Intellectuals confront nationalism

ERIC SMITH | Are we living in an age of pluralism, as philosopher James Tully argued recently, or are societies tending towards greater homogeneity? That's one of the questions McGill professors tackled at a conference called "Literature and the Construction of National Identity" last week.

McGill sociologist John Hall (shown, speaking) took on Tully's statement at a panel on Nationalist Movements and Intellectuals. "We don't live in a world with an increase in pluralism," he argued. In fact Hall said we are witnessing "the increasing homogeneity of national units."

Evidence of this trend can by found in the new nations of the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. And in New York, there were 30 Yiddish newspapers at the turn of the century, but far fewer now.

Professor Charles Taylor (centre) agreed with Hall that "there is a very profound pressure in democracies to move towards homogeneity." But he added, "Nevertheless, there's something to the age of pluralism.

"Things are getting pluraler and pluraler," Taylor argued. "There is much more international migration. There's the development of interspaces where people living in diasporic spaces form whole communities linked with the politics of the home country."

Also speaking was McGill Law professor Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens, who argued that in Quebec, jurists whom he called "institutional intellectuals" face epistemological obstacles when considering questions related to nationhood, and must be wary of "getting caught in ideological traps."

The panel was moderated by Russian and Slavic Studies professor Paul Austin (left).

PHOTO: OWEN EGAN