Identity and commitment in a multicultural world

This article differentiates between two contexts in which the term multiculturalism is employed: the political and the existential. In a political context, multiculturalism refers to a condition in which (at least) two societies coexist in one political framework. An existential context is one in which individual human beings and/or groups constitute their identity in dialogue and receptivity vis-ä-vis several cultures. Such an existential context raises the question: What understanding of identity and commitment is appropriate to such lives? One possible answer, which is criticized, was suggested by Walderon, who holds that in an existential multicultural context, there can be no stable identity or commitment. The position according to which a human condition of existential multiculturalism does not really exist is also rejected. A complex interpretation is then developed, that preserves the notions of identity and commitment while recognizing the open-ended nature of these notions in existentially multicultural contexts.