspire to create a better future in a reimaginednation.

Painting the Maple explores the critical interplay of raceand gender in shaping Canadian culture, history, politics and healthcare. These interdisciplinary essays draw on feminist, postcolonial,and critical theory in a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses bothhigh and popular forms of culture, the deliberation of policy and itsexecution, and social movements as well as individual authors andtexts. The contributors establish connections among discourses of race,gender, and nation-building that have conditioned the formation ofCanada for more than one hundred years. At times provocative,Painting the Maple illuminates the challenges that lie aheadfor all Canadians who aspire to create a better future in a reimaginednation.