Navigating Multiculturalism

Navigating Multiculturalism is part of a legacy statement to express personal concern and offer a plan for constructive social change. Constructive social change does not come easily. Cultures, traditions, ethnic groups, business organizations, government personnel, religious institutions, social clubs, medical facilities, and institutions of learning all function in response to current behavior and intellectual reasoning. Many forget they live in a complex environment with different cultural groups and ancestral heritages. They cluster with their own kind with a mindset of us and them. No one can deny the variations of culture, language and tradition which exists in diverse groups, yet clouded vision limits others seeing common ground among multicultural groups. This book is about finding that common ground and accepting minor differences as the peculiarities of culture and tradition. Constructive social change in the community begins with an individual, moves to the family, then to groups, then to the community and hopefully to a civil society. It may not come in time for this author to personally witness the hopeful change. It may be delayed indefinitely if good people do nothing. The outcome may depend on you! Will you accept the challenge? All communities in a multicultural society are a mixing bowl of various cultures and traditions. It is particularly incumbent on community leadership to see that the mixing bowl does not become a simmering stew pot of festering frustration. Since feelings can be deceptive, the affective domain must be balanced with the processes governing thought and conduct including aesthetics, ethics, logic, meta-physics, morals, faith, character and behavior. One must be aware that all aspects of sociological integration and personal change are emotional and may be disturbing and at times troubling. However, the need for social progress and moral development demands that efforts be made to advance community constructive social change. The goals of this work are: 1) Establish a rationale for sociological contextualization.2) Value the various spheres of human life and culture.3) View faith-based operations in cultural clothes4) Distinguish between theology and ideology5) Develop a needs fulfillment in group interaction.6) See how human needs (psychological, moral, social, and intellectual) are fulfilled by social connectedness.7) Discover how moral nurturing can narrow contact with noncompliant elements of a community and hinder personal development and sociological integration of human effort to formulate and enlarge a faith-based lifestyle.